Hornet Flight
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Hornet Flight is a World War II based spy thriller written by British author Ken Follett. The U.S. hardcover edition was published by Dutton Books in 2002; the paperback printing (ISBN 0451210743) from Signet Books followed in 2003.
This novel generated some controversy when a veteran of the Royal Air Force, Alan Frampton, wrote to Follett to complain about a character in the prologue to the story, "Charles Ford" - a black RAF officer. Frampton, who resides in Zimbabwe, claimed that there were no black officers in the RAF, and accused Follett of including the character as a "sop" to black people. Ulric Cross, a black former RAF squadron leader and the man on whom the character of Charles Ford was based, refuted Frampton's claims in an article published in the Trinidad Express. Over 250 Trinidadians alone served in the RAF during World War II.
Plot Teaser
By late spring/early summer 1941, England alone stood against Nazi Germany in the Western Front, and in the East, the Russian Army was feeling the full force of Operation Barbarossa. To show solidarity among the unlikely capitalist-communist Alliance, Winston Churchill and Bomber Command plan a massive aerial bombardment of German territories. Unfortunately, inexplicably, Bomber Command's planes were getting shot down in record numbers.
Meanwhile, 18-year-old Danish citizen Harald Olufsen grows increasingly dissatified with his country's cooperation with the German invaders. His resentment of the Wehrmacht leads him to discover the truth about a hidden military situation, a truth known to only a select few in the Nazi organization. Running from the SS and an old enemy, Copenhagen policeman Peter Flemming, Harald knows that he must get to England. But to do so in time to save the bombers, Harald has one option: flight.
List of Characters
- Harald Olufsen
- Karen Duchwitz
- Hermia Mount - MI6 agent
- Arne Olufsen - brother of Harald; Danish air force pilot
- Peter Flemming - Copenhagen detective; enemy of the Olufsens
- Tilde Jespersen - Police inspector
- Digby Hoare - aide to Winston Churchill
- Poul Kirke - Danish air force pilot
External link
- Ken Follett's Hornet Flight - official site (http://www.ken-follett.com/bibliography/hornetflight.html)
- Trinidad News - The Black Hornet controversy (http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article?id=6293642)