I.
April 15, 1951
(Real Life Soviet Korean War Ace - Yevgeny Pepelyaev credited with 20 air to air kills)
We begin our tale around a table where pilots in North
Korean uniforms drink vodka and are playing cards. One of the pilots, Andrei
Orlov shuffles the cards and he is telling a story.
Inside his cockpit above his flight speedometer is a picture
of his smiling wife. "Americans one o'clock," the
excited voice of Flight Lieutenant Malchnikov over the net.
"Flight Lieutenant Malchnikov you are to only speak
Chinese."
(The Mig-15 - agile, fast and able to climb higher than its US counterparts - this jet tipped the balance to the Communists.)
His fellow pilots laugh throughout the net. Andrei
takes one last look at Dasha. He kisses the picture and then makes the
sign of the cross in the orthodox way. "Red wolves on me!"
His squadron along with 2 other sister squadrons, 30 Mig-15s
total intercept an American bomber group over the Yalu River. The
Americans outnumber the Russians 3 to 1. A brutal aerial combat
ensues. In the melee, American F-48 Thunderjet strafes the wings of Andrei's
wingman, Sasha Lugovskaya. Lugovskaya separates from fight and heads back
to bases deep into Manchuria. The Russians shoot down 12 B-29
bombers and the bomber group. Andrei orders his men to return back to
base. Then he sees F-80 shooting star fly over top of him and decides to
pursue the lone aircraft to claim his 15th air to air kill.
He checks his fuel gauge, he is running low on fuel.
His eyes lock with the eyes of his wife, Dasha smiling proudly.
F-80 Shooting Star
If Andrei knocks this aircraft out of the sky, he will be a
three time war ace. Although Andrei's Mig-15 can quickly overtake the
wandering aircraft, he decides to conserve his fuel and slowly make up the
distance. The Shooting Star nears the big board blue waters of the Bay of
Korea, Andrei's thumb moves a quarter of an inch to the button for the 23mm
cannons. The Shooting Star limply glides seemingly unaware of its
impeding fate.
Then 50 caliber bullets rock Andrei's aircraft with direct
hits into his fuselage. He is sitting duck over the ocean far away from
his support, alone and wounded. Two F-84 Thunderjets blaze away in hot
pursuit. Andrei climbs steeply in a rolling climb evading the bullets of
the Thunderjets. Andrei's aircraft quickly evades a deadly fate easily
outclassing the Americans. They call off the chase. Andrei's expert
flying thrusts his body from side to side the force of the aircraft throwing
him like bouncer against two brick walls. Andrei spies his dashboard
where his wife's picture lies. The dashboard shakes and rattles.
His aircraft begins to shake it cannot withstand altitudes
exceeding 50,000 feet and Andrei himself leveling his aircraft cannot
breathe. He dives painfully his aircraft harder and harder to control as
the joystick stiffens.
He can breathe but his aircraft is harder and harder to
control. Lost, he looks back and he sees he is leaking fuel and hydraulic
fluid. It is only a matter of time before he looses control of his
aircraft. He decides to bail out. He pulls his wife's picture and
kisses it, then tucks it inside his jacket. He reaches for the ejection
handle. But the explosive bolts malfunction and debris flies everywhere and
Andrei looses consciousness.
Meanwhile at the Soviet base, General Loshka Petrov stands
silently and grimly as he counts the planes. The political officer,
General Poverotoff directs two camera crews - one taking pictures of Loshka and
the other watching the swept winged MiG-15's land gracefully.
"Twenty nine" Loshka says grimly.
Lugovskaya walks up to the General. Loshka asks,
"Were there any Mayday calls over the net?"
"No, Comrade General."
"Go tight on the General's eyes." Poverotoff
directs his cameraman. Loshka makes eye contact with Povertoff before the
Cameraman can refocus and walks away but in front of his second camera man who
is filming the the final aircraft landing.
"You blocked my shot Loshka!"
Loshka mutters walking away. "My apologies
Comrade General, I have to write a condolence letter to Squadron Commander's
wife and tell her that she will be a widow."
Loshka then turns to Poverotoff. "Instead of
telling Dasha that her damned fool husband of hers got himself killed trying to
be the Hero of the Soviet Union over Korean Water. Did you know one of
my pilots shot himself in the head rather than be taken alive by the
Americans? Did you know that? His name was Sergey Andreivich, he
must twenty five years old. I did not ask him shoot himself. I
would have let him get captured and sit out the war with the Americans.
