Thunder Strikes Back

Chapter 20 Memories
Lieutenant Goya is anxiously waiting for the special commuter plane of the Ministry of Defense to pick him up and return to Bareilly Airport in the simple terminal building of the Safford Jones Military Airport in New Delhi. He is not in a good mood. A few hours ago His weapon operator Jaafar told him that he had received a transfer order from the Ministry of National Defense, and he would fly to the south to join the reorganized 45th Squadron. Rua Air Force Base.Goya had never seen Jaafar excited like a child, which was completely beyond Goya's expectations.He thought that he had never seriously considered the feelings of this brother in the rear cockpit before. Jaafar had always been so eager to fly an advanced fighter jet alone, but for some reason he never expressed his heart.Now that Jaafar has got his wish, he will soon fly the lightest supersonic aircraft in the world manufactured by Hindustan Aerospace Corporation, while Goya can only wait alone in the empty terminal building to return to the Bareilly base. He has also heard the rumors that a full-scale war is about to start, and he will have a run-in with a novice in the cruel battle that will soon come.

The plane of the Secret Service Squadron has not arrived for a long time, but the ground vehicle of the Ministry of National Defense has arrived.Singh's office manager, Lujad Nahan, stepped out of an official car, walked into the terminal and saw Lieutenant Goya waiting.

"Captain, the plane will not be coming for a while, and you have a new duty."

"Captain?" Goya turned his head. Of course he still remembered the tall supervisor, but he was not sure that the supervisor called him, because the notice of his promotion was sent directly to the base, so he is still only a "lieutenant".But there are no other soldiers present here.

"Captain, don't be shy, the Ministry of Defense has given you a new mission."

"Hello, Mr. Supervisor, the situation is very urgent. I must return to the front line to fight immediately. I have to run in with a new weapon operator. It will take time."

"There are many ways to strike the enemy, not necessarily in the cabin, and now this mission needs you even more."

"?"

"Hindustan National Television is urgently producing a program called National Heroes. You are the first character identified by the Ministry of Defense."

"TV?"

"That's right, think about the beautiful Miss Ben Sally, in a few hours, she will host the show herself, and you will appear as a hero."

"Miss Baan Sari from India Today?"

"Yes, she will ask you some questions that the people want to know, such as the conversation with the prime minister, and how you feel after shooting down the enemy. It's very simple. It's a pity that this decision has been delayed, and Captain Jaafar has already left."

"That is to say, I'm the only one left to be interviewed?" Goya asked. He suddenly felt that it would be very cramped for him to be interviewed by that female anchor, although this beautiful current affairs news female anchor often couldn't figure out the status of various countries. or mispronouncing the name of the Majority Alliance in the House of Commons, but this does not prevent her from becoming a goddess in the minds of many Indian youths.

"No, there is one more, he will appear on TV in place of Captain Jafar."

"Who?" Goya asked.The supervisor didn't answer, maybe he didn't hear, a Mi-8 helicopter was slowly landing at the airport outside, and the loud noise interrupted the conversation between the two.

"Who are you asking? Look here he is, Capt. Shubha Lol, a squad leader of the Trident Squadron, we haven't met yet, but he shot down an F16 fighter this morning in an air battle , Is Pakistan bragging about the strongest 5th (Falcon) Squadron, the intelligence department is still verifying.”

"Really?" Goya exclaimed. He couldn't believe it was real. Shooting down a fighter from No. 5 Squadron had been a staple of his night dreams.

Outside the huge floor-to-ceiling glass windows, the helicopter had come to a complete stop. The hatch on one side was opened, and a young pilot in an air force uniform poked his head out. He pressed his big-brimmed hat to prevent it from being blown away, and then jumped off the plane.

"Trident's MiG-29?"

"Yes, let's go, we will pick him up."

The Hindustan state-run television building is located on Dalhousie Street in the bustling area of ​​New Delhi, facing the Anglican Church. It is very close to the parliament and the presidential palace. This plus television station has always been the main source of the Indian government's foreign policies pipeline.

Goya sat face to face with the strange and taciturn Captain Roll in the waiting room outside the studio. I went to some acquaintances to confirm that there was no formal conversation between the two pilots. Roll kept his head down, as if he was thinking about something, and he didn't have the kind of excitement that one should have after shooting down an enemy.

"I heard that you may have shot down a Falcon?" Goya tried to break the deadlock. He didn't like his own tone, because the tone was full of compliments, which violated his inner pride.

"I don't know what to say, Lieutenant, I did launch a medium-range missile and shot down a F16A/B that was climbing. He just dropped the bomb, and there was some negligence. However, the battle that happened early today was not that ...so perfect."

Goya was taken aback by Captain Roll's words, and he waited silently for the captain to speak.

“今天凌晨，我们接到紧急起飞的命令，除了本中队的4架米格29，还有从萨尔锡起飞的4架米格21。”罗尔上尉机械地回忆着，对面的戈亚突然预感到真实的战果并不是1比0。就如同自己的战果其实不是2比0一样。

"They have a goddamn AWACS that keeps giving early warning 250km west of the border and our AWACS never shows up. You know the enemy is good at fighting in the mountains and we don't have AWACS even though we have some numerical superiority , But this can't be a fair battle." Goya nodded, he completely agreed with Captain Rolle's statement that India's most powerful Phalcon pre-war machine is too small in number, while the HS181 of 748 Squadron The attendance rate of the aircraft was astonishingly low, and it was difficult to expect it to play any role in actual combat.

"We were ordered to rush to the engagement point. The enemy had already completed the bombing. We launched several R77s and successfully shot down the F16. It was doing a pull-up at low altitude without any maneuvering. Then the leader of the MiG-21 said , Their flight radius is approaching, and they need to evacuate from the battlefield."

"and then?"

"We noticed that the two F5s of the 16th Squadron were approaching, and our attention was completely attracted by them. But..." Rolle fell into painful memories again.

"However, a 'Thunderbolt' rushed towards us like crazy. I don't know how to describe it. He really charged at us single-handedly."

"Lightning?" For some reason, Goya suddenly remembered his own battle, and of course reason told him that it couldn't be the same plane.

"I commanded my team and fired four R4 missiles at it, and it was about 27 kilometers away, suddenly flew super low, used the ravine to get rid of these missiles, and then it disappeared from the radar screen. The last time I saw him The action on the radar was a turn and I thought he was going to run away."

"Actually he turned to the MiG-21?" Goya asked, and this time he realized that either all Pakistan Air Force pilots had reached a high tactical level, or Rolle was talking about the same plane he saw. airplane.

(End of this chapter)