Eagle in the Sky was published by William Heinemann in 1974. David Morgan is a wealthy young South African — heir to a diamond fortune — who is also a gifted painter and a natural pilot. He volunteers for the Israeli Air Force (Smith makes him half-Jewish through his mother) and flies Mirage jets in the Six-Day War of 1967 and the Yom Kippur War of 1973.
During the 1973 war, David is shot down over Syria and horrifically burned. His face is destroyed. His hands — the painter’s hands — are crippled. The woman he loves (Dobie, a novelist) cannot look at him. The novel’s second half follows David’s reconstruction: not just surgical but artistic and emotional. He learns to paint again with damaged hands, produces work that surpasses what he made before, and finds a love that accepts his disfigurement.
The novel represents Smith at his most ambitious beyond pure adventure. The flying sequences are superb — Smith was a pilot and understood aerial combat — but the real achievement is the second half, where violence’s consequences must be lived with rather than escaped through further action.
The Aerial Combat
Smith’s flying sequences — the Mirage jet duels over the Golan Heights, the SAM missile evasions, the dogfights with MiG-21s — are among the finest aerial combat writing in adventure fiction. Smith was himself a pilot and understood the physics and psychology of air combat. The transition from the exhilaration of flight to the horror of being burned alive is the novel’s most powerful structural move.
Collecting Eagle in the Sky
First edition (William Heinemann, London, 1974): Boards with dust jacket.
Approximate market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $60–$150
- Very good/very good: $25–$60
Projected values (2026–2036): Moderate appreciation.
Frequently Asked Questions
How accurate is the aerial combat in Eagle in the Sky? Smith researched the Israeli Air Force extensively and the Mirage fighter sequences are considered among the most vivid aerial combat writing outside of dedicated aviation fiction. The technical detail reflects the real capabilities and tactics of the 1973 period.