About this ebook
March 1943, at the height of World War II, a newly commissioned B-17 bomber is nearing the west coast of Greenland.
Flown by a carefully picked crew, it is carrying a piece of vital secret cargo that under no circumstances can be allowed to fall into the hands of the enemy.
Caught by an unexpected and fearfully violent Arctic storm, the pilot is forced to crash-land on the vast, awesome Greenland Ice Cap. The crew is saved, but the plane itself and the ultrasensitive cargo it is carrying are swallowed by another great storm and disappear.
Three decades later Lieutenant Scott Ferguson, the pilot of a ski-equipped Air Force C-130, discovers an unknown B-17 rigidly frozen on an all-but-unexplored section of the ice cap. Ferguson is bound for Thule Air Base, named for Ultima Thule—the end of the earth. Only 960 miles from the North Pole, in the extreme Arctic, Thule is one of the most exotic places on earth—and one of the most remote. It sits squarely on the bomber and missile route from the Soviet Union to the United States and Canada.
When he reports his find, Ferguson receives sudden orders from the Pentagon: go back to the frozen bomber, get inside, and recover, if possible, a certain piece of cargo.
This, the first book about Thule and the people who are stationed there, is filled with the vastness, the danger, and the fascination of the very high Arctic. And, from the first page to the last, it is a story about aircraft and the men who fly them. When Lieutenant Ferguson and his crew set about to recover the yellow color-coded crate from the wreck of the B-17, they open the door to more adventure and extraordinary flying than even Ferguson's lively imagination can conceive. For that was not an ordinary B-17…
Flown by a carefully picked crew, it is carrying a piece of vital secret cargo that under no circumstances can be allowed to fall into the hands of the enemy.
Caught by an unexpected and fearfully violent Arctic storm, the pilot is forced to crash-land on the vast, awesome Greenland Ice Cap. The crew is saved, but the plane itself and the ultrasensitive cargo it is carrying are swallowed by another great storm and disappear.
Three decades later Lieutenant Scott Ferguson, the pilot of a ski-equipped Air Force C-130, discovers an unknown B-17 rigidly frozen on an all-but-unexplored section of the ice cap. Ferguson is bound for Thule Air Base, named for Ultima Thule—the end of the earth. Only 960 miles from the North Pole, in the extreme Arctic, Thule is one of the most exotic places on earth—and one of the most remote. It sits squarely on the bomber and missile route from the Soviet Union to the United States and Canada.
When he reports his find, Ferguson receives sudden orders from the Pentagon: go back to the frozen bomber, get inside, and recover, if possible, a certain piece of cargo.
This, the first book about Thule and the people who are stationed there, is filled with the vastness, the danger, and the fascination of the very high Arctic. And, from the first page to the last, it is a story about aircraft and the men who fly them. When Lieutenant Ferguson and his crew set about to recover the yellow color-coded crate from the wreck of the B-17, they open the door to more adventure and extraordinary flying than even Ferguson's lively imagination can conceive. For that was not an ordinary B-17…
March 1943, at the height of World War II, a newly commissioned B-17 bomber is nearing the west coast of Greenland.
Flown by a carefully picked crew, it is carrying a piece of vital secret cargo that under no circumstances can be allowed to fall into the hands of the enemy.
Caught by an unexpec...
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About the author
The son of a scientist, John Ball was born in Schenectady, New York, and grew up in Milwaukee. He attended Carroll College in Wisconsin. He subsequently worked as a science staff writer on Fortune, a music critic and feature writer for the Brooklyn Eagle, a daily columnist on the New York World-Telegram & Sun, a broadcaster for a Washington radio station, and a Director of Public Relations for the Institute of Aerospace Sciences. His In the Heat of the Night was awarded a Mystery Writers of America "Edgar" for the Best First Mystery Novel of the Year, and since had been followed by The Cool Cottontail, also featuring his African-American detective, Virgil Tibbs. Mr. Ball has also authored a number of notable young adult books. Praise for John Ball "The guy certainly knows his airplanes well and he held my interest very tightly as he developed the story." —RICHARD BACH, author of Stranger to the Ground and Biplane (Rescue Mission) "A nice tight murder puzzle." —Times Literary Supplement (Five Pieces of Jade) "A taut, dramatic yarn." —Charlotte Observer (Five Pieces of Jade) "Tibbs is as much a model of perfection as the late Wimsey... A good detective who actually ratiocinates." —Times Literary Supplement (London) (Then Came Violence) "John Ball knows how to run with a good plot--and this is one of his best." —Kirkus Reviews (Singapore) "A top notch mystery." —News & Observer (The Kiwi Target) "A breathtaking suspense thriller." —Seattle Post-Intelligencer (The Kiwi Target) "The Kiwi Target is the last book that John Ball wrote. We shall miss his inspiration." —Mystery Scene (The Kiwi Target)
The son of a scientist, John Ball was born in Schenectady, New York, and grew up in Milwaukee. He attended Carroll College in Wisconsin. He subsequently worked as a science staff writer on Fortune, a music critic and feature writer for the Brooklyn Eagle, a daily columnist on the New York World-T...
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