Russians or Chinese wouldn’t be able to decrypt it, let alone the Somalis. Another reason was that with so many teams it could be difficult to keep tabs on who belonged to which call-sign. The final check came from the ship’s operations room.
‘Oscar Zero, Downs, permission for countdown?’ Downs asked.
‘Oscar Zero, that’s affirmative.’
‘Roger. All stations, this is Downs, countdown five minutes. No reply required unless you have a problem.’
Downs waited for a moment in case anyone did reply but the airwaves remained silent. ‘Gentlemen, get seated and start your engines,’ he said to those around him.
That had a ripple effect as the rest of the teams boarded their aircraft.
The ship’s loudspeaker broke over the sound of engines starting up. ‘All non-mission personnel move behind the flight lines.’
The sailors who had been lending a hand hurried across the deck in between the lines of gliders and over the thick white line that surrounded the superstructure. Some of the crew moved behind the squadron of gliders to the helicopters parked on the rear portion of the deck.
Every glider engine purred away, the craft positioned two abreast with several metres between the following rows. The take-off had naturally been discussed in detail but there had not been any time to carry out rehearsals back in the UK before departure. There had been a brief discussion about the practicalities of carrying out a practice run earlier in the day but that had been nixed immediately. Taking off was much easier than landing and accidents were only to be expected. A 10 per cent failure rate had been built into the take-off and target-approach phase of the operation, which meant they could afford to lose two craft and four men before the first assault stage began. A rehearsal that included a difficult landing on the flight deck, something none of the pilots had actually done before, was considered ill-advised.
Stratton got comfortable in his seat to the rear and above Downs and buckled himself in. He secured the strap of his Colt in case he had to release it from his grip for whatever reason, but otherwise it would remain in one of his hands. He had a pair of goggles but elected not to wear them unless the wind became too uncomfortable. Stratton disliked hats and sunglasses or goggles and only used them when he had to.
The propeller turned over behind him, vibrating the chassis. The bucket-style seats were snug and quite comfortable. Stratton checked his small backpack was secured to the back of Downs’s seat in between his legs and that the mortar shells nestled tightly in their pouches either side of him. The safety pins remained in the heads to prevent them from going off should the glider crash. He looked over at the glider to his side. Matt sat in the back staring ahead. The man had not even looked in his direction since Downs’s threat.
‘Clear for take-off,’ came a voice over the radio from the ship’s operations room.
Stratton looked at the back of Downs’s head and wondered how the man was feeling. He knew Downs to be a tough fighter and although he would be as nervous as everyone else, he was good at hiding it.
Stratton felt a touch of the butterflies in the pit of his own stomach as the seconds to take-off ticked away. The wind had picked up a little but it was being controlled by the captain to a large degree using the ship’s speed and direction. The plan would be to have several knots blowing in their faces to aid the take-off because the first craft only just had enough runway to get airborne. That would improve for each following row of aircraft.
Stratton checked his GPS. The Somali coastline was eight miles away. There was a bit of a headwind but they hoped to be on target before 2200. The ideal time for an attack such as this would be in the early hours of the morning, around 0200 to 0300, when the enemy would be well asleep. But that would not have left them time to complete the other phases of the operation before first light, which was important.
‘Hey, Stratton.’
Stratton looked at Downs who had his head turned to the side enough to talk to him but not to see him. ‘Yeah?’
‘I think we might be too heavy.’
‘You just decided that?’ Stratton asked, suspicious Downs was trying to wind him up, such was the man’s sense of humour.
‘No. Been thinking about it all day.’
‘Why are you telling me now?’
‘I didn’t want to crash into the sea without you knowing I knew about it.’
‘OK. Well, now I know, thanks for sharing that.’ Stratton still wasn’t sure if Downs was being serious or not. The Irishman had a wry sense of humour even during the most desperate of situations. But he wasn’t a mental case either and clearly had some confidence they could get airborne or he wouldn’t risk it, certainly not as commander of his first major operation. Stratton hoped so at least. ‘I’m all fastened in so you might as well get going.’
‘OK. Just what I was thinking.’
Downs eased the throttle forward. The propeller revolutions greatly increased. The framework vibrated much more as everything got a little louder though it remained much quieter than Stratton had expected.
The craft hadn’t moved. Downs had intentionally kept the brake on until the revs reached maximum.
He released the brake and gripped the joystick and the glider lurched forward. The runway wasn’t as smooth as it looked. Even though the wheels had a little suspension built into them, the little glider juddered and jolted along, rattling Stratton’s teeth in his head so much he had to clamp his jaw shut.
As the glider picked up speed, the nylon wing panel above them ballooned into a tight curve as it caught the air. The framework creaked as it strained to hold everything together.
Stratton forgot everything else and stared at the end of the
The engine was purring at full revs. Stratton could feel the wind not just blowing into his face but being sucked past him and through the propellers. He squinted ahead, wiping his eyes quickly as they started to water. He would have put on his goggles but he had greater priorities at that moment. His hands tightened on the rifle and framework. His thoughts flashed to his harness quick release. He considered releasing it there and then. If they took off, he wouldn’t need it. If they hit the drink, he didn’t want to be fighting with it, but crashing into the sea without it might be enough to knock him out. The problems of dropping off the end into the sea multiplied. They would have to get out of the framework as quickly as possible, not just because the craft would probably sink like a stone but also because the ship would run into them and they might get sucked below and through the propellers. These were not the best thoughts to be having seconds before reaching the end of the runway and he had Downs to thank for inspiring them.
Metres before the end of the deck the glider rose up and left the surface a few inches then dropped back down with a heavy bump.
They reached the end, the wheels still rolling along on the deck.
The craft went over the lip and dropped out of sight to everyone on deck watching it.
The pit of Stratton’s stomach turned to mush as the glider dropped. He gripped the frame, his knuckles turning white as the sea came up to meet them. Downs pulled back so hard on the joystick it threatened to rip out. But the increased speed of falling off the end was all the craft needed to provide that extra lift and it levelled out a couple of metres above the wave tops. Stratton realised he had stopped breathing. He looked back to see the sharp end of the ship not all that far away. The important thing was that the wet stuff was still below them.
Downs gradually brought the nose up and increased the height until they got level with the deck of the ship again.
Stratton could hear another sound above the engine and the wind. It was Downs giving off a loud yell.
Stratton leaned forward. ‘Did you enjoy that?’ he shouted.
‘If I hadn’ta crapped my pants when we went off the end, I might’ve enjoyed it more than I did!’
Stratton sat back and had to smile. It felt like a form of release. He looked back over his shoulder again to see another craft below them and dangerously close to the water. But it managed to level out and gain height.
Downs brought the craft up to about a hundred feet while making a gentle bank to the left. After a short turn, he reversed the manoeuvre, banking over to the right. After coming back on to the main heading, he did the turns again, the zig-zagging intended to slow the glider’s progress without reducing their speed and to allow the tail- enders to catch up.
