Devils in the Sky

Chapter 2 - Hunted by the Devils

It was 11th September 1975. The MPLA which was supported by communist Cuba had taken over the capital Luanda and also was in control of several provincial capitals and also had control over almost all the major ports of Angola. The MPLA thus looked set to be the rulers of Angola after independence from Portuguese colonial rule. This was not good news for South Africa as they were afraid that after taking over Angolan oil and gold and mineral reserves, the MPLA would have the financial clout to spread their tentacles further beyond Angolan boundaries. "The communists must be stopped", thought the South African president. Though the South Africans and Zairians had pitched in their support and resources for the UNITA (which was the main opposition to the MPLA and Cuba), the UNITA simply lacked the kind of equipments and logistics which the MPLA enjoyed. Even the CIA support was too little and they had problems of their own. The South African air force was also fast losing its edge over the Cuban planes thanks to the sanctions. Without the air support, the already outgunned UNITA would almost surely be annihilated and South Africa would have to face an even stronger enemy. The situation looked grim. But thankfully the South African defence minister had an idea. He had heard of the services offered by the Lima Security to Yemen in the Saudi-Yemeni conflict. He knew that Lima Security had the kind of equipments that were desperately needed in Angola.

Thus on 12th of September 1975, a deal was signed between South Africa and Lima Security. Under the terms of this deal, Lima Security was to maintain air superiority over Angola and also to provide support to the UNITA in wiping out MPLA from their strongholds. On 20th September 1975, the planes of Lima security touched down at Rundu airbase in South West Africa. The pilots and their planes were

Pilot (callsign) - Plane

Lightning  - F-4E phantom II

Tomahawk  - F-4E phantom II

Wind - F-4E phantom II

Storm - F-4E phantom II

The phantoms had demonstrated their usefulness over the Saudi skies in 1973 conflict where a single phantom piloted by Lightning rendered an entire airbase in inoperable condition after precision airstrikes destroyed the runways and dealt a body blow to the Saudi military. Hence this time it was decided that they would send an all-phantoms group to take part in Angolan conflict. The UNITA still held the city of Nova Lisbon which was a major city in central Angola. This city had an airport and it was decided that these planes would operate out of Nova Lisbon. After refueling, the planes took off from Rundu Airbase for Nova Lisbon airport which had all the necessary infrastructure to support a sustained air campaign based off Nova Lisbon. The supplies would take more time to arrive and hence they were told to wait. The supplies like the air to air armaments and air to ground armaments arrived only by 28th September 1975. "just in time", thought Lightning. The fragile ceasefire between MPLA and UNITA was fast eroding with skirmishes erupting at town of Quibala and both sides blaming each other for the skirmishes. Finally on 30th of September 1975, the ceasefire collapsed completely and both sides resumed full hostilities.

Meanwhile at Nova Lisbon airport, the Squadron Leader Lightning just had a conversation with the chief of military operations for Angola. He gathered his three colleagues and explained to them about their first assignment in Angola. Spreading a large, detailed map of Angola over the table, the Squadron Leader explained, "This is Lobita, a major port, which is currently in the hands of the MPLA and is very well guarded by the armored vehicles and a squadron of MiG-21 fighters and SA-6 SAMs as our intel seems to suggest. Yesterday night, a convoy of 30 Zil-157 trucks departed from their base at Luanda to head for the huge supply base at Lobita to arm the MPLA to carry out an assault on Nova Lisbon from the west. If we can intercept the convoy which is right now at Sumbe , before it reaches Lobita, we can prevent the MPLA soldiers from receiving their weapons and ammunitions and carrying out an attack on the Nova Lisbon. This way we will be able to buy ourselves some time before we can assault the enemy supply depots. The destruction of the convoy is the key to successful defence of Nova Lisbon. The trucks have halted at Sumbe and will stay there for a few more hours. Sumbe has no air defences and if we can swiftly attack the convoy at Sumbe then we will be able to prevent them from moving out." All the pilots understood the situation. The planes were being fitted with fuel tanks and SUU-23 gun pods for the mission. In order to reach Sumbe, the pilots had to fly straight north, locate the river Cuvo and follow the river all the way to the western coast of Angola where the river met the ocean. Then they had to turn southwards and follow the coastline to approach Sumbe from the north. They had to make one pass over the city while flying southwards and then turn back northwards to locate the first tallest building at the southernmost end of Sumbe. This building was Hotel Lucapa and just next to it was the parking area where all the 30 trucks were parked. These trucks were carrying AK-47 rifles, RPG-7 rocket launchers, Grenades, Fuel etc. In the next 4 hours, after refueling, they would leave for Lobita. The boys had to act fast......

