Chaos Above the Sand: A Special Projects Unit Adventure

By Bruce Thomas

Iran 2010. The Iranian High Council has decided that today is the day that their fighter pilots will attack. With a large group of fighter aircraft poised to cross the border into Iraq, the only thing standing in the Iranians way is Wild Bill Eddy's four F-15C aircraft. With lightning speed, the battle rages in the sky above Iraq. Iran's desire to control the Middle East sets this fast-paced, multilayered story in motion.

Germany, May 1944. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel has sent his most trusted representatives to steal vast treasures from Hitler's hidden storage location. Once these were obtained, they intend to use the horde to fund their escape from the war that has devastated Germany and made them lose faith with the Führer. A mix of attacks, setbacks, and terrible timing cause the treasures to be lost when the Allies attacked Normandy on June 6, 1944.

From the beginning, the Special Projects Unit is thrown into this thriller with traitors, spies, and patriotic soldiers. The SPU director, William "Wild Bill" Eddy, along with his best friend, Assistant Director Mark "Vector" Jones, race to solve the clues to who is supplying top secret information to the Iranians. With villains and traitors on every page, the SPU must decipher the clues and save the USA from a fast-approaching military defeat. Clues to the lost World War II treasure become mixed into the story of the building and hiding of the SPU. This yarn is the tale of the development and birth of the SPU.

As Air Force Academy graduates, Wild Bill and Vector have a bond that transcends work. But will they be able to solve all of the clues to stop the Iranians from taking over the Middle East? Chaos Above the Sand is a prequel to Bruce Thomas's first book, The Hope of the South.

Bruce Thomas is a retired US Air Force fighter pilot and a recently retired Captain of Southwest Airlines. He is a graduate of Farmington High School, Missouri, and the US Air Force Academy. The father of five children and nine grandchildren, he lives in Overland Park, Kansas, with his wife, Vivian, and their two pugs. Chaos Above the Sand is the second book in the Special Projects Unit series.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9781649521866

Bruce Thomas

Bruce Thomas was born in the north-east of England and moved to London as a teenager to become a professional musician. He is known principally as the bass player with Elvis Costello and the Attractions, having recorded and toured internationally with the band since 1977. He is also a sought-after session musician. He trained with the late kung fu master Derek Jones at his school in west London.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Merkers Mine, May 1944

The entire world was in chaos because of Germany. Escaping had become the only way for his general, family, and friends to survive this bloody conflict. When Germany had lost this war in a year or two, the winners would punish the instigators. The victors would set the rules for finding wartime criminals.

Captain Gustav Hasselhoff of the regular German Army stood at the entrance to the salt mine of Merkers. Located 200 miles south of Berlin, the mine’s contents were Gustav’s objective on this late spring evening. General Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was counting on Gustav. Whether Rommel and his team survived this terrible war would be decided in the next few minutes. Gustav was here to obtain the items necessary for their escape.

He took a deep breath of the late-evening air. As he exhaled, he shivered. He wanted to run away from his assigned task. He had rehearsed this next action while traveling from Normandy to the mine. He had to pull off this deception to make his operation successful. He placed his hand on the steel door handle and paused.

He looked to each side of the door and made eye contact with his four soldiers. Even though the weather was not cold above ground, the mine’s interior would be uncomfortable without some type of covering. This fact allowed the men to hide their weapons under their overcoats if onlookers happened by. These handpicked men would be prepared to attack the guards that must be just inside the door—if things didn’t go according to plan. Gustav was hoping for a gentler reception, though. A gunfight would bring reinforcements, and they didn’t need the headaches.

The building they were about to enter was a one-floor metal-frame structure that was a critical access point to Hitler’s treasures hidden over 800 meters below.

Gustav had already shown his orders from General Rommel at two different checkpoints along the road. The official documents had allowed his team to approach this entrance to the massive underground mine. Three empty train cars were already on the tracks outside the mine entrance, the railcars having been requested from Frankfort and delivered two days before.

It was time. Gustav turned the door handle and opened the windowless door. Three soldiers stood up to meet him. All three were armed with assault rifles. Gustav carried only his holstered Luger. He cautiously stepped through the door and closed the hatch.

The dingy interior was lit by four low-wattage ceiling bulbs, supplying only marginal light inside the moderately open space. Gustav noted a large cage elevator hovering above a hollow shaft to his right. To the left were three wooden cots and a small table with four chairs. In front of Gustav was a long table with a phone and jumbled paperwork. The guards were standing behind the table.

The center guard said, Halt! What is your business at the mine, sir? The three soldiers aimed their guns on Gustav. One moved to block the elevator. It was clear these combatants had no reverence for his rank.

