The first clue I had that enemy MiGs were in the area was when my wingman was consumed in a sudden ball of fire.
"Jesus Christ!" I swore as I checked my mirror and saw the A-7 tumbling out of the explosion, covered in flames and missing its left wing. "Taurus 1-2 eject, I say again, eject! Punch out, goddammit!"
I waited until I saw the canopy detach and the ejection seat fire, carrying the pilot safely away on a jet of fire before I switched my radio over to the airspace control ship. "Red Crown, this is Taurus Lead, I've got a pilot down, requesting immediate SAR!" That's when I saw them. Directly ahead and diving out of the clouds I saw a pair of MiG-19s headed right for me, guns blazing.
I immediately threw the Corsair into a barrel roll to port, vaguely aware of the tracer fire slicing through the air where I'd just been, followed quickly by the MiGs. "Red Crown, Red Crown I am engaged with multiple bandits, requesting immediate assistance!"
The flat, emotionless voice of the handler filled my ears but did nothing to fill me with calm. "Copy, Taurus Lead. SAR has been dispatched. Vectoring RESCAP to your area, ETA 10 minutes."
The g-forces pushed me back into my seat as I pulled the A-7 into a tight turn, trying to get my nose on their tails before they could get behind me. "Ten minutes?! I need help now, Red Crown!" I shouted into my oxygen mask. "I'm in deep here!"
A familiar voice cut in. "Taurus Lead, this is Viper Lead, I am en route, ETA two minutes, hang in there."
"Better hurry it up, Viper Lead," I told Intrepid as I settled in behind the MiGs, "And keep an eye peeled for Fishbeds. I'm tangling with Farmers but my wingman took a missile hit."
"Copy that."
As the fighters began to pull out of their dive, I could see both MiG-19s still had their external drop tanks slung under their wings, decreasing their maneuverability and giving my A-7 an extra edge. I was grateful for the fact that I'd been sent up with an Iron Hand loadout, there's no way I could've even thought about dogfighting with my wings loaded down with five tons of bombs. Even so, I briefly entertained the notion of at least jettisoning my cluster bombs to shed some weight. In the end, it was pure stubbornness that stopped me. If I had no other option, I'd ditch them, but until then, I wasn't about to have my hand forced.
Even from a distance, I could see the flames as they hit their afterburners, trying to get some distance between us. Admittedly, it was working; they were quickly gaining speed and giving themselves room to either bug out or come around for another pass. But all that fire from the afterburner also made for a very big heat signature.
With a vicious grin, I switched over to my Sidewinders and almost immediately the familiar growling tone filled my ears. I waited until I recognized the more insistent tone indicating a lock and pulled the trigger. The missile leaped from the rails just beside me, flashing past the cockpit and almost making me jump in my seat. I watched the contrail as the weapon hurtled toward its target, hoping it would find its mark.
At the last second, the MiG-19 it had been heading for cut afterburners and pulled into a hard bank to the right, causing the missile to harmlessly speed past. To make matters worse, his wingman pulled up into the vertical as he looked to get above and behind me for another gun pass.
"Uh-oh." I was now faced with a choice. While leaving your wingman is typically a very dumb thing that you should never ever do, in this case, there was a reason. No matter which one I followed, the other one could circle around on my tail and take me out or force me back on the defensive again. And without a wingman of my own anymore, there wasn't a way to stay on both of them. Rather than try and match a MiG-19 in the vertical with a bomb-laden A-7, I opted to stay on the fighter that dodged my missile as I switched to my guns. I banked hard right, trying to put my nose ahead of my target so I could squeeze a few rounds off. While the turn wasn't as steep, I knew both the enemy pilot and plane couldn't handle a high-g maneuver like that for very long.
