“No Sir. I’m dying to find out who our spy is.”
“Myself as well. I’m responsible for staffing this Section. The spy is almost undoubtedly a person I allowed in. Oh, why don’t you check on the decryption while you are sitting at the workstation?”
Sara had completely forgotten about the decryption programs. A few keystrokes later and she had the status up on Largo’s screen. The programs were still humming, but had not found the combination.
As she was getting up from the keyboard, Sara turned to Largos.
“One other thing Sir. I have an aunt who lives a short distance from the south entrance to Camp Williams. I was thinking of asking her if she would take in Jaques. He will need a new home, and I think it would be best if he were near private Menard. Menard appears to have taken Jaques under his wing. I think my Aunt would enjoy having Jaques and Menard around.”
“No problem at all Sara. You are a remarkable girl. I can’t tell you how impressed I am with everything you have done.”
Largo’s hand was on her shoulder again, but this time it felt OK. In fact, she was almost to the point of liking her fat boss. Amazing.
John loved the Y class fighter the moment he got into the cockpit. The seat was almost fully reclined. John got in and leaned back against the padded backrest, looking over the tiny instrument panel that fit between his legs. The cockpit was so perfectly contoured that it felt like he was putting the plane on, like a warm ski outfit. Although the plane had a 75-foot wingspan, it only seated one pilot. The fuselage in front of the wing was topped with a seven-foot canopy that stretched from behind his head to beyond John’s toes at the nose. Visibility would be excellent. Machine guns were located under the pilot, firing forward through two narrow channels.
The controls were placed at the exact position his hands and feet reached in a relaxed position. The joystick was on the right side of the cockpit, rather than the usual center position. His left hand had three levers to manipulate. One simply raised and lowered the single main wheel used for takeoffs and landings. The second operated the dive brakes. The third handle was for the flaps and the wingtip “feathers.”
The Y class fighter was the first plane to incorporate wingtips that could be spread out like a hawk’s feathers. John tested out the flap lever to see how things worked. During the normal range of motion the flaps worked like any other aircraft, raising and lowering narrow control surfaces on the trailing edge of the wing. John pulled back past the rearmost flap setting and watched the wingtips expand. The outermost third of both wings spread into four narrow panels that expanded just like the tip feathers of a soaring bird. Even more impressive was the way the controls interacted. With the wingtips spread the joystick moved the individual feather sections, like a pianist’s fingers caressing a giant keyboard.
“My God JP, this plane is incredible. Look at how the controls interconnect.”
“Those pointy heads back in design outdid themselves this time John. Just remember to get those buzzard feathers pulled in anytime you go above 60 knots. I can imagine some pretty nasty flutter happening if you got those dainty bits moving too fast.”
“Everything else looks normal, except for this yellow button. What’s that for JP?”
“Come around to the tail and I’ll show you.”
John hated to get out of the cockpit. It was a sensual feeling just sitting in the plane. His mind jumped to the sensation of being held by Barbara in bed – it was that kind of feeling. He couldn’t wait to fly this fighter.
Stepping around the back he met up with JP who was already on his back, looking up at the small portion of the fuselage that extended behind the tail surfaces. He removed a thin cover and exposed the bundle of cables and steel balls that were carefully wrapped in coils.
“Chums packed a little surprise back here John. You push that yellow button and this snare deploys. The steel balls shoot outward in a round pattern, pulling these wires taunt. Momentum should hold it in the air like a giant spider web for a second or two. Any NC chum on your tail flies right through the web. I expect the balls will swing around the asshole, jamming his controls and probably cutting some nasty grooves in the wings. Should be fun to watch.”
“I hope I never have to use that, but it’s good to know its there. Let me spend a minute with Eric and Hermandez, and then I want to get this bird in the air.”