Captain Hasselhoff slowly reached into the inside pocket of his uniform and produced a letter from his general. I have orders from Field Marshal Rommel to take as much gold and silver as we can carry in one train car back to Western France. It’s needed for fortifications for the Atlantic Wall. Our führer has authorized General Rommel to widen the defenses against the impending invasion, as can be read in the document.

After giving the document to the center guard, he continued, We need to get busy loading the gold and silver. Now stand aside and allow us to get our task started. Our locomotive is due to pass through here in a few hours.

Gustav stepped forward to push his way past the guard at the elevator. The guard immediately pushed his rifle against Gustav’s chest and stopped the captain from proceeding any further. The guard’s rapid blocking caught Gustav off guard. At thirty-two years old, Hasselhoff didn’t ordinarily work in the field. He was the personal aide to General Erwin Rommel, and his everyday tasks were carried out inside Rommel’s headquarters. The field marshal had selected Gustav for this particular mission because of his trustworthiness, not his soldiering skills.

Gustav stared at the guard with the orders and waited for an explanation, hoping he wouldn’t need to yell out the code word for his men to attack.

The guard raised his voice and shouted, You will wait for authorization from General von Laden. He authorizes all withdrawals from the mine.

The soldier reached for the phone on the table. Picking up the handset, he placed the device to his ear. Annoyed, he pumped the cradle for a dial tone, then whispered to the other guards as he returned the black instrument to its cradle.

Gustav was relieved that his men had cut the correct wire into the mine, killing the phone line and not the electrical power. Please read the document from the Desert Fox. He needs you to help us with our critical defenses, and we must hurry. It will take two weeks to make the trip back to Calais. All Germans knew that Calais was the closest distance between the European main continent and England and therefore the likeliest point of attack by the Allies.

The guard read Rommel’s letter, impressed with the general’s knowledge of the interior of the mine. Referencing certain parts of the tunnels directly, Rommel stated that the mine supervisors should release the treasure to Captain Hasselhoff as directed by the führer. Even after reading the document, the guard did not seem to be ready to allow access to the mine.

What is your name, son? Gustav asked. All three appeared to be in their late teens or early twenties, and the spokesman had a definite limp.

Sergeant Golbel, sir. I am in charge of our guard detail, the guard said.

How long have you been guarding this mine, Sergeant? Gustav could tell that this guard was conflicted by his inability to reach his superiors.

For two weeks, sir. I was wounded on the Eastern Front. All of us here have been injured, the guard said with pride in his voice.

Glad you are doing better, Sergeant Golbel. But I promise you, none of you will live through this day if you do not allow us to get the gold and silver and move out toward Calais. Your führer has authorized this removal. If you do not respect Adolf Hitler, you should at least support General Rommel. Gustav knew that insinuating that the soldiers did not respect Germany’s leader would scare them into action. He has led men through Belgium, France, and Africa, and now he needs your help. He has earned your respect.

Gustav looked at each man and waited for their decision. He didn’t want to turn and walk out through the door. If he was forced to exit, his men would storm in and kill the guards. The operation would work much better if the guards allowed the removal of the treasure under General Rommel’s authority. Keeping this part of the process nonhostile was particularly important.

The guards looked at each other, and then Golbel said, I will allow you to take the gold and silver that you have the authorization to take. But no more than one train car. The guard looked at the other two guards and received a head nod from both.

Gustav blew out some air from his lungs and said, That will be fine. That is the amount that General Rommel requested. One more thing. Do you have an ammunition depot near here? We need weapons, ammo, and explosives to take back to the Atlantic Wall defenses. Gustav planned on these other items in the train cars if he was stopped and searched, though Rommel thought his letter would satisfy most inquires during the trip.

Yes, sir, we have a fully loaded ammo dump just down the road, the spokesman said. Our off-duty troops will help you load the train cars.

Wonderful. Thank you, Sergeant. Tell them to fill the last two train cars in the yard with ammunition, guns, mortars, and explosives. Now let’s get started on the items in the mine.

Sergeant Golbel sent one of the soldiers out to round up the help. Gustav’s men stepped inside and moved toward the elevator.

Big enough to hold thirty men with their tools, the elevator was the only access to the priceless paintings, gold, silver, reichsmarks, and items that were taken as plunder during Germany’s takeover of Europe. Many items were taken from Jewish prisoners as part of the Final Solution. Tooth fillings, glasses, and wedding rings were in the mine. These gruesome items were helping to fund Hitler’s world war ambitions.

When the elevator reached the bottom of the mine, the door opened to a large excavated area. Everyone boarded the flatbed train car, which was pulled down multiple tunnels by an electric engine. After fifteen minutes, the men disembarked at a brick wall. Gustav walked behind the guard through a central doorway. The wall stretched across the entire horizontal mine tunnel, making the vault door the only access to the space’s treasures. Steel tracks ran directly from the vault door to the mine shaft elevator, allowing heavy objects to be transported into or out of the mine.

