512- Eurofighter Chapter 1: Pavewaying For The Fjords

[Lightning]

James Kinney gave a nod. "Roger that, -43. Better get that checked. Would hate for you to mess up any more windshields."

He sighed. The world was out to get him today. "Copy that, Blondie. I kinda guessed that would be the case. Always wanted to see Iceland." Well, not really. "Hope I didn't hurt you in the emergency maneuver. Sorry." He had time to react but not much else.

He started punching in data for the change in destination. He'd need to let Iceland know he was coming as well as England, that he'd be late. Again. Someone didn't want him at Coningsby, it seemed.

[Silent Hunter]

The tanker acknowledge him and headed away.

"Tad unexpected, sir, but I've been through worse. No problem about that".

The F-15E headed towards Iceland. A minute later a message flashed onto his Link-16.

PRIORITY 111414Z CFB NORTH BAY- NORTH WARNING SYSTEM

REPORTS THAT TWO PREVIOUSLY NOTED BEAR HOTEL AIRCRAFT HAVE COMPANY STOP SPECIFICALLY TWO TANGO UNIFORM DASH ONE SIX ZERO BLACKJACK BOMBERS STOP ALL ON BEARING ZERO ONE THREE

[Lightning]

James Kinney gives a tight grin, replying to the tanker, "Glad everyone is well. Fly well." Glad they had seen worse and not he.

He frowns at the incoming message, chatting to Blonde, "Tu-95s and -160s? Wonder what the Russians are up to now? Getting ready to take out the West? I really hope we done have to mix it up with this group. Did we miss a training alert message? Did the Russians forget to file one?"

At least, Iceland would be mostly safe, having little military value now. Not like Red Storm Rising.

[Silent Hunter]

Harper nodded that he understood, then got his head down to do his home work of plotting the Nav course, and the battle flight plan, with sweeny

Hussein continued.

"Once the airbase is destroyed, head West for the open sea and keep going. If you have to use military power [OOC: Afterburner], do. I don't know if there are going to be any fighters out there. There may well be surface ships.

There's another tanker waiting for you out there. If you fail to tank, divert is Vagar airport in the Faroe Islands. Tricky to land in, but the weather is expected to be clear for the next 24 hours.

Once you've tanked, land at Lossiemouth.

Right, safety rules. No flying under 250 feet at any point. Don't fly over populated areas. Try not to scare the moose.

We leave at 1500 Zulu- that's 3 and a half hours time.

Any questions?"

[Silent Hunter]

The F-15E reached Keflavik and landed after a few minutes waiting at 1215 Zulu. It taxied to the military area was starting to take on fuel.

Blondie turned to her commander.

"Suggest you get some sleep, sir".

As soon as she'd said this, a military officer walked up to the two of them. He was dressed in USAF formal uniform, with the rank of Colonel and the name tag "SANDERS"

After the salutes had been exchanged, the Colonel started to talk.

"Colonel John Sanders. They call me Kentucky. Congratulations on that MiG. Thought I'd update you on the whole Russia thing before you get some much-needed shut-eye. No, I'm not letting you fly off at the moment.

So, here's the latest. Looks like a big Russian exercise. We've got 10 Bears, 6 Blackjacks and no fewer than thirty Backfires. They appear to be conducting simulated strikes against targets in Siberia.

Supporting them are 5 Midas tankers.

Now here's the odd thing. Four of the tankers are clearly supporting the whole exercise. Midas number 5, which was launched 30 minutes before the Bears, is hanging around in the Barents Sea- doing who-knows-what. It's like its getting ready for a refuel, but there's nothing there..."

[Voshkod]

"No questions here, sir. Let's get these planes in the air."

[Lightning]

Kinney climbed out of the jet and had to chuckle, "What clued you in on that, Johnson? Just because I've to more time zones, going both ways, than anyone should have too? My body has no idea where it is or when it is. Yes, I need sleep." He puts on a grin to let her know he's in a light mood, just tired.

He gives the colonel a smile at the congratulations, wondering how long this will go on. "Thank you, sir. It was mostly training and doing things instinctively. I wish I could say it was a long drawn out fight but he crossed my nose, I got a tone and pulled the trigger. Training did most of the work. And thanks for the offer of the bed. I was just explaining to my back seater that my internal clock is out of wack."

He puzzles about the tankers, "Unless the lone tanker is waiting for something that we haven't spotted yet. Or it's to extend the range of the massive group. I'm sure the west coast and Alaska are on a heightened alert. At least, I'd hope so. The Russians have been acting oddly the last few hours." He shakes his head sadly.

[Silent Hunter]

The Colonel thought about.

"He might be waiting for something else out there, but we don't know. It seems very strange. There's one theory, but... nah, it's silly. Like the Russians have developed a stealth aircraft and we didn't see it coming..."

He paused.

"Get some sleep, Kinney, Blondie. Congratulations again".

