AAR 17/08/2010

speedy77 Thu Aug 19, 2010 6:03 am

With pink handle bar tassels flowing and fluorescent spokey dokeys clattering, speedy77 legs were pedaling like crazy as he arrived at montfaucon airfield for the evening sortie. Unbeknown to him his chain had come off, and he had freewheeled the downhill route thinking his ready-brek had given his legs super power.

After parking his bike, and removing his, bicycle clips and helmet. He entered the 19 Squadron dispersal hut, and glanced around. There had been a lot of changes in the squadron recently; two large extensions to the dispersal hut were the most obvious.

A grand set of mahogany paneled double doors, with an ornate classical stone surround, and a curiously empty pedestal where the squadron crest once took pride of place over the door, led to the COs new office. The CO had been recruited to the allied high command and had demanded an office appropriate to his new status. Whether the swimming pool, snooker table, butler service, oak paneled smoking room, globe drinks cabinet, and Japanese Zen garden, were all strictly necessary was the subject of a few minutes debate. The CO’s argument that the stress from leading such a bunch of “fecking noobs” warranted it, was met with nods of agreement and Speedy had offered to be his butler. The CO scoffed and mumbled something about wanting bikini-clad chicks, then went off to watch one of Dezey’s French films for his ‘me’ time.

A sign on a second door, read ‘19 Squadron Film Unit’. Above the door was a green and red light. It was the new state of the art media suite commissioned by MJ. Speedy hadn’t been in there as it was always dark and the flashing lights on the control panels might trigger one of his ‘episodes’. However, Speedy often put his ear to the door to listen but the sound proofing made it difficult. However, he was sure that he could often hear MJ shouting “how can I create with this!…how hard can it be to fly in formation in a straight line!.…where the f**k is my mic!”

Another change had been a plethora of new recruits, they had had to buy an actual roster board rather than using post-it notes. Zenior and Mortigan were on R&R, but Greg and Boni were lounging in leather armchairs already in their flying gear eager for the off. Speedy eyed them with suspicion, as they had a habit of sitting in his chair and laughing, but this time he could see his chair was taken by Bader the squadron three legged cat. With a swift kick Speedy removed Bader, and the cat hissed and shuffled thorough the cat flap in the CO’s office door.

Resisting his instinct to go straight to the bar Speedy settled down in his the chair and was listening to the scratching of Bader going about his business in the CO’s Zen garden, when the squadron scramble sounded. By the time Speedy had stood up, Greg and Boni were already out of the door.

Racing to his Spit V Speedy found his ground crew, Britney, staring across the airfield and winking at the Americans of 71 Squadron that had just moved in. “Snap out of it man! We’re off. I know what you’re thinking, better late than never eh? Well just keep you’re eye on them or they’ll have our women from under our noses….fire her up there’s a good chap, and go see the doc about that twitch in your eye”

Lifting Speedy formed up with MJ, Greg, and Litvyak of 71 Squadron. MJ took the lead as Red section with Greg, and Speedy took Blue section with Litvyak. In his haste Boni had taken off on his own eager to get at the hun. The flight, minus boni, headed due E to gain height around Longwy before heading N to BARCAP between Arlon and Martelange.

Entering the target area at 20K they conducted a high sweep with no contacts discovered. MJ then took red section down to 15K for another sweep, with Blue section remaining as high cover. With no contacts at 15K, MJ called Blue section to drop to 15K, then Speedy led Blue section down for a lower sweep. Diving through the cloud layer Speedy spotted a low and slow moving contact, calling out the con, he and Litvyak dived down for a closer look. It was a He111, so Speedy pushed his spit on making a fast pass from the 111s high 6, raking the hapless Hun with cannon and mg. Both engines started to spew brown smoke, but the Hun was still flying, pulling up and half rolling over Speedy came down again and this time the He111 exploded in a fiery mess. Unfortunately Litvyak's Spit had locked up in the dive and had hit the ground, he was later recovered back to his unit with minor injuries.

By now a pair of 109s hatch seen the fray and were latching on to Speedy's 6. Speedy called in the high section and the cavalry duly arrived in the nick of time, with Greg and MJ dispatching the 109s in quick succession. Climbing back to the West MJ called a general RTB and the flight headed back home and the mess for a well deserved beer or three.