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  • Published: 3 April 2017
  • ISBN: 9780143770527
  • Imprint: Puffin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $16.99

Flight Path




Dogfights, bombing missions, explosions, a touch of romance and capture - a pacey, suspense-filled novel for young adults.

A gripping novel for young adults that captures both the daring and the everyday realities of serving in the Air Force during the Second World War.

Pete and Paul yelled together. 'Bandit! Nine o'clock! Bandit!'
Jack spun to stare. There was the Messerschmitt on their left, streaking straight at them.

Eighteen-year-old Jack wanted to escape boring little New Zealand. But he soon finds that flying in a Lancaster bomber to attack Hitler’s forces brings terror as well as excitement. With every dangerous mission, he becomes more afraid that he’ll never get back alive. He wants to help win the war, but will he lose his own life?


My Brother’s War: '... there are stories that need to be told over and over again, to introduce a new generation of readers to important ideas and to critical times in their country's history ... Hill's descriptions of trench warfare are unforgettable.' from the Judges' Report of the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults 2013

  • Published: 3 April 2017
  • ISBN: 9780143770527
  • Imprint: Puffin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $16.99

About the author

David Hill

David Hill is a prolific and highly regarded New Zealand writer, playwright, poet, columnist and critic. Best known for his highly popular and award-winning body of work for young people, ranging from picture books to teenage fiction, his novels have been published all around the world and translated into several languages, and his short stories and plays for young people have been broadcast here and overseas.

Born in Napier, New Zealand, David studied at Victoria University of Wellington and became a high-school teacher, teaching both in New Zealand and the UK. In 1982 he became a full-time writer and his first novel for teenagers, See Ya, Simon (1992), about a boy with muscular dystrophy, was shortlisted for major awards in New Zealand and the UK and won the 1994 Times Educational Supplement Award for Special Needs. An enduringly popular novel used as a class text in high schools all over New Zealand, in 2002 it was awarded the Storylines Gaelyn Gordon Award for a Much-loved Book.

David has published more than 50 titles over four decades. His middle-grade novels include My Brother's War (2012), which won the Junior Fiction Award and the Children's Choice Junior Fiction Award in the 2013 New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, the LIANZA Librarian's Choice Award and was listed as a Storylines Notable Junior Fiction book, a White Raven and an IBBY Honour book. This was followed by novels Brave Company (2014) – also a Storylines Notable Junior Fiction book; The Deadly Sky (2015); Enemy Camp (2016), which won the 2016 HELL Children’s Choice Award for Junior Fiction; Flight Path (2017), a Storylines Notable Book; Finding (May 2018), Highly Commended in the New Zealand Heritage Book Awards 2018; and Coastwatcher (2021).

Below (2022) won the Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award for Junior Fiction at the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults 2023. Described as 'a white-knuckle survival story set in a catastrophic tunnel collapse', the judges commended the way 'it trusts its young readers to handle big environmental ideas and come to their own conclusions'.


David is also the author of a number of critically acclaimed picture books with illustrator Phoebe Morris. First to the Top (2015) is their bestselling story of the life of Sir Edmund Hillary, which won the 2016 Children's Choice Award for non-fiction and was a 2016 Storylines Notable Picture Book. Speed King (2016), about the world-record-breaking achievements of Burt Munro, and Sky High (2017), recounting the life of the daring aviator Jean Batten, were both presented with Storylines Notable Picture Book awards. Hero of the Sea: Sir Peter Blake's Mighty Ocean Quests was published in 2018 and Dinosaur Hunter: Joan Wiffen's Awesome Fossil Discoveries was published in 2019.

In 2004 David was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit and in 2005 he was awarded the Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal, acknowledging his significant contribution to children's literature in New Zealand.

In November 2021 David was awarded the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement - Fiction in recognition of his outstanding contribution to New Zealand Literature.

He lives in New Plymouth with his wife Beth, and juggles his many writing projects with numerous school visits, leading professional development for teachers, mentoring new and emerging writers and tutoring creative writing.

Also by David Hill

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Praise for Flight Path

Flight Path described the war in such an utterly different way than I was used to; thousands of feet in the air, trapped in the small, freezing confinements of a Lancaster's nose turret, able to feel and hear each and every impact of a shell or bullet into the plane's outer skin, unable to know any of your crewmate's states or positions due to the radio silence near targeted bombing areas. The author's amazing use of imagery, coupled with the idea of fighting for your life while strapped into a seat and equipped only with a button and a joystick, your safety depending utterly on the adequacy of your other crew members' skill levels; it was a truly brilliant thing to read . . . Overall, Flight Path is a surprisingly good book. I can recommend it to young adults like myself; slightly nerdy people with an appetite for the thrilling and a healthy appreciation of history; or soon-to-be pilots in need of a burst of inspiration and if-that-average-teenage-guy-can-fly-aplane-so-can-I encouragement; or fullgrown adults wishing to experience the past or the war or simply flying in a way that makes their heart race.

Pippi Jackson Duncan, NZ Aviation News

Really good . . . recommended

James Russell, National Radio

a gripping novel for young adults, which captures both the daring and the everyday realities of serving in the Air Force during World War II

Air Force News

Awards & recognition

Storylines Notable Young Adult Fiction Award

Awarded  •  2018  •  A Storylines Notable Young Adult Fiction Book