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Back in the summer of 1938 Flight Lieutenant AfroJoe, leading his squadron's aerobatic team, turned to land. Throttling back, he landed his Gloster Gladiator, along with his wing men in a perfect three point landing. All the pilots climbed out of their cockpits.
AfroJoe turned to his newest member, Pilot Officer Tiltawhirl "you'll do Tiltawhirl, you've got the stunt pilots touch."
"thank you ever so much sir!" Tiltawhirl said.
The other team member, Pilot Officer Alistair looked on.
After lunch in the officers mess the CO, Squadron Leader Pro Evo was doing the rounds. " There have been comlaints from locals about the low flying. I know some day it may save your lives but not just now. So practice is to be where and when I say so. OK?" No one dared speak out.
Back in those days, although having to live under hard task masters like Pro Evo, pilots had a lot more use of their machines. After lunch the fliers had the afternoon off. On the way too his Gladiator Ali talked to Tilta.
"I'm off to go visiting another airfield. You coming or staying here to tinker with that old crate?"
"Shes ready for a test flight so give me some space. See you later"
"Be careful Tilta rotary engined kites are difficult to handle"
"Don't worry I had a few shots to get a feel for it"
As well as being a god pilot Tilta was also a decent mechanic. He had been restoring a World War 1 Sopwith Pup, once flown by the famed ace Biggles, for display at the upcoming air show.
After Ali had taken off, Tilta followed him onto the the runway. Pro Evo and a mechanic watched.
"hes a born airman sir"
"yeah he is. He has to be to fly one of them"
For the next hour or so Tilta stunted, revelling in the the feeling of flying an old beautiful aircraft. Noticing the time he turned to go back. At that very moment the engine coughed then died. He was not really worried. Although dangerous without power he knew he could control it in a glide.
"Serves me right for coming so far out. I can land in that big field there" Tilta thought to himself.
On the glide down he noticed at the last moment a Gladiator flying straight at him. Automatically both pilots grabbed at their controls wildly. The Gladiator veered upward, missing the Pup by inches. The Pup went into a spin from which it never recovered.
Two nearby farm hands rushed to the wreckage and dragged Tilta clear. Quickly after a phone call an ambulance arrived. It was touch and go on the way to the hospital. Eventually however his condition stabilised.
An enquiry was started but beyond determining that the culprit was flying a Gladiator nothing else could be gleaned.
Pro Evo did not mince words when he called his remaining pilots together. "Tilta may live but he might be disabled. If the culprit is present stand up and take your punishment like a man. No one? If I ever find him, god have mercy, because I certainly won't!"
The tension in the room could be cut with a knife. Everybody in the room knew it was one of them. Somebody had broken the rules. And somebody nearly died.
As soon as Tilta was strong enough to receive visitors AfroJoe and Ali were the first to go see him.
"How long before you can fly with us again?" asked Afro.
"Probably never they tell me" replied Tilta. "The doctors say I will make a slight recovery in time, but my lungs were damaged and I would only be able to fly at low levels. I'll take a ground job and hope I'm not too old before I can fly fighters again"
"Good lad. You'll make a great engineer officer. If we ever find out who it is we'll skin him alive"
Tilta stared straigh at Afro, a strange gleam in his eyes, with menace in his voice. "I know who it was. I'll get him in my own time and in my own way"
At that point Ali ran out of the room muttering something about hospitals making him feel ill. That signalled the end of the visit. Afro was left feeling troubled by the whold affair. However the squadron was to relocate and re-equip with the new 300+ MPH 8 gun Hurricane so neither him nor Ali had a chance to talk to Tilta about it. Soon all teh pilots in the squadron were well used to the new machines.
One day after teh mail had gone out Afro saw Ali looking slightly pale as he read a letter and re read it.
"Bad news? Your not looking so good"
"No its nothing really"
"Are you sure?"
