Disclaimer: Ace Combat does not belong to me. It belongs to it's respective owners, namely Bandai Namco Entertainment.
25 miles northeast of Wollerstadt, South Belka, Belkan Federation, Osean Continent, Planet Earth.
May 15th, 1995.
Belka's day of reckoning had come, so said many.
The Oseans, the Ustians and the Sapinish, along with the Albertians, the Emmerians, the Aurelians, the New Zandeners and the Churlians, had pushed Belka's forces out of Osea, Sapin and Ustio, and the Yuktobanians, supported by the Nordlanders, the Viteliuans, Fato, Gebet, Recta and Ratio, were making headway on the Eastern Front, and high command reckoned that it would only be a matter of time before Belka itself would be directly threatened.
So, the Belkan Armed Forces, having sustained heavy losses throughout it's offensives and subsequent defensive operations to repell the Allied Forces, had made the decision to recall veterans from retirement and back into military service.
Some were merely brought into service with the Army and Navy as auxiliary personnel, to free up able-bodied men for frontline duties, whilst some were still assigned rear echelon support duties.
But for one particular pilot, it was simply a case of reinstating his previous rank in the air force and returning him to the squadron he previously served with, for this one, they envisioned him as a warrior being brought back in Belka's time of need (propaganda was quite hard at work to portray him as this, with many reckoning that with the Silver Eagle back in the pilot's seat, Belka stood a chance of repelling the might of the two superpowers of Osea and Yuktobania).
For Oberstleutnant Dietrich Kellerman however, he resented the idea of his image being used to lure young boys to false promises of honor, glory and adventure, for war was no adventure, honor often was a hinderance and glory, well, what glory was there in fighting what was clearly a losing war?
It was no matter regardless, for while Waldemarr Rald and his Rald Faction was continuing to refuse to see the writing on the wall, that Belka itself was being squeezed into a vice and would continue to be so until the allied forces reached Dinsmark itself, Kellerman would fight on, as the leader of Silber Team, if only to ensure that those who had been taken in under his command and care, would make it to see another day, live on, get married, have children and not continue with the cycle of hatred, resentment and envy that Belka seemed to continually repeat after a humiliating defeat in a war that it started due to their reach exceeding their grasp.
Known for their exploits in the Rectan Conflict and the Wellow Incident, Silber Team was a legend even within the Belkan Air Force itself.
It's founding members having been taught by veterans of the Second World War, whose practices continued on from the days of the Osean War and the First World War.
But Silber Team had been founded proper, with the formation of Jagdgeschwader 105 in 1940, and Jagdgeschwader 126 in 1942.
The "first season Silber Team" had been a flight that Dietrich Kellermann had originally commanded in Jagdgeschwader 105, commanded by Oberstleutnant Albert Springborn in 1973 during the Rectan Conflict.
But after Jagdgeschwader 105's disbandment, III Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 126 became the "second season Silber Team".
Comprised of five F-4E Phantom IIs, armed with one 20mm M61 Vulcan cannon, four AIM-9 Sidewinders and four Vympel R-27s, the lead aircraft had white and black tiger stripe camouflage, along with a silver eagle wing on each wing to distinguish it from the others, who had a simple white and black colour scheme.
Kellerman was the pilot of the lead aircraft. Known as Silver Eagle, he had been a rookie pilot in 1973 during the Rectan Conflict, before becoming the Hero of Mainz for his actions during a battle against Rectan aircraft over the Mainz mountains, which launched him as a household name in Belka, which would serve him well up until his retirement in 1990.
Silber Team's number two was Major Rupert Appling, Dietrich's wingman and foremost protege, who Dietrich felt, was ideal in leading the next generation of Belka's pilots and passing on his teachings over to them. Dietrich was eagerly awaiting the day that he would hand over the reins of Silber Team over to Rupert, who had a bright future ahead of him.
Then, there were Hauptmann Stefan Enders and Hauptmann Sven Burtlag.
The Silber Team's numbers three and four, who had flown under Dietrich's tutelage for 6 years (a time long enough to be considered a veteran) before his retirement, and they were handpicked by Rupert to join the Silber Team again.
The fifth plane, was Leutnant Sebastian Hackenberg, a trainee of Dietrich who had been personally chosen by Dietrich himself to serve as Silber Team's number five when he was called back to active duty, due to the promise that he showed.
Today, the Silber Team had been given the task for making their presence known at the town of Wollerstadt, where Osean forces were battling for control in their ever continuing drive for the boundary between North and South Belka.
The intention was to hold their ground. Silber Team was to make a punch at enemy air cover in the area, in the hopes that doing enough damage would enable the Oseans to withdraw, at least temporary.
As Silber Team got closer and closer to Wollerstadt, Dietrich's thoughts were soon interrupted, "Silber Leader, this is Silber Two, Enemy fighters closing on our 2 o'clock. Osean F-16s".