Sure enough, as I was coming around, he began to level off to give himself a chance to breathe. As much as I wanted to get a steady bead on him, I knew his wingman was undoubtedly lining up a shot on me, so I pulled ahead of him and fired a burst from my cannons in a blind deflection shot. Without a second's hesitation, I quickly snap-rolled my aircraft and banked to the left, trying to see if I'd hit him as I passed by. As the plane flashed past, I saw him stable but trailing smoke. Beneath my mask, I allowed myself a tight grin as I looked around for his wingman. I spotted him almost instantly, in the one spot I didn't want him to be in, six o'clock high.
As if she knew the question I was about to ask, Intrepid's voice cut in on the radio. "Thirty seconds out, I've got you on visual, gonna take the one-break right!"
Immediately I pulled hard on the stick, the airframe groaning and shuddering in protest from the sudden, violent motion, and once again I was dimly aware of tracer rounds flying past my cockpit. "Nice save, Viper Lead," I exhaled as I began turning back towards the MiGs while I scanned the sky for her A-4. "How do you wanna handle the merge?"
I could practically hear the grin on her face. "Looks like you're driving 'em right towards me, so how about we give them a taste of their own medicine? I'll dive down for a high-speed gun pass, then loop around and form up on your wing."
I couldn't help but grin back. "Copy that, Viper Lead."
I squeezed off a few more rounds in the MiGs' general direction knowing I almost certainly wouldn't hit them but trying to at least keep their attention on me and not on the Skyhawk diving towards them. By the time they realized someone was ahead of them, it was too late. Intrepid's guns blazed, and I could see the tracer fire connect with the damaged MiG's left wing. There was an explosion of smoke and metal and the wing blew clean off the fighter, leaving it tumbling uncontrollably out of the sky. Her A-4 blew past a moment later, disappearing underneath my aircraft as she started to pull up and onto my wing.
While I'm sure it looked undoubtedly impressive, I didn't have time to enjoy her aerial acrobatics. The last MiG was bugging out fast, his afterburners visible from the kilometer or so ahead of me. I wasted no time and quickly switched to my last Sidewinder and pulled the trigger. The missile rocketed away from me, and I held my breath as I watched it home in on the fleeing fighter. From that distance, all I saw was a puff of smoke, a brief ball of flame, and then nothing except bits of wreckage falling from the sky like smoldering steel rain.
"Woo! Splash two!" I whooped as I glanced to my right just in time to see Intrepid pull up alongside in her Skyhawk. I didn't recognize the large, stylized black bird on the fuselage, but I made a note to ask her about it once we were finished.
"Nice shot, Taurus Lead," she commended as she gave me a thumbs up.
"Likewise," I smiled back as I returned the gesture.
"How's your fuel status?"
It took me a second to find the fuel gauge as the adrenaline rush faded away, leaving me feeling jittery and anxious. "Uhhh…still have enough to get through the mission."
"Copy that," Intrepid replied. "So who's on your dance card?"
"Iron Hand. Gotta engage SAM sites…uh…" I glanced down at the map on the instrument panel. "Should be right around here."
There was a moment of silence on Intrepid's end and when I looked over at her Skyhawk, I could see her glancing down at the ground. "Odd, they should be all over us by-"
She was cut off by the sound of the radar warning receiver suddenly blaring out an alarm. Several alarms, actually. "Shit," I swore as I began looking around for the telltale smoke columns indicating SAM launches. "They must've been waiting for the MiGs to clear the area."
"Well, at least we'll get this done quick," Intrepid quipped. "You still got Shrikes?"
"Shrikes and Rockeyes," I confirmed.
"Outstanding. I'm gonna cut across their axis and try and draw their fire. Get a lock on those radars and take 'em out when you can." Without waiting for my reply, she was already rolling out of formation and diving toward the ground, practically daring the SAM sites to shoot her down.
And they certainly obliged her. Almost as soon as she dropped out of formation, two "telephone poles" lifted out of the jungle on columns of smoke and flame. "SAM launch, SAM launch!" I called out a warning to her. "On your two and five!"
