On the Wings of Eagles by Dan Verner

Author:Dan Verner [Verner, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical, Military Fiction
Publisher: eLectio Publishing, LLC
Published: 2014-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

Winging Eastward

April 1950

Otto was at the controls of the Mata Maria high over France. He knew the entire rest of the crew was injured and the ship was badly shot up. He had to bring her home . . . with all ten of them alive. He pushed the throttles forward on the two remaining engines and thought he saw the Channel out ahead of him in the haze. Not much further to go. Hold on, cowboy. You can do it.

He felt someone shaking his shoulder and turned around to see who it was. “Otto, wake up! You’re having a nightmare!”

Otto opened his eyes and saw Bob looking at him with concern. “Wha—Oh, thanks, Bob. I dreamed I was back in the Eighth trying to bring a crippled ship back. Where are we?”

“We’re a couple of hours out of Offutt. We’re nearly home, buddy!”

I wouldn’t call it home, Otto thought. More like a way station, but it was more like home than the places they’d been in the past ten days. What time is it?

Bob consulted his watch. “It’s about nineteen hundred Zulu, about two PM local. We’ll be in about four PM local.”

“Thanks, Bobolink.”

“You’re welcome, Major OK.”

Otto turned and looked out the window. They were over foothills, which no doubt climbed to the Rockies somewhere behind them. The land would soon change to flat prairie and farmland as they neared Nebraska, and then it would be a straight shot to Omaha at the eastern end of the state. It would be good to get back to familiar surroundings. He hoped Rackham would give them about a week off to visit their families. He missed Betty and the girls more than he could imagine. After that, who knew what military necessity would crop up? The situation in Asia was getting dire. Some were saying there would be a shooting war in Korea, which had been divided between North and South at the end of the war, just as Berlin had been divided into sectors by the Allies. The airlift had resulted from that division when the Soviets wouldn’t let the Allies access their portions of the city by land. It was quite an operation, from what he could tell.

Otto stretched and fell asleep again, this time without dreams.

***

Otto was awakened by the thump of tires on tarmac. He yawned and stretched as the C-124 slowed to taxiing speed and turned off toward the hangar. The twelve or so passengers gathered their belongings and filed out the exit. Otto and Bob stood for a second at the top of the stairs. It was already hot, and it was only late April. They walked down to the tarmac.

“We made it!” Bob exclaimed. He and Otto shook hands. “You want to get some real food?” Lunch had been a ham sandwich on stale bread accompanied by warm water.

“Nah, I think I’ll go back to my quarters after I check my mail. And I want to call Betty.”

“Good idea,” Bob said. “I’ll do the same.

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