The Whippoorwill

[cthulhu77]

Over the Aleuatian Islands, 0700 hours.

  At 1,800 knots, the sea sped by quickly to Colonel Hart's limited vision. The never ending sunlight was proving to be a bigger distraction than the mission planner's had thought, and everyone's tempers were rather rough from squinting at the horizon, or from gazing too hard at the display screens that showed bright green blips all over.
  The invasion force was below them, steaming along as fast as possible, headed for the occupied island of Japan.
   Two KJ's had been popped by F-22's already, hopefully before they had time to call in the fleet's location, otherwise, inbound air to sea bombers would be already on their way...a thought that made everyone sweat.
   "Poor bastards", said Captain Lewinsky, the RIO onboard the EA-71 Whippoorwill, meaning the men and women serving aboard the slow ships twenty thousand feet below, " It must suck to be sitting there waiting."
  Hart chuckled. "I'm sure they are saying the same things about us, after all, the hot seat is in the air right now, right?"
   Captain Bakker chimed in, " Hell no, boss ! This is the catbird seat!"  His head was down in the scope, peering at the numbers and icons flashing past, and why not? The window he had to look out of was too small to see anything but some blue sky anyway, maybe a cloud now and again, or a tilting earth when the Colonel got crazy with the stick.

   The massive combined forces of China and North Korea had steamrolled right over the islands of Japan not more than two weeks ago, and already, the United States and Canada had assembled a huge counterattack aimed at freeing up their allies country, and once again gaining a beachhead near the new Communist block.  Russia, staying out of the conflict politically, had nevertheless "loaned" a number of fighters and support aircraft to the new conglomeration, with experienced pilots as well, supposedly as observers.  "Yeah, right," thought Hart, "they'd like to observe us in flames." The soviet downfall wasn't as joyful to the Russians as those in the west would like to believe.

   "Picking up some intermittent contacts on 270, boss," Bakker's voice came over the intercom.  Several red blips were heading toward the area they were patrolling, vectoring fighters over the fleet.  F-22's spun around the slower ships in a dance, while 35's waited patiently on deck, ready to take off at a moment's notice.

    The  Whippoorwill wasn't as stealthy as some of the other jets, but  from the surface it was almost impossible to detect, due to the flattened exhaust ports and curved, radar absorbing design.  They were almost invisible to the enemy ships out there, but a high flying radar platform was another matter, hence the anxious tone in the Scanner's voice.

   "Oh hell. We've been hit by a Phalcon!" Lewinsky yelled.  "Must be a C3 out there or a Mainstay."   The Fastwac raced forward, accelerating to Mach 2.6, Hart was leaning on the throttle.
   "Where is that sonofabitch?" He yelled, " Give me a vector!"

    "Radar craft 37 miles, at 275. Tell the 22's to AAARM the sucker."
  Mottled grey Canadian F-22's flashed below them, opening weapon bays to release the air to air anti-radiation missiles. A full dozen were launched, little bright spots heading out into the distance...everyone wanted to kill the radar craft.
   Two 35's lifted off of the assault carrier, in case any support fighters came in too close. They hovered like protective hornets over a nest, a nest of marines ready to defeat the ground forces in Japan.

Aegis cruisers pulled out in front of the fleet, and missile launchers stood ready, waiting for any sign of incoming attack aircraft or missiles. The radars were on a limited mode, they depended on the fastwacs to supply them with information, an unparalleled advance warning system.  Older EC-3's flew higher in back of the fleet, and organized the defensive forces, the EA-71 was a purely offensive weapon.  The Canadian assault carriers launched 5 more of their CV-122 Huskies, in case the submarine threat grew with the incoming battle group...they all knew how the Chinese loved combined attacks. The invasion of Taiwan had proved that well, overwhelming air power coupled with the huge ground support had the allies struggling still to maintain control of the area, and now, with Japan lost, there would be no base for the planned mass fleet of aircraft to operate from. This mission was critical.




