A fateful encounter, Lt. Col. McKinney Allen was shot down by a yet unknown hostile bogey. Status of the pilot was not immediately known.
A lone Lt. Col. McKinney Allen who was on a practice run in his F8F Bearcat was ordered to investigate an anomaly reading dispatched to him by the main control centre of a signal picked up earlier on the radar. There has never been a intrusion to any US Naval Facility since Pearl Harbour post World War II. The Americans thought, "Who would make the same mistake?" And indeed the Yanks have never been so vigilant and prepared like this ever before.
Present time...
Discussions between R.A. Niki Wilder and Lt. Col. N71 Aeon about his return to regular tour of duty at the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the United Kingdom was cut short. Lt. Col. Aeon was on loan to the United States Navy (USN) under the Top Ace Pilots Exchange Programme (TAPE-Pro) which the United States and the United Kingdom had forged a few years back in an attempt to enhance the flying skills of their top junior pilots currently on active service.
WWII had taken a toll on their top aces with a lot of casualties on both sides during the war. The program aims to fill in the void by giving junior pilots the opportunity to train and put their skills to a test in a different setting and environment, making them adaptable to any fighting conditions. And in the event of another invasion by enemy forces, both countries may easily adjust to one another and prevent any catastrophe that may arise due to miscommunication.
Unconfirmed reports were saying that the programme was a top secret operation to counter the immediate threat of a strong communist USSR as a superpower (having been successful at its WWII campaign thwarting the German forces in Eastern Europe), and its attempt to infiltrate Western Europe.
The loud roar of engines from a squadron of Grumman F8F Bearcats overwhelms the sound of wailing sirens in the air. One by one the planes leave USS Wilderwest as flight-deck crews scramble to assemble the rest of the fighter planes for take off. Lt. Col. Aeon thinks about his luck, he was just a day away from being returned back to UK service and now he finally gets to put his skills to a test. There has never been a single shot fired since the end of World War II, until now.
Adrenaline pumps through his body when a loud bang from the side of his loaned American fighter plane brought him back from his dreamy state. It came from a flight deck crew giving him the all clear with a salute, signaling that the pilot is ready to go.
"Godspeed Sir!", the deck crew shouted.
"God save the Queen...", Lt. Col. Aeon whispered as he salutes back at the crew and throttled up his plane to maximum speed. The weightlessness and the feeling of being airbourne uplifts his spirit as his plane leaves the carrier's runway.
... the moment his dad taught him how to ride his bicycle and fell hard leaving a scar on his knee...
... his first crush in grade school...
... the infatuation he had with his high school French teacher...
... his first kiss...
... and most especially the love of his life which he was expecting to meet on his way back to the United Kingdom, Capt. Lizzy of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) whom he met in Berlin almost a year ago...
"I have got to get through this... how hard can it be?", he muttered to himself.
And thoughts on how this still unknown infiltrator was able to get Lt. Col. Allen who is known by his colleagues as the sly fox as he is always able to disappear from sight during practice runs. If someone as good as Allen gets shot down, then this bogey must be really good! The worse thing of all is that the status of the downed pilot is still unclear.
It's been 4 minutes and still all of the planes in the air are scrambling to locate the bogey, lest identify him. Col. Aeon who was flying NW 50 miles from USS Wilderwest saw the sun reflect its rays on something metallic in the air.
"That must be it!", he thought to himself as he radioed in his coordinates: "This is November Alpha, I have a visual of the bandit 50 clicks NW from base, awaiting instructions, over."
"This is R.A. Wilder, can you identify the bogey? Over...", the nervousness on the commander's voice can be felt through the wires. The whole crew had long prepared for such an intrusion, but never had they imagined that it would happen during the peace time.
"It's A MiG! The bloody Russians are hostile!", Aeon radios back with a bit of excitement in his voice. The sight of a big red star on the plane's marking gives him the shivers... "Communist Bastards!", he continued.
"Are you positive it's a RED? How many are there? Over...", a worried Wilder radios back.
811 hrs SLT. Friday (180508)
The loud buzz of roaring engines reverberates the early morning sky as F8Fs zoom in to their lone target like a swarm of wasps attacking a threat. It may seem overkill but the MiG appears to have been successful enough to breach the home base's perimeter zone. And it seems to be bent in accomplishing its mission.
"Get ready for a furball guys.." These were the last words the radio ever heard from Aeon at that moment. The sound of .50 caliber machine guns firing dominated the skies as home base anxiously await for updates and hoped that everything would be over quickly.
Bulls eye!...
815 hrs SLT. Friday (180508)
"Sh**! He got away!", yelled Mills as Lisle narrowly misses clipping the wings of the other plane in what was known as a dangerous flying maneuver. But these two pilots are known to be wild cards being so good with unorthodox flying styles. Commander Niki Wilder once dubbed them proudly as The Double Edge Sword of USS Wilderwest.
Aeon was above them and makes a risky dive as he makes a swift turn to the right and fires rounds and rounds of artillery. But the MiG fires back with just less than 20 feet away from him. Aeon quickly makes a 360 getting a clear view from it's rear... aims... and FIRES!
The enemy's plane is quickly put to flames as it screams a deafening whistle of death flipping and rolling below Aeon's Bearcat!
"GOTCHA!", he yells. "The bogey is hit... The bogey is hit! It's going down baby!", an excited Aeon announce as the MiG struggles to control itself. The only way it's going is down...
Worried that the MiG might do a Kamikaze dive in an attempt to still do some damage, Mills signals to Lisle for a deathblow.
"Let's finish him off!", The two pilots zooms in on the MiG and gives it the double-edge sword finale it deserves....
Badadadadadadadadadadadadammmmm.....
... as the enemy plunges into the ocean and disintegrates.
We can all breathe now...
817 hrs SLT. Friday (180508)
Commander Niki Wilder radios in last minute instructions for the squadron to make one last ocular within the perimeter. Just to make sure that no more surprises would await the carrier ship and its crew. Lt. Col. Aeon calls in the all clear as they all finally head back to home base.
A fly-by salute to USS Wilderwest to celebrate their victory! But what about Lt. Col. McKinney Allen?
A roar of applause greet the pilots as they land one by one like wasps returning to their combe. From a distance, a beaming McKinney who narrowly missed certain death by ejecting just in the nick of time before the crash, waves to his compatriots as he is swarmed with bear hugs and the occasional friendly whack on the head.
Safe eject! McKinney was able to chute down to safety after the attack on his plane which was gunned down by a MiG.
"You lucky sunnova...", Aeon's comment was quickly cut short upon the sight of the commander arriving at the deck to congratulate all the pilots and crew. Wilder thanked McKinney in particular that in spite of being hit, he still found the courage to radio home base first just in time before thinking of ejecting himself to safety. That crucial and selfless act prevented a major disaster from happening to the USS Wilderwest.
"There are no particular heroes tonight. You all did your country proud," Wilder addresses the pilots and the crew.
Lt. Col. N71 Aeon calls the attention of his Commander-in-Chief: "As I was saying, about my transfer?", he quips pertaining to the conversation that was cut short because of the emergency this morning...
He carries on joking: "I bloody miss my Liz ma'am.... and of course a huge platter of fish and chips!"
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