Mission To Cottbus

[Brian da Basher]

The klaxon shattered the still, pre-dawn hours of February 29th, 1980. Major Doug Graves awoke with a start. Years of training had him out of his rack and into his flight gear without a thought. He hurried to the ready room where he was joined by the other 9 pilots of his top-secret, highly specialized strike fighter wing. Major Graves grabbed a Coke and an energy bar and took a seat. Before he'd had a chance to swallow the first bite, the C.O. strode in purposefully to a "Ten-HUT!" from the Air Police sergeant guarding the door. Major Graves rose to attention with the rest of his unit as the C.O. stepped up on a platform in front of them.

"Men, you know what your mission is, so I'll be brief. Approximately 15 minutes ago, the NRO confirmed large Soviet tank formations passing through the Fulda Gap. U.S. Army and Bundeswehr armor units have been demolished by the onslaught. I wish I could say this is an exercize, but it isn't. NCA has given me the release of my weapons and I am giving you your orders. Get up there and give 'em hell! That is all."

The pilots scrambled out the door and onto jeeps that carried each one swiftly to a well concealed revetment where their aircraft awaited them. Major Graves returned the stiff salute of his crew chief and used every ounce of speed he possessed to climb the ladder to the cockpit of his top-secret McDonnell-Douglas YF-13, a truly specialized bird. The crew chief twirled his hand and waved Major Graves out onto the tarmac where he waited for word from the control tower. Then his earphones came to life.

"Hammer 271 Delta Tango Hotel Zulu Zulu. NCA code is shotgun. You have nuclear consent."

Major Graves checked the code carefully against the card in his mission profile and gulped when he confirmed the match. The bad joke was over.

"Roger Dugout, confirmed."

"Hammer 271 Vector runway E-4."

"Roger."

Major Graves and Hammer 271 began to roll.

"Good luck and Godspeed."

The earphones went silent as Major Graves taxied 271 to the runway. He pushed the throttle forward and the plane gathered speed briskly. Then he hit the red switch on his panel and cringed as he felt the G-forces from his built-in rockets lighting and pushing him forward and skyward, eventually breaking the sound barrier and then some. Major Graves pointed his aircraft east once he reached cruising altitude and killed the auxilliary rockets, saving some for what lay ahead.

To be continued...

1st of 6 pics.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

At altitude, Major Graves checked fuel and systems, especially the arming mechanism for his very important payload, the Top-Secret BX-28XX free-fall thermonuclear weapon, "instant sunshine" as the boys called it, with enough megatonnage to leave a crater that would be there for millennia. Half of Major Graves' unit was tasked with hitting the offending Red armor and ancillary units breaching the Fulda Gap and the other half were assigned command and control targets. Major Graves' assignment was the very large Soviet and East German base near Cottbus, not far from the Polish border. Some of those folks are going to see an early sunrise, the Major thought as he scanned the horizon for Red air activity, keeping his targeting radar off as per orders.

What in God's name happened? the Major thought to himself. Sure recent Eastern Bloc harvests had been poor, but the American farmer was ready to fill the void and Uncle Sam was prepared to seal the deal as had happened before. What Major Graves didn't know was the Eastern Bloc and its Big Daddy, the Soviet Union, had run though almost all of its gold reserves staving off past famines. The Soviet leadership was an aging lot and thought a roll of the dice better than giving up the game entirely.

Suddenly, Major Graves' Missile Warning light went off and an annoying buzzing filled his cockpit. The Major glanced over his shoulder as he jinked hard, barely able to make out the pinprick that was advancing on him in the inky sky. The Major saw the missle fly ahead of Hammer 271 and hit the rockets for a split second to gain some altitude. The missile followed, but when the Major cut his rockets and decended, the enemy missile seemed lost for a moment and that was when he was able to gain the upper hand. He closed in from behind before it could re-acquire him and opened up with his 20 m.m. cannon, wincing in the glow as the missile exploded. Major Graves grinned. The hunted had now turned hunter.

I need some intel! the Major thought and briefly violated orders and flicked on his
targeting radar for just a second, long enough to see the foe intent on bringing him down. Major Graves smiled and clicked off his radar and gained some altitude and cut back behind the Foxbat that was chasing him. Guy must be having radar trouble, he thought as he got in close. While the Major had scored high in rocketry, this fight was now personal and he wanted to save his Sparrows for whatever might be waiting ahead. The Major got in position and let loose with a broadside from his 20 m.m. cannon against the Foxbat and cheered as it exploded in a ball of orange flame. Score one for the Free world he thought.

