The Rocketeer by Peter David

Published June 1st 1991 by Falcon/Bantam

The World in Turmoil

1938. In Germany, Nazism reaches a fever pitch. Rumors of War spread accros the continent of Europe. In the calm before the storm, Hitler searches for a shortcut in his plans for world domination - and looks to Hollywood. He sends his agents across the Atlantic to the celluloid capital of sin and glamour, on the trail of an all-powerful secret weapon.

The Golden Age of Hollywood

Los Angeles. Cliff Secord is a barnstorming air-race pilot. He makes his living by living dangerously, is happiest when he's shattering air-speed records and riding the contrail edge of disaster. After thugs destroy his prized GeeBee race plane during an FBI gun battle, Secord finds himself out of work, out of luck...and hung out to dry. For someone has saddled him with the most dangerous weapon of the war - the Cirrus X-3 rocketpack, a flying device faster and more dangerous than any Secord has ever encountered. Now he and his starlet girlfriend are on the run, one step ahead of gangster mercenaries, federal agents, and Nazi assassins, who prowl the City of Angels looking for America's most reluctant hero.

Men have died for this weapon.

Cliff Secord is next in line.

Based on the Screenplay by Danny Bilson & Paul De Meo
From a story by Danny Bilson, Paul De Meo, and William Dear
Based upon the comic book series The Rocketeer created by Dave Stevens