"I see them," she replied, her tone cool and collected. "You worry about the radar."
"Copy that," I acknowledged as I began panning the nose of my A-7 all around the landscape, listening for the distinctive, high-pitched tone indicating the Shrike had found a radiation source. As I was still hunting, another two SAMs lifted off, no doubt headed straight for Intrepid. But I couldn't take the time to give her a warning, if I wanted to help her the best way to do it would be to take out the radar station controlling them. I was beginning to sweat, wondering if I was going to find the site in time when I suddenly heard the sound of a lock. I quickly pointed the nose back in the direction and held it long enough to confirm the lock.
"Shrike away!" I called as I shut my eyes and squeezed the trigger. I felt the Corsair lighten and heard the missile launch as I leveled out, opened my eyes, and switched over to the Rockeyes. Following the missile contrail, I lined up my shot and as I passed over what I believed to be the SAM site, I thumbed the bomb release before I pulled up and away. I felt the aircraft lighten as I banked right, looking down at the ground. The Shrike hit first in a massive explosion, and I knew immediately that I'd scored a kill as I saw one of the RWR icons wink out of existence. The next were the Rockeyes' submunitions, creating a blanket of smaller explosions that occasionally set off larger secondary blasts, a good sign I hit an actual SAM. "Radar site out of commission! How are you doing over there?"
"Just peachy," she grunted, and I could hear her straining even over the radio. "Had me dancin' up here. Nice work, by the way, but we're not out of this yet."
To underscore her point, three more SAMs lifted off from a launch site several kilometers to our west and suddenly, my missile alarm began blaring. "Shit!" I cried out as turned towards the missiles. "I think they've figured out I'm the one with the Shrikes."
"You've got time if you can get a lock quick enough," Intrepid reminded me, and I took a deep breath as I began searching for the radar station, listening for the tell-tale tone. With a little luck, I managed to find it quicker than last time, and as soon as I was confident I had a full lock, I shut my eyes and pulled the trigger. "Shrike away!"
"Great, now drop chaff and break right!"
I did as she ordered without a second's hesitation, and heard a pair of thunderous explosions behind me. Then I heard and felt one final one a little too close for comfort. The whole airframe shook violently, and I heard the unmistakable sound of shrapnel hitting my aircraft.
"I'm hit!" I called out as I scanned the gauges and warning lights. Nothing was flashing aside from the RWR indicator until it went silent, presumably from the Shrike, and the gauges seemed to be reading normal. "How am I looking? Did I get it?"
There was a long pause as Intrepid's Skyhawk pulled alongside so she could give me a good look over. "Yeah, looks like another clean kill," she pronounced confidently. "You've got a few holes, but nothing in your control surfaces. Thought I saw you trailing vapor when you got hit, but it's gone now."
Vapor? I wondered what she meant until I glanced at the fuel gauge. "Shit, I'm past bingo fuel. Must've hit a tank." I sighed and leaned back in the seat. I didn't have enough fuel to get back home.
Intrepid, however, wasn't about to give up on me, bless her. "Think you can make it to the coast?"
I did some quick math before I answered, "Yeah, to the coast and a little beyond that if I have to. Assuming I don't have to do any more crazy flying."
"I'll make sure you've got a clear run," she grinned as she sidled up next to me. "Mind letting a lady walk you home?"
"Not at all…"
It was only twenty minutes to the coast, but to me, it felt like an eternity as I watched the fuel gauge tick down and down. I was beginning to worry that I might not even make it as far as the coast. But when I saw that vast blue expanse on the horizon, I let out an audible sigh.
"Almost home, Taurus Lead," Intrepid reassured me. "Just hang in there for a few more minutes."
I glanced down at my map and saw the icon for my base carrier was still miles off. "Uh, the Saratoga's nowhere near here," I replied, wondering just what she was up to.
"Who said anything about the Sara?" she coyly asked. "Check your eleven o'clock."