   "Trickle again, boss."  Captain Lewinsky muttered. " I think they have us pegged."
Bakker yelled out," We've been swiped by a shootdown! They're above us!"  
  Hart yanked his head and the stick back at the same time, the computer groaning as he took the huge airframe into a high climb.
     "Must be a Mig 1.44", he thought, "too fast for anything else."
    The cold and cool female voice came over the com, "warning, warning, inbound threats detected."

   "Time to turn and burn!" Hart hit the arming button for the Glamour missile.  The  light flashed green and then red, and he thumbed it again as the 71 raced for the clouds above.  The heat pouring out from his engines was tremendous.

    There was a lurch to the rear of the frame as the sleek Glamour left the platform, and fired off high above them.  
   "Cutting engines to supercruise" Hart said quietly into his lip mike. The smaller aircraft continued onwards on his original path, as the EA-71 slowly made it's way down to the 20,000 foot level.
    The Glamour broadcast a heat signature identical to that of the Whippoorwill, especially with both of it's burners going full throttle in a climb.  All three of the incoming missiles locked onto it and chased it higher and higher, until a bright burst of contact meant that it had been destroyed.

   Far below, the EA-71 continued on, after vectoring some nearby F-23's from the Utah National Guard to the complacent Mig pilot's location. What a surprise they were in for, the 23 was almost invisible.
   More flashes of light reflected off of the canopies, and Lewinsky said, "Scope clear, sir."
    The jet was smooth as silk beneath him, and Hart remarked, " You know, I've always loved Ki-Rin beer."

[The Rat]

Let me be the first to say 'nice story' and 'bring on the pictures'!  

Oh, and let's recognize you for your ability to use the words 'Lewinsky' and 'suck' in the same sentence.  ^_^  

[nev]

PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cthulhu77]

[cthulhu77]

Shirinki, north of Japan:

"Colonel, the mission statement was perfectly clear," the muffled voice of the Japanese major was hard to hear over the sound of engines being warmed up by apu's, not to mention the steady 20 knot icy breeze blowing along the flat ground of the island.  The Whipoorwill sat next to the tarmac, snow already starting to drift onto the sleek fuselage.
  "You were supposed to re-arm and re-fuel at your homebase in Alaska, not here!"  The major was clearly upset at the loss of fuel and yet another precious Glamour missile from his small, rough forward airport.  American and Canadian jets had almost wiped out their supplies as they came in to get topped off before heading back out to sea.
 "Relax, sir", Captain  Bakker said in a firm tone. " We had to use one to smoke some Mig's back east, and we'll probably need another one or two before this godamn mess is over."
 The Colonel in charge of the mission stepped forward," Remember, this job is for you, right?"
 There was nothing but the whistling of jet engines and wind for a moment while the major studied the snow covered pumice ground at his feet. "You are correct, and I do apologize, " he admitted, " it has been quite a rough few days here lately, please accept my gratitude."
  "Hell sir, Colonel Hart laughed, "just buy us a beer, and we'll call it even!"

  You could almost see the grin on the major's face through the faceplate of his mask, "You are on, Yankee."

[The Rat]

OMIGAWD!        

[K5054NZ]

             



I like it. A lot. And those figures!!!!! WOW!!!!!

[nev]

The plane is groovy and funkadelic.

But I really dig those figures!!!  Awesome    Where'd you get the ones with the respirators?

[cthulhu77]

Thanks all !  Big hats off to Leigh for the landing gear (would have been a bugger to land without 'em, eh?).   The figures are by Italeri, Nato ground crew...semi soft plastic that took paint like gem's once primed with Future.

[Ollie]

Very nice Greg!

   

[Spey_Phantom]

cthulhu77, that is a great jet you made and the story is brilliant.

*cleans up drool from the floor*

these stories are great, we should have a new forumpage for stuff like that.
     

[John Howling Mouse]

Know what is cool?  A friend of mine sent me an e-mail today, asking if I had seen this incredible model on MM:

http://s3.invisionfree.com/readersforum/in...?showtopic=5889

     

[cthulhu77]

It's a small world after all !  I need to take some pics of the glamour and the rear deck later on today...glad you all like it, it looks good on the shelf !

                 greg

[cthulhu77]

[cthulhu77]

and a shot of the rear with the Glamour on board: