Description
Book Synopsis1961. A squadron of Vulcan aircraft, Britain''s most lethal nuclear bomber, flies towards the east coast of the United States. Highly manoeuvrable, the great delta-winged machines are also equipped with state of the art electronic warfare devices that jam American radar systems. Evading the fighters scrambled to intercept them, the British aircraft target Washington and New York, reducing them to smoking ruins.
They would have done, at least, if this were not an exercise. This extraordinary raid (which actually took place) opens James Hamilton-Paterson''s remarkable novel about the lives of British pilots at the height of the Cold War, when aircrew had to be on call 24 hours a day to fly their nuclear-armed V-bombers to the Western USSR and devastate the lives of millions.
This is the story of Squadron-Leader Amos McKenna, a Vulcan pilot who is suffering from desires and frustrations that are tearing his marriage apart and making him question his ultimate loyalties.
Trade Review
Under the Radar is fascinating to read and superbly written. Hamilton-Paterson is among our finest prose stylists, and we are fortunate to have him. -- Ian Thomson Financial Times Hamilton-Paterson has written an intelligent, stylish story about a war fast fading from our collective memory. -- Antonia Senior The Times This book is a must for RAF buffs and conspiracy theorists. But more importantly it is a testament to the unsung heroes of the skies who stood between us and a nuclear strike. Daily Mail An absorbing fictionalisation of a fascinating few years ... Hamilton-Paterson has done is a terrific job recreating a credible atmosphere of the air force base, with its tensions between the old guard and the new, between the past and the future, ratchet and release, between men and women. -- Toby Clements Daily Telegraph In Empire of the Clouds, Hamilton-Paterson conjured up a magisterial account of the vanished glories of British jet aviation. While this novel is not a sequel, it focuses on a small part of that story with remarkable clarity and pathos ... As a riveting recreation of a period, it is a moving elegy with graceful prose and acute characterisation. The Lady
