Shooting Script
Encyclopedia
Shooting Script is a first person narrative novel
by English
author Gavin Lyall
, first published in 1966
.
fighter pilot
with combat experience in the Korean War
is now living in Jamaica
, where he makes a threadbare living flying charter cargo flights around the Caribbean
in his mortgaged second-hand de Havilland Dove
. After a rival pilot from his Korean War days lands a high-priced job commanding a squadron of de Havilland Vampire
jet fighters for the hard-line military dictators
on the nearby “Republica Libre”, Carr suddenly finds life more difficult. For some reason, the United States
FBI is keeping him under surveillance. Republica Libre at first offers him a job, and then impounds his plane when he refuses – and one of his flying students ends up murdered. Carr is hired by the flamboyant movie director Walt Whitmore, who is filming an action movie on the north coast of Jamaica, and Carr is assigned to fly an old World War II
vintage B-25 Mitchell
medium bomber
as a camera plane. However, it soon becomes apparent that Whitmore has more in mind for Carr and the decrepit bomber than just making a film.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
author Gavin Lyall
Gavin Lyall
Gavin Tudor Lyall was an English author of espionage thrillers.-Biography:Lyall was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, as the son of a local accountant, and educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham...
, first published in 1966
1966 in literature
The year 1966 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*February 14 - Dissident writers Yuli Daniel and Andrei Sinyavsky are sentenced to hard labour for "anti-Soviet activity"....
.
Plot introduction
Keith Carr, an ex-Royal Air ForceRoyal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
fighter pilot
Fighter pilot
A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained in air-to-air combat while piloting a fighter aircraft . Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and dogfighting...
with combat experience in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
is now living in Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, where he makes a threadbare living flying charter cargo flights around the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
in his mortgaged second-hand de Havilland Dove
De Havilland Dove
The de Havilland DH.104 Dove was a British monoplane short-haul airliner from de Havilland, the successor to the biplane de Havilland Dragon Rapide and was one of Britain's most successful post-war civil designs...
. After a rival pilot from his Korean War days lands a high-priced job commanding a squadron of de Havilland Vampire
De Havilland Vampire
The de Havilland DH.100 Vampire was a British jet-engine fighter commissioned by the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Following the Gloster Meteor, it was the second jet fighter to enter service with the RAF. Although it arrived too late to see combat during the war, the Vampire served...
jet fighters for the hard-line military dictators
Military dictatorship
A military dictatorship is a form of government where in the political power resides with the military. It is similar but not identical to a stratocracy, a state ruled directly by the military....
on the nearby “Republica Libre”, Carr suddenly finds life more difficult. For some reason, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
FBI is keeping him under surveillance. Republica Libre at first offers him a job, and then impounds his plane when he refuses – and one of his flying students ends up murdered. Carr is hired by the flamboyant movie director Walt Whitmore, who is filming an action movie on the north coast of Jamaica, and Carr is assigned to fly an old World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
vintage B-25 Mitchell
B-25 Mitchell
The North American B-25 Mitchell was an American twin-engined medium bomber manufactured by North American Aviation. It was used by many Allied air forces, in every theater of World War II, as well as many other air forces after the war ended, and saw service across four decades.The B-25 was named...
medium bomber
Medium bomber
A medium bomber is a bomber aircraft designed to operate with medium bombloads over medium distances; the name serves to distinguish them from the larger heavy bombers and smaller light bombers...
as a camera plane. However, it soon becomes apparent that Whitmore has more in mind for Carr and the decrepit bomber than just making a film.