WINGMAN WAR OF THE SUN BY MACK MALONEY

Copyright 1992.

The United Americans have defeated the Fourth Reich and liberated the eastern half of the country. The other half is still under the occupation of the Asian Mercenary Cult. An uneasy truce exists for the cult has two nuclear subs that could destroy two cities. Yet intelligence indicates that their insane leader Hashi Pushi is about to obliterate a city on the west coast. Hashi Pushi is a drug crazed nut who likes to have his own men commit seppuku over minor infractions. The United Americans lead by Hawk Hunter come up with a daring plan. Outfit an aircraft carrier and conduct a raid on Pushi’s palace in Tokyo. With his death it is hoped the cult will fall apart.

They carry out the raid and Hashi Pushi does commit suicide but the threat from the cult is far from over. His spirit is transferred to a teenage girl who continues his evil plans of world domination. On the island of Okinawa a massive factory is churning out guns, munitions and exact copies of WWII era Zeros. On a nearby island they are producing dozens of battleships. So Hunter manages to team up with a movie production group that was stranded on the island by WWIII. They are lead by the daughter of Amelia Earhart. Naturally Hunter and the United Americans easily destroy this base.

Yet the spirit of Hashi lives on in another young cult member. He manages to gather the cult’s forces at Pearl Harbor to lure the Americans to their doom. Only Hunter is one step ahead and uses remote controlled ships to lure the thousand of kamikaze Zeros to destroy empty ships. Then they destroy the islands food and water supply and trap the army to starve. Everything looks great until at the end we learn that the cult was being manipulated by the dead spirit of Victor Robotov the insane terrorist thought dead.

So this book sees the defeat of the Second Axis. I have to say that the Second Axis was a very incompetent bunch. Everyone of them was more good at killing themselves then the enemy. It is a wonder they managed to take over America in the first place. As you can read from the description of the plot this was just filled to the brim with goofiness. Which just makes it such a fun experience. Not a bit of real world grounding but plenty of fast paced action. Ends with the revelation of the evil Russian terrorist mastermind Victor now back and somehow resurrected from the dead. The action will now start going more international with Hunter and his buddies leaving America to battle evil all over the world.

WINGMAN RETURN FROM THE INFERNO BY MACK MALONEY

Copyright 1991.

The Second Axis has conquered America. On the west coast everything west of the Rockies is under the control of the Combined Greater East Asia Divine Warriors’ Association or what will be known as the Asian Mercenary Cult. Everything to the east is the Fourth Reich a reborn Nazis empire. America now is under the brutal heel of these occupiers. Most of the United American officers are in hiding or concentration camps. Hawk Hunter the famed Wingman is presumed dead. In Fuhrerstadt the Nazis capital which was formerly St. Louis the Amerikafuhrer is about to marry the insane Elizabeth Sandlake so she can become queen of America.

Yet Hunter isn’t dead and has been quietly rebuilding the forces of resistance. A clever ruse distracts the Nazis from the real objective of the attack. With the battleship New Jersey towing barges full of tanks they make their way up the Mississippi to Fuhrerstadt during the wedding. A decisive battle frees the country but sees the brave Mike Fitzgerald sacrifice himself to prevent the destruction of St. Louis by a nuclear missile.

Back in the nineties it was a common practice to revive the old Axis after the fall of the Soviets. Either a resurgent Germany or Japan was the new bad guy. Maloney actually brings it back quite literally. Now how did the Nazis get to power. Not really explained but they apparently have a very modern army and air force. The first half of the book is somewhat slow. We never even see Hunter the main hero. It mostly consists of stuff like Mike Fitzgerald pretending to be a priest to hide from the Nazis and showing us how evil the Nazis are. The second half though we get the typical goofy over the top action that we expect in a Wingman book. You have to wonder how these Nazis managed to take over America in the first place. They seem completely incompetent and when the going gets tough they just shoot themselves in the head. They sure don’t make Nazis like they used to.

WINGMAN SKYFIRE BY MACK MALONEY

Copyright 1990.

