Good FLYING Reads: Red Burning Sky

A novel reveals the story about a little-known C-47 rescue operation during World War II in Yugoslavia.

Thursday, June 30, 2022 at 12:13 PM ET

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Tom Young gets ready in the only warbird he’s ever flown—a T-34 Mentor at the Quantico Flying Club in the 1990s. [Courtesy: Tom Young]

Key Takeaways:

The article features author Tom Young discussing his historical novel, "Red Burning Sky," which dramatizes Operation Halyard, a secret World War II rescue of Allied airmen in Yugoslavia.
Young achieved the book's operational realism through detailed research, including WWII C-47 training films, pilot manuals, and interviews, with historical sources like "The Forgotten 500" and the Halyard Mission Foundation.
The author identified most with the character of Vasa, a teenage guerrilla fighter inspired by his own professor's wartime experiences, and plans another WWII story next.

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It’s a stunning story. A disparate collection of 100—no, 300—no 500 downed airmen hidden in and around a town in rural Yugoslavia during the ragged last year of World War II are rescued by secret airlift. And for the bravery and courage of both the local Serbian people and the pilots and crew that flew in to airlift the Allied soldiers out, there were no medals, no recognition until many years later.

Tom Young’s Red Burning Sky kept me engaged—and didn’t hit any off notes as far as aircraft operations, a nod to his thorough research.