Project: Night Lark Chapter X
The Navigator and a couple of the other crew were standing a short distance from the aircraft smoking one last cigarette before climbing aboard the Night Lark. As the Navigator finished his and began to field strip the remainder a staff car whizzing past them and stopped directly in front of the Night Lark’s nose.
Four men exited the sedan, the driver an Air Force Colonel wearing a tan uniform, a gentleman obvious a civilian who wore an off white Papa San shirt and dark slacks and two smaller gentlemen wearing ill fitting flight suits bearing what appeared to be South Vietnamese officer insignias.
The Navigator instantly recognized the man in civilian attire. “Trouble.” He remarked just loud enough to get the others standing next to him to take notice of the staff car and its passengers.
“You know him Nav?” Asked one of them.
“Unfortunately, I do.” He replied. Then he started to say “He’s a first class ass…” But was cut off when the Aircraft Commander motioned him to join him and the others.
The Nav ground the now stripped cigarette’s remains and ground them into the pavement with the toe of his flight boot. He reluctantly approached the cluster of men standing between the Night Lark’s nose and the staff car.
The civilian was an agency field supervisor. He greeted the Nav like they were long lost friends. “Great to see you again, it has been too long.” He said as he stuck out his hand to shake the Nav’s.
The Nav didn’t offer his hand, he just replied in a less than appreciative tone. “Good to see you too…Dick.”
“It has been a while hasn’t it. You must have forgotten; my name is Richard.” The agency man said.
“That’s what I said. Dick.” Replied the Nav. The conversation was quickly changed by the Aircraft Commander because it was obvious there was bad blood between these two.
They conversed amongst themselves for several minutes. Then the two smaller gentlemen in flight suits retrieved their gear from the trunk of the staff car and carried it aboard the Night Lark.
The Nav volunteered to escort them just to put some distance between him and his nemesis. The Aircraft Commander made his farewells with the AF Colonel and then the agencies field supervisor.
“You apparently know our Navigator.” The Aircraft Commander said to the agency man.
“Second biggest jerk in the company. I had hoped our paths would never cross again.” He stated.
“Well I’m glad he’s on my crew. By the way who is the biggest jerk in the company if I might ask?” The Aircraft Commander inquired.
“The Director.” The agency man replied with a wink. “Have a safe flight and good luck.” With that he opened the passenger door of the staff car and the two sped away. The Aircraft Commander thought to himself as he watch the car depart…”You too…Dick.”
Inside the aircraft the rest of the crew was trying to figure out where to put the two additions that joined them. The two new arrivals listened but didn’t say anything. They just gestured replies to the directions they were given. The sat on the floor with their backs against a bulkhead while the rest prepared for departure.
Once situated the crew strapped in and just as the Aircraft Command who now now sitting in his pilot’s seat was about to give the command to start number three, a pickup truck pulled up to the Night Lark. Another civilian exited the passenger door and motioned he wanted to come aboard. The crew chief looked up at the pilot looking out of his open window and heard the pilot over the intercom. “Send him up.”
The man quickly made his way into the cockpit and handed a large file enclosed file folder to the Navigator. He opened it and laid the contents out on his work table. The man started a quick briefing.
“Looks as if the weather is going to cancel the planned diversion to keep attention from the North Vietnamese off you. The B-52s are still making their way north, but SAC won’t give a firm commitment without the rest of the support package in place. I can understand their reluctance to fly into Indian country without support.” He stated. “Now for the rest of it. The two men you have aboard are to be dropped at a designated point of your planned route through China. They have everything they need, they just needed the ride. You’re now that ride. We dressed them up as VNAF observers to help better play the gunship gag on the enemy spies.”
“I was wondering when someone would tell us what the hell’s going on.” Said the Copilot.
The Navigator was pouring through the forms and maps he had dumped out of the envelope. The rest of the flight deck crew as well as the civilian just waited patiently. The Nav was busy using his slide rule computer to do some checking of the figures on the forms before him. It took him about ten minutes and he looked up scanning the faces of those waiting. “We can do it if you have brass balls, eaten your Wheaties this morning, have any hair left on your rabbits foot and any hint of having the luck of the Irish.”
