It's called the "Black Widow", a CIA gunship with three high-speed Gatling guns tasked with interdicting North Vietnamese weapon and supply convoys on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. It has no insignias or markings. Painted black it is invisible in the night's sky... until it strikes. The communist troops call it a "dragon" because of its red tongues of fire that reach down from the heavens and consume whatever they touch. Officially the Black Widow doesn't exist and neither does Tom Coyle its pilot.


Coyle and his crew fly the world's most dangerous combat missions in the steep mountains of Laos. The jungle-covered slopes are impenetrable and a death sentence for any unlucky aircrews that crash in them.


Desperate to keep their supply lines open, the North Vietnamese deploy their most powerful anti-aircraft guns to hunt the dragonship. To cut off the communist troops already in-country, Coyle and his crew will tempt fate to annihilate the convoys before they enter South Vietnam. It's a high-stakes game of cat and mouse... where the loser dies.


Like all books in the airmen series, A Savage Joy is based on historical events and real people. It's full of military action and suspense. As the Vietnam War escalates, it seems nothing can stop it.


A Savage Joy storyline includes:Assault on Camp Holloway
Battle of Ban Ken Bridge
Operation Flaming Dart
Operation Rolling Thunder
Operation Steel Tiger
Battle of Song Be
Battle of Ba Gia
Battle of Plei Me
Battle of LZ X-Ray
Battle of LZ Albany