FEATUREPass the TorchApril 18, 2026
The Captain Who Brought the Mosel Home
Makatura's memoir of the 10th TFS is the rare military book that lingers on the quiet evenings between the missions.
Read on Pass the Torch →The Newsroom
Press
“The rare military book that lingers on the quiet evenings between the missions.”
“Honest, unsentimental, and very, very good.”
“Mak writes the way pilots actually talk — clipped, dry, and dead serious about the things that matter.”
Coverage & conversations
REVIEWApril 9, 2026
Air & Space Forces Magazine · Print + online
A Squadron, Recalled
An honest, unsentimental look at the F-16 community in the last days of Cold-War Europe.
Read →INTERVIEWMarch 27, 2026
The Afterburn Podcast · Episode 142 · 58 min
"You earned that callsign on a Wednesday."
Mak walks the hosts through OTS, his first ride in the Viper, and how the 10th built itself in the desert.
Read →CONVERSATIONMarch 14, 2026
Veterans Breakfast Club · Live · YouTube
Hahn, Al Minhad, and the road between
A long-form conversation about squadron culture, NATO TAC EVALs, and writing the book thirty years later.
Read →PROFILEFebruary 28, 2026
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette · Sunday edition
From Carrick to the cockpit
A Pittsburgh kid who flew F-16s in Desert Storm has written the book his squadron asked him for.
Read →RADIOFebruary 21, 2026
WESA 90.5 · The Confluence · 20-minute segment
Cold-War aviation, in his own voice
A morning conversation with Michael Makatura ahead of the May release.
Read →On the road
Upcoming appearances
- TUEMAY 051900Penguin Bookshop · Sewickley, PALaunch · reading + signing
- TUEMAY 121830Soldiers & Sailors Memorial · PittsburghTalk + Q&A
- FRIMAY 221200Air Force Museum · Dayton, OHLunchtime lecture
- SATJUN 061400Pritzker Military Museum · ChicagoPanel + signing
- SATJUN 141100USAF Heritage Day · Hill AFB, UTReading + flightline tour
- SATJUN 211500Books-a-Million · Virginia BeachSigning