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Subj: An Air Warrior's tale Date: 97-03-26 17:59:58 EST From: PancakeUS To: Torrey, Maveric024, Bowhunter0, Foesdoom, JConn39880, PJtrap, Knight0240, DDegr83733, MGlynn6735, MMille7880, Nemo112, BIL KC, DLonga5849, RandyS1178, Spit XII, Wheels43, NateComm, Jerm UK, Myhhr, RLonga, DELTAV55, MojosChild, JoeGIR, MadMan5215, Lasher026, Birminghpj, phillip@mcs.com, RiVaL99, JoeC63, LRSchultz The day started like any other. I checked the duty roster after dinner and saw the peg placed in the hole next to my name. I was assigned flight duty. Nothing special, just a routine patrol along the perimeter of our airbase. It would be a milk run. I walked over to my craft and swung down into the cabin, adjusting the rudder pedals as I eased into the seat. I hit the ignition switch and listened to the familiar chatter of the hard drive as the Pentium powered up. I flipped on the speakers and the monitor, bathing the cockpit in the familiar blue light as the machine went through the automatic pre-flight checklist. When the chatter ceased I tabbed the internal modem. The signal squawked in my ear as the craft lurched forward, ready to take to the sky. Traffic was unusually heavy, but the tower gave me clearance to taxi. I released my NumLock and proceeded into the pattern. I worked my way through the menus as I had done so many times before - it was almost reflex now - and proceeded with my mission. I quickly climbed to 10,000 feet and leveled out. There was a bogey just south of my position so I banked the Corsair over and headed off to investigate. As I closed on the atoll two more bogies popped up. I suspected that they had lifted off of an airfield and would probably be low so I kept the throttle forward and went into a shallow dive. I spotted them below me, three dots tight together, circling a neutral field. When I got closer I saw that they were Hellcats, formed lined astern and climbing. My first pass was clean. I knew I was going too fast to get a shot so I blew through the group and climbed out, hoping to break them up like a cue ball. It didn't work. They stayed in formation. I swung my big bird around and set up a high-speed head-on shot. They were packed in so tight I didn't even have to aim. My bullets converged on the lead plane and continued into the second and third. They separated slightly after the pass and disappeared. Totally. I was now alone over the atoll. I knew exactly what had happened and there wasn't anything I could do about it. My three-plane kill had just been snatched away from me the way the morning sunshine burns away the night-time dreams. I leveled out and waited for the inevitable notice from the tower that would indicate that my clearance had been revoked. Traffic had exceeded the flight line capacity and the hub had reached critical mass. There was nothing I could do but put the plane back on the ground and start over. America Online is a very harsh mistress.
Pancake ^Skull^ |