I glanced over to my left and spotted a lone ship on the horizon, and after looking hard at it, I realized it had to be a carrier. "Wait…" I said quietly as I realized what she'd done. "Is…is that…you?"
"Sure is!" she chirped. I'd so rarely seen her post-war refit I almost didn't recognize her with her angled flight deck. "She's been heading out this way since we started heading back. Think you've got enough fuel to land?"
I looked at the fuel gauge and grimaced. "It'll be tight, but I think I've got enough for one pass, and then I'm gonna have to ditch."
"Start your approach, then, and remember, Mercury and Gemini, right?"
For a second, I didn't realize what she meant, and then it clicked. "Mercury and Gemini," I confirmed with a grin as I lowered my airspeed and lined up on approach.
The entire time, Intrepid stayed on my wing, calmly giving me feedback. I'd never landed on a deck as small as a short-hull Essex, and she knew it, so she was doing everything she could to make sure I had the best chance. "Alright, looks like you've got a good glide slope, flaps extended, gear's down, hook's down…go ahead and call the ball."
I craned my neck as I looked for the "meatball", the automated landing light system that would guide me in. For a second, I thought I might not be able to spot it, but then I caught it, a bright light on the left side of the flight deck. "Taurus Lead has the ball," I declared as I made some final adjustments, continuing to slowly reduce the power.
Landing an aircraft safely is tricky under any circumstances is tricky, landing an aircraft safely on an aircraft carrier is damn hard. Not only do you have to put it down safely, but you've got to do it on a very precise spot while both you and your landing strip are moving on all three axes. Oh, and did I mention I've only got one shot at this?
The really tricky part was not looking at the flight deck. I needed to keep my eye on both the meatball on Intrepid and the instrument lights on the left side of my HUD in the cockpit which told me where I was on the glide slope.
All the while, Intrepid continued to talk me down. Literally. "Looks like you're on good approach, a little more power. There you go, almost there…almost there…"
I felt the A-7 hit the deck and I immediately jammed the throttle forward as the arresting hook caught one of the wires, bringing me to a screeching halt. The straps bit into my shoulders as I was shoved forward by the sudden deceleration, and I quickly pulled the throttle back to idle. In my ear, I could hear Intrepid cheering my successful trap.
"Textbook landing, John!" she exclaimed. "Now clear the deck, it's my turn."
"Aye aye," I grinned as I raised the hook and taxied off to the side. I let out a massive sigh of relief as I parked the Corsair just forward of the island and made sure I had a good view of the flight deck to watch Intrepid make her landing. No sooner than I'd parked though, I heard the engine cough, sputter, and then die as it ran out of fuel. I'd come way too close on that one.
By the time I made sure everything in the aircraft was safely shut off, Intrepid was on final approach. At this point, I couldn't hear her since my radio, like everything else in the cockpit, was dead, but it was nevertheless impressive to see her gracefully land her little delta-winged plane with a perfect three-wire hook. I made a mental note to ask which wire I'd trapped when we spoke. As she taxied next to me, I waved eagerly, then gestured up as I opened the cockpit…
…and lifted myself out of the simulator pod. A second later, Intrepid's own simulator pod opened and she practically sprang out of it, a huge smile on her face. "What'd I tell ya, huh?" she beamed as she pulled off her helmet and shook her hair out. "Felt just like the real thing, right?"
"A little too real at times," I grinned as I removed my helmet and ran a gloved hand through my sweat-soaked hair. "But yeah, that was damn fun. We should definitely do that again sometime…"
A/N-Okay, last one for Intrepid for real this time, I swear. I started writing this as a way to get out of some nasty writer's block and decided I'd go ahead and finish it. Hopefully, you guys liked it, and if not, well…it's all Nitro's fault(also his fault if you did like it, so give his stuff a read over on AO3, too). Also, Danger Zone Mighty Wings. Until next time, fair winds and following seas!
