by M. L. Maki
Puck says, “Knight Flight, sound off.”
Gandhi, “Knight 309.” GQ, “Knight 894.” NOB, Knight 626.” Speedy, “Knight 212.” ENS Douglas ‘Cuddles’ Grant, ENS Tommy ‘Wingnut’ Urland’s RIO, Knight 224.”
Puck, “Gold Eagle, Knight 1, Knight Flight assembled.” Then, “Sam, please understand, I want to help you, but you have to talk to me.”
Lizard, “Gold Eagle, Eagle Flight assembled.”
CDR Todd ‘Groovy’ Miller, “Gold Eagle, Felix Flight assembled.”
LCDR Mark ‘Faster’ Harder, commander of the EA-6Bs, “Gold Eagle, Magic Flight assembled.”
Lizard, “Gold Eagle, the strike package is airborne and ready to push off.”
Halsey, “Roger, Eagle. This isn’t the time for speeches. Go make us proud. Good luck and good hunting.”
Puck says, “We’re strung out in right echelon. Let’s make the turn.”
Spike, “Roger, turning.” And the forty aircraft are in formation, Felix in front, followed by Eagle, Magic along each side of Viceroy, then Knight Flight, flying 600 knots to Japan.
As they settle on course, Puck, “Your head isn’t in the cockpit, Sam. Let me help you. Please, tell me what happened.”
“It’s hard, Puck. It’s really hard.”
Softly, “I know. You have to come back to me, please.”
“Carleton tried to rape me, and he killed Chief White.”
An edge of rage in his voice, Puck, “You know it wasn’t your fault?”
“Doesn’t matter, he’s dead.”
“Sam, it wasn’t your fault.”
“Feels like it.”
“I know it does, but it isn’t your fault. Please believe that.”
“Thank you, Eric, I’m trying. Please, just keep talking to me.”
“Can you talk about it?”
“What’s our position?”
“250 miles out, Sam. When you share your pain, it allows me to carry some of it.”
“I don’t want you to have this pain.” Then, “You’re right,” and, haltingly, she tells him what happened.
At 100 miles, they pick up faint radar signals. At 80 miles, Puck, “Okay, I’m pretty sure they have us on radar.”
Spike, “Call it out, I need you to keep my head here, okay?” And Puck informs the flight.
At 60 miles, they hear “Tally ho,” from Felix. Eagle 1, “Strike package, commence dive.” And all aircraft in Eagle, Viceroy, and Magic flights dive.
Knight Flight stays at 5000 feet above Viceroy until they are engaged, then, Puck, “Knight Flight, commence dive.” The six aircraft angle down, throttling their engines back to stay in position. At 45 miles out, Puck, “Illuminate?”
“Yes.”
Puck, “Knight Flight, illuminate,” and all six powerful AWG-9 radars come on at the same time. “Spike, we have a lot of slow movers trying to intercept our boys. Let’s bump up our speed and see if we can expose their bellies for Eagle.”
“Roger, Puck.”
Puck, “Knight Flight, 900 knots.” They quickly break the sound barrier in their dive. Twenty Japanese fighters pull up to meet them, and as they do, Eagle Flight fires a salvo of AIM-7 missiles, and five aircraft disintegrate. Closing the distance, Puck, “Got tone. Two,” then on radio, “Fox 1. Fox 1.” Spike fires the two AIM-7 missiles and one flies home as they follow it in.
Puck, “Splash one,” then “Two Zeros right, turning into the merge.” Spike rudders over slightly and pulls the trigger. The lead Zero explodes in front of her, flame and debris flash immediately in front of the cockpit. The aircraft shakes violently, and as her canopy clears, they’re pointed toward the sea. The left engine has flamed out, warning lights flashing, and Spike says, “Fuck!” Back in the moment, here hands fly through the drill of restarting the engine, while she applies left aileron to stop the spin, and pulls back on the stick to pull out of the dive. “One is out, restarting one, sorry Puck.”
Puck smiles, relieved, “Welcome back, Spike.”
As the engine relights, she pulls back on the stick, rolls on the throttles and, “We’re back in the fight.”
Speedy, “Spike, Spike, you okay?”
Puck, “Yes, Speedy, we’re good.”
She pulls up to avoid crossing a Zero, takes a hasty gun shot at another and misses. He flies into Thud’s cross hairs, and explodes. Puck, “Thud is below and right. I lost the others.”
“Puck, where are the 6s?”
“11 o’clock low.”
