Never Lark nor Eagle

About the Book

Never Lark nor Eagle: A Fighter Pilot´s Story, the novel by Ray Castagnaro, is accurate, entertaining Historical fiction about Yanks in the RAF during the Battle of Britain, and their eventual transition to the U.S. Army Air Forces. The story continues with dangerous test flying at Muroc Lake, California, then the exploits of the "Fourth but First" Fighter Group in Korea. The reader witnesses counterinsurgency in the jungles of the Philippines, espionage in 1950s Saigon, and hypersonic test flying at Edwards. It climaxes with the electrifying, but often overlooked air campaign over Vietnam. As told through the saga of one extraordinary American family, the story of the most exciting period in aviation history is told with historical accuracy, passion, and humor.

The early career of a fighter pilot and his family, spanning 1938 to 1958. 16 year old crop duster Carl Morro is adopted by the Wilcox family of rural Kentucky. With his adoptive brother, Freddy, Morro joins other American pilots in Britain’s Royal Air Force in 1940, transitioning to the American "Eagle Squadron," and eventually into the US Army Air Force when America enters the war.

Through compelling narrative and humorous dialogue, the reader witnesses an accurate history of air warfare and weapons development through the fictional career of a man who helped develop them and their tactics from pre-WWII through Korea and the 1950s.

You will need to have both Volumes I & II to read the whole story.

About the Author

Raymond J. Castagnaro was born in New York City, grew up in Levittown, Long Island, and graduated from Rutgers University and its Air Force ROTC program in 1978. He served six years of active duty in the Air Force flying F-4E Phantom II fighters, then transferred to the North Carolina Air National Guard as an Air Liaison Officer/Forward Air Controller, supporting various tank and infantry units of the North Carolina and Georgia National Guard and elements of the XVIIIth Airborne Corps. He is currently an Air Force Reserve Lieutenant Colonel and lives near Dallas, Texas.