As the eager band walked into the old salt mine cavern, the young guard pointed to the crates stacked along the sides of the passageway. You can start by taking these. Gold is on the right, and silver is on the left.

Thank you, Sergeant Golbel. Men, get busy loading the flatbed. Let’s start with twenty gold crates for forty silver crates. Make sure to count the number of each that goes up the elevator. Gustav walked deeper into the salt mine. He saw paintings stored in crates and statues draped with cloth. Along one wall, removed from the lights near the middle of the room, Gustav could see large panels of stained glass. It looked as if a complete room had been dismantled and brought into the cave. The decorative panels were inlaid with jewels and what appeared to be gold. Gustav remembered a story about a Russian treasure on display in the Catherine Palace in St. Petersburg. Could this be the famed Amber Room? Shaking his head in wonderment, he moved back toward the entrance. He didn’t have time to think about the rest of the wealth in the mine. He needed to get out and catch his train to the east. It was enough that Rommel knew about the treasure here. He was fortunate that he had toured the mine in 1943 while recovering from a liver ailment he contracted in the deserts of North Africa. Rommel had told Gustav at that time that the war was going poorly for Germany, and he had lost his trust in Hitler’s leadership. The Desert Fox had formed his escape plan from Nazi Germany just after his tour of Merkers Mine. Getting this treasure back to Normandy was the first step.

It took two hours of ferrying the gold and silver to the elevator and watching the immense treasure rise two thousand feet to the surface. Finally, Captain Hasselhoff had a significant portion of the gold and silver he was tasked with acquiring. His men moved the containers to the railcar as soon as the elevator made it to the surface.

The locomotive engine appointed to pull the train toward Frankfort, and Dusseldorf was scheduled to arrive in an hour and thirty minutes. They needed to be ready to depart upon the engine’s arrival; it wasn’t prudent to be in the open with a stationary train. The war was not going well, and the Allied fighters and bombers were free to attack all targets of opportunity.

Gustav decided to take one more load of treasure to the surface. That would be as much as they could carry in the trucks when they made the transfer from the rails to the roads in Mainz, Germany.

Captain Hasselhoff stopped and gazed around the mine while the last load was being prepared. Everywhere he looked, he saw crates and crates of paintings and statues. Multiple rows were arranged with crates of gold and silver. To Gustav, the mine contained all the wealth of Europe. He shivered with the thought of the anguish and sadness the treasure represented.

I’m amazed by the amount of treasure you’re guarding, Sergeant. I think I even saw the Amber Room stacked near the outside wall, Gustav said, continuing to occupy the lead guard’s attention as the men loaded the crates. After a short pause, Gustav continued. I think we have what General Rommel needs. We can return to the surface now. It’s amazing that all of Europe’s money and treasure is being kept in this one mine, under the guard of only three wounded soldiers.

The guard turned to look at Gustav. I heard we have multiple mines, just like this one, also full of treasures. I don’t know the locations, of course, but they’re all within a short distance from here. I also heard that a team arrives tomorrow to move the Amber Room.

Multiple mines with treasure and loot in the area? Gustav was heartbroken and now understood why General Rommel had lost faith in Germany. Hitler and the rest of the corrupt leadership had robbed all of Europe. The continent’s riches were stored in these mines—stolen and transported away from the rightful owners.

After leaving the vault and securing the door, they navigated the tunnels and boarded the elevator with the last load. The ride to the surface was smooth and claustrophobic. The clicking elevator car took ten slow minutes to arrive back at the surface.

Outside, the last crates were loaded onto the train cars just as the locomotive arrived from the east. The engineer connected the three cars to the end of the train.

Before Captain Hasselhoff moved away from the entrance to the mine, he said, Thank you very much, Sergeant Golbel. I hope you all recover and have a long and happy life when this war is over.

I survived the Eastern Front, Golbel said, so this guard duty is mostly a good thing. All we have to do is watch the door. And one of us always holds the detonator for the explosives that are rigged in the mine shaft. One push and the mine would be sealed. Of course, we would all likely die in the blast Golbel shrugged. Goodbye, Captain. Heil Hitler! He threw out his right hand in an energetic Nazi salute.

Gustav returned the salute and moved off toward the train cars. He was doubly glad he had not authorized the storming of the guards. They would have sealed the mine as soon as the attack began. That one decision would have caused the failure of the entire mission.

The engineer blew his whistle, and the train started to move slowly down the tracks. Gustav’s men climbed into their first train car to relax and eat as the train moved to the west. The red wine, warm beer and sandwiches they had obtained hours before satisfied their hunger. The moonless night hid the rolling hills surrounding the valley.

