Aviation Thriller ‘The Shepherd’ Will Boost Any Pilot’s Holiday Runup

English author Frederick Forsyth’s The Shepherd hits especially close to home for private pilots.

Jonathan Welsh

Friday, December 01, 2023 at 10:04 AM ET

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A pilot flies a de Havilland Vampire through difficult conditions in Frederick Forsyth's 'The Shepherd.' [iStock]

Key Takeaways:

Frederick Forsyth's "The Shepherd" is a classic short story about a young RAF pilot experiencing an electrical failure and becoming lost on a Christmas Eve flight in 1957.
The tale is a suspenseful aviation thriller that deeply resonates with pilots familiar with in-flight doubts concerning fuel, weather, or equipment.
The story has become a long-standing Christmas Eve tradition with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC) playing a reading of it annually.
A new screen adaptation of "The Shepherd," starring John Travolta and Ben Radcliffe, is now streaming on Disney+.

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It is Christmas Eve, 1957, and a young Royal Air Force officer stationed in Germany is granted leave at nearly the last minute, allowing him just enough time to fly home for the holiday.

The pilot straps into his de Havilland Vampire fighter, is cleared for takeoff and heads toward his home field, RAF Lakenheath. The night flight will take about an hour and he has plenty of fuel.