The Sky Suspended

The Sky Suspended continues the story of Patrick Montalto, now an Ace, and a USAAF Lieutenant newly transferred from the British Western Desert Air Force. Arriving just weeks after Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942, Lt. Montalto finds himself in the 3rd Fighter Squadron 104th Fighter Group, flying not his sturdy P-40, but Reverse Lend-Lease British Spitfires. With new friends and old, he battles through the winter over Kasserine, El Guettar and Cape Bon, adding kills to his score. He briefly renews a boyhood romance with a visiting Red Cross volunteer before moving with the war to much-conquered Sicily. On a temporary stint to Italy, Patrick is shot down in rugged Abruzzi. Badly wounded, he is rescued by a local teacher, Vivianna Altessa. A spark is ignited before he is smuggled back to the Allied lines, vowing to return. But instead the 104th is moved to Corsica, covering the long slog up the Italian boot. Spring of 1944 finds the Group transitioning to the P-51 Mustang. Operating from new bases in Southern Italy, Patrick’s mission is to escort 15th Air Force heavy bombers pummeling Hitler’s Reich, and to find Vivianna.