Into the Blue by Joseph J. Corn

Author:Joseph J. Corn [Corn, Joseph J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Library of America
Published: 2012-03-13T16:00:00+00:00

OVER KOREA: 1952

James Salter

from The Hunters

James Salter (b. 1925) graduated from West Point in 1945 and joined the Air Force. While serving as an F-86 Sabrejet pilot in Korea, he flew over 100 combat missions and downed an enemy MIG-15. These experiences served as the basis for his first novel, The Hunters (1956), which was widely praised for its accurate depiction of the Korean conflict. Salter left the Air Force after twelve years to devote himself entirely to writing. His works include the novels A Sport and a Pastime (1967) and Light Years (1975), the collection Dusk and Other Stories (1988), which won the PEN/Faulkner award, and the memoir Burning the Days (1997).

In this excerpt from The Hunters, Salter describes the emotional and physical anticipation of aerial combat as vividly as anybody has. His terse sentences and surprising metaphors depict his protagonist, Cleve, finally encountering a formidable and elusive MiG pilot known to his American counterparts as “Casey Jones.”

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Flashing like fish silver, they broke through a low, billowing surf of clouds and into unmarked sky. They climbed. They crossed the Han and into enemy territory, passing the invisible line beyond which little was forgiven. Time seemed to be going quickly. The tempo of landmarks was greater than usual. The compounding hands of the altimeter seemed to be moving more rapidly. Over the radio, nothing except for routine traffic. The fight had not started. Cleve felt elated. He had not hoped for such luck.

He looked back toward Hunter, and his courage and pride swelled. There was nothing to compare with the happiness of leading. Toward the final test of excellence they flew together, and though a man on the ground could neither see nor hear them, they were up, specks of metal moving through a prehistoric sky, contaminating an ocean of air with only their presence, electrifying the heavens. Cleve felt a distilled fulfillment. For these moments, no price could be too high.

As they neared the Yalu, the cloudiness increased, and above a spotty floor of white there was one huge cumulus build-up, a towering mushroom of brightness as big as a county. It looked like a cosmic fungus, like layers of wrath. They were at forty thousand feet then and climbing. The river was still five minutes away. Suddenly, cutting through the lesser voices, there was Colonel Imil’s.

“Dust on the runway at Antung, boys. Heads up.”

It was as if they had waited for him, Cleve thought slowly. He tried to see the reddish plumes rising, but the cumulus was in the way. Beyond that vast cloud and beneath it, they were taking off to fight. He began searching the sky with the intensity of a man who has lost a diamond on a public beach.

The first train was called out, a confirmation of the colonel’s sighting. Less than a minute later, they were announcing a second. Then a third.

“They’re climbing to altitude north of the river,” Imil said. “It won’t be long.”

As Cleve reached the river, they were up to five bandit trains.

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