* * *
John Young, his son Eric, and his adopted student Hermandez were all airborne 45 minutes later. John explained that he would be giving them in-flight exercises to get them used to working as a team and dealing with the limitations of the IR communication equipment. John would be acting as instructor, while he tested out the new plane. In addition, they would have their usual duties of patrolling the northern end of the Madrin territory. John had no idea whether to trust either their weather briefing or the briefing intel. after the last snafu.
The basic exercise was simple to explain. They would take turns leading. The lead plane would find an updraft, and signal back to the next plane to follow. Ideal spacing would have the first plane leaving the updraft for the next one just as the second plane entered from below. If the first plane did not find lift, it could circle back and return at the bottom of the updraft. All of this was to be done synchronized by IR communications.
It sounded simple on the ground, but it was challenging in the air. Updrafts had different strengths and went to different heights. The IR communications would not go through clouds or ground cover, so each pilot had to time their transmissions. Of course they had the normal challenges of flying the planes, staying in the lift, and watching all quadrants for Gengon fighters. The mental workload on Eric and Hermandez was at the limit of their abilities, but John had done this intentionally. With enough practice these maneuvers became automatic and took almost no conscious thought. They needed to be that good to survive.
John stayed in third position, letting Eric and Hermandez exchange lead position. They were doing well, even though the lift was weak. John did his initial tests of the Y class without deploying the tip feathers. He wanted to see how the plane flew relative to the other conventional planes. It was an excellent plane, although the wings felt a bit heavy. The mechanism to spread the tip sections probably added twenty pounds to each wing panel, but the roll rate was fine.
On the third thermal John pulled the flap lever all the way back, deploying the tip feathers. The plane instantly felt different. It was as if he suddenly had a much broader wing, or lighter plane. He banked gently to try out the controls. The turning radius was dramatically reduced. As he increased the bank he looked at the inner wing tip. The blades bent slightly upward as they lifted the plane in the thermal. John felt as if the whole plane was circling around those four spread feathers.
It was incredible. He was an oversized hawk. He shot upward in the core of the updraft, flying ten knots slower than he would have without the tip feathers. The ground fell away from under him as he rose effortlessly into the sky. John was in heaven.
* * *
“Alpha Romeo, Seven Xray has three bandits approaching at high speed from the northwest, estimated altitude 9,500 feet.”
John was jerked back to attention. How the hell could bandits be at this location this early in the day? Something was very wrong – again. No time for that now, they had to react. It was Eric who was in 7X and in the lead position.
“Roger Seven Xray, rejoin Hotel Bravo and report your altitude.”
Hermandez was in HB, and John had him in sight, but Eric was farther north.
“Seven Xray is at 8,200 and heading south.”
Damn, Eric was substantially lower than the bandits. John was at 11,000 feet, but several miles south. Hermandez looked a bit higher. At least the two of them could provide Eric some protection.
“Hotel Bravo, do you have bandits in sight?”
“Roger Alpha Romeo, Hotel Bravo has bandits in sight and will pursue.”
Hermandez was trying to intercept the th
ree bandits before they got to Eric. John pulled in the tip feathers and dove out of the thermal. He wanted to get to Eric before the bandits did, even if it meant sacrificing his altitude advantage. John could now make out the NC planes. They were in a classic V formation, heading right for Eric. Eric was diving south while Hermandez dove from a higher altitude on an intercept course. It looked as if Hermandez would get to the bandits before they got to Eric, but it was going to be close.
John was now at 190 knots, red line speed. As he dove he saw one of the Gengon planes pull up while the other two continued their dive. The higher plane did a wing-over, and then dove on Hermandez. Eric was now leading a trail of five planes diving straight south over the valley floor.
John had to make a decision. The tactically “right” decision was to take on the last bandit, to get him off Hermandez’s tail. Then they could both take on the two chasing Eric. The problem was that Eric would be dead by the time they got there. Eric was low and outgunned two-to-one. John made the decision.
“Hotel Bravo, pull up and take on that lone bandit. I’m going after the two on Seven Xray’s tail.”
“Roger Alpha Romeo, will engage lone bandit.”