She tips her bird, looking for the attack planes and Tokyo Bay spread out below them, with Yokosuka on the left and the dry docks of Hodogaya and Konan directly ahead. It’s actually beautiful, with small craft moving among the larger cargo and naval vessels. A battleship or heavy cruiser is underway of Yokosuka and anti-aircraft fire puffs in the air. “Okay, got ‘em.”
“Zero crossing low.”
She barrels rolls to miss the Zero, lines up her gun, and “Guns,” making her third kill of the day. “Where’s Thud?”
“Behind and left, Spike. Zeros, 3 o’clock low, closing the Intruders,” and she rolls into a dive after them. Puck, “Tone,” then, “Fox 1. Fox 1.”
Spike fires her last two Sparrows at the Zeros. Then, Speedy, “Fox 1. Fox 1,” and two more Zeros explode. Another flies into the cloud of debris from his squadron mate and also explodes.
On radio, they all hear the call, “Felix 541, Gold Eagle, return to base.”
Rolling out of their dive and seeking more targets, Spike and Puck hear a clear tone from the ALR-67 radar warning receiver. There’s a missile locked onto them. Spike pickles off chaff and flares and maneuvers violently, “Missile. Where?”
Speedy , “Spike, break hard left. SAM launch, I see a SAM launch.”
“Grunt,” and Spike rolls left, pulling a 9 g turn and pickling off more chaff and flares. “Thanks, Speedy,” as the Nike J missile passes safely behind them.
Speedy, “SAM launch. A-6 above Yokosuka, break right. Break right!”
Viceroy 5 has just dropped four bombs on a heavy cruiser in dry dock. Lt. JG Brian ‘Bismark’ Duncan hears the warning and tries to find it. The Japanese Nike J missile flies at over Mach 3, and by the time he sees it, it’s too late. The missile detonate4s just forward of the A-6, which explodes in a fireball. His wingman says, “Bismark’s hit! Bismark’s hit!”
They all hear again, “Felix 541, Gold Eagle, return to base.”
Spike “Puck, who’s Felix 541?”
“Fuck, it’s Carleton. He’s flying Felix 541.”
Then, Lt Mike ‘Too Tall’ Mohr, flying Magic 417, “Where’s the SAM launcher?”
Speedy, “West of Yokosuka on a hill.”
Too Tall, “This is Magic 417 starting the music. Everyone stay clear as I engage.”
Lizard, “Gold Eagle, Eagle 1, what’s the problem with Felix 541?”
A third missile fires at a high-flying F-14, but the powerful USQ-113 jammer on the Magic 417 comes on, and the missile loses track and spirals down to the sea. Too Tall closes to 10 miles before launching an AGM-88 HARM missile at the radar control station of the SAM launcher. Going Mach 2, it impacts in less than 30 seconds. The control station disappears, and Too Tall, “Magic 417 to all units. Got the fucker. Can someone destroy the launchers?”
“Eagle 1, Gold Eagle, Felix 541 is ordered to return to base immediately.”
Speedy, “We’re in position. Want to do a strafe run, Spike?”
Puck, “Too Tall, we’re in. Speedy, we’re on your wing.”
“Gold Eagle, Eagle 1, understood. I’ll cut him free when I find him. Things are busy here.”
Thud and Spike roll their aircraft nearly inverted and dive on the launchers. Thud lines up on the right launcher and Spike takes the left. They each fire a burst with their 20mm Gatling guns, and Thud’s goes up immediately, with secondaries. Spike hits one missile, causing sparks, “Shit, missed, grunt.”
As they pull away, Puck, “No, you didn’t. It just took lon
ger to go up.” Behind them the launchers are ablaze, “Thud is high and right.”
Then, “All units, Felix 1, fast movers inbound from the north. 90 miles out, at angels 40. Say again, fast movers.”
Lizard’s shocked voice says, “CAG says, Viceroy wrap it up and get out of here. All fighters engage.”
LCDR Harding, Magic 1, “Eagle 1, want us to stick around and jam?”
“Negative, Faster, you’re too slow to play with these boys. Get your people clear.”
Spike climbs and turns north, and Puck says, “Thud is right, high and behind. Hot Pants and Swede are closing us at three miles out” On radio, “NOB, what’s your position?”
NOB, “I’m over Tokyo with Wingnut.”
Puck, “Gunner, we’re climbing for angels 40 over Kawasaki, heading north. Come east some so we can join.”
“Roger, Puck.”
Spike, “How many, Puck?”
“I count 40. It’s a target rich environment and we have two Phoenix’s on the rails.”
“Set up a coordinated strike.”
Puck, “They are Bricks, F-4s. We’ll fire AIM-54s on my mark.”
