Cirrus@Austlit

'A thrilling action adventure set in wartime Australia, The Last Eaglehawk is the winner of the National Seniors Literary Prize for 2014.

'On a cold Brisbane morning in 1997, seven-year-old Benjamin Taylor is happy to stay indoors and fly jet fighters in the virtual world. For his grandfather, however, the computer game triggers a childhood memory he's kept hidden all these years . . .

'An aircraft cockpit . . . A Japanese plane in the crosshairs . . . A terrible explosion . . .

It's 1942, and aviation designer Richard Gannon is coming to terms with the rejection of his prototype fighter plane, The Eaglehawk, 'when news comes through that Darwin has been bombed by the Japanese. The Australian Government can no longer afford to drag their feet and Air Commodore Wilfred Benham has a risky, and decidedly controversial, proposal to make.

'Richard's plane will be put into production – but at only half the size. And it will be children, recruited from streets and orphanages across Australia, who will become its fighter pilots.

'The Last Eaglehawk is an exciting story of triumph and tragedy, of audacious wartime operations and the courageous children who take to the skies to defend their land. ' (Publication summary)

'September 1, 1939: "The stillness of the morning was suddenly shattered when three German fighter planes appeared from behind the mountain of Kubalonka. They were in strict formation, one slightly in front of the other, as if taking part in a demonstration, barely above ground level. I could see the grey fuselage, the pilots in the cockpits and the ominous black crosses on the wings. The noise alone felt like it would shake all my teeth out. I saw the flicker of flames as the first plane fired its guns, and heard the trees above my head splintering as the stream of bullets hit them. Branches toppled down, Cattle panicked. Leaves and twigs sprayed across the field. The ricocheting bullets whined around the valley." 
'War had come to Poland and 10-year-old Paul's life had suddenly changed. Forced to abandon any outward allegiance to their Polish heritage and Seventh-day Adventist faith, Paul's family were determined to keep obedience to God foremost.' (Publication summary)