Rescue Mission

by John Dudley Ball

"The guy certainly knows his airplanes well and he held my interest very tightly as he developed the story."—RICHARD BACH, author of Stranger to the Ground and BiplaneThe hurricane warnings were up in the Caribbean when Herb Stallings brought his crippled Constellation in for a landing on Tres Santos. The Connie wasn't safe to fly farther, and the nearest parts for repairing it were in Miami. Stallings decided he'd tie the big plane down on the sheltered side of the hangar, fill the tanks for ballast, and hope the plane would ride out the storm safely.With the plane well anchored, its captain, crew, and the airfield staff flew out ahead of the storm in a DC-3, to the mainland and to safety.Meanwhile two Civilian Air Patrol pilots, who had been on a rescue mission over the water searching for some men adrift in a rubber raft, realized that the wind was increasing and that they had better head for land. The nearest land was Tres Santos.When the CAP pilots arrived at Tres Santos, they found the airfield only the giant Constellation was there... which was bewildering.Then they were approached by two of the islanders and a priest—who begged them to fly a very sick man and a badly burned little girl out of the storm's path to the mainland and a doctor.The CAP pilots knew that men whose only flight experience and training had been in one-engine planes could not possibly handle anything the size of a Constellation. They protested—said they couldn't do it.But it seemed to be a matter of life and death. Foolhardy and dangerous though they knew the attempt to be, they finally agreed to try to fly the big plane out. They didn't know its condition—and one of them certainly didn't have any idea what his passenger list was like.Desperately they began the terrifying task of getting the Connie up into the air to outrace the hurricane.John Ball (who has flown many air rescue missions himself) knows what he's writing about—and his exciting novel lets the reader share a pilot's experiences with unusual immediacy.

Genres: Novels, Thriller

220 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

John Dudley Ball writing as John Ball, was an American writer best known for mystery novels involving the African-American police detective Virgil Tibbs. He was introduced in the 1965 In the Heat of the Night where he solves a murder in a racist Southern small town. It won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel from the Mystery Writers of America and was made into an Oscar-winning film of the same name starring Sidney Poitier; the film had two sequels, and spawned a television series several decades later, none of which were based on Ball's later Tibbs stories. He also wrote under the name John Ball Jr..

Ball was born in Schenectady, New York, grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and attended Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin. He wrote for a number of magazines and newspapers, including the Brooklyn Eagle. For a time he worked part-time as a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy, was trained in martial arts, and was a nudist. In the mid 1980s, he was the book review columnist for Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine. Ball lived in Encino, California, and died there in 1988.

Reviews

[Karen GoatKeeper · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hurricane is churning across the Caribbean straight for Tres Santos.
The local plane company is forced to leave a disabled Constellation 4 engine plane behind fully gassed and tied down.
Two civil Air Patrol pilots on a search and rescue mission must land due to high winds. They land on Tres Santos and clip a propeller.
The local priest comes to beg help from the pilots. A local man has appendicitis and a young girl is badly burned. Will these pilots fly them to the mainland and a doctor?
Captain Sylvester who has only flown single engine planes is torn. He finally agrees after consulting with his copilot Ed Chang who has less experience and only with single engine planes. They go out to the Constellation, find the manuals and decide to try to fly her out.
Chang finds the local priest has loaded not only the two medical emergencies, but the entire village of 78 people into the plane. He decides to not inform Captain Sylvester of this.
The two pilots start the four engines, taxi to the runway and take off on an adventure they may not live to regret.
The suspense in this book is low key, but unrelenting. It answers the question why all those books and movies only have the hero talked down flying single engine planes. There is a glossary of aviation terms.
This is a great book for aviation buffs. It is good reading for anyone wanting a good read and wanting a low key thriller about ordinary men trying to do the right thing, not be heroes, yet being heroes.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick, uncomplicated thriller the likes of which are rarely written anymore - finished in a single afternoon by the pool.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book in my school library. I was thinking about weeding it but thought I'd read it first. It was a great exciting thriller written in 1966, the year I was born!