WLT Conference – My Pitch
Sun Devil
I read this pitch to the for my complete-but-needs-an-editor novel at the Writers League of Texas Agents and Editors Conference last weekend, a bonus which came from being a Manuscript Contest Finalist:
They called her the white rocket, and for many Air Force pilots, she was their first true love. She was sleek, sexy, and fast. When you climbed into her cockpit, you were tense with apprehension, sweaty with fear, brain buzzing with procedures, excited with anticipation. Privately they called her a bitch and a whore, because she was seductive and could kill. When you rolled her over on her back, pulled her nose down, and shoved the throttles into afterburner, you’d be supersonic in a couple of seconds. As they said, she flew like a bat out of hell. Tom Harter was the new guy in the squadron, an instructor pilot in the T-38. He wore captain’s bars on his shoulders, wings on his chest, and the sun devil on his sleeve. His story is AWOL-21.
robertcdeming 
Sounds like you’re talking about an F-101 Starfighter. Great pitch. Where can I get a copy? I like a good flying book, but they’re hard to find. Pak VI and Into the Mouth of the Cat (nonfiction) were two of my favorites.
A T-38 Talon. Currently Kindle only. Most chapters start in the jet.
I remember when the Thunderbirds flew the Talon. BTW, you would know this, and I’ve always wondered: what’s the difference between a T-38 and an F-5?
Not much on some versions- except single seat with a gun. I think they had the same engines, too. The T-38 was quite an adventure.
I looked up Mouth of the Cat, haven’t read it yet. Yes, the ultimately pointless war had many heroes. I know some of them, although my flying was just after VietNam. AWOL 21 is a peacetime Air Force flying story, most of it based on real events.
I was (again) reading up on Czar 52 the other day and it occurred to me that the situation as it related to Lt. Col. McGeehan might be a good story. The notion of the man who could walk away if he wanted to but instead stays to protect his men when nobody else will.