Scored an Ace

Short story on air combat over the planet of Aldairia. Note, these planes are based loosely on actual aircraft in World War 2 - suggestions/tips greatly appreciated.

Brief backstory into the fiction: You are about to read a first person memoir of the Battle of Screaming Glen - an air battle filled with dogfights and prestiege. Feel the rapid pounding of G forces and tug as you soar in and out of enemy aircraft, dodging bullets and scoring an ace.

 

Being a 19 year old in the Royal Air Guard was something any boy bleeding it out on the front wanted most. We had the best of everything, rations, sleep, and RnR. They even shipped us cigarettes straight from the Heartland, and they'd even be kind enough to slip us in some much needed alchohol. At that point in my career, I was nothing more than Wingmen Daniel Clyde, inexperianced and ready for action. I was born on a small farm in a small town called Exmoor, its up in the North and everyone talks a bit oddly there. When I got my letter I was shocked, I had figured I'd be just another boy sent to die at the frontlines like the rest of the lads in my town, but when it said I'd be flying with the 1st Royal Air Guard Fighter Wing I could of jumped for joy. Boot camp was rough, but I got my flight hours in and finally was sent up to see some action. My first combat mission, that was one hell of a fight.

We were all sitting there in our little lounge room on the base, me, Taylor, and Werner were playing cards and trying to pass the time. Felton was sitting silently smoking a cigarette along with Davis and Milo. And there she came in, our wing leader and the only female pilot in the entire bloody Air Guard. Sejla Catovic, pronounced "Shaela", tough as all hell and a brilliant pilot. She had a very calm demeanor, but when she was pushed she'd break any man I'd know. She was from the Eastern Fiefdoms, not really sure she didn't have the accent.. Apparently she'd been born somewhere Western and moved there, hell, I wasn't sure I was the newguy. She walked in, with Gaz and Rooney chatting excitedly behind her. Immedatiely the room went quiet and all eyes were on her as she sat herself down. She had wild, lengthy hair which was definatley unregulation but nobody ever said anything. She lit a cigarette and poured herself a cup of tea, taking a long sip, and let out a satisfied sigh and then gave us all a nod, "Well lads, looks like we'll be going up soon, just a brief little recon sortie nothing to get your knickers in a bundle." The group laughed. She smiled, told everyone to suit up and be ready and on the runstrip in five, and then departed to her room to prep. We all got up and headed into our own rooms to get suited up.

Aldairian flight suits are nothing special. A darkish tan with two goldenwings on your left breast with a mighty sword in the middle of them. Flight caps were a deep brown or black, and normally made of leather. You had your flight mask which was deep black, and your goggles which stuck to your face pretty tightly. I suited up quickly, I was nervous and excited even though it was merely a recon mission. I'm glad to note that I was the first one on the strip after Sejla, and she gave me a little grin and knowing nod. "Your first sortie?" She asked, stomping the cigarette underneath her flight boots.

"Aye," I responded, "It's only a recon though." She had to laugh,

"You greens, you're always so ready for fighting." She winked and walked over to her ground crew where they were filling up her plane. I stepped over to mine and they waved.

Aldairian "Sky Foxes" were the main stay of the Royal Air Guard. They had a low wing sit, with a brilliant prop engine. They were painted a deep green mixed with brown, and our wings logo was painted on the tops of both wings. A massive number 1 with two props crossing together, I'll admit it wasn't the best logo I've ever seen. I named my plane Greta after a girl back home, I wore her white scarf she gave me around my neck. My ground crew were some great blokes, they smiled and shook my hand wishing me well.

Before long the rest of the wing was out and about, doing checks and fueling up. They put us at full tanks just for the sake of it all, and then told us to hop in and do pre-flight. It wasn't hard, they get the prop spinning and made us run through a series of tests. Radio, guns, rudders, just to make sure we'd have no problems once we were up. Henry my chief ground crew operator shut the canopy window and gave me a thumbs up, slapping the cockpit as he hopped down. I returned the gesture and started to taxi in behind Werner. Rookie was the last one off.

"Everyone all set." Sejla called out over radio and was immeditally responded to with some Yes, ma'ams and Roger thats. I sat back, waiting, fingering the throttle greedily and wanting to feel the thrill of flight again. Any pilot in any plane will tell you how excillerating a take off is, the land flowing by you, the sense of speed, the G's, it was a wonderful life being a pilot.

They went off in accordance to rank, Sejla first, then Rooney, Gaz, Felton, Milo, Taylor, Davis, Werner, and then me. I kicked the throttle to full speed, getting pushed back in my seat by the sudden force of it all. I locked my legs in the takeoff position to relieve pressure and tension in my head. I was rolling, the landscape passing by me in a blur when I eased the stick backwards, lifting the nose of the Sky Fox up. I could instantly feel the push of G forces as my bird climbed, Easy, don't push her to hard. I told myself, remembering everything I had learned in training. When I climbed to about 15,000 feet I set the wheels inside and began to level off. We flew in a "V" formation at around 20,000 feet.

