Every year, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts a reading of The Shepherd by Alan Maitland. I was quite sure that I had read all his novels, but then realised there was this 120 page short story that I had somehow missed (it's a standalone novel itself published first in 1975). Of course if anyone can dig up the Chris Foss artwork that was used for the interior illustrations of some early editions I'd be eternally grateful.

The Shepherd - Wikipedia The Shepherd - Wikipedia

The Shepherd is a novella about a 20 year old pilot who, on Christmas Eve 1957, set out from Lower Saxony, Germany to Blighty, UK to celebrate christmas with his family. In 2022, John Travolta confirmed that he is currently filming a cinematic version of The Shepherd on location in West Raynham, Norfolk. The plane is a “shepherd,” guiding the Vampire to a safe landing, and its appearance is a gift from fate, a miracle out of time—but for one lonely pilot, the mystery has just begun. During his intensive training, the young pilot had learned that should he ever lose his radio and be unable to transmit his emergency, he should try to attract the attention of RAF radar scanners by adopting a triangle manoeuvre. We understand that not everyone can donate right now, but if you can afford to contribute, we promise it will be put to good use.The aircraft involved brings back memories of the aircraft collection we had at Long Marston airfield. As to the story, it is quite good as one would expect from an internationally acclaimed work which is particularly admired in the aviation community. In this edition there are also some wonderful illustrations by Lou Feck, who apparently was quite well-known for his book cover illustrations.

The Shepherd (Short 2023) - IMDb The Shepherd (Short 2023) - IMDb

I've always read (and re-read) the condensed version that appeared in Reader's Digest so many years ago, torn from that old magazine and treasured in my files. Lost in fog over the North Sea, low on fuel, no working compass or radio, the pilot begins flying in small triangles, an odd flying pattern which would be detected on radar. It's a bad thing, a sad thing, to die at twenty years of age, with your life unlived, and the worst thing of all is not the fact of dying but the fact of all the things never done. He has given up hope when a second shadow appears—a Mosquito fighter-bomber of World War II vintage.I felt at least at 2 instances that the novel had now ended only to be dumbstruck on the very next page. When the lieutenant heard a low flying plane he had turned on the runway lights, which had never been disconnected. What to do when suffering an electronic instrument panel malfunction at thirty thousand feet and swirling fog. At one point the Vampire’s pilot sees the nose of the Mosquito, which had the letters JK painted on it.

The Shepherd - Frederick Forsyth - read by Alan Maitland from CBC Radio The Shepherd - Frederick Forsyth - read by Alan Maitland from CBC

A pilot heading home to England on Christmas Eve in the 1950's suffers instrument and radio failure over the English channel. However, if tales incorporating the supernatural are not your thing, just remember; it'll be more believable than Top Gun2!As you would expect from a novel this short (look at the number of pages then add in the fact that there are sketches as well and you can truly begin to understand just how short the story really is) events progress at quite a speed, keeping you interested from start to end. He hung up the telephone and thought someone must have bought one of the old Mosquitoes, happened to be flying on Christmas Eve, saw a pilot flying in small triangles, and led him to the storage depot, which had the closest airstrip. There was an RAF pilot killed over France but his aircraft was found a bit north of his base suspended in tree's, having run out of fuel.