Invasion USA 3 - The Battle for Survival (11 page)

Carlos could see that he might have hit pay dirt as Alvarez sat back and thought about what he had just said.

Suddenly machine gun fire erupted from outside the perimeter fence and a nearby mortar bomb could be heard ejecting into the air.

“Attack, attack!” sounded everywhere and an old-fashioned siren started blaring its sheeplike noise.

Most of the aircraft had been parked on the tarmac directly in front of the building they were in. From the movement of soldiers in jeeps, it seemed that the gunfire was coming from the northwest area of the airfield, about a mile away. The two Gunships were hidden in a large single hangar in front of the windows they were looking through, and the first incoming mortar bomb landed harmlessly at least three hundred yards short of the hangar in a grassy area between the only runway and the closest hangar.

Everybody rushed for the door. Carlos left the building as a second mortar bomb landed in the same area, twenty or so yards closer. The noise of the return fire from this side of the airfield was loud as he ran for the hangar in front of him where the Gunships were parked. He reached the large hangar door as it opened slightly to allow the Marines in the two jeeps to speed out in the direction of the mortar fire.

A third mortar bomb landed a hundred feet or so in front of the jeeps as they sped down the grassy verge of the runway towards the corner.

“A two-inch mortar at its furthest range,” stated General Rodriquez as he ran up to Carlos breathlessly. “It can’t reach the hangars, but it can reach the runway. We need to get all the aircraft off immediately.”

“Let’s get the Gunships up first,” suggested Carlos.

“No,” replied the General. “Take my aircraft, get some of your Marines in it and give us covering fire until we get the rest out of here. They must all be refueled by now.”

Sally ran up and asked what Carlos wanted of the Gunships.

“Sally, do you have enough pilots for the Gunships without you and me?”

“Sure, Jenifer has her copilot and my number three pilot can take over
Blue Moon
. We always have one of the crew as a backup. Why?”

“See that A-37
Dragonfly
or Super Tweet over there?” Sally nodded. “Climb in and follow me,” Carlos ordered. He shook his uncle’s hand quickly. “General, get Uncle Philippe and my father into our Gunships and get your pilots ready for takeoff. Once the runway is safe, get all the aircraft airborne and we will say our goodbyes. Also thank Alvarez for me and tell him that our two jeeps are a deposit for what we take with us. I will come in and pick up the rest of our Marines.” With that he ran off in the direction of the AC-47 which already had its engines running.

Another mortar bomb landed a hundred feet from the aircraft as Carlos reached it and climbed in the large side door and ran for the cockpit. A Colombian pilot was readying for flight and was the only person in the cockpit. Several men were also preparing the six Miniguns on each side. In Spanish Carlos thanked the man, slipped into the right seat and told him to leave the aircraft. The pilot looked over to his general still standing on the tarmac where Carlos had left him, looked back at Carlos and got up to leave. “Tell the gunners to stay in the aircraft.”

Once the pilot was out, Carlos pushed the throttles forward as another mortar bomb blew a massive piece of turf out of the ground only fifty feet from him. “They must be moving down the side of the runway fence,” he thought to himself, getting his headphones on his head and maneuvering the aircraft out towards the runway.

“Sally, we take off from the southern end and bank slightly right immediately. Stay low and keep your underbelly flat with the northeastern corner. Are you on radio?”

“Yes, lover,”
she responded calmly.
“I’m going to need a couple more minutes to finish my checks. I have jets that need TLC.”

“I’ll get out of here and come around to give you covering fire. Let me know when you are at the bottom end of the runway.”

“Roger that,”
replied Sally.
“I need four minutes to get these two little jet engines warmed up.”
Carlos knew that it would take her longer to warm up her engines versus his propeller-driven engines. He headed down to the runway end. Again in Spanish he talked to his gunners over the intercom.

“I believe the enemy is working their way down the runway fence. When we take off, gunners, give us covering fire all the way down the fence. Just make sure your shooting is outside the perimeter fence. We don’t want to hit our own men. Comprehend?”
There were acknowledgements from the rear of the aircraft.