The first leg of Captain Hasselhoff’s operation was complete. The date was May 26. If everything went as scheduled, he should arrive back in France’s Normandy region in early June 1944.

Chapter 2

Central Iraq, Winter 2010

Major William Wild Bill Eddy was leading a four-ship of gray Air Force F-15Cs on an air superiority mission in south-central Iraq. The flight of four jets was holding at combat air patrol (CAP) point Alpha-Three. The clear blue sky provided unrestricted visibility through his bubble canopy. The morning air was pleasant on the surface of the desert but cold and biting at thirty-five thousand feet. The four F-15s were slicing through the air defending Iraq in the aftermath of the last war.

He looked around the cockpit and checked to see if any switches were out of place. He knew the F-15C like the back of his hand. This was the sixth year for Wild Bill to be flying the sleek, supersonic aircraft, and there was a link between the cold metal shell and his warm body. He had heard for years that flying a fighter aircraft was like wearing a very snug glove. Until that glove felt like a part of your hand, you could not possibly use the glove for excellent, detailed work. This aircraft was now an extension of his own body. The sounds, vibrations and feedback that the perfectly crafted metal aircraft provided him allowed him to perform at his optimum level. A quick check of his heads-up display, or HUD, provided his speed, altitude and location relative to the navigation point inputted into his ring laser gyro system. The global positioning system (GPS), which was multiple satellites in orbit above his area, continually provided updates to his onboard systems. His position was known to a five-foot accuracy, and that accuracy allowed everyone to track his location. The onboard radars were used to find unknown threats.

The call sign for this sortie was Slammer 11. Each pilot flying F-15, C-model aircraft. This sortie was Wild Bill’s thirty-fourth combat mission during this rotation in the Middle East. Bill now had a total of one-hundred and one air combat sorties. Twenty-five in the A-10C Warthog and the rest in the F-15 Eagle. He had two years flying the A-10 Warthog immediately after pilot training. He was able to transition to the F-15C, his first choice for aircraft much earlier than most pilots. He was lucky that he had a personal relationship with the then secretary of defense in 2004.

Slammer 12, with a call sign of Gator, was stationed off his left-wing, three miles out and four thousand feet below Bill’s altitude. Lieutenant James Johnson was a graduate of LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and one of three African American pilots in the squadron. He was on his fifteenth combat mission, and his Southern drawl and Louisiana upbringing made his call sign easy to choose.

Gator and Wild Bill were cruising at 450 knots-indicated airspeed above the barren desert of East Central Iraq. Bill’s other two wingmen were thirty miles behind Wild Bill with a similar combat formation. All airplanes were now pointed east, toward where any airborne danger would originate, Iran. They were one hundred miles north of the Kuwaiti border. It was 0700 hours, and the skies were clear. The bright sun was about fifteen degrees above the eastern horizon, shining directly into the four combat-proven warriors’ faces.

Slammer flight has been on station for thirty minutes of their ninety-minute pretanker holding time. With tanker support, they could maintain this CAP position for hours. Their only constraint being fuel and ordinance. If they ran out of either, they would be forced to return to their base. Their combat patrol was scheduled for a total of four hours today.

Every time the four aircraft changed directions, each pilot would independently search the skies with their APG-63 active electronically scanned array radar. Everyone was looking for airborne targets, both friendly and foe. The radar, which was upgraded in 2007, was the main guts of the F-15 weapons system.

Contact, 140 miles east, I see six individual targets currently flying north at thirty-four thousand feet, Wild Bill said over his interflight radio. The four members of Slammer 11 flight only heard this transmission. He then switched to his other radio by pushing the switch under his left thumb in the opposite direction; his left hand was resting on the engine throttle controls. Wild Bill said, Darkstar, Slammer 11 has six bogeys, forty miles east of the Iranian border, all contacts running north. Can you confirm the targets? This transmission was sent outward on another radio frequency, which was being monitored by many airborne coalition assets.

Darkstar was the call sign of the Boeing E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control aircraft (AWACS) holding one hundred miles south and west of Slammer flight. Its enormous radar, housed on top of the plane, was supported by forty combat controllers sitting at workstations inside the large four-engine aircraft. Darkstar confirms the bogeys at that position. I count six aircraft running north at 350 knots. I show the targets still in Iranian airspace, currently forty miles away from the Iraqi border. Since the radar was position on top of the large aircraft with an unobstructed 360-degree view, the AWACS aircraft started a turn to the west to place more distance from the possible enemy aircraft.

