THE LOST AVIATOR

THE LOST AVIATOR will explore the atypical rescue mission designed to extract Hambleton before the Soviets captured a trove of highly-classified military secrets as well as the geopolitical implications of this military procedure.

In the spring of 1972 the cold war suddenly became hot as thousands of Viet Cong poured across battle lines during the "Easter Offensive." Lt. Colonel Iceal "Gene" Hambleton was serving as anavigator aboard an Air Force fighter when a surface to air missile slammed into the plane and left an ejected Hambleton stranded in the middle of 30,000 North Vietnamese soldiers.

Hambleton wasn't just a navigator; he was atop-level intelligence agent. Access to the classified information in Hambleton's brain would make the Soviets far more dangerous, leaving American commanders with a moral dilemma. They had few spare resources to dedicate to a rescue mission, and so the Americans came to the conclusion that outraged the South Vietnamese and caused many raised eyebrows in the American military: the U.S. would stop fighting the Vietnam War for as long as it took to find a single aviator.

THE LOST AVIATOR will explore the atypical rescue mission designed to extract Hambleton before the Soviets captured a trove of highly-classified military secrets as well as the geopolitical implications of this military procedure.


Stephan Talty is the NYT bestselling author of The Black Hand, Empire of Blue Water, Agent Garbo, The Secret Agent, and Operation Cowboy.