The next day Ali's normally good flying was atrocious. So bad that Afro had to take him aside and have a stiff word with him.
By now it was 1940 and the squadron was posted to France to help stem teh Blitzkrieg. Ali had matured into an excellent air fighter and quickly racked up his kills. He was always at his best right in the thick of the action. As the mail was handed out one morning Ali got a letter. Being the only one for him he quickly ripped it open and read eagerly. Very quickly though he paled. Again he refused to mention its contents.
Afro was worried. He was knew it a bad time for him to go to pieces like the last time he had one of those letters. But his time they were at war. His worries were confirmed whe the next day Ali was a sitter for a passing Nazi 109. Thanks to the quick accurate shooting of another squadron member, Pilot Officer Memorandum, Ali survived. Afro made a mental note to have it out with Ali when back on the ground.
That was not possible however as Pro Evo had been killed in action. Afro was sent for by his superior, Air Commodore PB, and was given command of the squadron. On returning to the airfield he gave command of his flight to Ali. Ali declined. Afro dragged him aside.
"You will take the promotion! It might take your mind off whatever is bothering you"
"Yessir I'll do my best for you"
For a time it seemed to work. Ali was his usual self. But the battle for France was already over. The squadron was ordered back to Britain. Afro reported to his superior, Group Captain FantasyMeister.
" There are new squadrons being formed. Any candidates for command? Like Flight Lieutenant Ali?"
"No sir. He is erratic sir. Generally he is top notch but every so often... Leave him with me."
The squadron was given new aircraft and new pilots. For months war went on. And the letters kept coming. As the tide of the war turned the squadron was to go overseas to go on the offensive against the Germans. The posting turned out to be to Greece.
A few weeks later the squadron was on board an aircraft carrier, commanded by Captain Cookie Monster. Second in command was First Officer gerrid.
Afro once more went over the procedure. They were to take off from the carrier before being met by a plane from their new base. It all went without a hitch. In the distance they could see a speck moving toward them. As it got closer the pilots started to laugh as they saw an old Gladiator. A rebuke from Afro shut them up. The guide led them past a large port before landing at a large airfield. The pilot jumped out to greet the new arrivals. Amazingly it was Tilta.
"Welcome to Greece. Look at that, it's Afro!"
"Tilta! Its a small world isn't it? Look Ali, look who it is!"
Ali weakly shook hands before making a quick departure.
"Whats up with him? I wanted to have a reminisce about our days back whe I was still in the squadron" said Tilta.
"I don't know. He takes these funny turns every so often. He'll be fine soon. So how did you end up here?"
Tilta recounted how he had recovered and become an engineer, servicing Blenheims and Wellingtons. He had had a posting in the middle east as the doctors thought it would help his health. After the Italians had invaded Greece he was sent with the bomber squadron to help the Greeks. It turned out he had kept his hand in with flying and had come out to meet them as their was no one else to do it.
As Tilta left a mechanic that was passing said to Afro that "hes a right rare un he is"
"how so?"
"He knocked half the Italian airforce out the sky in his old Gladiator he has"
It turned out that as Tilta had arrived with the bomber squadron he discovered 3 old Gladiators in a hangar. They had been there since before the war. As there had been no fighters in the south of the country the Italians had been free to roam about. Tilta was furious. He wasn't going to sit and getted bombed. He ordered his sergeants to have the aircraft made ready. He then paid a visit to Group Captain Grix Thraves.
"so sir, if we use the Gladiators we can surprise the Italians and maybe knock a few bombers out of the sky."
"Get right to it. The Italians have had it all there way for far too long now. Just one problem, what about pilots?"
That was quickly solved though. Among the HQ staff were a few pilots who were resting from ops. Pilot Officers Tigamilla and Hedfix were only too happy to abandon their desks and get back to fighting.
"we still need a third pilot though sir" said Tilta.
"What about you Tilta? I know your supposed to be unfit, but you look sound to me man. And there's a war on!" replied GC Grix Thraves.
