It was just a training exercise, nothing more. As the bomber hovered in the sky the pilot, paying no attention to the nervous commands of the military communications center or of his expected flight plan, sets his own path. He descends. Lower. Lower.

His radar image is seen drifting after veering off the planned course and the control officer wonders "What could he be doing?" But they don't know what his intentions are.

After the craft goes down the public are to be kept in the dark about it, if possible. What would they think of a military aircraft that crashed without explanation, and the bombs aboard it missing? What panic would flow, what questions would be asked, what chance a lesser officer's sacrifice would satiate society's thirst for answers?

And the flyer. No one could gauge his thoughts. He knew damn well what he was going to do, didn't he? Had known it before stepping inside the sprawling machine? He could feel the power from the cockpit, all of the power that lay at his fingers with the touch of a control. Yet the pilot did not feel that weight, only the contact that was impending. Closer. Closer.

Bond fans can picture that description from a scene in the novel "Thunderball." Giuseppe Petacchi intentionally allowed a British Villiers Vindicator O/NBR to plunge into the waters off Nassau to carry out his part of Plan Omega, the SPECTRE plot to abscond two atomic devices and hold the United States and the United Kingdom for ransom while ingeniously ensuring it would not be made public.

However, the above passage was gleaned from a contemporary event made more intriguing because it occurred on land instead of water, in a country with a free press who were on top of it immediately, and it was real.

On April 2, 1997, Air Force Capt. Craig Button was part of a deployment performing a training run that had left from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. For reasons then undetermined he cut off his communications despite being in navigational control of his warplane. Capt. Button was 800 miles off course when the plane dropped off radar. He crashed into a snowy peak in the New York Mountains, near Eagle, Colorado.

It wasn't "Thunderball." But he was at the controls of an A-10 Thunderbolt jet equipped with four 500 pound training bombs. The press was immediately on the story as the Air Force searched for the remains. It took about three weeks before Capt. Button was located amid wreckage of the plane, including its 30mm Gatling nose gun. The bombs were not located initially.

Unlike Ian Fleming's literary world this was real life. And this man was not the well picked clay pigeon who was a part of any conspiracy. Button had close and supportive family and friends. They showed resolve and defended his character. He was not a Petacchi, with a sister using a different last name of her choosing, who acted on her own for revenge against the man proven to have set her brother up. Someone who did not proclaim her brother's loss to the world, but clandestinely assisted his avenging. Button's family wanted their son's honor openly cleared after they saw the results of the Air Force investigation.

It took until October 1997 before an official report was announced. By then media reports, leaked by an array of sources named and anonymous, had questioned Button's religion, character, mental state, family relationships, physical health, career path, last moments and sexual provocation. A recovery operation stationed at Gold Dust Peak had been called off unsuccessfully. The Air Force, Navy and a private contractor searched the areas surrounding the location of Button's remains for more than two months. A couple pieces of the plane were located. But as late as September 16, 1997, no evidence had surfaced that the bombs had been found, nor had they probably exploded. CNN quoted Gen. Donald Streater saying that the search had not even produced a sight of "fins, fuses or arming wires" of the Thunderbolt's weaponry.

The final report came out in October, with the decision that Capt. Button, a member of the 85th Fighter Training Squadron at Laughlin Air Force Base in Texas, had committed "spontaneous" or "unpremeditated" suicide. Admittedly, they said, this conclusion came because no other reason could be amply ascertained from the events they had analyzed.

The findings were quickly answered by Button's family and friends, who obviously cared for him a great deal. They gave him a voice, denying any indication he was suicidal. This article does not intend to cause undo stress on Capt. Button's loved ones, or even on the military's answers. It is meant to raise some points that should not only turn the minds of Bond fans, but also explain the biggest obstacle with placing James Bond in the nineties. Not just cosmetic, like the fact there is a town approximately 25 miles from Eagle called Bond, but more serious in nature.

A point such as how well an investigation can be done today. With the global media outlets available it would be difficult to suppress any ransom demands or keep panic from spreading throughout the public. But it is also nearly impossible to search for anything and keep it under wraps. Every insignificant piece of minutia even winked at has the chance to be seen, and then to be editorialized across the country, before it has gotten past a stage of likely to be debunked.

A point of the actual need to carry bombs on board a training flight, with a learning pilot, in the first place. Of course, a legitimate argument is cast for always being able to defend against surprise attack. Not to mention proper maintenance of the craft. But how much firepower needs to be aboard a flight with a preset course, eyes upon it, and no expected attack forthcoming?

A point, most obvious, is what happened to the bombs? Four bombs alone on this training flight (not to mention the standard 1200 pounds plus of bombs and missiles on board a standard A-10 Thunderbolt II), and the last word the U.S. military has is they were not located. After more than half a year's passing.

A point to ask how anyone could escape with them. Explosives of this kind are somewhat hard to smuggle in the back of a Ford F150 truck. But with no trace that any were detonated, how is it explained? These are not invisible items sitting along an oil-bearing shale or floating down the Roaring Fork River.

But from an Americans citizen's perspective there is one thing most chilling. The most notable point. U.S. citizens have grown to expect "extensive" coverage of events. On the Thunderbolt incident the public was treated to the usual laundry list separated, washed and dried in a standard cycle.

There was the official military acknowledgment of the very occurrence, followed by updates when the wreckage was found, followed by soundbites from relatives and fellow soldiers, followed by the conclusions of the investigators, followed by the opinions of the family and friends of the officer involved, all the while shadowed by "expert" coverage from print, network and cable television, radio and other electronic media. In the time elapsed since no further word has surfaced. The reaction of the public in that time has been slight.

The facts have not changed and the bombs are still missing. Was a special detonator recovered rendering them useless? Was the purpose of the "training run" something else that should not be disclosed beyond the U.S. defense at this time? Perhaps they actually do have some leads on the location of the explosives and would be hindered if the knowledge was out too early. Maybe some organization like SPECTRE actually exists.

Those are all merely red herrings, all just hypothetical. But the fact that time has made the incident hazy is the most frightening point of all. The United States is not, as a nation, up in arms in concern. No lingering shivers of doubt reverberate across the valleys of Eagle, Colorado. And though it is fun to fantasize, no evidence exists that James Bond and Felix Leiter are coming in to solve the mystery.

A frequent criticism of James Bond in the 90's is that with the end of the Cold War he has no enemies left to fight. As can be seen from the perspective of this story's parallel's to "Thunderball," not to mention the current political aspects woven perfectly into Raymond Benson's "Zero Minus Ten" and the burgeoning media dynasties dramatized in EON's "Tomorrow Never Dies," there are villains old and new that lurk today suited for James Bond as easily as from decades before. Bond has enemies left to battle. The critics are wrong, but their words have resonance because the citizens of the major powers may be at fault. Growing so cynical and desensitized, they seem to expect falsification from their own government and military.

To that end they not only ignore the ramifications of events like the Thunderbolt incident, but they have stopped believing in the power to prevent it. A distinct change. Before there was a longing for that blunt instrument who can save the day, the shadowy figure with nerves that trample fear. Now it seems people expect mayhem to maximize and can see no hero able to stand in the way.

This is scary. Not only is there little tenet for righteousness to win out, but to many it is too much to fantasize it happening. That's a larger danger to James Bond than Blofeld was. Now the bombs are expected to burst, even if they are not ticking.

©1997 by Michael Reed