Collision. by Spencer Dunmore

by Spencer Dunmore

“Suddenly the barometric pressure soared. As if someone had pressed a button, the winds abruptly shifted. Hail thrashed the earth, and the sky became a battleground . . .” Three aircraft enter the turbulence over Toronto a charter Boeing 707, on its way from Gander; a Douglas DC-8 coming in from L.A.; and a lightweight Aeronca flown by an inexperienced trainee pilot Henry Peel. Are the weather conditions the cause of the catastrophe to come, or does the blame rest with the Boeing pilot Beatty who lies to his doctor so that he can go on flying? Or with Vaughan at the controls of the DC-8, obsessed by the memory of his adulterous love for Lee — is Vaughan fit to fly? Three aircraft enter the storm zone over Toronto — and the tension is devastating. More tense and vivid than Bomb Run, more powerful than The Last Hill, this is Spencer Dunmore's most ambitious novel to date, a novel about planes and people — pilots, passengers and crew, wives who wait and wonder — all under pressure, the incessant pressure, that forces them to the point of collision. About the Spencer Dunmore was a schoolboy in Yorkshire, England during World War II and watched bombers limping home to the RAF airfields there. His imagination was fired by this experience to the extent that he became an expert on the war in the air, 1939-1945, and his accounts of the bombers and fighters involved are renowned for their accuracy. Dunmore left Britain for Canada in the mid-50s where he was an advertising executive for many years. Dunmore is now a full-time writer and a private pilot on weekends and resides in Ontario.

Genres: Aviation, Fiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Robert Fontenot · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much melodrama, not enough collision.

[John Holder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blast from the past

I first read this gripping (if now somewhat dated) story as a section of a “Reader’s Digest Condensed Book” (people of a Certain Age will remember those). I was amazed to find it was still in print - well, in pixels, anyway.

The author’s technical mastery of aviation-related information carries the story forward. As was often the case in the era (1960s-70s), there had to be a steamy subplot... and there is. But the straightforward airborne drama rescues this novel from predictable erotic distractions.

[Anna Linder]

Läst på svenska - ”Kollisionen”

[Indiantiger]

Not so great book..

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little to much melodrama for my taste

[Diane Wachter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collision, Spencer Dunmore, RDC-M, #3-75, 1976. Novel about a midair plane crash. Okay.