A look out was set up on a hill so as to give advance warning of the bombing raids. Two pilots were to be at standby with a third in reserve. And then it came. The call came through on the field telephone. "BANDITS AT 6000 FEET"
Tilta and Hedfix took up two Gladiators, Tig was in reserve. Although the bombers, Savoia Marchetti 79s were faster than the Gladiators, they intercepted them on the way back.
One bomber was down. It was a morale boosting victory.
On the ground steps were taken to improve the performance of the Gladiators. 3 blade metal props were used instead of the original 2 blade wooden props.
Over the coming weeks there were many battles. Several bombers were downed. Fiat CR42s were sent up to escort the bombers. All three fighters wer pushed into service simultaneously. Tilta, Tig, and Hedfix all manfuly fought on. The strain of the battles however had started to show on the old warhorses. Another blow came when a swarm of Macchi C200s came to attack. They were faster than the Fiats and cought the Gladiators on the ground. One was destroyed in a hail of bullets before exploding.
From then on the bombing raids were fewer. The Greek army fought and turned the tide against the Italians.
But then in was discovered in a recon that on the Romanian border were thousands of Germans, with armour and new fighters. Help however was at hand. That was the day that GC Grix Thraves had heard of the Hurris on their way.
Soon Afro and the other members of his squadron, Ali, Meka Dragon, Borat Sagdiyev, Ant, Grandprix, Dringo, RBS, Goatboy and Phi11ip soon saw action of their own. Knowing the Germans were on their way the Italians made a raid on the port. The Hurris knocked them out of the air like flies.
But AFro had noticed that Ali had nearly been taken down by a comparitively obsolete Fiat.
He also noticed that whenever possible Ali avoided Tilta.
"Is he scared I'll bite him or something" remarked Tilta to Afro.
" I was going to ask you that myself" answered Afro.
The German onslaught began. They broke the lines and pushed forward, taking many miles of land. The Stuka dive bombers wreaked havoc. A Gladiator was lost when Tig was shot and crashed it, although he survived the plane itself was a write off. Tilta then concentrated on keeping the Hurris flying.
One day however he experimented with the survivng Gladiator, and fitted a machine gun to the upper wings. He knew that it would be possible to hit the Stukas at the bottom of the dive when the automatic pilot kicked in. A better armed plane would be able to take down the stuka. Afro told Tilta that he could have a go, but he was on his own and should expect no sympathy if the old plane fell apart.
The next day, Tilta in his amended kite knocked two stukas down. A third saw the old bi plane in action and jettisoned their bombs over the sea before racing for home.
The next day a fighter escort was sent with the Stukas. Tilta anticipated this and came up with a survival plan. He thought that although slower he could out manoeuvere the 109s against the cliffs.
Tilta was on the verge of being shot down when Afro and his boys appeared. Two 109s were taken down instantly. But Ali didn't notice one on his tail. Tilta flew straight at Ali allguns blazing. The 109 was hit. Ali was badly shaken. On the ground he fell apart. He yelled at Afro:
"He tried to murder me! Hes been waiting for his chance!"
"Hang on a minute. What all this about? Clear off just now Tilta" Afro responded.
Alone with Ali Afro interrogated him. Slowly the truth came out.
"I couldnt face owning up but Tiltas crash was my fault. The letters were from him, hes plagued me ever since"
"so they were from Tilta... Why did you never show me them?"
Ali explained that the letters always appeared innocent but asked after his health and hinted about how he missed the squadron before saying that he would like to see Ali again one day.
Afro ordered Ali to his quarters before seeking Tilta to accuse him of using poison pen tactics to unnerve Ali.
"What about me? He ruined my life! Im up to my elbows in oil nowadays because of him!" countered Tilta.
"Thats rubbish, you've been flying every day for months. I bet your lungs have fully healed now. When was your last medical?"