“GQ has tone. Speedy has tone. Gandhi has tone. NOB has tone. Cuddles has tone.”
Puck, “Puck has tone. Volley Fox 3,” and they fire the twelve Phoenix missiles at the same time. The Phoenix accelerates to over Mach 4 as it climbs up out of the atmosphere. The F-14s close their targets, sending mid-course updates to the missiles. Wingnuts missiles lose lock and plummet to the ground.
Spike, “These are F-4s. Remind them we can out turn F-4s.”
Puck says, “Okay, Knights, remember, we can out turn these guys. Get in close and knife fight.”
Bubba, Felix 1’s RIO, “We are at 25 miles and closing. Where are your missiles, Knight 1?”
Puck, “Our Phoenix’s will beat you there, Felix 1. Go ahead and close.”
The AIM-54’s, their fuel expended, drop down and hit the unsuspecting F-4’s. Two of the missiles end up targeting the same aircraft, and three fail to track at all. Both of Spike’s missiles hit, then three more explode, as the Japanese F-4’s turn to meet Felix Flight. There are 35 F-4’s left as Felix Flight calls out, “Fox 1. Fox 1.”
“Spike, Wingnut, my radar is out.”
Puck, “Wingnut, pull out and escort Viceroy home.”
“No way, Puck. My gun still works.”
Spike, “Let him stay.”
Puck, “Okay, Wingnut, stick together. This is a fur ball.”
Spike, “Lighting burners.”
Puck, “Thud is right with us, Spike, low and right.”
Four Japanese F-4s turn toward the Knights, missiles dropping from their wings. Puck, “Missiles inbound. Chaff. Chaff.”
Spike hits the chaff and inverts in a dive, the rest of the Knights following. Then Ghandi, “Fox 1.”
Puck, “The Phantoms are diving on us, Spike. We broke lock.”
Then, “Smooth is hit. Smooth is hit.”
Spike completes a split S, and climbs, “Where are they?”
Puck, twisting his head, “8 o’clock, crossing left. Thud, above and behind.”
“Climbing.” A F-4 crosses in front of them a half mile away and she rolls left, lines up the shot, “Grunt.” The AIM-9 Sidewinder growls in her ear, and she fires.
Puck, “Fox 2.”
The F-4 rolls wing level and climbs as the heat seeking missile chases after it. Her missile loses lock and falls. Spike rolls right and follows him up, “Shit, Puck, this guy knows how to fly.”
JAPANESE F-4
Lt. Colonel Hachirou Oshiro came back as the duty officer in the 133rd fighter squadron. He, like his colonel, is fighting to prevent Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He has another thing in common with Colonel Nagasawa, they’re both graduates of the American Red Flag Fighter School. He’s diving on a F-14, when he sees another one invert and pursue. To his RIO, “Watch the enemy, Jurou. Tell me what he is doing,” pulling his plane past vertical, giving up on his attack.
Lt. Jurou Yamada, two weeks ago a ship board radar technician, “He is following, climbing.”
“Let us see if the American knows anything,” and snap rolls back upright, beginning the vertical scissors, then snap rolls again, and pulls down.
KNIGHT 1
Spike recognizes the scissor and follows a bit lower, planning to get inside the next turn. Then, the Japanese pilot reverses into a dive, and she rolls up 45 degrees, slows the left engine, and rudders hard over to follow, “Grunt.” She rolls and pulls again in a diving scissors, gooses both throttles in and out of afterburner, quickly closing the distance, thinking he’ll break out of the scissors again. He does, changing direction 45 degrees left. She finds herself below and behind him as he goes vertical. “Grunt,” and pulls a 9 g climb, triggering a the 20mm cannon, “Guns, guns.” Her rounds stitch a line of holes across the right engine and wing, and the F-4 starts bleeding fuel and bursts into flames.
JAPANESE F-4
Lt. Colonel Hachirou Oshiro pulls the ejection handle for the first time in his career. As he comes to in his chute, he sees the F-14 winging away.
CHAPTER 45
BLACK KNIGHTS OVER TOKYO, JAPAN, 14 JANUARY, 1942
Spike pulls up, gaining altitude. Puck, “Thud is on someone high left crossing.”
“Okay, grunt,” wrenching her bird into a turn to help her wingman, “See any more targets?”
“There’s a few bugging out north, but we don’t have the fuel to pursue.”
The Tomcatters CO’s RIO, Bubba, “Anyone see chutes for Smooth and Chaos?”
