Flying to Pieces [Hardcover]

Dean Ing (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1997

Years after World War II, a group of former pilots undertakes to find a secret Japanese island, where a fortune in collectible airplanes and airplane parts lies awaiting anyone brave enough to fly them out. 25,000 first printing."

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Early in 1945, near the end of World War II, the Japanese hid a fleet of planes to be used in an all-out suicide war if the U.S. invaded Japan. One of the characters in Ing's eleventh novel, an aging--and dying--World War II pilot, found six of the planes in mint condition in a cave on an island in the Pacific 20 years later. Now a group of elderly ex-pilots who flew together in the war decide to find the island and recover the planes, worth a fortune to collectors. There is lots of talk about propeller-driven planes and lots of cliched writing; nevertheless, Ing has written a fairly interesting novel that World War II and aircraft devotees will find appealing. George Cohen

From Kirkus Reviews

A light-touch thriller from Ing (Spooker, 1995, etc.) has aging aviators flying off in pursuit of a small fortune in vintage aircraft. At a reunion of the Boring Old Farts (a rascally order of Anglo-American pilots who've served military tours of duty in Pan- Asian climes), Wade Lovett learns from Elmo Benteen, a dying comrade in arms, that he's discovered a half dozen fighters and bombers that the Japanese secreted on a tropical isle for use as kamikazes toward the close of WW II. With only a hand-drawn map to guide him, Wade organizes an over-the-hill gang to stage a latter- day invasion of Fundabora, a speck of volcanic land in the Western Pacific between Guam and the Philippines. With the retired test pilot on this madcap venture are: Crispin Reventlo (a veddy British veteran of the RAF who went on to become a semi-respectable airline captain); survivalist Vic Myles (a forward observer during the Korean War); Coop Gunther (an Alaskan bush pilot); Elmo's half- breed daughter Mel (for Melanie); and Chip, his own 17-year-old grandson. The BOFs manage to find the island and get their borrowed DC-3 down in one piece. But the natives, ruled by a hulking sybarite named Jean-Claude Pelele, prove, if not unfriendly, at best uncooperative. Still, with the guile and patience of experience, the persevering pensioners win over the people (if not their avaricious dictator) and finally locate the long-lost warplanes--in a jungle cavern protected from the ravages of corrosive offshore breezes. They also unearth Yohei Ohtsu, an octogenarian sergeant who's faithfully maintained the aircraft for over 50 years. Eventually, the oldsters are obliged to take up arms against the treacherous Jean-Claude, who plans to turn on them during Fundabora's annual festival, and they put some of the aging weaponry to good use. An altogether engaging account of an offbeat treasure hunt conducted by enduring, often endearing, old-timers. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 349 pages
• Publisher: Forge; 1st edition (August 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312857411
• ISBN-13: 978-0312857417
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,390,906 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Story!!, August 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Flying to Pieces (Hardcover)

Flying to Pieces was an excellent book, with thoroughly deep characters and an engrossing plot. Ing weaves a masterful book together with a few special surprises in the end. Loved the name of the group, B.O.F. (Boring Old Farts)

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good way to kill a rainy Saturday..., December 2, 2007

By 

Daniel Kemp "gun-toting book junkie" (Fort Campbell, KY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Flying To Pieces (Mass Market Paperback)

was what I thought when I found this copy in a box of donated paperbacks on my first Iraq tour. I love old WWII airplanes, goofy adventures, and grew up around my grandfather and all his WWII buddies listening to wild tales. I'd drop papers for 30 days' leave and cast my lot in with a caper like this in a heartbeat if the old guys asked. Tons of fun, but with just enough cliches to keep it from getting that fifth star.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fun comic adventure, August 16, 1997

By 

Peter W. Sage (Medford, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Flying to Pieces (Hardcover)

Ing's recent books, Spooker and Butcher Bird have been thrillers, with tension and suspence as characters narrowly escape death, capture, doom. Ing's characters share center stage with great machines. Flying to Pieces is something new: funny. The plot includes interesting machines in the form of preserved warplanes, but the story is about a group of old farts (and one grandson) off on a treasure hunt. I am reminded of Donald Westlake's comic caper novels, only here the characters might possibly be legal, trying to follow a treasure map to a hidden cache of antique planes on a Pacific island. There are lots of sidetrips and background on characters, so the book is leisurely if one is expecting a fast paced thriller, but a full sized and thoroughly enjoyable read if one wants a light hearted treasure hunt by a bunch of old farts.