Turning his head over to the right, Dietrich could see the four aircraft, the F-16s, which were on an intercept projectory towards Silber Team.
Immediately, he began issuing his instructions, "Silber 2, take the rest of Silber Team on an intercept heading. I will provide close watch. The rest is up to your discretion. Silber Leader out".
As soon as the order was given, Dietrich saw Rupert's F-4, on his immediate right, breaking off from formation, and leading ahead of Stefan, Sven and Sebastian, who followed him in a finger-four formation, while Dietrich hung back, keeping a close watch over his team.
At first, Silber Team had been on a perfect intercept course, ready to launch their missiles, but the F-16s had managed to fire off a pair of AIM-7 Sparrows, which caused Stefan, Sven and Sebastian to take evasive maneouvers and launch off flares.
This meant that they had to spend more time getting back into formation, so Dietrich readied his Vympel R-27s, fixed them on his targets, and launched them. Immediately, he could feel the jolt as one of the missiles was released from it's pylon, it's motors kicking in and propelling onwards to a single F-16.
Following the progress of the missile, Dietrich watched as the missile fired by him, along with the other missiles of his wingmen, tracked the enemy Vipers and headed onwards to the Osean formation.
Some took evasive manoeuvres, putting up flares, but Dietrich's target was a little slow and the R-27 slammed right into the fuselage, causing the F-16 to explode into a dozen fragments.
With one target down, Dietrich swung around his Phantom and took a look around, seeing his wingmen making a good show of themselves.
One by one, the F-16s were down and out of the fight.
Some of them having exploded or trailing smoke from battle damage that they have now sustained and now vacating the area.
With the Vipers down or out of the fight, Dietrich began to look around for his next targets.
And he manoeuvred his aircraft around to help with that, until he saw that the scene was clear, and his team was victorious.
Dietrich levelled off and had his team get back into formation.
After getting a acknowledgement that all of his wingmen were safe and sound, he listened in as his students spoke amongst themselves, sharing tales of their recent exploits in the engagement that they just had, with all the youthful enthuiasm that boys only had.
Boys....
Boys who are turning into men. Some of them are, already. I've seen this before. Boys who think that war is some fun adventure.
God, I am really getting too old for this..., how did I let those fools up in command let me talk me into this? And even worse, bring my top students into this?!
The Battle for Wollerstadt had gone down well. With the immediate air support gone, the tide had turned in the Belkans favor against the Oseans for control of the town, and the Oseans were forced to withdraw.
Silber Team were now within sight of their home base, Brekenhausen Air Base.
"Silber One, this is Brekenhausen Control Tower. You have clearance to land".
Extending his landing gear, Dietrich began manoeuvring his Phantom into a landing, making small adjustments, before he touched down on the tarmac and immediately began powering down.
Lately, fuel supply was becoming a bit more difficult to get new stocks of (the Allies were striking at their fuel supply), and so, standing orders were for the Belkan Air Force to conserve as much fuel as possible.
Landing at airbase, aircraft tugs came in to pull their aircraft away the tarmac. Ground crew were now attaching a tow bar to his nose wheel, and soon, his Phantom was being towed along to the hangar, as were the rest of his team.
Once they were towed inside the hangar, there were indications of camera flashes. Dietrich looked out of the cockpit and his heart sunk at the sight of 20 or so photographers, with their cameras at the ready, as well as an representative from the Party who was undoubtably in charge of the whole spectacle.
Sighing, Kellermann dreaded at whatever Waldemarr Rald's damn propaganda machine would pump out next out of this circus to keep the illusion going, that Belka on it's own could take on the might of Osea and Yuktobania, and come out on top.
As his Phantom came to a complete stop and the ground crew came with ladders, Dietrich flicked the switch to open his cockpit canopy, then took off his oxygen mask.
Kellermann was soon unstrapping himself from his lapbelt, undoing the shoulder straps then the connections to his survival kit and the oxygen tank.
Once that was done, he stood up and climbed out of his cockpit, prepared to face the photographers.
Well, time to face those darn vultures...
Many apologies for the long delay everyone!
With Silber Team, their choice of aircraft was actually pretty easy.
I believe that there were plans for the team to all have F-4 Phantoms in the game, but later changed to having Kellermann's wingmen having F-16s at the last minute (especially since that there is a line during the second Area B7R battle indicating this: "Phantom Jets? It's the Silver Eagle!"), probably to give him a distinguishable aircraft compared to his students.
And since the F-4 Phantom was a real-life Luftwaffe aircraft during the Cold War, I came up with the idea that during the 1960s, there was a thaw in Osean-Belkan relations that allowed the Belkans to acquire some Osean military equipment, including aircraft. So there you go, F-4 Phantoms for the whole of Silber Team.
But to still distinguish Kellermann, was that I gave him a different paint scheme to make him distinguishable from his students, with tiger stripes and a silver eagle wing design.
Anyways, don't forget to leave a review whenever you can, and see you next time!