Flight to Dungavel

Book excerpt: Flight to Dungavel begins in 1918 when an infantry sergeant saves the life of a lieutenant whose Spad crashes in no-man's-land. After the war and throughout the twenties the two ex-soldiers construct a bootlegging empire. To avoid charges of income tax evasion, and account for their illegal income, the miscreants finance two British engineers who claim to have discovered diamonds in British Guiana. Thinking the venture is sure to fail, they 'cook' the books to show income from the mine. In 1933, one step ahead of an arrest warrant they are forced to flee the country. In British Guiana they are surprised to find the mine is modestly successful. As they cannot return to the States until the statute of limitations expires, they take an active role in the mine. They buy a British Avro, hack an airfield out of the jungle, and fly supplies to and from the mine. In 1934, the mine produces an enormous cache of diamonds. The ten kilogram sack of diamonds is strapped into the front seat of the biplane. While airborne, the pilot passes out from the sting of a Veinticuatro ant. After he regains consciousness, he is off course and nearly out of fuel. The Avro crashes in an unexplored corner of Guiana populated by aborigines who have never seen a white man. In 1940, Hitler learns that diamonds were aboard the aircraft and orders the SS to recover them. Churchill learns of the plan and the plot continues...