The book starts out with an assault on a castle in Alberta. The evil Elizabeth Sandlake has captive Hawk Hunter’s girlfriend Dominique. Sandlake who was an archeologist that was taken captive by the Canal Nazis has been driven insane and now wants to create a female dominated aristocracy with her as queen. Wow is this way ahead of it’s time. The joint United American/Free Canadian force succeeds and frees Dominique and captures many criminals. Unfortunately Sandlake her lover Juanita Juarez and Hunter’s beloved F-16 get away. You know it’s love when Hunter chooses his girl over his airplane. After this Hunter decides to retire with Dominique and live on a hay farm on the coast of Massachusetts.

Things though don’t stay peaceful for the country. A mysterious force of raiders from the sea are attacking towns and cities on the east coast of Canada and America. These raiders strike around Hunter’s home and kidnap his girl. Now he has to get out his AV-8BE Harrier and join the fight. He finds out that the mysterious raiders are Vikings in massive submarines. These unhygenic Vikings are using these massive coal powered subs complete with sea serpent heads mounted on the front to rape, loot and pillage. These Vikings are the work of a fishing magnet who took over northern Scandinavia and revived the Viking traditions after the war. Verden and his son Thorgils though are puppets to some other force. Along the way Hunter teams up with Verden’s rebellious son Wolf who wears a mask and captains the USS New Jersey battleship. The big raid against Florida is easily defeated but the United Americans are surprised by an attack from a new enemy. An enemy that possesses carriers with modern aircraft. They decimate the United American forcers as a large Asian enemy invades the west coast. Ends with Hunter going off on a suicide mission to attack the invaders alone.

So with the Soviets defeated the author has to come up with some new enemies and boy are these some off the wall ones. Naturally this book was a joy to read. The kooky Vikings that drive around in coal powered submarines. The weird feminist Sandlake who joins forces with them. The equally mysterious figure of Wolf with his Zorro like mask using his battleship against his family. Goes along with the big final battle that is a complete success for Hunter. Then it hits us with the surprise attack and defeat of the Americans at the end. The Vikings were just a distraction for this new enemy who also has four nuclear armed submarines to blackmail America into surrendering. A fun over the top book that doesn’t have a lick of reality to it but plenty of high adventure fantasy.

WINGMAN FREEDOM EXPRESS BY MACK MALONEY

Copyright 1990.

America is now united and settling down to normal. A group calling themselves The Modern Pioneers are attempting to drive a train across the Badlands to Los Angeles. Only it gets ambushed along the way and the empty train is sent crashing into downtown L.A. Yet the United American government has decided that a rail route should be opened between the east and west. Lead by Hawk Hunter they equip a massive two mile long train that will cut a path from the east to west coast. Dubbed the Freedom Express this heavily armed train will see Hunter trade in his F-16 for a Harrier jumpjet to land and take off from the train.

They soon find out that there is a formidable enemy awaiting them. Duke Devellian and his Knights of the Burning Cross a white supremacist group is determined to stop the train. Gathering a huge army of former canal Nazis, KKK, Mexican bandits and various mercenary scum Duke plans to ambush and destroy the train at the Grand Canyon. Hunter and the United Americans have to run a gauntlet to make the journey to L.A. The train has become a symbol of a reborn America and defeat could mean the end of the fledgling new democratic government.

This installment of the series gives us a KKK type group as the main enemy. Duke Devellian is probably the most loathsome of opponents the series ever had. He is of course a white supremacist who is also a sexual pervert that enslaves young girls. He also is a psychopath who loves killing. In fact every day he kills his own men for some minor infraction whenever he is in a bad mood. Which is very frequent. You wonder why someone would work for such an unstable individual. I mean the Burning Cross can’t have that good of pay and benefits. Duke always has to take a polaroid of his killing. Naturally Hawk Hunter and the good guys come through against overwhelming odds. They take on their old canal Nazis foes, Mexican bandits, South African flamethrower unit, skinheads in Phantoms and the KKK Air Force. Duke who fancies himself a film director plans to film the whole destruction for the world to see. Only Hunter doesn’t stick to the choreographed script. Another fun if highly improbable adventure in the Wingman universe.