Tail Dragger: A Short Story of Aerial Combat from Greenland by Christoffer Petersen

Author:Christoffer Petersen [Petersen, Christoffer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aarluuk Press for Short Action and Adventure Stories
Published: 2024-07-06T00:00:00+00:00

5

“There,” Bridges said as he leaned over the radar operator’s shoulder in the Kobuk tower. “What is it?”

“Whatever it is, Commander,” the young man said. “It’s slow.”

“Slow?” Bridges clapped the operator’s shoulder. “Come on, Seward. What the hell is it?”

“If I had to guess, Commander?”

“Yes… Hell, yes,” Bridges said. “Take a wild guess, man.”

Seward turned in his seat, glanced at Ukaliina and then looked away again just as quickly, as if pilots of the opposite sex weren’t supposed to be in the tower, and pretty ones even less so.

“Ah, I would guess that it’s a prop plane, sir.”

“A prop plane?”

“Maybe a turboprop, but an older model,” Seward said, risking another glance at Ukaliina before his pale cheeks flushed a bright red colour, not unlike his hair.

“A Russian propeller plane just violated our airspace,” Bridges said. “And it’s heading where, exactly?”

“One second,” Seward said, turning back to the radar. “Well, I would think, ah…”

“Yes?” Bridges’ hands twitched on Seward’s shoulders, moving slowly towards the young man’s neck.

“I think it’s headed here, sir,” Seward said. “Straight for us.”

“Speed?”

“One second…”

Ukaliina leaned around Seward, upsetting his calculations as he tried to concentrate. She squinted at the radar, twitched her lips, and then looked at Joel.

“What kind of prop plane would the Russians have?”

“Antonovs,” Joel said, dipping his head with a nod of confidence. “Could be an Antonov An-2. There’s a turbo version, but still single prop. No real difference in speed, but the An-2 has almost double the range.”

“And the speed?” Bridges asked, ignoring Seward as the mechanic seemed to know more about what was headed their way.

“It’ll cruise around 140 mph.” Joel looked at Ukaliina and said, “That’s about 220 kph.”

“Got it,” she said.

“Right…” Bridges checked his watch and said, “Peters and Wilcox are on their way in. Thomas is already at the gate,” he said, looking at Joel. “I want the first Tomcat in the air five minutes after Peters gets in. Okay?”

“Commander,” Ukaliina said.

“No.” Bridges shook his head. “You just got in yesterday. And until Peters checks you out on the Tomcats, you’re staying put on the ground.”

“It’s not that, sir,” Ukaliina said. “The F-14 is too fast for an Antonov.” Ukaliina pointed at the radar screen. “The An-2 flies at under the stall speed of a Tomcat. Even with wings extended, the F-14 is going to drop out of the sky if it tries to pace the Russian.”

“It doesn’t have to pace the Russian,” Bridges said. “It only has to stay behind it long enough for a missile lock.”

“A missile lock?” Joel said. “Commander… Hugh…”

“We’re done here,” Bridges said. “Joel, get the Tomcats ready. We’ll launch the second as soon as I’ve found the crew for it.”

Ukaliina opened her mouth to speak, but Bridges cut her off with a raised finger.

“I talked to Jack last night,” he said. “He gave me about a hundred reasons why I wouldn’t want you intercepting our Russian friend.”

Ukaliina lifted her head and stuck out her chin. She caught the commander’s eye and said, “About my behaviour, sir?”

“Amongst other things,” Bridges said.

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