W.E.B. Griffin - Men at War 02 - The Secret Warriors v5 by W.E.B. Griffin

Author:W.E.B. Griffin [Griffin, W.E.B.]
Format: epub
Published: 2010-02-06T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 4

ANACOSTIA NAVAL AIR STATION

WASHINGTON, D.C.

0005 HOURS

JUNE 30, 1942

“Anacostia clears Navy Six-one-one to land on runway three-one,” the tower said. “The winds are negligible, the altimeter is three-niner-niner-eight.”

“Understand three-one,” Canidy replied.

“You’ve got it,” Jim Whittaker said, taking his hands off the wheel.

“You don’t think you can land it?” Canidy asked.

“What the hell, why not?” Whittaker replied, putting his hands back on the wheel and banking to the left to line himself up with the runway.

“Six-one-one on final,” Canidy said to the microphone. “Wheels going down,” he said, pressing the intercom switch. “Flaps going to twenty percent. It gets dirty quick, Jim. Don’t chop too much power.”

“Got you.”

“Wheels down and locked. Flaps at twenty percent. Jesus Christ, I said don’t chop the throttles!”

“Whoops!” Whittaker said, advancing the throttles to increase his glide path.

“Now it’s too much,” Canidy said.

“Work them yourself, goddamn it!” Whittaker snapped.

“You’re flying it; go around if you have to,” Canidy replied.

“Oh shit,” Whittaker said, cut the throttles again, and flared out, too high, over the runway. They landed hard, bounced into the air, landed again, bounced again, and finally touched down, again hard; but this time they stayed on the ground.

“The next thing you do is lower the tail,” Canidy said dryly as Whittaker made a violent move to keep on the runway.

“Fuck you,” Whittaker said as he eased back on the stick to lower the tail.

“Anacostia, Six-one-one on the ground at five past midnight—and at five and a half past midnight, and finally at six past midnight.”

“Fuck you, wiseass,” Whittaker said as he began to brake.

There was laughter in the tower operator’s voice when he came back on the air. “If you’re sure you’re finally down, Six-one-one, take taxiway three left to the transient parking area. Your ground transportation is waiting for you.”

“We have apparently cheated death once again, Anacostia. I came on the airways from Raleigh. Will you close me out with Washington control, please?” Canidy said.

“Will do, Six-one-one,” the tower operator said, still laughing.

“And will you arrange to have me fueled, please?”

“A fuel truck will meet you, Six-one-one.”

“What happens here?” Whittaker asked.

The translation of that is, Canidy thought, Am I going to get to see Cynthia Chenowith?

“We’ll have to wait and see, Jimmy,” Canidy said.

As they taxied past base operations Canidy saw Chief Ellis standing inside the glass door.

“That landing was a little rough, wasn’t it, Dick?” Fulmar asked when Canidy walked through the cabin to open the door.

Canidy looked at him. He was mopping at his bathrobe with a paper towel. He had apparently been drinking a cup of coffee when Whittaker had made the landing.

“I didn’t think it was all that bad, Eric,” Canidy said. “So far as I know, that was Whittaker’s first landing in a twin-engine airplane.”

He saw that Second Lieutenant Holdsworth C. Martin III’s eyes grew very wide.

Canidy went the rest of way down the aisle, opened the door, and jumped onto the ground.

Ellis was there. And so was the gas truck and a crew of white hats. Ellis saluted, which he would not have done if no one had been there.

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