Wild Bill’s current position was one hundred miles west of the Iraqi border. He knew that he would not fly into Iranian airspace without permission from the on-scene commander in the AWACS aircraft. A one-star general, he was most likely now putting down his cup of coffee and being briefed on the airborne situation. Wild Bill looked over at his wingmen to ensure they were not producing any contrails. Contrails could be used by the enemy to draw a line to their aircraft. Not wanting to take a chance, Wild Bill transmitted to his flight, Slammer, check for contrails, the lead element is descending five thousand feet.

He heard the reply, Two, three, four, which told him each member of Slammer flight had understood his last message. Wild Bill slowly lowered his nose of the aircraft and descended to thirty thousand feet, letting the speed increase toward six hundred knots. They had called the aircraft bogeys, which meant they were unidentified friendly, unfriendly, or neutral aircraft. At this point, they could not shoot the planes because of the rules of engagement. These rules made it the responsibility of all friendly fighters to identify any aircraft before engaging.

It was very unusual for any Iranian fighters or transport aircraft to be flying this close to the border. Ever since the beginning of the first gulf war in 1991, when an Iranian pilot flies too far west, they tended to not return to their bases. The coalition, which was mostly composed of US warriors, had an excellent win to loss record against the Iraqi and Iranian fighters since the 1990s. The record was overwhelmingly one-sided. The Iranian pilots usually attempted to fly away from direct engagements with superior US aircraft and pilots.

But this was 2010, and the Iranian leadership had been using a lot of press coverage to attempt to exert their country’s influence in the rejoin. It was evident that the Iranians were positioning themselves to take over Iraq as soon as the United States pulled out. The US government still had the rules of engagement so that US aircraft could not enter Iran unless Iranian aircraft fired on or threaten forces inside of Iraq.

Slammer 12, push it up to six hundred knots. Slammer 13, take your element back to sixty miles and get a better view of the targets. The first element will have to reverse the course in five minutes. Let’s fly closer to the border to make sure they stay on their side.

Wild Bill and his wingmen Gator pushed up their power, and within ten seconds, they were both at six hundred knots. They were traveling at ten miles a minute toward the Iranian border now eighty-five miles to the east. Slammer 13 and 14, with call signs Lucy and Earbud, had fallen back to the requested distance.

Lucy said over the interflight radio, Slammer 11, 13 is at fifty miles, pushing it up to six hundred knots. At the same time, Slammer 13 climbed her jet to fifty thousand feet. At this altitude, she was using her radar to sweep out further into the Iranian airspace. She was not planning to stay at this high altitude. Lucy just wanted an increased scan to the east.

Lucy was one of three women in the squadron. With bright red hair and a quick wit, Lt. Col. Susie Wolfer was the most senior pilot in the flight of four. At thirty-eight years old, she was currently the assistant squadron operations officer. Her squadron, the 129th Fighter Squadron, from Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, had been deployed to Kuwait for just under one year. Her sixteen years as an Air Force pilot had allowed her to amass sixty-one combat sorties. Lucy outranked Wild Bill, but Slammer 11 was the flight lead on today’s mission, and he was in total command of the flight of four fighters. Lucy scanned the area around the targets, looking for other aircraft.

Slammer 14, call sign Earbud, was the youngest member of the flight. He had only been flying the F-15C for just over one year. He had deployed to Kuwait to join the 129th Fighter Squadron one month ago. His six combat sorties made him the least experienced pilot in the squadron and why he was flying on Lucy’s wing for this mission. John Paul Cox was a millennial in every sense of the word. At twenty-four years old, John loved to wear his Sony earbuds and listen to his techno music. The elder members of the squadron gave John the nickname Earbud as a derogatory term. He took it as a compliment.

Wild Bill was flying toward the border and was radar sorting the six aircraft he saw to the east. Slammer 11 element, hook left 180 degrees to west. We will not go into Iran unless we have to. Slammer 13, we will go low as we pass. I see six aircraft still on a south to north track. Two appear to be F-14 Tomcats, and the rest are MIG-29 Fulcrums. Changing radios, he said, Darkstar, do you see any other aircraft at this time? During this entire conversation, Wild Bill was in a five-G left turn. He checked his fuel and knew he needed to proceed to the airborne tanker in one hour at this fuel rate. Before he turned back toward the west, Wild Bill noticed that the Iranian fighters were now at five hundred knots. This increased speed was much faster than usual for a flight of six fighters inside Iran on a joy ride.

Slammer 11 flight, this is Darkstar. We are now picking up multiple bogeys 150 miles to the east of the border, low altitude, closing at four hundred knots. The targets are spread out over a ten-mile area. There are too many aircraft to break out at this distance. The AWACS aircraft was almost 240 miles from the targets.

Slammer 11 copies. Darkstar, get us some other fighters airborne. On the other radio, Slammer 13, do you see them yet? Wild Bill was still heading away from the threat, getting enough room to make another turn to the east in thirty miles. Slammer 13 had already passed over Slammer 11 element, as lead proceeded west, seventy miles west of the Iranian border.

