The three flights acknowledged, and headed off
for the other airfields.
33 "Four and five," ordered Gray Boar, "leave your ten aircraft to
finish off your bases. Take the rest and fly north. If my guess is
right, there should be a larger enemy force just below our fortresses.
Find and destroy! Repeat, find and destroy!" The fighters
hurried off over the sand.
34 "It will take them about twenty-five minutes, one quarter of an
hour, to reach the other bases. Pray the enemy is still on the ground.
If they're not, we're in for it! It will be six-hundred against
one-hundred."
35 As the minutes ticked by there wasn't a sound to be heard. Then, the
radio crackled. "Flight one," it called, "flight one. They're on the
runway, repeat, they're still on the runway. We're going in."
36 "Flight two! Flight two! They're still on the ground. We're going
in!"
37 "Flight three! Flight three! They're rolling, repeat, they're
rolling! Fighters taking off, bombers still on the runway."
38 "Flight," he ordered, "flight! Get those bombers! Then go after the
fighters!"
39 In a few minutes flights one and two had destroyed all the enemy on
the ground, flight three had destroyed all but twelve but after a few
minutes of vicious air battle, they knocked down what was left.
40 "They're almost as fast as us," commented flight three, "but they're
not as maneuverable, and they only have two machine rifles mounted
beside the engine."
41 "Flights one, two, and three," ordered Gray Boar "return home,
reload, and refuel."
42 A while later flights four and five called in. They'd found the
enemy, massed in two huge groups in the desert. Their trucks and tanks
parked in nice large groups, all together. By the time the Mountain
Glory’s