The Pilot turned his head to look left to see if he too could see the reported aircraft. The Navigator stood and moved to look out the window behind the pilot’s seat. They both spotted it at the same time. Again the Observer said he could now see its green right wing tip light as well as the white tail light. No beacons were flashing.
“Radar where did he come from?” the Copilot asked.
“Sorry sir but I went dark shortly after my last report…scanning now on low power.” He answered. He had switched the radar’s RF gain to minimum as he switched it to “ACTIVE” so as to not inadvertently trigger any threat sensors on the aircraft adjacent to them. Fortunately it was only a slow moving cargo or passenger aircraft which was tracking away from them at a pretty good clip. It might have come out of a nearby field, there were several known though thought to be abandoned in the area. The radio techs observed no radio emissions from it, or any nearby ground stations, everything was silent.
“Course change, come right ten degrees. Hold steady on that heading it will put us over the target center.” The Nav said.
Off in the distance the Copilot noticed a bright flash of light. It illuminated the ground and allowing them to make out most of the details surrounding it. Buildings, roads, trees, hills and even the runway of the base they were about to over fly. The light was being cast by a rocket motor being test fired on a test stand. If only the Night Lark had been equipped with cameras too! But it wasn’t and the crew was forbidden to have personal cameras on board. The Night Larks dark black painted belly helped her look like a hole in the night sky.
The pilot eased the Night Lark slightly higher; he felt he was too low. In fact he was just above nine thousand feet, which was actually ideal for the sensors to pick up every needed detail. The recorders were collecting every thing the sensors could feed into them. It only took a few minutes but they felt as if they would be discovered and shot out of the night sky.
Then the observer noticed an approaching aircraft’s nav lights, this time it was heading right at them, he could see both the red and the green wing tip lights. It was well below them and not necessarily gaining on them. He knew from the distance between the two lights it was a large aircraft, possibly the same one they had spotted a few minutes ago. Apparently it too was over flying the test site to record or observe, possibly photograph the tests from above. He reported his sighting and the Night Lark didn’t alter course or speed. Best leave things as they are.
The aircraft didn’t seem to be following as it just passed from their seven o’clock to their five o’clock then disappeared from sight. The Night Lark’s pilot kept easing her higher and higher. With each thousand feet of altitude they seemed to be picking up another mile an hour of a quartering tailwind. This was a welcome benefit, however it did mean that their presence was easier to detect. Again their luck appeared to be with them as the only radar stations actively searching the night sky were very distant. Probably from those along the coasts or at distant inland military installations that were conducting night operations.
The last target on their mission was still some distance away, so after the Navigator checked his charts he decided to take a celestial reading of the stars to help double check their location. It took him longer than he expected but he did get a rough fix, enough to confirm that they were very close to their planned course.
A radar fix was needed to more accurately pinpoint the location of their next target so he wandered into the aft cabin to visit the radar operator’s console. The operator knew before being asked what the Nav needed and he flipped switches to selected the necessary mode for the Nav to get the information he needed. The Nav watched the scope and once he saw that it was painting a known landmark along their route he returned to his station to use his remote satellite scope on his console in the cockpit to see what the big scope was seeing. In a matter of minutes he had three solid references and pinpointed their exact location.
Immediately he began working the information into a revised plot to take them to the next target. “Come left to Zero Nine Zero.” He told the Pilot who banked the Night Lark left slightly to change heading.
“Steady on Zero Nine Zero.” The Pilot said aloud when he was on course.
“There should be a river just ahead.” The Nav said.
“I can see it, were coming up on it pretty quick.” Said the Copilot.
“We need to cross it where it makes a horseshoe bend, from that point we need to steer a course of One One Five degrees.” The Nav advised.
“I think I can see it…that river winds like a snake.” The Copilot commented.
“The horseshoe bend will be large and very pronounced.” Explained the Nav consulting his chart.
“There it is, just off to our left.” Pointed out the Pilot.
The Nav knelt between the two pilots. He gazed out the green house like windows of the big Boeing and confirmed the bend as that he was looking at on his map. Steer One One Five once a beam of the center of that bend. The Pilot did just that. “On course One One Five.”
“Radio to pilot, were picking up air traffic control out of Shanghai International. They are giving an altimeter setting of Three Zero Point One One.” The Radio Operator relayed to the flight deck.
“Three Zero Point One One.” The Copilot confirmed.
They now had a more accurate altimeter setting, which eased the tension in the cockpit. It would be very useful when they got closer to the coast as they were going to need to fly low, or so that was the plan. A low fast escape out across the sea to the protection of International waters then the sanctuary of South Korean airspace and assistance of friendly fighters should the Chinese Air Force be in pursuit of the Night Lark. Of course should assistance be rendered, the conversations would not include any reference to the Night Lark itself. Instead it would be purely an incursion by the Chinese into South Korean airspace. Two ROKAF F-104s were on alert at Kunsan AB awaiting the call from radar controllers that a “Friendly Wagon” was being pursued.
