THE BRINK - OPERATION DEEP FLIGHT by Huffman Marshall

Author:Huffman, Marshall [Huffman, Marshall]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2012-09-07T16:00:00+00:00

The three high ranking officers had a number of striking similarities. All of them had served with distinction in Vietnam while the US involvement was at its peak.

Young Lt. Durance had been assigned to duty onboard the B-52 Stratofortress bomber based in Guam. It was Christmas Day, 1972, and the huge B-52 was loaded down with eighty-four, 500 pound bombs in the internal bay and twelve more ‘ghosted’ under each wing in external racks. While the B-52 carried a devastating amount of explosives, it had very little in the way of built-in protection.

The four M3,.50-caliber machine guns located in the tail section offered some deterrent but its best defense was the ability to drop its payload from in excess of 35,000 feet. Lt. Durance was in the right seat of the massive, 156 foot long, killing machine. His mentor and best friend, Captain John ‘Hap’ Henderson was the pilot. They had become friends from the first day they met.

‘Hap’ was one of the best the Air Force had to offer and it was apparent to everyone who came into contact with him that he was destined for greatness in his career. Henderson was on his third tour in Guam and had Lt. William ‘Wild Bill’ Durance assigned to his command. He had taken an immediate liking to the young Lieutenant.

This was their nineteenth mission together and they had learned to communicate almost without speaking. Each was confident in other’s abilities. They went through the routine pre-flight check and eased out onto the taxi runway. They were number three for takeoff in the massive strike force that was to eventually reach a peak number of 51 aircraft taking part in the mission to bomb Hanoi. The long flight from Guam was grueling and boring.

“Wake up Wild Bill,” Hap said from the pilot's seat.

“I’m awake. I was just checking my eye lids for holes.”

“Right. We will be coming up on the glide path soon. Navigation reports that we will start our final turn in two minutes.”

“All gauges read normal except for the number four EGT,” he reported without having to be asked.

“It always reads high. You would think they could figure out a simple thing like that by now,” Hap said disgustedly.

“Hey. I’m just glad they have them all up and running after that last mission,” Durance responded.

“I guess you’re right.”

“Come to 111 degrees,” came over the headset.

“Roger. 111 degrees,” Hap repeated.

“Here we go,” Wild Bill said to no one in particular.

“Starting final. Going tactical....now.”

“Thirty seconds to initial target,” came over the headset.

“Roger.”

“Looking good. On the beam. Keep it steady. Fifteen seconds.”

“Hang on. We should start to get triple A any second.”

Just as he finished the sentence a large flash of light followed by the sonic boom, appeared between them and the nearest plane. The percussion rocked the plane.

“Nice call,” Durance said.

“Bomb doors open. Release in ten seconds.”

Red and white flashes were now filling the sky as they inched closer to Hanoi. Suddenly one of the B-52’s erupted in a huge ball of flame as a SAM missile came streaking up from the ground and hit the left wing fuel tank.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.