Darkstar copies, scrambling more fighters at this time. We estimate they will be on station in twenty minutes. Everyone in the AWACS aircraft knew, as did all of Slammer 11 flight, that this attack was going to be over long before the twenty minutes had passed.

Slammer 11, this is 13. The original six aircraft are now starting to turn to the west, into our formation. They will be crossing the border into Iraq in three minutes at their current speed! Lucy had been watching the formation of six approaching the border. Lucy’s task was to make sure that all members of the F-15 flight knew when the enemy aircraft started to move toward their position. I do see the large formation to the east, tracking west. Unable to break them out currently. They are extremely low and multiple aircraft. Lucy was descending to thirty-five thousand feet to stop the contrails her aircraft produced in the descent. She had not expected the Iranian fighters would turn into their formation. The coming confrontation was an unexpected development. For months, any aircraft that was seen flying inside Iran would never attempt a fight with the US forces.

The data link portion of the F-15s, resulted in everything one aircraft saw on its radar screen, was reproduced on all of Slammer’s flight’s navigation screens. Wild Bill and the rest of Slammer flight could see the enemy now flying west toward the Iran/Iraq border.

Slammer 13, bring your element to the north. Slammer 11 element hook left let’s get ready for a fight. Wild Bill rolled into an eighty-five-degree left turn and maintained his six hundred knots airspeed. He checked his weapons switches to confirm he had everything ready to fire if needed. Check your switches, arm them up, Wild Bill said to his flight. He was now pulling eight Gs and looking to the east for the closest bandits. As the battle airspace became confused, it also started to shrink in size. When aircraft were flying at a combined speed of 1,300 miles per hour, a thirty-mile distance results in a closing rate of twenty-two miles per minute. The fight was tightening up, and still, the bogeys had not met the rules of engagement. But that was going to change very soon.

This is Darkstar. Bandits will be crossing the border in one minute. Slammer 11 flight, you are cleared to engage as they cross. Darkstar will call the crossing of the first bandit. Darkstar had already requested permission from their on-scene commander to allow Slammer 11 flight to protect the Iraqi airspace. At the same time, the AWACS aircraft was turning to the south, attempting to keep distance between itself and the battle that was going to begin in one minute.

Wild Bill transmitted, "Slammer flight, drop the external fuel tanks now. Push it up!

Darkstar confirms the bandits have now crossed the border. ROE is satisfied.

Wild Bill said, You are all cleared to engage the targets to the east, Bill hit the release button, as did all of his flight members. The fuel tanks tumbled to the ground five miles below. Their F-15s were now able to turn and accelerate without the drag-inducing external fuel tanks.

As Wild Bill instructed, Lucy had turned her element to the north to parallel the border twenty miles to the west. She planned to turn back to the east in two minutes. While she was waiting to obtain the proper distance to the north from Wild Bill and Gator, Lucy’s radar warning receiver activated. The system signaled that her aircraft was targeted by one of the enemy’s airborne radar. This is Slammer 13. I have RWR from my three o’clock position. I am dragging to the west away from the threat. Lucy’s radar warning receiver had shown a radar locked on to her aircraft from the east, at a pretty close range. By turning away from the threat, she increased the time required for any missile to fly to the intercept. She also went to full afterburner and pushed her aircraft through Mach 1 and was still accelerating. She had now been targeted for ten seconds, but the distance to the enemy radar was getting further away.

After a few more seconds, the RWR signal terminated. She pulled her engines back out of full afterburner and allowed her aircraft to slow down below Mach 1.

Almost immediately after Lucy lost her RWR signal, Earbud said, This is Slammer 14, I’m now targeted. From the east, close, I am dragging to the west, Earbud said over the Darkstar frequency.

Bill said over the interflight radio. Watch out, Slammer 14. You might be too close to the bad guy for the drag maneuver! Bill knew that the enemy aircraft was close enough to shoot a missile at Earbud, and his drag maneuver would not outrun the projectile.

Bill was looking in his HUD and saw two flashes of fire inside the targeting box. The enemy had shot a missile at Earbud’s aircraft.

Chapter 3

The Middle of the Fight

One of the enemy aircraft had locked its air-to-air radar on Slammer 14. This time the enemy was ready for the drag maneuver. The Iranian jets were now thirty miles to the east flying at Mach 0.95, or 625 knots at thirty-five thousand feet. Just as Earbud began his turn west, the first Iranian F-14 plane to the west and south shot two air-to-air radar-guided missiles at Slammer 14. The first missile immediately made a left turn to the south away from Slammer 14. The malfunction caused the rocket to explode only three seconds after being launched. The second missile was operating normally, and it was accelerating and closing in on Earbud’s aircraft. Time to impact was fifteen seconds.

Wild Bill was looking at the lead group with his radar, just as the flash of the missile’s rock engine ignited. He immediately recognized the launches as a hostile act. Slammer 14, missile in the air from the east. Break back to the east. Junk! Junk! Slammer 11 is engaged on the bandit.

Junk was the common term used when expending flairs and metal chaff into the air to confuse the missile seeker head and the controlling radar. The flairs provided a burning decoy for heat seating missiles and chaff produced a cloud of confusing radar targets in the air.

By turning back toward the missile, Earbud was forcing the rocket to maneuver. Every turn would cause the missile’s speed to decrease since the rocket engine had long ago stopped burning. It took energy for a rocket to maneuver, and a maneuvering missile was simpler to defeat during an air combat engagement. As Earbud’s aircraft moved through space and time, the rocket had to calculate the intercept position. As Earbud changed his airspeed, altitude, and turn radius, he hoped he could make a miss distance that would lead to his survival. Earbud pushed the switches and put out more chaff and flairs as he again changed his plane of flight to a slight climbing turn. He relaxed his turn to four Gs while he was looking over his right shoulder, looking for the incoming missile.

In combat, brevity was needed to maximize information while allowing critical radio calls to be transmitted. Numerous one- and two-word phrases had been created since the early days of air combat. Fox one was a universal radio call for a radar beam following missile, like the AIM-7 Sparrow. Fox two was common for a short-range infrared-guided heat-seeking weapon, like the AIM-9 Sidewinder. Fox three was used to indicate that an active radar-guided missile, like the AIM-120 AMRAAM (advanced medium-range air-to-air missile), had been shot. With a fox three, the pilot could shoot the projectile and then leave the area, allowing the missile to finish the intercept with its onboard active radar electronics.

Wild Bill and Gator were now flying at Mach 1.5 toward the fight at thirty-two thousand feet. Gator was at Bill’s eight o’clock position and two miles, which placed him on his left side behind his wing. Slightly high and trying to keep up with Bill’s full power F-15. Wild Bill centered the targeting cue, took a deep breath, and pushed the fire button. Fox three on the southern lead bandit, Bill almost screamed into his radio. He had targeted the closest bandit and shot one of his AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles from his left side station. The AMRAAM accelerated off the rail of his F-15C. The rocket reached its maximum speed of Mach 4 within eight seconds using the radar from his plane to guide to the target. Then the missile itself went into track mode and continued to the enemy aircraft without support from Bill’s radar. The enemy F-14 Tomcat, purchased from the USA in the 1980s, attempted to maneuver away from the incoming missile. The pilot barely reached forty-five degrees of a left turn when it was hit just behind the right wing from above. The fifty pounds of explosives destroyed the F-14 on contact. The fireball was visible to everyone in the area, including all the bandit pilots.

Slammer 13, fox three on the northern bandit, in the second group. Lucy had flown into a position to support her wingmen. Earbud was maneuvering to evade the warhead that was tracking toward his aircraft. She waited two more seconds and pushed the button on her control stick and the second missile came to life off her right side.

She said, Fox three same bandit. Two missiles away. By shooting at the attackers with another radar missile, she hoped that she would force the aggressor to break radar contact with his missile before it impacted Earbud’s aircraft. What she couldn’t know was when Wild Bill’s warhead exploded into the lead F-14, the radar signal to the attacking missile was already stopped.

At the same time, Earbud was slicing down and into the rocket, attempting to produce as many angles as possible. The difference between the flight path of Earbud’s aircraft and the warheads path were the angles he was trying to create. The more, the better for his survival. With the combined speed of the missile and his F-15 aircraft, the rocket could be placed into a position that it could not complete the turn to hit Earbud’s plane. Earbud was looking over his right shoulder, and he could see the rocket tracking his plane was now slightly above the horizon. He pushed the buttons to put out more chaff and flairs.

At the last second, Earbud transitioned into an upward turn into the path of the missile. The missile stopped tracking Slammer 14’s aircraft at this point; its radar signal terminated from the aircraft Slammer 11 had shot down. The unguided rocket missed to the outside of the turn. It exploded into a bright red fireball just 1,500 feet to the rear of Earbud’s aircraft.

At the same time, Lucy’s AMRAAM hit the northern enemy aircraft. It did not attempt to make any turn to avoid the attack. The dead pilot experienced the fighter pilot’s motto, Lose sight, lose the fight. The second missile exploded into the same fireball. Both weapons were direct hits.

Gator was in the process of targeting another one of the enemy bandits. They were now called bandits because they were confirmed enemy aircraft. He centered up the cue and shot an AMRAAM missile at the target. Slammer 12, fox three, southern bandit lead group. Gator continued to fly straight into the fight with the enemy aircraft now twenty miles to his east. As the missile reached its maximum speed, five seconds after launch, it exploded. A malfunction was not unanticipated; Gator activated another AMRAAM at the same target. Fox three, same bandit. This weapon continued out toward its goal with uncaring vigilance.

Just before missile impact, the bandit began a max rate climbing right turn. The enemy pilot’s timing was perfect, and the second missile missed its target by only 750 feet, the harmless explosion occurring behind the enemy pilot’s plane.

Gator was now zero for two shots. He cussed into his microphone. Damn it. Will any of these fricking missiles work? Air-to-air combat was never a 100 percent experience. He shook off the failures and evaluated his next move. Gator knew he was too close for another radar shot, so he pressed on into a tighter position for a fox two.

Gator continued to fly into the battle. The bandit that was now Gator’s obsession was now at six miles and turning through north toward the east. The Mig-29 was a fast and maneuverable Soviet aircraft. But his turn away from Gator was setting up the shot for his infrared missile. Gator switched to his heat-seeking Sidewinder missiles and allowed the weapon to lock onto the turning aircraft’s heat source. The robust growl in Gator’s headset told him the missile seeker head had found its target. He pushed the button under his right thumb and said, Fox two, same bandit, now turning north to east, four miles.

The bad guy’s aircraft continued his turn into the missile back toward the south, showing that he must have seen the missile launch. The bad guy attempted to defeat the weapon by maneuvering just as Earbud had done only minutes before.

The bandit had failed to realize that he was helping the Sidewinder complete the long-range shot. If he had continued to fly to the east and accelerate, the missile would not have been able to reach his aircraft. The distance and speed were too high for a successful intercept at the time of launch. By turning to the south, he allowed the weapon to close the gap and impact his Mig-29 in the right engine. The aircraft exploded into two pieces, and the pilot ejected.

Gator immediately turned to the south and west in a 9-G descending right turn. His two engines in full afterburner to help him get distance from the remaining attacking fighters. Gator pushed his flair and chaff buttons and said into this radio, Slammer 12, kill, one bandit, I’m turning to the west. Two is blind lead.

Wild Bill said instantly, Lead is no factor. I’m to the north, two miles, headed east. I’m engaged. Bill continued to drive into the fight and targeted two of the last three enemy planes in the formation. He shot one AMRAAM at a northern and one at a southern jet with five-second intervals between missile launches. He allowed just enough time for him to tell his system to retarget the second plane.

Slammer 12 is visual with lead. Gator turned back toward the east. He was currently four miles in trail of Wild Bill, and he saw the two missiles activate from leads aircraft. He would support Wild Bill during his attack.

At fifteen miles distance, the AMRAAMs were reaching their maximum speed when they both slammed into the enemy planes, destroying both. There was now just one aircraft left in the formation of the original six.

Earbud had continued his turn into the attacking formation and was attempting to radar sort the remaining aircraft. Twice he had an aircraft almost targeted to see it explode in his HUD. Finally, he was able to target the last remaining attacker who was turning to run to the east, just like a scared old little lady. Come back here, you little bastard! You all asked for this, Gator said into his voice recorder. He was thirteen miles out and closing at a very rapid speed. Slammer 14 is engaged with the last bandit. He is turning to the east currently. I will have a shot in seven seconds. I’m closing fast. Earbud wanted to get a shot at these assholes too. He had been shot at and survived; it was time for his repayment.

Slammer flight, this is Darkstar. Terminate the engagement. The remaining bad guy is running back home. The controller stated over the radio.

Wild Bill made an executive decision. On his inter flight radio, he said, Slammer 14, you are cleared to engage.

Slammer 14, immediately called fox three, last bandit in the group.

Wild Bill said with his other radio in a calm voice, Darkstar, you are unreadable, say again? I did not hear your last transmission.

The AMRAAM raced off Earbud’s aircraft in a blue trail of fire and traveled the ten miles to the MIG-29, in short order. In the end, the last aircraft tumbled into the desert just three miles into Iranian airspace. All four members of Slammer 11 flight turned to the east and reformed into their previous CAP formation. All aircraft would be going to the airborne tanker soon due to the afterburner use during this two-minute, thirty-second engagement. In that time, the Americans had fired nine missiles and shot down six Iranian aircraft.

Wild Bill looked at his data link screen and noticed that all of the other Iranian aircraft had turned back to the east.

Slammer 11, this is Darkstar. I say again, terminate the engagement. Darkstar was sorting out the engagement and watching the other large force that was behind the fighters. "The other group that was one hundred miles to the East has turned back to the east, at this