£11.99 – £14.99
The Final Flight
Author: James Blatch
A DEADLY CRASH, A GOVERNMENT CONSPIRACY, A LONE PILOT WITH ONE CHANCE TO UNCOVER THE TRUTH.
Project Guiding Light is NATOs biggest secret. A system to take long-range bombers deep into the Soviet Union, undetected.
Theres just one problem. And veteran engineer Chris Milford has found it. A lethal flaw that means aircrew will pay a terrible price.
Undermined and belittled by a commanding officer who values loyalty over safety, Milford is forced down a dangerous, subversive path.
Even his closest friend, Rob May, the youngest test pilot on the project has turned his back on him.
Until the crash that changes everything.
James Blatchs page-turning thriller is set in the 1960s world of secret military projects and an establishment that wants victory over communism at almost any price.
Author: James Blatch is a former BBC Defence Reporter and a former BBFC Film Examiner. He reported for the BBC on the UK military from, among other places, HMS Invincible (Operation Desert Fox build up), Kuwait (Ali Al Salem allied air base), the Arctic Circle as well as covering the UK air offensive during the Kosovo Conflict in 1999.
During his time as a defence reporter he became the first civilian to twice fly in a BAe Harrier with 1 (Fighter) Squadron. He also enjoyed a trip in a Sepecat Jaguar with 41 Squadron to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the types introduction to RAF service.
Blatchs father, John R Blatch AFC, was an RAF fighter pilot from 1951-1959 and then an RAF test pilot after graduation from the Empire Test Pilots School from 1960-1967. Blatch senior carried out trial work on most RAF types in service at the time including the Vulcan, Valiant, Victor, Lightning, Hunter, Canberra and Meteor. During his squadron days John Blatch served on the following units: 213(F) (Vampire), 6 (Venom), 72 (Meteor Night Fighters) and 64 (Javelin).
Blatchs mother, Emily Triggs, was a WRAF air traffic control assistant at RAF Boscombe Down when she met Blatchs father. Later in life she served as Minister of State at the Department for Education and the Home Office as the Rt Hon Baroness Blatch of Hinchingbrooke, PC CBE. She died of pancreatic cancer in 2005.
Blatch is a director of the Self Publishing Formula Limited, an online course provider for independent authors. He co-hosts the weekly Self Publishing Show podcast.