It was 1300 hours. There were still two more hours left before the trucks would leave for Lobita. The pilots were ready. They sat in their respective planes along with their WSOs and taxied towards the runway. One by one all the planes took off and five minutes later, all the planes were airborne flying straight north to locate the river Cuvo. Sure enough, just after two minutes of flying, they located the river and started following it towards the west coast of Angola. After flying for almost 30 minutes they could see the coastline and they knew that they had to turn southwards to follow the coastline till they reached Sumbe. Thankfully , there was no coastal city between their current location and Sumbe and there would be no confusion. After flying for about 10 more minutes, they could see the city spread out before them. The pilots kept flying south and within moments, they could see the hotel Lucapa building. It was the tallest building in Sumbe. After going further southwards for a few more minutes, the formation took a turn back towards Sumbe followed by others one after the other. Upon sighting the parking area and the trucks, Lightning selected the outerwing pylon and switched on the Master Arm switch to select the SUU-23 gun pod and moved the HuD mode dial to A/G for setting the HuD to air to ground mode. Now he could see the pipper on the HuD. He moved the pipper on the first truck in the first line of trucks in the parking area and opened fire in short accurate bursts. The SUU-23 gun pod had a fire rate of 6000 rounds per minute which meant a whopping 100 rounds per second. The two gun pods would deliver a total of two hundred 20 mm rounds on the target. This was enough to destroy lightly armored vehicles and trucks while dealing considerable damage to the tanks if not killing them outright. Sure enough, Lightning's assault did considerable damage and there were explosions as some of the trucks were carrying explosives. The explosions destroyed the nearby parked vehicles. The next in line behind Lightning was Tomahawk. He was known to have a keen eye for air to ground missions. In fact in Vietnam, due to his bombing skills, he was the favorite for close air support missions where accurately IDing the targets and delivering the munitions were a must and the success of the mission depended on it. He had already done the necessary "adjustments" and after moving his pipper over the first truck in line, he opened fire. But instead of firing in quick short bursts like Lightning did, he opened steady stream of fire on them for 7 seconds. This technique too had the desired consequence and the trucks in the second line were destroyed. Tomahawk's justification for firing continuously rather in quick bursts after careful aiming (as done by Lightning) was to minimize the time for which he would be flying straight and level towards the target. This technique ensured that while he got his kills on the ground, he also exposed himself to the AAA (if any) for a minimum time which made the strafing run relatively safer for him, an experience which he got from one of his missions in Vietnam after he saw his wingman go down because he took a few seconds more.

After tomahawk, it was Storm. He had just finished basic training and was trained in air to ground missions in his new plane. But Storm was a fast learner and had mastered the ground attack sooner than expected. Thankfully Tomahawk had advised him to go for continuous fire instead of the quick accurate bursts and Storm had paid heed to this useful advice. He fired for 8 seconds and had expended a total of 1600 rounds of 20mm on the trucks. The trucks blew up and he could see the smoke and "flashes". He was satisfied and flew northwards. Last in line was Wind. After making the necessary "adjustments" he strafed the targets in quick accurate bursts on the targets setting up the fourth line of trucks on fire. But these line of trucks were carrying fuel and strafing them caused the trucks to explode into a fireball and also set the last line of trucks on fire. Now the entire parking area was a scene of burning, wrecked trucks. Black smoke started to rise towards the sky and panicked people started running in all directions. 30 trucks were destroyed in just less than half hour. Squadron Leader was mighty pleased. His boys had followed his instructions to the last straw. The mission went just as planned and the MPLA had just lost the ability to invade Nova Lisbon. The pilots had just prevented a bloodbath at Nova Lisbon. After the mission, they just followed the coastline northwards and then changed course to follow the river back to Nova Lisbon airport. Forty more minutes later, the planes had landed and the Squadron Leader telephoned the chief of military operations about the successful attack and total destruction of the supplies meant for the MPLA. The chief was glad. He informed the South African defence minister if this first success in the campaign. The defence minister was glad that Nova Lisbon had been kept safe. He had, till now, only heard stories of their stunning and precise strikes but now he had experienced them too. The defence minister was glad that Lima Security was on their payroll, while the pilots were expecting their paycheck in gold and diamonds straight from the mines of Kimberley.

The Angolan campaign had just begun. new lands, new dangers, new horizons and more adventure and action awaited them here........