By the time he reached the end of the runway, the engines were well-warmed at maximum taxi speed. He continued past the tarmac end onto the grassy area and right to the fence where he swung the heavy aircraft around, nearly hitting the tail on the fence itself. This would give him another twenty to thirty yards of runway. He gunned the engines to maximum, holding the brakes until the tail started rising into the air. As it left the ground he let the brakes go and the aircraft jerked forward, the engines screaming and blowing up a dust storm behind them.

The engines were far more powerful than
Lady Dandy’s
and he felt the speed increase even though the weight of the thousands of machine-gun bullets made her heavy. He noticed Sally taxiing and waiting for him to pass as he came abreast of her.

Another mortar bomb hit the dirt a hundred yards in front of him but left of the runway. He went through a little of the falling debris and watched his speed climb.

He felt his gunners on the port side open up as they left the ground and the tail of the aircraft kicked sideways with the three guns opening up. He reacted quickly, kicking the rudder pedal, and then banked slightly to the right as he brought up her wheels. They turned out of the airfield at a hundred feet and he pulled the stick back slightly to compensate for buildings coming up. There weren’t many over two stories. He passed over them, quickly straightening the aircraft into level flight so that his wingtip wouldn’t collide with any of the ground structures he was so close to.

Still under full power he rose quickly and then banked left to come around to the corner of the airfield where the attack was coming from. He noticed several specks running around on a warehouse roof. “I see the warehouses about half a mile in front of us and there are people on the roofs. I will bank around. I think I can see the mortar position on the closest roof to the airfield. Be ready.”

“I’m ready for takeoff,”
stated Sally.

“Go, Sally, I’m about ten seconds from giving you covering fire,” he replied and concentrated on bringing the AC-47 into a good aiming position for his gunners. He also saw the Marines and the jeeps firing at the same warehouse a hundred yards in front of it and inside the perimeter fence. He came over and his gunners opened up with 6,000 rounds per minute going into the building’s roof where the mortar was situated. He remembered to bring the power down ten percent as both engines were still at full power and their temperatures were climbing.

“I think the mortar must have moved,”
stated one gunner to Carlos over his internal intercom.

“Mortar position is moving. Get the aircraft out of there,” he stated to anybody listening on the radio. Jennifer and a second pilot acknowledged.

“Airborne, low and turning out right,”
stated Sally.
“What guns does this baby have, Carlos?”

“I would assume a Minigun and whatever you have under your wings. I think I noticed a couple of racks of rockets and a drop-fuel tank under each wing,”, Carlos responded, coming around the southern side of the runway and seeing movement from most of the aircraft on the ground. The Colombian C-130s were already in a line about to head down the runway.

“You’re right,”
Sally answered.

“Arm your rockets and put one into the closest warehouse with the silver roof on the northeastern corner of the airfield,” Carlos ordered. “I can’t see you, so be careful.”

“Roger that. I have you on my antique radar system in here and will stay away from you. I’m coming round now about a mile north of the airfield to do your bidding, lover boy. Arming rockets now!”

Three seconds later Carlos could see the white tails of two rockets enter the building and the whole end of the warehouse disintegrated.

“Marine Jeep One to air cover, I see the mortar crew. They are running on the southern side of the warehouses left of the one that you just blew up. We are moving and many of the Colombian troops are heading that way as well.”

“I think I saw them, Carlos. Continue to fly straight. I’m coming past you on your right and I’ll go in and hit that area with my second rack,”
stated Sally, in a much faster aircraft than Carlos had.

“Gunners,” he stated over the intercom to his crew, “I must fly straight. Aim for the front walls of the warehouse with the black roof and give covering fire.” They did as commanded and he could see the walls being peppered with thousands of rounds as the whole left front side of the building collapsed as the last one had done.

“First aircraft away,”
he heard a Spanish pilot speaking in English,
“and banking to the right.

“Climb to ten thousand feet above ground and wait for the rest,” Carlos ordered the pilot in English.