You asked him to kill himself and he did. I wrote that letter to his
mother. Another one of my pilots was shot down and strafed by his men.
You remember him Major Lugovskaya, you strafed him. His name of Captain
Antoly Illych. I wrote that letter too. So what will I tell Dasha
Yurivna? Do I have to tell her that he died in a training accident?
He lost control of his aircraft while reading Pushkin? Or while that his
service revolver accidentally discharged while he was on the toilet? Or
that an anvil struck him in the head while he was tying his shoes.
His wife and mine are very close so it better be good, because my Lana knows
when I am lying."
Poverotoff's men break down their cameras.
"Loshka, look it's Andrei!" Lugovskaya
points to a trail of faint smoke follow the little black dot that wobbles on
the horizon.
Loshka and Lugovskaya strain to see it is indeed Andrei
limping back to base.
Andrei explains, "I blacked out. I didn't know if
I was in the air floating from my parachute or in the Worker's Paradise in the
Sky. But Lenin's Ghost, I was in the cockpit of my aircraft losing
altitude and speed. But I was in my bird and I control her. I lost
fuel and all my hydraulic fluid. I knew I might have to belly land her
but if only one of my wheels had come down. That would be
difficult."
With both heels down, Andrei lands gracefully the entire
fight wing swarms his aircraft. He gets out to a hero's welcome. He
kisses his aircraft. "This is truly a soldier's airplane."
Money is on the table and the men place their bets.
Lugovskaya opens the turn by playing one card face up - a seven. Malchnikov
plays a King. Another Officer an Ace, causing Andrei to exclaim, "I
am playing against myself."
He picks up the cards. Then Poverotoff arrives with a bottle
of cognac in his hand. All the men stop what they are doing.
Poverotoff, "Congratulations from the People's
Commissar on your great air victory today!"
He stands by the bar and beckons all to the bar to fill
their glasses from his bottle. All of them reluctantly gather except for Andrei
who instead pulls out his picture of his wife, he kisses it and makes the sign
of the cross in the Orthodox way, re-shuffles the deck and plays solitaire
drinking unhealthy shots of vodka in secession.
Poverotof fills the men's glasses liberally. A few
drink the cognac behind his back and then place their empty glasses in front of
him to be re-filled. No one in the wing makes a sound, he tries to make
conversation with each pilot praising each of them saying, "12 Bombers
have been destroyed. 3 dozen fighters, our allies are scooping up their
crews, this is a great victory and potentially a great intelligence and
propaganda crew! You have defeated the Americans!!!!"
"Our former allies," Andrei drinks.
Poverotoff smiles broadly, "And to our hero, Lieutenant
Colonel Andrei Orlov who scored his 15th air to air kill. Our sources
confirm Colonel Andrei Orlov shot down a F-80 Shooting Star piloted by Captain
Antony Nelson over the Korean Bay. At the age 34, this makes Colonel Orlov
the youngest 3 time fighter ace in Soviet history even though he violated
direct orders not to fly over enemy waters for fear of losing our aircraft and
hence our air superiority."
"Captain Nelson ditched his aircraft before I could get
to him." He stood up. "I cannot confirm that he went
down. I can confirm I didn't kill him or damage his plane. It flew
fine the last I saw of it." Getting up and quitting his game of
Solitaire in disgust, "No, Comrade General, I wouldn't want you to
lie."
He walks over to the Poverotoff, "How about a toast to
you Comrade Poverotoff?"
"Colonel Verusderoff, really . . . I"
"To the Blue Caps, you SMERSH men, you know I have
nephew in the NKVD - a worthless boy - my brother Kostya's boy, Gerochka,
Gerochka Kostantinovich. My brother was an ace! Kostya shot down
six of the Germans - two of them in single combat. When the Luftwaffe
shot him down, I requested to be transferred instead of languishing here as an
instructor. But no, I languished here and Gerochka had no father.
He is rotten to the core. Evil. Lazy. Worthless, not fit to
break rocks in the Kolyma. Her mother wrote me, "What will happen to
my son, a sniveling youth, I don't know where to turn to launch him in life. He
is such a fool he doesn't want to study, barely got through three years of
school, but then he joined you. How his situation changed!"
"Andryushka!" Loschka stepped in. The
entire room snaps to attention except Poverotoff, technically his peer in
rank. "Come here!"
Andrei left the bar and met Loschka in the hall.
"Andryushka, you must come home. There's been an accident, your wife
Dasha is in the hospital."