The civilian was both relieved and worried. This mission wasn’t going according to Hoyle. He said his good byes, gave a quick update to the two gentlemen sitting on the cabin floor then quickly exited the Night Lark.
“Let’s get this bird airborne, we can discuss the details in the air.” The Pilot said.
“NKP tower to AF Six O One, turn to a heading of One One Zero degrees, frequency change approved.” The air traffic controller said to the Night Lark as it departed east over Laos.
The Night Lark would fly easterly until well out of sight and sound of NKP. The crew already had a rear hatch opened and were tossing out the empty ammo cans out of the aircraft. The two visitors looked at other with confused expressions on their faces. One of the Night Lark’s crew members asked them. “You guys understand E N G L I S H?” The two smiled at each other and stood laughing, one replying. “I’ve lived all my life in Sacramento, even graduated from High School there.” The other said he was from Chicago.
Everyone pitched in to pitch out the cans. They conversed about the reasoning behind the cans and the gun barrels which too were tossed overboard. Up front in the cockpit the Night Lark started a gradual left turn to begin a trek up the center of Laos. They’d be crossing the northwest corner of North Vietnam near Dien Bien Phu which according to the forecast was already seeing some nasty weather. With all luck they’d be able to fly low and fast enough to penetrate through North Vietnam and into China undetected.
It was going to be a long ride regardless even if they didn’t encounter any trouble. The flight would tax the capacity of the Night Lark. Even if conditions were ideal they’d be landing with nothing but fumes to power the engines.
The crew settled into their routine, first the coffee was made, thermoses filled and distributed. The two guests as it turns out were second generation Chinese Americans who were recruited by the agency to be spy assets on the ground. It was obvious by the crew that they had been in isolation for a while, they reeked of fish and other oriental staples. Nothing says spy like Old Spice or Aqua Velva!
The two undressed shedding themselves of their flight suits. Underneath they were dressed in civilian street clothes. They removed and put on their parachutes for their upcoming jump into China. One was to jump near a reservoir near Kunming and the second a short time later near Qujing. They were to investigate one of the installations that the Night Lark was to survey as it passed nearby. Each had a gear bag filled with simple possessions much like any peasant would carry. Their parachutes and harness would be stuffed back into the bag then buried. The flight suits would remain on board, one of the Night Lark’s crew put the suits inside separate classified burn bags which were strategically placed in the cabin.
The flight into North Vietnam was bumpy. The thunderstorms were tossing the Night Lark around but it served to protect them from detection. Before long the Nav recommended that the first jumper get ready. The two jumpers were in the lower observation compartment with the crewchief/observer. The two noticed the hasty patch job on the damage the Night Lark received on its previous flight. They learned also about the death the other observer.
Upstairs the technicians were ready, their equipment powered up and the recorders already recording the electronic “noise” the various sensors were picking up. Some of it radio traffic, some ground and air radar emissions. The Night Lark was low, it had to be to stay below the Chinese radar detection. They didn’t have the luxury of flying a known Chinese Air Force cargo plane training route.
The Nav was carefully monitoring their position using his stopwatch and every other available resource he had available. He’d even use a Michelin tour guide map if he had one for China. “Three minutes.” He said over the intercom. The Observer opened the hatch and set the first jumpers drag bag into position so it would follow the jumper out of the aircraft cleanly as its connecting strap pulled it out of the aircraft behind the jumper.
“Good luck.” The Observer said as he gave the first jumper a shove upon hearing the Nav say…”Now!” The jumper fell clear and his bag followed him. The Observer craned his head out the hatch to see if he could make out whether or not the chute opened. He thought he saw that it did but the Night Lark was descending over the backside of ridge and he lost sight of where the chute should have appeared.
The second jumper lifted his bag into position and then sat in the hatch opening waiting for his turn to jump. The Observer was waiting for the Nav to give the three minute warning so he could signal it to the jumper.
The jumper wouldn’t make it to the jump zone, as the Night Lark was traversing a ridgeline it encountered some rough air and the aircraft bounced catching the jumper unprepared. His feet slipped and he fell out the opening. The line connecting his harness to the bag snapped taut and the bag followed, disappearing in the blink of an eye. The Observer had turned his attention to the Thermos to ensure it had stayed wedged where he set it while the jumpers shared his compartment. When he looked back to where the jumper was sitting in the open hatchway, he was gone.
