Firefox Down

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Firefox Down (1983) is a novel by author Craig Thomas. It is a sequel to his novel Firefox.

As with the first novel, the book focuses on the efforts of Mitchell Gant to steal the fictional prototype MiG-31 Firefox aircraft. At the climax of Firefox, Gant engaged in combat with a second MiG-31; the second novel begins mere moments later, with Gant discovering that his aircraft sustained damage in the dogfight and is losing fuel rapidly. After a brief engagement with two Soviet MiG-25s, Gant crashes the Firefox into a Finnish lake. Upon fleeing the crash scene, Gant is captured by the KGB. The West must then mount a desperate attempt to recover the Firefox from the lake, repair it, and return it to flyable condition before Russian forces can recapture or destroy it. At the same time, Gant attempts to escape the Soviet Union.

Unlike its predecessor, Firefox Down did not become a movie. However, the book usually depicts the MiG-31 from the movie on the cover and the text of the novel describes it as black, as it was in the movie, rather than the original silver.

The Mitchell Gant character also went on to appear in the novels Winter Hawk (1987) and A Different War (1997).

Firefox Down was dedicated to Clint Eastwood "the pilot of the Firefox."

One should note that the Firefox depicted in the aforementioned novels greatly exceeds the capabilities of the actual MiG-31, known as the Foxhound, a Cold War interceptor designed to destroy NATO bombers over Russian airspace.