John flipped inverted and dove towards of the bandits chasing Eric. Eric was down to about 7000 feet, but still had altitude to maneuver. The two bandits were getting close to firing range.
“Eric, pull up and break right on my mark.” The hell with military call signs, this was his son.
“Roger Alpha Romeo, on your mark.” It flickered through John’s consciousness that Eric was cooler than his father under pressure.
“Three, two, one, PULL UP.”
Eric pulled straight back on the stick. He was slammed into his seat as the G forces hit him and his plane. He was conscious, but he could see his field of vision narrowing has the blood rushed out of his head. He only started recovering as he relaxed pressure on the stick, headed straight up. Eric waited for his speed to fall off before breaking right.
John saw Eric’s plane pull up. The wings bent five or six feet upward at the tips under the enormous G forces. The two bandits pulled up two seconds later, chasing Eric, but flying right into John’s flight path. John aimed the nose of his glider in front of the path of the lead fighter. John fired his machineguns before the bandits got to his elevation so that the lead plane would be flying through a stream of bullets.
The air went white with fiberglass shards as the bullets tore into the fighter from one end of the fuselage to the other. From John’s position it looked like an invisible saw was slicing through the fuselage from nose to tail as the plane shot upward. John’s flew right through the debris cloud and heard a number of small pieces slam into his own plane as he came out the other side. Pulling up, he looked back and saw that the lead plane was crumbling as it slowed and then fell in a shower of white pieces towards the ground.
The second fighter did not hesitate as it shot by its leader’s wreckage. The pilot made a graceful wing over and leveled out aimed straight at Eric. The bandit still had an energy advantage, and seemed to be unconcerned the odds that were now two to one against him.
John’s trajectory had taken him away from both Eric and the NC fighter. John made a sharp 180 degree turn and headed back towards Eric. John estimated that he was slightly higher than the NC plane, but that difference would be gone by the time he reached Eric.
“I’m heading towards you Eric, but the bandit is closing on your six o’clock. Speed up and evade while I try to get behind him.”
John had forgotten about Hermandez, until his com. unit lit up. “Hotel Bravo is engaging lone bandit at 8000 feet. Request backup.”
“Hotel Bravo, we will join you as soon as we kill the second bandit.”
Two mic Clicks meant that Hermandez understood, and would not bother them with idle chatter.
Eric was circling tightly to make a difficult target, but the NC fighter had a significant height advantage and was moving in on Eric from above. His first pass had been sloppy, but he was headed back for another go. John was at least 15 seconds away, and felt helpless as the fighter took aim at his son.
“Break hard left Eric. Do it NOW!”
Eric responded instantly, just as the NC fighter’s machineguns discharged. The maneuver threw the pilot’s aim off by about 3 feet, but the bullets still crashed into the Eric’s right wing root. Another small cloud of fiberglass hung in the air as the glider’s continued to maneuver.
“I’m hit, but still flying.”
Eric’s voice was an instant, but short-lived relief for John. He could now see the damage pattern on Eric’s wing. It looked bad.
“Prepare to bail Eric. That wing does not look stable. I’m almost on the bastard.”
John swung in behind the NC plane. He knew the pilot could not take another shot at Eric while John was on his tail. They both tightened up their turns, each on the opposite sides of a circle. John let his speed go down below 60 knots in the turn, and then pulled his flap lever back fully to deploy the wing-tip feathers. His plane was instantly able to turn inside of the other fighter. John tightened up his turn further, and got behind the fighter as the two circled together. John waited until he was pointed away from Eric before firing. His first burst only raked the rear fuselage. John tightened more, aiming at the canopy, and fired again. A red mist filled the inside of the canopy as the plane started a spiral dive into the ground.
John pulled up and looked for Eric. Eric’s plane was in a gentle circle, but flying erratically.
“Bandit two is down Eric. What is your situation.”
“Ailerons are locked. I’m trying to fly with rudder and elevator alone, but can’t stop the left turn.
John thought about the situation. They were only about 800 feet off the ground. Eric had to bail now, or fly the plane in. It was too risky to try an out-landing without ailerons.
“Bail Eric. Do it while you still have altitude.”
“Roger. See you soon Dad.”
Eric’s canopy opened. He dropped gracefully from the left side of the cockpit, and pulled his ripcord immediately. The drogue chute sprang out, and pulled the main chute out in a long streamer. The full parachute opened with a snap. Eric still had 300 feet over the ground as he stabilized and steered towards the open area at the bottom of a shallow canyon.
Thank God for that, thought John. At least Eric was alive and apparently uninjured. However, he had bailed into desolate territory, where the Gengon and the outlaw bands were known to be active.
“Hotel Bravo, what is your position and situation?”
“I’m three miles north of you sir, at 6500 feet, still trying to out-fly this bastard. I saw Eric’s chute.”
Hermandez sounded nervous but OK.
“I’ve got to gain some altitude to help you. If he gets on your tail, dive for me. I have a little surprise in the back of this plane.”
“Yes Sir. I think I can take this guy Sir, but I’ll dive if I get in trouble.”
John glided towards the high ground, double checking Eric’s location. Eric’s cute was already out of site. John pulled out his map, and placed and X at the location where Eric had landed. That was all he could do for now. He bumped into a weak thermal while putting the map back, and started inching his way back up to altitude. This gave him a ringside seat to watch Hermandez duel with the last NC fighter.
The two planes were dogfighting from within a single updraft. Both were circling right, and each was trying to simultaneously stay in the best lift and get behind the other plane to take a shot. It looked like Hermandez had taken the strategy of gaining altitude, while his opponent was trying desperately to take a shot. Every time the bandit pulled back on the stick to line up a shot, he sank from the added drag of the maneuver. Hermandez seemed to be bating him, staying just ahead of the angle that the bandit would need to hit is tail surfaces. Both planes were climbing, but Hermandez was gaining about 20 feet per turn, and was now almost 200 feet above the struggling fighter.
Seeing that he was losing ground, the NC fighter broke out of the lift and dove north towards home. Hermandez spotted this immediately and used his extra 200 feet of altitude to get a speed advantage on the bandit. Hermandez was right behind him, in the poor bastard’s blind spot. The first burst of machine gun fire disintegrated the midsection of the fuselage. The tail of the plane fluttered down separately, while the wings and cockpit area slammed into the trees.
Hermandez pulled up in a half loop, and rolled right side up. He was feeling good.
“Good kill Hotel Bravo. Let’s make a pass over Eric’s position, and then make for base. I want to report his position as quickly as we can.
“Roger Alpa Romeo, on my way.”
They both made a circle over the clearing where Eric had landed. There were no signs of Eric or his chute. Eric had probably buried the chute as fast as he could and then left the area. John guessed that Eric would make for the high ground, and then start working is way south. He had roughly 70 miles to cover over mountainous terrain to get to safety.
As they departed the area, John’s concentration began to fail him. He felt a cloud of dread well up from his subconscious, muting his thinking and reactions. Watching his own son be shot at and then bail into hostile territory was taking its toll. His flying started to become uncoordinated, and his thinking clouded. Hermandez sensed the problem, and gently issued suggestions over the com. unit to keep John on the right course. They landed without incident, but John was slow in getting out of the cockpit. JP almost lifted John out the plane and helped him walk back into the base. Hermandez quietly told JP that Eric had bailed safely, but well behind enemy lines. No further explanation was necessary.
* * *
Somehow John Young had ended up in the Major’s office, along with JP, and Barbara. Barbara had gotten tea brought up from the mess, and was urging John to drink some. John explained what had happened, showed where Eric had bailed, and gradually started to function again. The Major took a moment to fire off a message to the ground forces with Eric’s last know position. He asked for an update if any units were in the area. The answer came back quickly. There were no operational units within forty miles of the location Eric had last been seen.
Heavier Than Air Page 15