Looking for Sabre novel

[kiseca]

I am hoping the knowledgeable here may be able to help me trace a novel I read but cannot remember the name of, nor can I find it.

 

I would have read it in the late 1980s, maybe early 1990s. The plot was a pilot, I think either commercial or private licence, who for reasons I have long since forgotten was compelled to bomb some target somewhere in the Middle East or north Africa. It was, if I recall, a mercenary mission. He had to operate solo, plan and source everything and fly the mission by himself.

 

He chose a Sabre as the jet, something that could do the job but was also available in the civilian market (the book was set in the 1980s I think) and went to Canada, bought the jet, bought ferry tanks, ferried it back over the atlantic. For bombs, he used drop tanks and home made napalm to fashion his own. That is almost everything I remember of the book, apart from the fact I am sure it was written in the first person.

 

I can't remember the book title or author. I am sure the cover had a picture or painting of a Sabre.

 

My question is, does anyone here recognise the book? A long shot, but I'd like to track it down if I could, and googling Sabre novels just floods me with non-fiction books about the aircraft, and biographies.

Edited August 14, 2022 by kiseca