The Space Eagle. Operation Doomsday

The Space Eagle #1

by Jack Pearl

The S.W.I.F.T. super ship and great American exploration featuring time travel and space rescues!

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1967

Reviews

[Bill Riggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1967 it features a story ripped from our current headlines. The President has just created a new branch of the military - a Space Force. A private billionaire and his company have developed an experimental rocketship to take men into space. The Chinese are the bad guys plotting the downfall of the rest of the globe. The Space Eagle is a mixture of James Bond and Flash Gordon sanctioned by the President of the United States to fight evildoers and protect all citizens of Earth.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was literally my favorite book as a kid. I read it so much the cover started to fall off. When one of my friends moved away, I gave it to him. I hope he appreciated it as much as I did.

Looks like there's a sequel, too! Now I have to hunt them both down...

[Charles Tedder · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember both of these books

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is one typical of the genre of young adult adventure science fiction written in the sixties. Paul Girard is a dashing young man that is handsome, wealthy and mentally talented. With his sister, he is also owner and manager of a powerful company that possesses many major scientific secrets. One of the secrets is of an extremely powerful ship (codenamed S. W. I. F. T.) capable of navigating within the Earth’s atmosphere and also traveling faster than light.
When Paul uses S. W. I. F. T. to save the crew of a crippled spaceship, the President of the United States secretly designates Paul the Space Eagle, a one person interplanetary police force. His first mission turns out to be saving the Earth from a nuclear war, where both the Soviet Union and the United States are to be provoked into attacking each other after simultaneously suffering from a nuclear attack by a third party.
The science used to explain how things are done is very weak, but typical of this type of science fiction. In the spirit of the hero, Paul succeeds against enormous odds in a tense final minute. If you read this book with your mind in the proper context of the literature of the time, this is a decent book. Lacking that, you will no doubt find it somewhat quaint.

[Robert Schneider · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this. Yes, it was a little outdated in its portrayal of it's Chinese and women characters. Having read it just after Trump announcing wanting to create a Space Force, I couldn't but help to laugh because that is what the president does in this book. I wonder if this was a favorite read in Trumps childhood? If you replace the instant weight loss and instant plastic surgery pills with something more technical, this would have easily slipped into the James Bond franchise. It even has the confrontation with the bad guy in a giant impressive set like all good Bond movies.

[Ruppert Baird · Rating 4 out of 5]

I seem to recall that I got this book at a Scholastic book fair at middle school years ago. It is still in my library. I read this book at least 4 times and it was my great introduction to the literature of science fiction.

A wonderful read.

[Frankie Mahrle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Time travel involved, so count me in! Closest thing to James Bond YOLT one could get for a 5th Grader. Note: The S.W.I.F.T bear no small resemblance to the T.I.E. Fighters. Only sleeker.

[John Gage]

One of my faves from when I was about 8. :-)