“The Jumper is gone!” He called over the intercom.
“What do you mean gone?” Asked the Pilot.
“That last bump must have shaken him out, he was sitting there with his bag and then poof he was gone.” Replied the Observer.
“Did you see a chute”" Asked the Nav.
“Didn’t even notice him gone, it happened that fast.”
There was no time to turn around to see if in fact the jumper was able to deploy his chute. If he did chances are he probably wouldn’t have lived long enough for the chute to open anyway…they were that close another ridge.
Both jumpers did have good chutes and did land safely. The second one did however have a serious bruise on his butt as he bounced off a large flat rock on the down sloping side of a ridge. He literally skipped off it before the chute caught air and blossomed. He only got one maybe two swings before his feet hit the ground coming to sudden and abrupt stop. The hike down off the ridge would actually made his trek shorter than taking the roadway around it to meet up with the first jumper. He was sore, but thankful to be alive! He set about burying his gear.
The jumper’s premature departure allowed the crew to now focus all of their attention on to the aircraft, its systems and the mission. The Observer closed the hatch and resumed scanning the sky for possible other aircraft. He alternated seats doing the job of both observers. It made him feel uncomfortable to think about his friends death.
“Talk to me, what are your sensors picking up out there?” The Pilot asked.
“Not much of anything except for some distant television and radio station emissions.” Replied one technician.
“Pretty much a dead night electronic radiation wise sir.” Said another.
“Should we chance going up higher?” Asked the Copilot. “We’d be able to pick up more emissions and save a ton of fuel if we did.”
“Let’s ease her up slowly. Radar, take a quick looksee.” The Pilot stated.
“Radar going from standby to active.” The Radar Operator replied as he flipped the switch on his panel which activated the emitter. The radar began to sweep in a three hundred and sixty degree circle, painting terrain as well as any objects within its range. There were a few returns off in the distance, nothing close by though. “Tracking several bogies, none appear to be near or of any threat at this time.” He advised.
Let’s take it up to ten thousand and see what we can see and how favorable the winds if any might be.” The Pilot said.
With that he adjusted the trim to induce a slight amount of climb rate. He watched the engine gauges closely to ensure they were being as efficient as possible. They needed to save as much fuel as possible. It was going to be a close call as to whether they would run out before landing or as they hit the runway at Suwon in the Republic of South Korea.
The Navigator had already plotted alternate routes to get them to safe airspace should they find themselves discovered or running out of fuel before reaching their final destination. He thought to himself, did he have the luck of the Irish, he’d rubbed the hair off his rabbits foot long ago on other missions similar to this one.
Leveling at ten thousand feet based on the last known altimeter setting they had and the radar altimeters readings they found that the winds were just slightly assisting them as they trekked northeasterly towards their next target near Jingmen. There the needed to fly as close to or directly over the target to get the best sensory readings possible.
The sensors buried in the tail boom would play the most important role in collecting information for this target. Just forward of the tail boom on the underside of the aircraft was a small oblong blister that housed an emitter. That emitter sent out a signal from horizon to horizon. The receivers were in the stinger boom, they collected electronic imagery based on the reflections off objects from the emitter. It was similar to an oblique camera, constantly panning and scanning collecting valuable information that would help mission planners for a potential strike whether by low flying bombers carrying nuclear weapons or intercontinental ballistic missiles. The information helped assess the optimal route into and the impact points to best devastate the targeted area.
To accomplish this task the most accurately, the Night Lark had to be between eight thousand and eleven thousand feet. The radio operators were listening to commercial broadcast stations as well as any air traffic control communications to ascertain the current altimeter setting. The Chinese just didn’t broadcast the same weather information as did those all night stations in the US. In fact there were few stations on the air at all.
“Got a transport calling in for landing clearance at…” The technician paused as he listened to the conversation he was hearing. “Pressure is…” He was cutoff by the Observer on the intercom. He had just switched back to his seat when he noticed a shadow below under the left wing. At first he thought it was from the Night Lark but it appeared again as it was clearly distinguished in the faint reflection off a small lake. “Aircraft nine o’clock low!” He yelled.
Continued in Chapter XI.
