The Shepherd by Frederick Forsyth

The Shepherd (published in 1975) is undoubtedly one of the best stories written by Frederick Forsyth.

It is said that Forsyth wrote this story as a gift to his wife, and later it was published as a book. The story is about a young pilot of the Royal Air Force flying from his base station in West Germany to England on Christmas eve of 1957. It has become a tradition for many Radio Stations in US and Canada to broadcast the audio version of this story on every Christmas Eve. 

The Black & White sketches in this book are a masterpiece and they enhance the thrill of reading this book.  Here is the audio version (approx 30 Mins) along with the original sketches from that very very gripping book:  

I was in Germany in 1989 (actually West Germany at that time) & while returning, I spotted the “de Havilland Vampire” jet fighter plane, which is actually one of the characters in this book by Frederick Forsyth. It was displayed in the open-air aircraft museum on the terrace of Frankfurt Airport.  Here is a photo of that plane I shot using a film camera.

Yes, there used to be cellulose film cameras in those days.