“Marine Jeep Two, I see three mortar positions being set up in the field, left of that last building. There are two large trees in the eastern rear corner of the field and it looks like a fourth mortar team is in the back of a small truck heading eastwards along the road behind them. We are heading to the perimeter fence,”

“I have the trees visual,” replied Carlos.

“I’m out of rockets,”
stated Sally.

“Sally, head over the road and take out that truck. Use your Minigun to lighten your load, then climb up to ten thousand. Conserve your fuel and wait. Over.”

“Roger,”
replied Sally and the small truck took fire several seconds later as Carlos banked over the perimeter fence and gave his gunners a chance to pepper the trees where the Marines had described. He had shouted to his gunners in Spanish so that they would understand what he wanted from them. He noticed Sally sweep across his nose several hundred feet in front as he brought the slower aircraft around to continue firing.

“Second aircraft airborne,”
stated somebody on the radio.

“
Blue Moon on takeoff,”
stated an American pilot.

“Easy Girl on takeoff to your rear left, Blue Moon. Give me some room,”
stated Jennifer. They weren’t messing around.

 Much to his surprise another mortar round landed in the dirt right next to the runway, a hundred yards in front of the two aircraft.

“Where the hell is that mortar coming from?” asked Carlos.

“I see it!”
shouted an American voice.
“Marine Jeep One here, mortar team on top of the second warehouse roof! I just saw somebody stand up with binoculars!”

“Roger that. I’m on the wrong side of the airfield. Sally, can you get them?”

“No problem, darling, I’m at four thousand feet and coming round. J

ust give me a couple of seconds.”

It felt like an eternity. Jennifer trundled through the falling debris and Carlos could now see several figures on the blackened roof. That was why he hadn’t seen them the first time round. The two jeeps and other Colombian vehicles were training their fire in the direction but the mortar team was back from the lip of the edge of the building.

“Gunners, I’m coming around. Train your shots onto that second black-roofed building. I know we are half a mile away but it will help slow their mortars down!” he shouted over the intercom in Spanish. He banked right to give them a shot and a second mortar bomb landed further in on the western side of the runway and less than a dozen yards from the rear of
Easy Girl
now leaving the tarmac. Both aircraft left the ground and banked right in formation and flew below him as he came in at five hundred feet peppering the warehouse. Sally flew over in front of him again, and rose vertically gaining height.

“I think I felt something hit my aircraft,”
she stated.

“Your gauges?” asked Carlos, also climbing as the third Colombian C-130 left the ground.

“Seem fine,”
she replied, still very calm.
“I’m climbing up to ten thousand, I’m out of ammo. Blue Moon and Easy Girl can carry on the dirty work.”

They swept around much like Carlos had done and began disintegrating the rest of the buildings around the areas Sally had peppered. It was a shock to see how much more firepower they had and how quickly the area was completely flattened.

Within minutes, the rest of the 130s had all taken off safely and the firing had calmed down.

“Marine Jeeps One and Two, take your jeeps and wait for me at the southeastern end of the runway. Leave your engines running and prepare to board my aircraft,” ordered Carlos. Suddenly two more mortar bombs straddled the runway, one taking a massive chunk of tarmac out of the side.

Carlos came in from the western side and put her down nearly halfway down the runway and applied the brakes hard. He heard a third mortar bomb somewhere behind him.

“Blue Moon here. I think we have located the next mortar team a block back from the perimeter fence. Permission to fire?”

“You have my permission to fire,”
stated General Rodriquez over the radio.
“Just try and keep your fire close to your intended target. I’m sure there could still be civilians in the area.”

Carlos, leaving black rubber as he came to a halt at the runway end, turned the AC-47 around. “Thank you for your accurate shooting,” he said to the twelve men manning the guns. “Please exit and take over the jeeps. Marines, grab your stuff. We are leaving for home.”

He waited until he was slapped on the shoulder by somebody and gunned the engines for takeoff. This time there were no mortar explosions as he took off, missing the new and only hole in the runway by inches.