He left the hangar. Russian stealth aircraft, he chuckled to himself. This wasn't Firefox...

[Lightning]

James heads off to find a cafeteria or something. He is hungry. But he isn't laughing or chuckling. There have been rumors/reports of the Russians working on stealth for several years. And to underestimate them is dangerous. They are smart people. Looks like he won't be sleeping well, even if it's not his problem.

[Silent Hunter]

It was just after 4pm local time- 3pm Zulu Time. The ten Eurofighters were on the taxi route at RAF Coningsby, just off the edge of the runway. Some aviation enthusiasts were taking pictures.

The first two were Redding and Guillam's Ego One flight. They were loaded up with their simulated air-to-air missiles and the real drop tanks.

Spoiler

Show

Loadout for each:
* 4 Meteors
* 4 AIM-132 ASRAAM
* 3 Drop Tanks

Behind them were Mongoose and Sweeney's SEAD Ego Two flight.

Spoiler

Show

Loadout for each:
6 ALARM
4 ASRAAM
3 Drop Tanks

Third in the line was Ego Three. With St Clair-Erskine was Daniel "Boris" Reid, so named because of his resemblance to a famous Conservative politician.

Spoiler

Show

Loadout:
2 Storm Shadows
2 Meteors
4 ASRAAM
3 Drop Tanks

The Ego Four Paveway flight sat behind.

Right at the back was the Control Flight of Hussein and Kaylee. Hussein was known as "Oswald" due to his knowledge of air combat, after German World War One ace Oswald Boelcke, writer of the first manual of air combat. He was also an OBE for his services to the RAF.

Oswald opened the comm channel.

"DC, if you want to say something inspiring, we're waiting for someone to land first".

After DC had said his piece, a large black propeller aircraft approached the runway and landed. They could see the cannons and the two tails of the old aircraft. It was an Avro Lancaster, a World War Two bomber, part of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

To Hussein it reminded him of 633 Squadron. As did their mission.

The tower radioed in.

"Ego One, this is Coningsby Tower. You are clear for take off".

[Chappers]

Andrew idly scratched his neck, he hated waiting,

"You know, I think it would be quite interesting to fly one of those things", he muttered to himself.

[Voshkod]

"Not much to say about this one, boys and girls," DC says as he begins to firewall the engines. "Don't muck it up, don't prang your kite, and lets show those Vikings how we drove them out of England a few hundred years back, right?" He released the brakes and felt the acceleration push him back into the seat like a lover. DC smiled as the Eurofighter screamed into the sky.

[pathfinderAP]

"Roger" was the last word to the Conn,
Then Mongoose hit the afterburner and followed DC, He noticed the extra weigh gave the aircraft a lower center of gravity,

Then gave a quick look to see if Sweeny was airbourne,

[Silent Hunter]

Sweeney rammed the throttle to full military power and roared down the runway, taking off about one second after Mongoose.

She climbed until they reached 30,000 feet and then levelled off. She kept a glance behind her for Saint and Boris.

OOC: Suggest you get into an attack formation.

[Lightning]

Just another day in paradise? For James Kinney, he has no idea of what's up. He grabs a small meal, facilities not being up to full, and then finds a bunk to collapse into. At last, sleep.

[Chappers]

Saint grinned as he saw Ego Two roar down the runway. Moving into position he let out a whoop as he raced, full throttle, down the runway. He still loved his part

His kite quickly climbed into the sky before he looked about to set it into the attack formation behind Sweeny and next to Boris.

[Voshkod]

"Combat formation," DC said over the radio. "Let's play this by the book."

[pathfinderAP]

Harper moved the fighter in to Combat formation, and glanced over to Sweeny's postion off his wing,

[Silent Hunter]

Kinney's Sub-Conscious

Kinney had gotten to sleep, but it was going to be an interesting one.

Kinney found himself sitting inside an aircraft. It was a single-seat fighter, with analogue controls. There appeared to be no missile system, just guns.

Glancing out of the cockpit, he could see several aircraft beside him. They were F-86 Sabre fighters.

Ego Mission

Boris and the Ego Four flight followed. They were soon heading out towards the North Sea and their first tanker rendezvous- about twenty-five minutes away.

The radar warning receivers on the aircraft were programmed to tell the pilot of any radars scanning them. The usual- Air Traffic Control, the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System were filtered out. The active radar systems were off for operational reasons- they didn't want the Norwegians detecting them.

About 10 minutes from their rendezvous with the three tankers, Ego One flight noticed a scan on their radar system. The computer tried to determine what it was, searched its extensive database of radar signatures going back to the Second World War and then concluded "UNKNOWN- RUSSIAN?"

[Lightning]

Kinney's Sub-Conscious

The F-86. Ah, the end of an era. The dedicated gun fighter, even if later variants could carry rockets for ground attack missions. Limited computer assistance. Some wouldn't even consider the gun sight a computer. It was an aide though. No aides to stabilize flight. This was flying, hard flying. Some would say it was "true" flying. Kinney didn't care. He was up in the air with a control stick in his hand. His element.

