Frauleinstein

Chapter III: Mission Critical

Chapter III
Mission Critical

Flight Lieutenant Williams adjusted himself in his seat, for probably the thousandth time. The plane he had been assigned for this mission was tiny and cramped, with barely enough room for his long legs. It was at least ten years old, creaked and whistled, and had a cold draft on his right ankle that was about driving him mad. Needless to say, no one had splurged on cushions for the seat.

It had been two hours, and he was finally coming up on his target. All he needed to do was drop his two bombs, then turn and head back to Turkey, another two hours return flight. At least there would be one consolation, though. In order to carry the heavy bombs the distance from Istanbul to Bistritz and still be able to make the return flight, his plane had been converted into a flying fuel tank. Without the bombs and with half his fuel gone, he was a lot less likely to go down in flames and the return flight would be a lot less nerve-wracking.

Suddenly there it was, precisely as it had been described to him. He could see the entire base of the original castle, some parts still standing but most toppled over centuries earlier, then carted away stone by stone over the many years by locals for use in homes or fences until the entire castle was gone. The facility they described appeared to be a small structure set up toward the back of the old castle. But the most exciting thing for Roddy was his target, the machine gun nest!

It was exactly as he had pictured in the briefing; a stone circle which had originally been the base of a tower, reaching out to the west over a steep, open hill. It had to be thirty feet across, made of concentric circles of stone that looked just like a bull's-eye to Flight Lieutenant Williams. Leveling off at 10,000 feet, he prepared for his bombing run. When he was ready, Roddy pulled his plane into a steep dive.

Roddy was chosen for this mission based on his reputation as a precision bomber. Bombing a given target, starting from two miles in the sky, based on sight alone was as much art as science. Most pilots were lucky to get within a thousand feet of their intended target. With only two chances to get this right, they obviously needed to do better. Roddy had shown time and again, he could drop a bomb within fifty feet of his objective.

Hitting a particular object from a moving plane was like hitting an incredibly fast moving target which deceptively appeared not to move. The secret, which Roddy had never shared with anyone, was to lose control of his aircraft during his descent, and picture himself crashing into the target. After the bomb was released he would regain control and pull up, while the bomb would continue along his suicidal path. He had never told anyone, as the RAF had certain ideas about pilots maintaining control of their planes at all times, and tended to take the idea of pilots deliberately attempting to crash rather seriously. Roddy did not want to get into that debate with them, which could possibly end in his discharge. His method worked, and he and his plane returned safely. That was all he cared about.

Even 'out of control', Roddy still made minor adjustments to his trajectory, lining up his plane to crash precisely in the center of the bull's-eye. When everything was perfect, he pulled the lever to release bomb number one.

"Bomb's away," Roddy whispered with no one to hear, then pulled his plane out of its fall. Everything had been perfect; he had never felt so confident of a direct hit. Roddy counted out the seconds till the explosion while gaining altitude for his second run.

"Ten seconds," he counted. "Fifteen," he continued. Something was wrong. By the time he reached twenty he knew; the bomb was a dud. One thousand pounds of explosive ready to cause destruction at a single spark, yet somehow the detonator failed.

"Damn it all," Roddy cursed aloud as he regained his starting altitude of 10,000 feet and leveled off. He had planned to turn, survey his handiwork, then hopefully use his second bomb on that German research facility. Now he would have to use it on the same target. Roddy began a wide turn to set up his next bombing run. He couldn't wait to see where his first bomb had landed. Even if it hadn't exploded, he pictured it dead center of the stone circles.