To be continued...

2nd of 6 pics.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

The Major returned to his original attack heading and reached into the small flight bag his crew chief had thoughtfully packed. He pulled out another energy bar and ripped it open, wondering what it was about taking another man's life that made him so hungry. He finished his abbreviated breakfast and tossed the wrapper back in the bag. Don't want it getting behind the bang seat and causing any trouble he thought. The Major wondered why he'd only met one bandit so far in his mission. Perhaps they were all occupied farther north where all the action was?

A light started blinking on his panel and he jettisoned his two drop-tanks and switched over to internal fuel. All this flying at top speed had done nothing for Hammer 271's gas mileage, the Major thought. Fortunately, there was no fuel crisis in the United States Air Force.

Suddenly, a mechanical voice interrupted his thoughts. "I.P. in 45 seconds." Major Graves performed the requisite manoever and then reached down and lifted the black and yellow striped cover for his arming mechanism. He flicked the switches one by one and his panel lit up like a Christmas tree. He gazed ahead and was able to make out the crossroads town of Kolkwitz beneath him which was his I.P. or Initial Point where he would begin his "climb and dump" on Cottbus.

"Aiming Point in 30 seconds," the mechanical voice alerted him. The Major hit afterburners and a blast from his rockets and climbed like a homesick angel. Homesick angel of death, he thought.  I wonder if any of these poor souls have a clue? he thoguht to himself as he reached altitude and flicked the toggle switch releasing his payload.

The End?

3rd of 6 pics.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

The basis for this Doomsday project was the wonderful Academy F-15 gooberliberation sent me. It's a sweet kit and comes with tons of detail stuff if you're so inclined. This and the fact that I robbed some main parts from it for other projects made things a bit challenging. The first order of business was to find a replacement nose and fortunately a 1/144 B-47 nose is an almost perfect fit. Next I had to do something about the pointy ends of the fuse that normally hold the dual vertical stabs. This beast would only have one rudder as that was all I had left. Fortunately, some left-over butane nozzles were available to do duty as rocket exhausts. I cut off the pointy ends and inserted the nozzles into the void and puttied over any gaps. Next I added a little to the rudder with sheet plastic and then squared off the wingtips and fashioned launch rails.

4th of 6 pics.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

After getting the basic build together, my attention turned to the load-out. The kit's drop-tank seemed perfect to fashion into an enormous nuke, so I robbed some fins from 1/72 missile parts and added on a few nuke-looking boxes. It was only after consulting with our resident weapons expert Jeffrey Fontaine that I realized this thing is about twice the size it needs to be. Oh well, that can be explained in the backstory, right? Mr Fontaine was a big help to me in figuring out what colors to paint a nuke. Thanks, Jeff! Next I decided left over P-38 drop-tanks had a great look for this bird so they went on. The nuke and the Sparrows had to be painted and detailed before attachment. Lastly, I painted the bird in overall Testor's Ghost Gray and cobbled together some fictional markings from the gorgeous decals that came with that F-84 I got off a generous soul over on ARC.

5th of 6 pics.

Brian da Basher

[Brian da Basher]

Well this one won't win any awards, but I had fun and enjoyed writing the little story to go with it. Thanks for the kit goober! I had a blast!

Speaking of blast, this last shot shows off my horribly inaccurate bucket of "instant sunshine".

Brian da Basher

[Sisko]

Snub nosed F-15

I like it!!!

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Brian,

I see you opted for the special weapon instead of an incredibly large cluster bomb, either way, it is sure to stop the attacking red hordes.  

[John Howling Mouse]

Like I said on the other thread, for a guy professing preference for biplanes and other prop-jobs, you sure can turn in a tight jet model, too!

Way to go, man!

   

[Rafael]

Wonderful model, Brian!

I also see it has retractable spats!

Excellent execution

Rafa

[Chap]

Great work Brian! Definitely a change of pace from the usual spatted 1930's era projects. I really like the backstory, for some odd reason it reminds me of the opening scene of that Ben Afleck movie, "Sum of All Fears".

~Steve

[ysi_maniac]

I like your idea: a single tail F-15
         

[gooberliberation]

^_^ Love the nuke. I'm glad to see you put that kit to good use!