Four USAF and four USN fighters were also on routine patrol along the planned egress route. The Air Force was covering the north side from their base at Osan and the Navy was flying the southern sector from a carrier which was just off the south west of the South Korean peninsula. The Navy’s F-8 Crusaders were due to launch about the time the Night Lark was crossing the Chinese coastline. Fortunately, the Night Lark hadn’t been delayed and was still expecting to cross the coast within fifteen minutes of its scheduled time. If the Navy was late, it would play into the Night Larks favor. If they were early it meant that the F-8s would be on the end of their patrol leg and had turned back towards their carrier.
Tension aboard the Night Lark suddenly increased as the sensors picked up a tracking radar from the very target they were to overfly. The warning lights and buzzers were indicating that they had been acquired and were being tracked not only by air traffic control radar, but no less than three SAM missile batteries. The whole crew was alert and waiting for a launch indication on the master warning panel.
“Let’s look like we’re supposed to be here. Nav light on low. Nav radar on. Radio, see if you can get any idea what’s going on.” The Pilot commanded as he tried to relax his hold on the control yoke and throttles.
“We’re being asked to identify ourselves.” The Radio Operator translated.
“Tell them if they don’t know who we are, they’d better get ready for some serious disciplinary action.” The Pilot stated. The radio operator broadcast the reply as the pilot had instructed.
Everyone waited but there was no immediate reply. The Night Lark was over the target before one came. During which time the crew on board was busy doing what they were there to do. Record and collect as much electronic information as they could about the site and the area around it. How nice it was for the Chinese to fire up every targeting system surrounding it. Of course each crewman on board the Night Lark was holding their breath waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“Glad you showed up on time comrade, otherwise you’d been the one receiving disciplinary action.” Stated a voice from the target below and with that every radar and radio emission went off the air. The Night Lark just kept on going to put it as far behind them as possible, before the real aircraft they were expecting decided to show up. Which it did, thirty minutes later.
The big EC-97 Night Lark was getting closer and closer to the coastline. More air traffic was being painted by the Night Larks powerful radar which the operator purposely kept at as low a RF gain as possible yet high enough to allow him to see some distance away.
The Radar Operator was watching a pair of multiple returns that which kept changing their course towards the Night Lark as if they were being directed to intercept the Night Lark. “Radar has multiple bogies which appear to be sniffing around for us.” He stated over the intercom.
“Three minutes to the coast. Eleven minutes until we can hope for any assistance from friendlies.” The Nav commented.
Giving the throttles a slight nudge forward the Pilot hoped it would be enough to get the Night Lark out of Chinese airspace in time. It was going to be close, too close he thought.
“Radar now showing those bogies are fast movers and they have increased their airspeed. Estimating they are now at 600 knots. Closing in from our seven o’clock.” The Radar Operator reported.
“Secure all non essential systems, get the bags packed and ready should we need to…” The Pilot never finished his thought, everyone knew what he meant. The crew started to secure their gear, removing the most sensitive components and most importantly the recordings they had made during their flight. Everything was placed into special containers that served two purposes. One to ensure the classified items they contained were destroyed, the other to facilitate its being scattered over a wide area on the sea floor, making recovery more difficult and pointless to gain any intelligence value. The container was packed with an explosive and of sufficient weight it would sink rapidly, then explode deep underwater.
If they were forced to jettison over land, the containers would explode shortly after impact and again destroy and scatter its contents. Typically when this occurred it killed or seriously injured anything living within five meters. In tests, a container containing a cryptic keyboard buried pieces into nearby trees.
Two Chinese Mig 21′s were being directed to check out the unknown target. It was thought to be a bomber on a special mission that had recently overflown a sensitive installation. The arrival of the real bomber thirty minutes after the first aircraft flew over and conversed with the installation by radio had the military leadership aware of the situation very puzzled.
“Start opening those little crates we loaded before takeoff!” The Pilot commanded. Several of the crewmen who were finished securing their gear moved to the places where they could grab the small crates to start opening them. Some have had them under their feet during the entire mission.
“I’d sure like another set of eyes back here!” The Crew Chief/Observer said with urgency.
“One of you get back there and help him please.” Said the Copilot.
The Night Lark was feeling rather light and nimble on the controls; she was getting lighter by the minute as more of her precious fuel was being burned by the one hundred and twelve cylinders which turned the four big propellers. She was still at a rather conservative cruise setting to stretch her fuel as far as possible.
The crew now had all of the classified stored and ready for destruction should they need to do so. Most of the little crates were now opened, the contents removed and the crates stacked in a heap in the galley. There would be no more need for the galley and its contents for the rest of this mission. They were getting closer to home and they were too busy to do anything except prepare for what was about to happen.
To be continued in Chapter XII.
