Sky Ghost by Maloney Mack

Author:Maloney, Mack [Maloney, Mack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781480406797
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2013-04-24T16:09:00+00:00

Chapter 23

THERE WAS A LIGHT SNOW falling the next morning.

The wind was at 20 knots, and more snow was expected by midday. The temperature was supposed to be minus 16 degrees Fahrenheit, but if it had been possible to take a thermometer sampling 1500 feet above the small southeastern Icelandic island where the Circle bases were located, the temperature would have read a relatively balmy 28 degrees.

A combination of factors was responsible for this: increased heater activity at the seven still-activated air bases of the Wing; the combined heat from so many humans, in frenzied activity, exhaling carbon dioxide at an accelerated rate all at once; but mostly the high temperature swing was due to the massive exhaust being given off by the combined engines of nearly 1100 aircraft turning on their double-heat engines all at once.

So even the elements would be changed this day.

The first plane took off for Target Germany at exactly 0500 hours from Base Three. It was a B-24/52. The pilot was Captain P.J. O’Malley of the old 999th Bomber Group. He would serve as the flight leader for the 1000-plus bombers taking part in the big mission today.

Aircraft took off at a rate of one every 10 seconds from all seven bases. Still, it took more than 90 minutes for all of them to get airborne and into formation.

The activity at the eighth base, that being the home of the 2001st Fighter Squadron, was also very frenzied. Fifty-six Mustang-5s, whipped into shape by Dreamland’s revitalized maintenance teams, took to the air, forming up themselves and meeting the huge flock of bombers at the rendezvous point 55 miles southeast of the coast of Iceland.

The last plane to lift off from Dreamland was Hunter’s well-worn Mustang-5. He flew low, as mandated by the crowded skies above the Circle, and by chance found himself roaring over Base Nine, the place where the hundreds of bomb magazines had stood dormant for so long. He couldn’t help giving it the once-over as he flew past.

Base Nine was even more of a ghost town now. All of the magazines had been opened, and where literally thousands of tons of high-incendiary bombs had been stored just a few days ago, there were now just empty holes in the ground.

How lucky he’d been just to stumble upon it, Hunter thought as he began climbing to meet the rest of the fighters.

Almost as if it was meant to be.

One hour later

The German radar station was located on a small island off the north coast of Scotland called Toe’s Head.

There were three main radar dishes set up there. They had the ability to detect targets up to 100 miles out into the North Sea. The station also had a smaller, limited electronic eavesdropping ability, but this device was not turned on. In fact only one of the three radar dishes was working at the moment. The power supply to this desolate part of Scotland had been erratic lately, due to a series of power station bombings down south.

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