Wings after Fairborough

Twice failed in marriage, Carl Hostrup is an outwardly successful 60-year old, retired but recently suicidal, top business executive. He was a brilliant USAF bomber captain in WWII. After a USAF reunion in (fictitious) Fairborough, UK; Carl has just illegally joy flown into restricted, missile base airspace in a vintage aircraft. On arrest he is joined by his recently found wartime lover - Sally - still lovely, his age and an independent small business woman. The spark is rekindled and Carl also discovers an unknown, feisty teen, orphan granddaughter, Sheila, because he left Sally pregnant without knowing. His granddaughter loathes and protests the missile bases. Carl’s reunions with USAF buddies and Sally are the reason for the joy of flight. The latter passion was neglected after the war and the possibility arises that Carl and/or his granddaughter could be viewed with suspicion by NATO allies, the UK and USA. He becomes passionately compatible with Sally again and meets his challenging granddaughter squarely and lovingly, but the espionage situation complicates Carl’s relocation to the UK. He befriends old war and new colleagues, including Roger Foster, a half indigenous, half French, Aussie. Roger has a serendipitous link to Carl’s WWII past, Lord Rohan, and becomes Carl’s close colleague in the unfolding adventures. The overshadowing US surveillance comes to a head with Carl given a Hobson’s choice - cooperate on an allied stealth mission in Western Sahara and have surveillance dropped in exchange for the service or continue to be threatened along with his newly found granddaughter. Horrified for his family, Carl agrees to the mission and conscripts Roger. Their pimpernel colleague, Lord Rohan, surfaces amid the skulduggery along with a host of unique characters that surround and are involved in the sometimes madcap mission. Back on the karmic wheel of war and separation, Carl and Sally come to terms with the situation as neither can deny their second chance which plays out in Carl’s furloughs home to Britain from the US - including a merry Xmas/New Year reunion of Carl’s soon to be ex step- and present blood families which has happy, viral consequences of its own. Carl’s successful Western Sahara mission aims to curtail brewing, possible threats to world stability due to uncertain technological developments in tectonic mass destruction weaponry in the Antarctic. The book theorises a ficitonal link between actual events of the era and is the 1st stand alone of the 1986 series. It has a modern spice level of 1-2 but is written in the curl-up-with-a-good-book style of the 80s.