Chapter One - part eight

   They were just starting to fly back to base when things all seemed to fall apart at once. This time it wasn't actually anything to do with Turkey. This had all happened in Syria. It had started innocently enough. Another of those force missions was being flown. This one was along the Syrian border with Iraq. It had been pretty normal until they got close to the border with Turkey and near Iran. Iran had been pressing things harder and supporting the rebels inside Turkey in that area. Iraq had not been pleased with that. They feared both Iran and Turkey, though for very different reasons. It was doubtful if anyone would ever know exactly what happened, but somebody from the ground inside Turkey launched almost a dozen missiles at the American jets. The jets broke and took evasive action, but that action started a chain reaction among all of the aircraft. What had been a mission designed to help hold the peace suddenly had exploded into an all out dogfight between the older Iraq jets that had been shadowing the new F/A-48's. The problem was that the Iraq planes didn't have to wait to engage. They had engaged and were firing before the United States pilots were allowed to actually defend themselves.

  The dogfight soon brought in an even more unexpected element. The Iranians crossed borders and engaged both the U.S. and the Iraqi planes. It a matter of just a few moments six F/A-48's were engaged with at least twenty enemy aircraft. They were all also still taking missile fire from the ground. It was total chaos in the air. Nobody could get control of the situation fast enough and then it happened. One of the F/A-48's took a hit from a ground launched missile. It didn't get a direct hit, but it was a solid hit. The damage was too severe to allow the jet to stay in the air for very long. Controls were sluggish at best and the plane couldn't turn much at all. It was losing power and going down. That was bad enough, but the worst problem was that it was over Iraq and not likely to make it back into Turkey. The other American pilot's reaction was immediate and devastating. They had been ordered to try to disengage and not to return fire except when absolutely required in order to avoid being shot down. Now with one of them going down they opened up. Four minutes later it was over. Twelve enemy planes had been severely damaged. Two more of the F/A-48's had been hit and would have to leave the area quickly or risk going down. The Iranians and Iraqis had disengaged from the battle and were now running for home. The missile location in Turkey had gone silent, either out of missiles or gone into hiding.

   All of this had happened over the open air radio, because the force patrol always broadcast on open air radio. The world was listening as a pilot was going down and a wingman watched. Sarah was the wingman watching as Major Hawks struggled to get her plane back across the border into Turkey. James had heard the battle and now heard Major Hawks talking as she went down. Major Hawks was calm as she spoke to her unit after the battle was over. "You did a good job up there. I doubt that they will even think of engaging us again without a major reason. Now get those planes home, my wingman has me for now." She got no protest only silence as the two damaged planes broke off and headed for home with their wingmen escorting them. That left just Sarah flying shadow over Major Hawks. Their call names were 'Lady Hawk' and 'Jade Lady', one a play on a name and the other a reference to eye color. "Jade Lady, I am going to try and save my plane. I think I can still land it. I am going for the flatter areas. I think I can get it down on one of those roads, if I can make it over the border. Once I get on the ground inside Turkey I should be safe, the damage seems to be limited to flight control. If I can't make the border then I will nose dive it and eject."

   Sarah replied. "Lady Hawk, I have your wing. Just don't take too much risk. You are worth more than that plane. Let it go and get out if you can't make it down safely." Major Hawks just laughed as a reply. They both knew that she wasn't going to give up her ride. Major Hawks managed to do the impossible. She got her plane down on a long straight stretch of road. It wasn't a smooth landing, but she was down. The problem was her close proximity to the Iraq border and her distance from any friendly forces. The thoughts of an F/A-48 falling into the hands of anyone else, was worse than having it destroyed out right. The battle had consumed what little ammo it had carried and her fuel was almost gone too. Since she hadn't intentionally crashed the plane it was now all but impossible to completely destroy it.