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) displayed in the 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.