The Pilots [Hardcover]

Jim Spencer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 10, 2003

Apart from sex, flying was the most exciting thing I'd run across in my twenty years on this planet.

James Spencer flew B-24 bombers over New Guinea, Borneo, and the Philippines during 1944 and 1945, and it was only decades later that he began to write about it, combining the literal truth as he remembered it with imagination based on all that he'd seen and heard.

The extraordinary result is The Pilots, a novel-in-stories about a group of young men, their comrades, and girlfriends, as they evolve in often unpredictable ways during the last years of the war: Blake Hurlingame and Steve Larkin, boyhood friends who take different paths into fighters and bombers; Doc, the flight surgeon, battling combat fatigue; Courtenay, the captain whose arrogant bluster masks hidden demons; and Addie, the woman who will leave her mark on them all.

These are stories alive with the senses, filled with the smell of hot oil and burnt rubber; the sight of green jungle and backlit clouds like vast sculptured monuments; the feeling of a plane warming up, trembling like a bird eager to be in flight. Several excerpts have already appeared in magazines; now the work itself makes a wholly remarkable debut.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Half a century ago, brave pilots fought in Pacific skies against a determined enemy and helped turn the tide of war. The author was one of them, but only in the past decade-to satisfy the curiosity of his sons, he says-has he written up his memories, fictionalized as a series of linked short stories. Other veterans have produced a deluge of similar works, but the honesty of Spencer's writing, which is lean and understated whether he is describing deadly scenes of action or military horseplay at base camp, sets this volume apart. There is a touch of Tales of the South Pacific to the adventures of Steve Larkin, a fighter pilot and the author's stand-in, who bails out of his plummeting aircraft and lands on a grimly hazardous jungle island inhabited by head-hunting, spear-toting savages. They capture and imprison Steve in a fetid hut, and the situation seems bleak, but after some days of testing his intentions, two nubile young women make it clear he is welcome. Though the episode is described unemotionally, its impact is plain; after the villagers release him, Steve concludes simply "it was odd that he didn't feel more enthusiastic about being rescued." Heroism is about staying alive, but the unit physician, Doc, is so solicitous of his men as to become hopelessly delusional, believing he must save them from sinister friendly fire. Scenes in Australia, where the pilots go for rest, are vivid and poignantly capture the pain of the women there who have lost their men. This is not self-conscious writing, but it successfully balances the beauty of flying with the terrors of life-and-death combat, and is a worthy addition to the literature of WWII.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

This is a one of a kind book...that anyone interested in war in the air will read with fascination. (Thomas Fleming, co-author of The Secrets of Inchon)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult (February 10, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399149732
• ISBN-13: 978-0399149733
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,279,006 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Very visceral look at WWII..., April 17, 2005

By 

Max Wyman (Santa Cruz, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Pilots (Mass Market Paperback)

I read this book at the recommendation of a friend, and I must say, I have never been endowed with such a clear perception of what it was like to actually be in WWII. The gritty characters, intricate settings, and detailed descriptions made the book seem very, very real... I would recommend this book to anyone who would like a thrilling glimpse at what it was like to actually BE THERE. An enjoyable and gripping novel overall.

2.0 out of 5 stars Missed Opportunity, April 22, 2004

By 

Dana A. Hess (Carmichael, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Pilots (Mass Market Paperback)

I also salute the author's contribution in WWII. However, "The Pilots" is just too disjointed and -- quite frankly -- predictable to recommend. Apparently much of the book was written as short stories, which is fine. But there should have been some effort to edit these into a seamless whole, rather than just slap them together between covers. As a result, we often hear the same bits of information over and over. Trust me, Mr. Spencer, by page 228 we KNOW that "Blake Hurlingame was Steve's boyhood friend who now flies B-24s!" And too many of the incidents were telegraphed far in advance. When Addie finds the .45 automatic in her nightstand drawer, we KNOW she's going to need it in just a few pages! On the plus side, some of the flying sequences were quite enjoyable. There just weren't enough of them. It seems to me that if you're writing a novel about combat flying in WWII, you pretty much know who your audience will be. And it's not women. Therefore, I would suggest cutting down on the "romance" and jacking up the action. Just one guy's opinion. Still, it's a quick, painless read and flying novels are hard to find.
(By the way, one positive: The new trade paperback edition has the appropriate P-38 on the cover.)

4.0 out of 5 stars Been There, Done That--And this guy HAS, March 27, 2003

By 

Phillip Jennings "PEJ" (Kirkland, WA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Pilots (Hardcover)

This is just a super book. Well written, warm, and yet frightening in its description of combat flying. Jim Spencer has a wonderful way of getting into the stories and making them real for us. Having lived just a bit of that life (USMC pilot)I felt in the cockpit and in the ready room with Jim. The out of combat R&R in Australia was just the right tone, and the craziness that permeates everything was right on.
All the guys I know would love this book. There is hardly a pilot alive or that has lived that has not dreamed of air-to-air combat. This is a piece of that dream.