It was a beautiful day, you could clearly see all over the surrounding landscape. I remember an excited Davis whooping over the mic and Sejla laughingly told him to quiet down. The sun shone wonderfully in the deep blue sky, and puffy white clouds danced across our views. In the distance you could make out the artillery guns, and sometimes you'd see some exploisions from the front. We were following a route that would take us over a slim channel in between to large cliffs, we were told to patrol the area and then head back home. Routine. How wrong could things have gone.

We'd been flying for at least half-an-hour when things started to get odd, Rooney kept saying ticks were appearing on his radar but disappeared everytime someone checked it. Sejla ordered them to climb a bit, just in case. We were coming in on the patrol zone and thats when we saw it. Spirals and plumes of smoke filling the sky as planes, friend and foe danced around in combat. Sejla roared over radio, "Command, what in the hell is going on over here?" Silence for awhile and then Command broke through,

"Read you Wing Leader, we overlooked it, looks like Regency are making a push after all. Let 'em have it." She swore loudly over the radio and told everyone to climb to Optimal Combat Height and prepare to stoop and sting. SnS, stoop and sting is a common tactic used by air pilots, you climb above the enemy and then drop, guns blazing. "

"Rooney, Milo, Taylor, hook left. Davis, Felton, Gaz head right. Danny boy and Werner, you're with me right down on the bloody b******s." We all gave her our acknowledgement. "Stoop and sting lads, let's have it!" And with that, everyone roared into their positions. I slammed the stick down, descending into a deep climb. My vision popped as the G forces threatened to black me out, and I jammed the firing stick, streams of autoguns lighting up and tracer rounds puncturing into the enemy planes. Just as I felt the blackness begin to take me over, I leveled the plane out and felt things return to normal. Sweat rolled down my face, and a bullet grazed my wing.

"Watch it Danny, you've got one on your six, coming in now." Rooney barked out, I turned my head 180 degrees and saw the b*****d on my six. I slammed the stick, down and left and watched the enemy swim past me, Rooney in hot pursuit. "Got him." He called out a moment later. Gaz got two, and Felton scored one on that swing. Sejla called in four dead birds, Davis hit one, Werner missed another.

"Engage enemy targets, stay in pairs. Danny, with me, Rooney is odd man out." The wave of acknowledge me rang out and everyone called for partners. I swarmed in behind Sejla as she headed straight into a formation of enemy props. I pulled the trigger and twisted the stick, coming in at a barrel roll. One of the enemy fighters tried to pull up but I managed to clip his wing and it blew off in a frenzied inferno.

"Score!" I yelped out and Sejla gave me a congradulations. She had hit two herself of course.

Adrenaline was coursing from my first kill, and we flipped out birds over and came in on the back of another formation. Guns blazing we tore through them, I got another and nearly had a second but he pulled away just in time. All over comm, the 1st were scoring kills like it was nothing. "Who's that smoking?" Sejla called out, and an angry Milo came on.

"Little b*****d snuck up on me, came from the five, didn't have a chance."

"Milo, you're done, get back to base refuel and see if you can get more fighters up here." He angrly agreed. I jammed the stick left, trying to follow another enemy plane who knew  I was on his six. I levelled out, first mistake in air combat is to stay on a target for to long. I checked behind me, an enemy bird was coming, I jammed the throttle down and gasped for oxygen from the weight of G's on my lungs. The plan worked and the enemy soared ahead, I pushed the throttle forward and opened up on him. "Another one down!" I whooped out,

"Easy flyboy, you've got two contacts coming in behind you. Rooney, with me." Sejla always had such a calm voice despite the sincerity of the situation. I ducked and weaved, relying on my skill and luck to see me through. Another bullet clipped my wing but it didn't do much damage, Rooney scored both kills and fell off to find more targets. Despite the amount of damage we caused them, more Regency planes filled the sky.

"We need to get the hell out of here." Taylor was saying through a grunt, obviously dodging enemy fighters. They were starting to lose, friendly planes began dropping. I looked over my shoulder, all clear, and I followed Sejla in for another swoop. Thats when we heard Davis start screaming.

"Whats wrong? Davis come in!" Everyone asked for a report, Felton came through his deep voice resenating through the radio headphones.

"He's hit, he's hit... we've lost him." I looked over and saw a bird blown neatly in half smashed horribly off the sides of the cliffs and into the channels. There was no way he had time to bail out. Taylor kept swearing and Sejla told him to shut up and keep fighting. Davis had been the more wild of the Wing, he drank a lot but he was charming and usually full of such vigour. Just like that he was gone. I swung my plane around, angry now, and opened up on targets that I had no chance of hitting. Sejla told everyone to calm down, we were going to pull out.

I swung around, raising altitude and following Felton ahead of me. "Enemy, about a dozen of them, Felton, Danny, disengage!" Gaz roared over the mic. I checked to my left and saw them they were all opening up on us. I jammed the stick down descending into a fierce dive and then ripped it right and up, spinning it in a graceful arc. I could hear Felton breathing deeply over the comm, someone was swearing. I looked over my shoulder, targets swarmed around me but my vision was spotty from all the G forces. An enemy plane zoomed in my sights and I fired, knocking him cleanly out. Three more joined up on my six and started firing, I pushed low, skimming the top crag of the cliffs. They followed, guns pounding, I could see their bullets whizzing by my canopy. Then I heard Felton, "Danny get the hell out of here! I'll hold them!" I whirrled around in my seat and saw a smoking plane, it was Felton, he'd been hit.

"No!" I called out but he insisted, he swore he'd never met someone so disobediant to a veteran. Tears filled my eyes, I pulled up and out and watched in the distance as Felton chased off my attackers. I came up with the rest of our wing and we formed up high, I looked over my shoulder just in time to see an explosion rock the cliff side. Felton was down too.

"Coming in hot ahead of us, d****t, looks like they're trying to cut us off. Everyone spread out and punch through them!" Sejla was sounding a bit nervous, and her voice was a bit off key. I opened up and found myself involuntarily roaring. I hit another one of the bats and it exploded in mid air, pilot and all. I flipped the plane sideways, coming in like a razor blade and swung left. I came on another enemy and blasted the cockpit to all hell. I could make out the pilots expression as he watched the bullets puncture his canopy, blood spured all over the place. My wing clipped his tail and I started going into a deathly spiral. I fought the stick, it kept wanting to go down but d****t I wasn't dying like this. The G's were becoming unbearable, I vomited, and then finally, sweating and panting managed to pull out of the dive. My flight suit was soaked with warm vomit and sweat, and I gagged again as I pulled up to rejoin my Wing. Gaz got hit but he was fine, just his engine had caught fire but he'd make it alright. Sejla had taken a few rounds in her bird but it was holding. Taylor was sobbing on the comm, he'd taken a bullet in the arm but other than that was alright.

"Rooney, where the hell is Rooney?" We all turned around and watched a Sky Fox dip in and out of enemy planes, sending two of them colliding into each other. Sejla started yelling at him, but he was silent. We saw his plane dip down, and then pulled up at the last second, an enemy bat smashed into the ground. Then he got hit, the tail end exploded and we saw him fight to open his canopy, he did and ejected out with his parachute.

"NO!" We all screamed as an enemy plane sliced through the parachute strings and we watched his body fall helplessy to the earth. Rooney's down now too. Sejla was quiet, her voice barely audible over the thump of the engine. We didn't see anymore fighting that day and we touched down at base, the airfield was solemn. I landed, ripped off my flight mask and pulled the canopy back, releasing it from its locked position. I sprinted over to Taylors plane which had taken a dip and skidded over the runway. The gears had broken off and fireteams and medic trucks dashed over to him. They got him out okay and took him away to the base medical facility. Sejla jumped out of her bird and stood gazing at the ground for awhile, I saw Gaz run over and put a comforting arm around her, and she shook him off nodding. I walked over,

"You did alright today kid." She said, giving me a little nod. Werner, where the hell was Werner? We saw a plane coming in from the distance, black smoke trailing behind him. We gazed up and gasped in horror as the plane suddenly gave out, the prop and engine exploded. Thank god Werner could think on his feet for we saw a little parachute behind the thick cloud of smoke but his bird smashed into the earth and exploded. Retrivial trucks backed with the medical trucks roared off to his location.  Milo came out of his hanger and waved, then stopped and counted over us.

We all drank heavily that night, except for Sejla, who retired to her quarters early. I sat in the nearby towns pub until the barman told me to get out. I stumbled through the cobblestone streets and fell over into an alleyway. I vomited, and started sobbing. "Hey, kid." I looked up, apparently Sejla had not gone straight to her quarters for there she was looking time at me hand extended. I accepted it and stood up, feeling a bit drunk. "You did your part, you did okay. There's nothing you could of done, they died well, they died..." She looked off and stared into space awhile. I asked her how Taylor was and she shook her head.

"He's alright but he'll never be able to fly again, his right arm is blasted to all hell, they had to amputate. Poor lad." I scowled at this news. Overhead, I heard a few Sky Foxes soar over, and we both stared up watching them fly off into the distance. I realised something suddenly, I killed five, I killed five, I was an ace now. Sejla sensed something and asked what was up, when I told her her face lit up. She told me tomorrow morning to check in with Regimental to get my wings, I was a full-fledged ace now. We walked back to the base where she said goodnight and went off to sleep. I sat outside of the barracks, smoking a cigarette and watched the night takeoff. A Sky Fox ripped brilliantly across the the field and I grinned, turning my attention towards the barracks where the windows were open,

I saw the rest of the wing all looking up at the bird too.

Author's Note

I wanted to see if I could write something about air combat, please feel free to leave comments/suggestions I'm more than willing to hear good solid advice.

Reviews

[Mandi]

i agree with the commment below...=P

[Fat]

YES, YES, YES.

This made me smile so hard I thought my face was going to fall off.

:')

Nicely done, comrade, nicely done.