The next day he was examined by the a doctor, Mystique, and pronounced fit.
He realised later though that he had enjoyed the sympathy. He didn't want to be told he was OK. And worst of all he knew that he had secretly enjoyed torutin Ali.
He knew that he had to apologise to Ali. Ali though would have none of it. His nerves were frayed. He couldn't fly again.
Afro was bealing. His best pilot in the squadron out of action over some stupid letters. Grudgingly he let Tilta take Alis kite to get the squadron back to full strength. But in the first fight in the Hurri Tilta needed rescuing. He wasn't used to fast single wing fighters.
Under Afros tuition he son learned the finer points of modern air fighting. But the Hurris weren't allowed to fly at night, when the nightbombers came. So he sat on standby beside his trusty Gladiator. He knew he had the advantage of surprise. Just as the bombers were about to take off, out of the darkness Tilta pounced.
But the following morning Tilta was awakened by the sound of bombs. Afro realised that Tilta had stirred them up over night. Despite the many efforts the airfield wasn't repaired in time before teh return of the bombers on their way to the docks.
" you deserve a medal Tilta - a German one!" cried Afro as the German bombers flew overhead.
The decision was soon taken to evacuate to Crete. Afro asked Ali to fly the Gladiator there as they needed all the planes they could get. Ali asked that Tilta fly it. but Afro explained that he and Tilta were to guard teh destroyer which was taking the ground crew.
It was a good job there was an air escort. 109s attacked. Afro was shot through the leg and had a hun on his tail. Tilta raced to the rescue, but had no ammo left. All he could do was ram the 109. Due to the damage he had to bale out. Afro managed to land rather bumpily in Crete, discovering that Ali and the rest of his squadron had made it there safely. In transpired that Meka Dragon had seen someone bale out on his travels to Crete. Ali had him pinpoint where in the map room.
As Afro was stretchered off to the field hospital he heard the Gladiator taking off.
"it'll be murder and I can't stop it" cried Afro.
On a sand bank Tilta was sitting, waiting on being picked up by a German patrol. And then he saw the Gladiator. He felt a twinge of fear as he realised who was at the controls. "hes come to finish me off " he thought to himself.
the Gladiator came in low, and bill jumped aside in terror.
He was astonished to see that Ali had actually landed and was shouting that he had to hurry as a German launch was surging toward them.
Tilta reached the Gladiator just as thye opened fire. tilta grabbed onto the wing. The plane eventually lifted, wtill under fire. After what seemed like forever to Tilta, literally out on a wing, the gladiator rumbled to a halt on a Cretan aerodrome. The other pilots gathered round to congratulate Ali on his dramatic rescue.
"thanks Ali. you saved me there"
"remember I used to be quite god at low flying in a Gladiator."
For a moment the two stared at each other. Then Tilta stuck out his hand. Ali shook it.
"I'll buy us all a drink then" muttered Afro.
AfroJoe turned to his newest member, Pilot Officer Tiltawhirl "you'll do Tiltawhirl, you've got the stunt pilots touch."
"thank you ever so much sir!" Tiltawhirl said.
The other team member, Pilot Officer Alistair looked on.
After lunch in the officers mess the CO, Squadron Leader Pro Evo was doing the rounds. " There have been comlaints from locals about the low flying. I know some day it may save your lives but not just now. So practice is to be where and when I say so. OK?" No one dared speak out.
Back in those days, although having to live under hard task masters like Pro Evo, pilots had a lot more use of their machines. After lunch the fliers had the afternoon off. On the way too his Gladiator Ali talked to Tilta.
"I'm off to go visiting another airfield. You coming or staying here to tinker with that old crate?"
"Shes ready for a test flight so give me some space. See you later"
"Be careful Tilta rotary engined kites are difficult to handle"
"Don't worry I had a few shots to get a feel for it"
As well as being a god pilot Tilta was also a decent mechanic. He had been restoring a World War 1 Sopwith Pup, once flown by the famed ace Biggles, for display at the upcoming air show.