[Silent Hunter]

Kinney's Sub-Conscious

The F-86. Ah, the end of an era. The dedicated gun fighter, even if later variants could carry rockets for ground attack missions. Limited computer assistance. Some wouldn't even consider the gun sight a computer. It was an aide though. No aides to stabilize flight. This was flying, hard flying. Some would say it was "true" flying. Kinney didn't care. He was up in the air with a control stick in his hand. His element.

A voice came over his radio.

"Fulcrum Flight, this is Fulcrum Leader. We are five minutes from MiG Alley".

[Voshkod]

DC thumped the screen. "Come on, now, lady, you can give me more than that," he muttered. He keyed his radio. "Flight, this is Ego One lead, we're getting painted by an unknown radar source. Ego Six, request permission to go radar active and sweep the area." Someone's out there, playing games?

[Lightning]

MiG Alley. Northwest section of North Korea and a bit into China where the MiG-15s were based. Where the dog fights took place.

James Kinney checks his guns, his air mask and then tightens his grip on the stick. Hopefully a few MiGs will come out to play.

[Silent Hunter]

The North Sea

DC thumped the screen. "Come on, now, lady, you can give me more than that," he muttered. He keyed his radio. "Flight, this is Ego One lead, we're getting painted by an unknown radar source. Ego Six, request permission to go radar active and sweep the area." Someone's out there, playing games?

Hussein glanced at his RWR. This was not in anybody's script.

"Negative, Ego One, we'll do it", he replied. "This is not in the script".

Hussein and Kaylee broke off their Eurofighters off and started to do a radar sweep. They found nothing.

"Estimated range 10 nautical miles and closing. 600 knots speed, 7 o'clock high", Kaylee called out. "He or she could have fired by now. IRST has nothing- hang on, got something!"

She forwarded the data through to their data link. At that point, an aircraft actually showed up on radar.

"Radar contact confirmed. Aircraft".

Kaylee glanced at the aircraft in front of her as she rapidly closed the gap on the contact. Her mouth dropped open. It was like something out of a movie.

The fighter was a very dark grey. It had two angled tail fins and curved wings like the F-4 Phantom. There were two canards on the front and a two-seater cockpit.

As it swept past her and then headed to fly to the left of the four Ego flights, she noticed the red star on the tail.

Then music started coming over their intercoms. For some unknown reason, it was by Santana. "Smooth" to be precise.

She grabbed a disposable camera and started taking photos.

"Er, guys..."

[Silent Hunter]

MiG Alley. Northwest section of North Korea and a bit into China where the MiG-15s were based. Where the dog fights took place.

James Kinney checks his guns, his air mask and then tightens his grip on the stick. Hopefully a few MiGs will come out to play.

The F-86s fly into hostile airspace. Suddenly, they see a glint in the sun.

"Bogies, 2 o'clock high", called the flight leader.

[Chappers]

Saint whistled, when he'd first heard DC's message he had thought that the bosses had decided to come up with something new. Now he wasn't sure.

He flicked on the radio, "Ego one this is Saint, what's happening sir?"

[Chappers]

Saint whistled, when he'd first heard DC's message he had thought that the bosses had decided to come up with something new. Now he wasn't sure.

He flicked on the radio, "Ego one this is Saint, what's happening sir?"

[Voshkod]

"Looks like Ivan has come out to play, folks, and he's brought his shiniest toys. If you've got a camera, take all the pictures you can. I'm going to light him up, see if I can get a missile lock." DC begin warming up the targeting radar.

[Silent Hunter]

The Russian aircraft was now flying about 10 nm ahead of them at 11 o'clock. It slowed down, letting Ego One close up to it.

The radar found the aircraft at a distance of 7 nm, but did not register a lock until under 4 nm.

The IRST did not acquire an ASRAAM fire-able infra-red signature until that same distance.

The Russian aircraft, still broadcasting Santana did a loop and flew past the Eurofighters at 600 knots- with a relative closing speed of 1200 knots. It did another loop and flew next to Saint.

It rolled onto its left side and opened a bomb bay to expose what appeared to an Kh-15/AS-16 cruise missile and two R-73/AA-11 IR missiles. As it and Saint took a picture, it turned sharply to the left.

The wings rolled level and the aircraft accelerated. There was a loud crack as the aircraft exceeded Mach 1.

Kaylee's aircraft was unarmed, but she managed to get an IR signature good enough for a launch as the aircraft reached Mach 1.5.

The music stopped and the Russian aircraft slowed down. It was heading north.

[Chappers]

Saint was excited, and scared. Adrenaline had rushed into his system as he snatched the picture of the aircraft, "****, what the hell was that thing and what was it doing all the way over here. Come to think of it and why didn't we know that some Ruskis were playing around here?"

As he said this he started to prepare for somethjing larger. Probably wouldn't happen but...