Flight of the Intruder
Stephen Coonts
 Flight of the Intruder begins with a night attack mission flown by Jake Grafton and his navigator Morgan “Morg” McPherson from the USN aircraft carrier, USS Shiloh, striking a target in North Vietnam. Although there are many militarily valuable targets in North Vietnam, Grafton and other aviators are instead routinely ordered to hit worthless targets&mdash;typically “suspected truck parks”. The pilots are barred from hitting the more valuable targets because of restrictive “rules of engagement” imposed on American forces. Despite the minimal damage even a successful strike will inflict on the enemy (whom the aviators derisively refer to as “Gomers”), North Vietnamese airspace is heavily defended, making the missions extremely dangerous for the aviators. Grafton and Morg elude most of the defenses, but a stray shot fired by a lone farmer on the ground fatally wounds Morg. Traumatized by the loss of his good friend, Grafton begins to question whether his efforts have been worth it. He is eventually paired up with Virgil 'Tiger' Cole as his new navigator. Cole, an aggressive veteran with experience over the most heavily defended areas of North Vietnam, becomes aware of Grafton’s frustrations, and the two begin to plan an unauthorized mission against a Communist Party center in Hanoi, which will be a serious violation of the restrictive rules of engagement. With the help of one of the Shiloh’s intelligence officers, Cole and Grafton locate and plan the mission. Flying the mission nearly proves fatal due to problems with the A-6’s weapons system. Once completed, they don't even know if they successfully hit anything. Grafton’s superiors soon learn of the unauthorized strike&mdash;there is no way to hide the fact that Grafton’s plane was shot at by Surface to Air Missiles, yet no SAM sites were positioned near the target they were supposed to hit. Both Grafton and Cole are prosecuted by the Navy, with a conviction being certain. The charges are dropped however, as the Richard Nixon administration is about to authorize a massive new air war campaign against Hanoi, “Linebacker II”. The Navy decides that they can’t prosecute pilots for flying a mission against Hanoi when the President is about to order an escalation along the same lines. The remainder of the novel follows Grafton’s exploits in what became known as The Christmas Bombings. He also romances Callie, his future wife. He is shot down during the offensive, and is forced to confront the horror of war on the ground, and the story closes with Grafton being rescued.