Karl's Last Flight, Part 18
©2006, Basil Sands
The radar screen showed that the others were near, flying a in a low formation only twenty miles away. He watched as one of the two planes parted from the other.
"They must've spotted me." Karl muttered as he clicked the arming switch on the firing handle.
He caught site of a fast moving shadow in the night sky, coming towards him at a slightly higher altitude.
Suddenly alarms started buzzing a cacophony of warning.
"Ah! They're locked on!"
Missiles were coming his way. He had to do something fast. He looked the radar screen and locked his rockets onto the fighter headed his way. He pressed the fire button releasing two missiles towards the enemy pilots craft. The tone blaring from the speaker in the cabin abruptly changed, indicating that the other pilot had just done the same. Both men had launched simultaneously.
Karl veered hard to the left, as the deadly rockets approached.
He made a tight circle, flying perpendicular to the ground in hopes of throwing the missiles off their trajectory, letting them pass by.
As he felt the blood draining from his head, he started making a rhythmic grunting sound, tightening his muscles and chest in an effort to force blood flow to stay even in his body, just as he was taught in flight school nearly twenty five years earlier.
The missiles were within a hundred meters. Frantically trying to figure out which switch would fire chaffe, an extremely hot flare that pulls heat seeking missiles away from their intended target, he dove the plane from 15000 feet rapidly.
"Which one is chaffe?!" he shouted to himself as he looked over the panel.
The missiles closed in on him. An altitude alarm started buzzing as radar detected the ground was coming up fast.
Two seconds before impacting the stony terrain, Karl pulled the stick back levelling off less than 500 feet above the rocks and sand. The missiles followed on behind him, now within 50 meters.
He abruptly pulled the stick back and right, shooting the MiG off at an oblique angle. The missiles, unable to adjust fast enough, zoomed past, missing him by only 10 meters. It was enough. They lost sight of the heat signature of his engines and sped off to the horizon, impacting against a hill a some distance away.
Karl rose back to ten thousand feet and checked his radar for the other MiG.
He was still there, but Karl was now closer to the nuclear MiG-27.
He only had 4 rockets left and a few hundred rounds of 20mm cannon shell. He came down fast on the black jet as it screamed towards it's target. He put his finger on the button to fire the rockets when the alarms sounded again.
Looking at the radar, he saw the other MiG-31 approaching from behind and above him. He pressed low to the ground again as the other pilot locked on launching two more rockets his direction.
As the rockets moved toward him, Karl thought through his options fast. Pulling back the stick, he rapidly shot the jet into the sky, missiles following. At five thousand meters he pulled back more and was soon upside down. His radar showed the other MiG-31 right under him. He craned his head , looking down towards the earth and could see the other fighters flaming jets. An idea blossomed in his mind.
He continued the loop around, coming down with lightening speed, positioning his plane close behind the other fighter so that they became a single blip on the screen.
The missiles were within 60 meters and closing. The other pilot tried to shake Karl off his tail by executing an abrupt right bank 100 meters off the ground. Karl followed him like a wolf chasing a deer.
"You are not getting away!" He muttered aloud.
He was within 20 meters of the enemy. The blast from the other MiG's engine made his plane shake in the hot turbulence.
The rockets were now 30 meters behind him and closing.
Karl suddenly jerked the stick back hard, launching his plane straight to the sky. The missiles passed under him and picked up the heat signature of other MiG. The pilot in the other plane tried to evade, but they were too close.
There was a deafening roar and Karl's jet shuddered in the air, being knocked hard from the blast concussion as his opponents fighter exploded in a bright ball of flame.
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Comments: 4
But, then again, I really don't want this story to end. It's been so much fun to read. Thanks Basil.