LCDR Norman “Oyster’ Osterman, his XO, “Yes, Bubba, they both have good chutes. We’re watching them down. They’re going to land feet dry.”
“Understood.”
Spike sees Thud two miles away following a F-4 as it falls. Speedy, “We stitched him in the engines, why doesn’t he eject?”
Spike “Anything out there, Puck?”
“No threats.”
“Call for fuel status.”
“Okay, Knight Flight, fuel check.”
The flight checks in, all near bingo fuel, and Puck, “We’re near bingo. Let’s head for the barn. Eagle 1, Knight 1, Knight Flight is bingo and returning.”
“Nothing, then, “Knight 1, Felix 1, Eagle 1 has damage. His radio is broke. Acknowledge, Felix Flight is also RTB.”
Puck, “Roger, Felix 1. Eagle Flight report in.”
Eagle Flight checks in with near bingo fuel, and “Knight 1, Eagle 916, near bingo fuel and escorting Eagle 1.” Knight Flight and Eagle Flight join up and turn east, slowly climbing to 45,ooo feet, to conserve fuel. In their wake, they can see several ships burning and a huge columns of smoke over a tank farm and shipyards.
Puck, “Knight Flight is feet wet.”
Spike, “Puck, have Jedi take the boss straight back to the ship. Have Swede take over Eagle Flight as Knight Flight 2.”
Puck, “Stinky, escort the boss straight back to the ship.”
“Puck, Stinky, acknowledge. Escort the boss to the barn.”
“Swede, take over Eagle Flight. GQ shift to Eagle with Swede.”
Gandhi, “Understood, Puck, will do.”
GQ, “Acknowledge, Puck, shift to Eagle.”
Puck, “Gold Eagle, Knight 1, re-designate Eagle Flight as Knight Flight 2.”
“Knight 1, Gold Eagle, understood. Eagle Flight is now Knight Flight 2. Felix 1, Gold Eagle, mark the status of Felix 541.”
“Gold Eagle, Felix 1, he’s indicating a radio malfunction. I’m signaling him to return to the ship.”
“Understood, Felix 1.”
Spike, “He’s still out there.”
Puck, “I know. Are you alright?”
“I’m a little numb,” and digs out and eats her only power bar.
“I think that’s normal. We did well, Sam. A little while and we’ll be back on the deck.” They’re quiet for a time. “I’m concerned about Smooth, and especially, Chaos. I knew him in school. He�
�s Japanese American, and knows Japanese. He did some schooling there.”
“Where’s he from?”
“I think, San Francisco.”
Then, “Knight Flight, Arco 4, we have gas in 30 miles at 104 and flight level 35.”
Puck, “Roger, Arco 4, good to hear you. Knight Flight come to 104 and descend to 35.”
35 MILES AHEAD OF KNIGHT FLIGHT, FELIX 541
When CDR Miller flew alongside his bird, Carleton signaled that his radio didn’t work. Groovy signaled back for him to return to base, and Carleton gave the thumbs up. He was frustrated. He’d only killed a couple of Zeros and one F-4 with his Sparrows. That bitch was always somewhere else. He was running out of options, and he knew it. When they get to the fueling point, he takes his turn with everyone else.
COMBAT INFORMATION CENTER, USS CARL VINSON, 1343, 14 JANUARY, 1942
Admiral Halsey sits in the flag chair next to Captain Johnson. A dark cavernous room on the o3 level in the center of the ship, the only illumination comes from the console lights, the status boards, and the one big screen NTDS display, front and center. The NTDS shows the location of all friendlies on a map that is ocean blue and land tan. Friendlies are marked in blue and enemies in red. It receives inputs from all the modern ship radars and some aircraft. Operators at consoles identify all tracks and keep them sorted out. Halsey asks Johnson, “How many did we lose?”
“Looks like four plane, three A-6s and one F-14. We have some damaged that might not make it.”
“If they have to ditch at sea, we have subs out there to pick them up. Any idea how Jap aircraft we shot down?”
“Not right now. I think at least ten of the F-4s and probably twice that number of older aircraft. Once the air group is back on board, we’ll do the debrief and download gun camera footage. We’ll have better numbers for Admiral Nimitz tonight.”
“Overall, not too bad, Captain.” Halsey pauses, “What are those red dots on your screen?”
A technician shouts, “Air raid warning north. 48 aircraft, 200 miles north, inbound at 40,o00 feet and 600 knots. Sorry, sir. They squawked friendly until I interrogated them. They’re Japanese.”
Captain Johnson, “General quarters, please. Direct the CAP to intercept. Notify the group. Clear the flight deck.”