124:). After crossing the Soviet Union from Moscow to the airbase where the Firefox is being developed, with the help of various MI6 agents and several false identities; dissident scientists involved in the project create a diversion allowing Gant to steal the plane. He then deals with several obstacles and, after dispatching the second prototype in a dogfight, has apparently succeeded in his theft.
97:
After the war, he leaves the military and is recruited by the CIA and works for some time in a menial job in a Los
Angeles pizza restaurant while shadowing a KGB cell. Later, he becomes a handyman, a drunk and a hobo. Eventually he is re-recruited by the CIA for their Firefox operation, supposedly
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and with the help of a
Russian double agent named Anna Akhmerovna, the Soviet Union as well. Gant and Anna are reluctantly assisted by Dmitri Priabin, a KGB officer who helped coordinate the original hunt for Gant and the Firefox, but is also Anna's lover. Anna is shot as Gant crosses the border.
98:
because of his knowledge of
Russian, his combat experience in Vietnam and his knowledge of flying Russian aircraft; he is already fluent in Russian (his mother was Russian) therefore only requires 3 months of training, learning to fly a replica MiG-25 as well as a simulator of the Firefox.
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Gant meets up with a team of western intelligence experts that have recovered the MiG-31 from under the
Finnish ice, but have not been able to move it to safety. Gant successfully flies the plane home, even though immersion under water has damaged the plane's radar-invisibility.
180:. With the Soviet Army imposing a security crackdown on Baikonur, even upon the KGB, Gant and Priabin escape Baikonur in a KGB helicopter. Shot down by Soviet helicopters, Gant is forced to escape again with evidence of the Soviet weapon - first on foot, then in a stolen
172:. Dmitri Priabin, the ranking head of the KGB, still holds a vendetta against Gant due to the death of Anna Akhmerovna. When he learns, however, of a plot by the Soviet military to take control of the Soviet space weapon and use it against an American
62:
Gant grew up in
Clarksville, a small town in rural America and found himself drawn to flight when as a child after seeing a small airplane land at a local gas station in need of fuel. With few happy memories of Clarksville, Gant found his way into the
141:
very close to the Soviet border. The
Soviets capture Gant, but not before the plane breaks through the ice and sinks. The Soviets attempt to use brainwashing to determine whether the MiG-31 crashed or landed. Gant escapes from the
137:, Gant realizes that he has not survived his dogfight with the second MiG-31 unscathed. Leaking fuel from a punctured fuel tank, and forced to burn more when confronted by two MiG-25's, Gant lands the MiG-31 on a frozen lake in
112:, an Anglo-American intelligence scheme inserts Gant into the Soviet Union in order for him to steal one of the two prototypes of a revolutionary fighter plane, the
94:, causing him to have frequent flashbacks. He suffers from a recurring nightmare about himself being a Vietnamese and burning in napalm dropped by US aircraft.
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86:. Gant ejected and was immediately captured, apparently by guerrillas. The arrival of allied aircraft saves Gant, but also traumatizes him -
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dropped by one of the aircraft incinerates a young girl travelling with the enemy soldiers. The experience left him with
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Jones, Robert C. (October 2, 1983). "Sequel
Refuels Cold-War Battle For Superplane In Which Lives Are Cheap".
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agent working for a rival aircraft manufacturer. In the epilogue, it is mentioned that Gant was awarded a
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156:. Originally, Gant's mission was to smuggle scientist and spy Filip Kedrov out of the
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Taylor, Noel (June 6, 1987). "Eastwood Movie Boosts Mach-2 Thriller Writer". Books.
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Miner, Tom (August 14, 1977). "The Not-So-Cold War". Current
Fiction.
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following the events of the novel. It is also revealed that he was an
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cropduster, then again on foot when the An-2 is shot down near the
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is a fictional character in a series of books written by
168:. However, Gant and Kedrov were both captured by the
164:, as Kedrov had information on a Soviet spaceborne
16:Fictional character created by author Craig Thomas
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26:. His first appearance occurs in the 1977 novel
273:(June 27, 1982). "Eastwood Soars In Firefox".
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487:Fictional United States Air Force personnel
199:Gant's final appearance comes in the novel
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482:Fictional Medal of Honor recipients
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150:Gant's next role was in the novel
116:(not to be confused with the real
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205:, in which he is a member of the
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229:pilot and instructor during the
114:MiG-31, NATO code name "Firefox"
74:While flying combat during the
50:portrayed the character in the
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92:post-traumatic stress disorder
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332:. April 30, 1998. p. 23.
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133:, the immediate sequel to
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276:San Angelo Standard-Times
492:Fictional fighter pilots
192:, Gant is extracted by
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65:United States Air Force
328:"Top Ten Paperbacks".
166:directed-energy weapon
84:surface-to-air missile
39:that steals a Russian
297:The Kansas City Star
54:of the 1977 novel.
46:prototype. In 1982,
158:Baikonur Cosmodrome
82:was shot down by a
58:Character biography
477:Fictional aviators
314:The Ottawa Citizen
256:The Sacramento Bee
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259:. p. 4.
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217:by a former
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34:US Air Force
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431:Adaptations
421:Winter Hawk
384:(character)
330:Harlow Star
153:Winter Hawk
102:Appearances
76:Vietnam War
471:Categories
237:References
162:Kazakhstan
215:sabotaged
78:, Gant's
400:Rat Trap
211:airliner
449:Related
439:Firefox
407:Firefox
194:US Army
186:Turkish
139:Finland
135:Firefox
109:Firefox
29:Firefox
178:Moscow
122:MiG-25
118:MiG-31
88:napalm
71:.
37:major
32:as a
182:An-2
219:CIA
170:KGB
160:in
144:KGB
127:In
106:In
473::
279:.
245:^
233:.
363:e
356:t
349:v
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