Warned he would not survive a week in the air fighting against the more experienced German pilots and their superior aircraft, Pilot Officer Smythe is more concerned with showing cowardice than for the enemy overhead. In 1941, he is posted to an RAF front-line Hurricane squadron in the Western Desert of Egypt, where General Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps has come to the aid of the Italians by surrounding the fortress of Tobruk and is poised to march into Egypt. Twice downed behind enemy lines, Smythe eventually rejoins his squadron with the help of some unusual companions, only to be deserted behind enemy lines by a fellow officer. Malcolm Smythe learns to swallow his fear in the desperate air battles over the desert sands, gradually gaining in confidence as he becomes a skilled and accomplished pilot. But whilst enduring the harsh realities of air combat and as the war rages on, he discovers a ruthless side to his personality that he finds disturbing and completely alien to his otherwise sensitive nature.
