This gripping novel follows an American bomber crew through their secretive training, a harrowing raid on Japan, and on their desperate journey through occupied China to Chungking, the seat of the country’s wartime government.
Inspired by the true story of Colonel Jimmy Doolittle’s raid on Japan in 1942, The Shangri-La Raiders is the next stunning installment of the When Heroes Flew WWII historical fiction series.
“Well-researched and well-told.” —Mark Sullivan, USA Today bestselling author of The Last Green Valley and Beneath a Scarlet Sky
This gripping novel follows an American bomber crew through their secretive training, a harrowing raid on Japan, and on their desperate journey through occupied China to Chungking, the seat of the country’s wartime government.
The crew, along with an American missionaries’ daughter whom they’ve rescued, must evade the Japanese occupiers every step of the way. And amidst all the horror and turmoil of war, a romance blossoms between the rescued woman and the crew’s pilot.
2022 MWSA Gold Medal Winner, When Heroes Flew: The Shangri-La Raiders is a captivating tale of bravery, determination and an unlikely love that will leave you hooked until the very end.
H. W. “Buzz” Bernard is a bestselling, award-winning novelist. Most recently, he was honored by the Military Writers Society of America (MWSA) as their 2025 Writer of the Year. Buzz is a past president of the Southeastern Writers Association and member of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association, MWSA, International Thriller Writers, and Atlanta Writers Club (member emeritus). He is a retired US Air Force colonel and a retired Weather Channel senior meteorologist. Buzz and his wife Barbara—his alpha beta reader—live a generally quiet life (because they’re too old to stir up much trouble) in Kennewick, Washington.
H. W. “Buzz” Bernard is a bestselling, award-winning novelist. Most recently, he was honored by the Military Writers Society of America (MWSA) as their 2025 Writer of the Year. Buzz is a past president of the Southeastern Writers Association and member of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association, MWSA, International Thriller Writers, and Atlanta Writers Club (member emeritus). He is a retired US Air Force colonel and a retired Weather Channel senior meteorologist. Buzz and his wife Barbara—his alpha beta reader—live a generally quiet life (because they’re too old to stir up much trouble) in Kennewick, Washington.