XIV
November 30, 1936
November 30, 1936
Leutnant Adler was distracted. It had been three weeks since he’d left East Elbia, and still no letter had come. He had been certain that the letter posted from Seville would at least pique her interest. To be sure, his mother had written three heartrending masterpieces in that time and if he had actually finished reading them, he might have been persuaded to send her a note proclaiming his intentions on staying safe. Not that he actually intended to stay ‘safe’ while on this particular adventure. The Kondor Legion offered just the sort of action which would, in time, make a great name of Wilhelm Adler. He could see the headlines now, Leutnant…no…Hauptman Adler; the hero of Spain. Of course, he would grace the front pages of newspapers back home, standing next to his gaudily decorated Heinkel. Surely that would induce that proud, chit of a girl to at least give him the time of day. How she would wish she had replied sooner to his letters as he was mobbed by all the other girls back…Wilhelm shook his head clear and went back to scanning the sky for his prey. Spread out below him were several flights of Heinkel 51s in perfect formation. Together, thought Wilhelm, we’ll find glory today!
Ian had been disappointed with the pace of operations. He had assumed that ‘first patrol’ meant dawn patrol. Instead he had found himself impatiently cramped into his Chato on the ground waiting for a scramble signal which might never come. A flock of birds flew over, squawking forth their surprise at finding the day void of precipitation. Ian’s eyes followed the erratic path of the birds in a vain attempt to share in their joy. Finally tiring of watching the birds, Ian looked over at Eddie’s plane and watched Eddie’s excited movements as he showed Maria the dials and controls in his cockpit. Ian smiled as he thought of Maria’s partner in the sewing room. Christina had smiled mischievously at Ian when he had brought his uniform to be mended the day before. As Ian mused over the intentions of a young woman he could barely understand, the field sprang to life. Maria jumped down from her perch on Eddie’s bi-plane and waved goodbye. Belatedly, Ian looked up and saw that the alarm rockets had fired from the hacienda. Ian hurriedly slipped his goggles on and took off with the rest of the LaCalle’s patrol. Ian looked back and noticed that the American patrol was also preparing to take off to join them. LaCalle led the way toward the front.
Wilhelm traced the Jarama River across the countryside with his eyes. The fields and orchards below created a patchwork tapestry of clutter to search through. Somewhere out there was a Republican airplane with his name on it. A puff of smoke appeared from the south bank of the river, and then was joined by five more in the same vicinity. Wilhelm looked toward the north and was rewarded by seeing the shells land with small clouds of mud and smoke just short of a small log structure. Small men like ants poured from the structure and scrambled around in an amusing dance with death. Wilhelm smiled grimly as he watched the life and death struggle from afar. Suddenly a flash of movement caught his eye. Republican fighters! He counted four…no….eight Chatos in two formations. The first squadron of Heinkels rolled over and began to engage. Wilhelm looked over at his squadron leader and was disappointed to see that they would be following the others into battle. His impulse to break formation and race after glory was tempered by the patience and discipline drilled into him in training. A few seconds of delay would hardly mean much at the end of the day.
Ian was initially surprised to see LaCalle waggle his wings violently. However, he soon remembered that this maneuver was a danger signal and began flying in tighter formation. LaCalle waited a few seconds to allow the American patrol to close up, then threw his plane into a tight left bank. Ben followed a second later, followed by Ian, Eddie, and the rest of the American patrol in succession. Knowing the Lufberry circle was a last ditch defensive maneuver, Ian frantically looked about for the danger and finally spotted it when he looked up. The sky was practically full of little dots, all seeming to grow larger by the moment. Some of them were already on their way down to attack, while others were getting into position to start their dives. Ian’s brain coldly estimated upwards of 50 to 60 enemy aircraft, which translated into roughly eight to one odds. A group of four Heinkels were first to reach the circle. Seeing the defensive formation, they fired their machineguns from long-range and then veered off and dove below the Republican planes.
Wilhelm watched as the first Heinkels began lazily flying around below the Chatos. He smiled grimly as he watched one of the Republican planes peel off and dive in an attempt to reach the easy looking targets. The pilot didn’t even get half-way. A second flight of Heinkels was on his tail. The Chato gave a sort of jerk as the Heinkels flashed past, then wavered away to the north in a dive. The plane looked to be heading for a clearing in an attempt to crash land, but ended up smacking into a hill-side instead. First blood had been spilled. Wilhelm’s flight rolled over and began their attack run.
Ian watched in horror as Ben’s plane smacked into the hill-side. Tearing his eyes away from the ground, he saw Eddie loop up and over and go down after the Heinkels below. Without hesitation, Ian followed after him. Eddie straightened out his dive and quickly reeled in one of the Heinkels. A long burst of machinegun fire, and his opponent’s right wing collapsed. The twirling wreckage of the plane dropped quickly from the sky. Ian shouted exultantly with joy at the kill, but his joy ended quickly. Two enemy planes were already on Eddie’s tail. Another burst of machinegun fire, and Eddie’s plane was hit. Eddie came up and over in an Immelmann maneuver, but the stress on his plane was too much and it came apart in the air.
Wilhelm concentrated on following his squadron leader as they dove through the Republican circle. A burst of machinegun fire from one of the Chatos missed wide and he was safely below the main group of circling I-15s. His Kondor Legion flight split into pairs and began following the two new fools who had left the Lufberry circle. Wilhelm wolfishly grinned as he watched his squadron leader shoot the first Chato into pieces. Within seconds he had the second biplane in his sights. There was no way he was going to miss this easy of a kill. He began firing.
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