After Ali had taken off, Tilta followed him onto the the runway. Pro Evo and a mechanic watched.
"hes a born airman sir"
"yeah he is. He has to be to fly one of them"
For the next hour or so Tilta stunted, revelling in the the feeling of flying an old beautiful aircraft. Noticing the time he turned to go back. At that very moment the engine coughed then died. He was not really worried. Although dangerous without power he knew he could control it in a glide.
"Serves me right for coming so far out. I can land in that big field there" Tilta thought to himself.
On the glide down he noticed at the last moment a Gladiator flying straight at him. Automatically both pilots grabbed at their controls wildly. The Gladiator veered upward, missing the Pup by inches. The Pup went into a spin from which it never recovered.
Two nearby farm hands rushed to the wreckage and dragged Tilta clear. Quickly after a phone call an ambulance arrived. It was touch and go on the way to the hospital. Eventually however his condition stabilised.
An enquiry was started but beyond determining that the culprit was flying a Gladiator nothing else could be gleaned.
Pro Evo did not mince words when he called his remaining pilots together. "Tilta may live but he might be disabled. If the culprit is present stand up and take your punishment like a man. No one? If I ever find him, god have mercy, because I certainly won't!"
The tension in the room could be cut with a knife. Everybody in the room knew it was one of them. Somebody had broken the rules. And somebody nearly died.
As soon as Tilta was strong enough to receive visitors AfroJoe and Ali were the first to go see him.
"How long before you can fly with us again?" asked Afro.
"Probably never they tell me" replied Tilta. "The doctors say I will make a slight recovery in time, but my lungs were damaged and I would only be able to fly at low levels. I'll take a ground job and hope I'm not too old before I can fly fighters again"
"Good lad. You'll make a great engineer officer. If we ever find out who it is we'll skin him alive"
Tilta stared straigh at Afro, a strange gleam in his eyes, with menace in his voice. "I know who it was. I'll get him in my own time and in my own way"
At that point Ali ran out of the room muttering something about hospitals making him feel ill. That signalled the end of the visit. Afro was left feeling troubled by the whold affair. However the squadron was to relocate and re-equip with the new 300+ MPH 8 gun Hurricane so neither him nor Ali had a chance to talk to Tilta about it. Soon all teh pilots in the squadron were well used to the new machines.
One day after teh mail had gone out Afro saw Ali looking slightly pale as he read a letter and re read it.
"Bad news? Your not looking so good"
"No its nothing really"
"Are you sure?"
The next day Ali's normally good flying was atrocious. So bad that Afro had to take him aside and have a stiff word with him.
By now it was 1940 and the squadron was posted to France to help stem teh Blitzkrieg. Ali had matured into an excellent air fighter and quickly racked up his kills. He was always at his best right in the thick of the action. As the mail was handed out one morning Ali got a letter. Being the only one for him he quickly ripped it open and read eagerly. Very quickly though he paled. Again he refused to mention its contents.
Afro was worried. He was knew it a bad time for him to go to pieces like the last time he had one of those letters. But his time they were at war. His worries were confirmed whe the next day Ali was a sitter for a passing Nazi 109. Thanks to the quick accurate shooting of another squadron member, Pilot Officer Memorandum, Ali survived. Afro made a mental note to have it out with Ali when back on the ground.
That was not possible however as Pro Evo had been killed in action. Afro was sent for by his superior, Air Commodore PB, and was given command of the squadron. On returning to the airfield he gave command of his flight to Ali. Ali declined. Afro dragged him aside.
"You will take the promotion! It might take your mind off whatever is bothering you"
"Yessir I'll do my best for you"
For a time it seemed to work. Ali was his usual self. But the battle for France was already over. The squadron was ordered back to Britain. Afro reported to his superior, Group Captain FantasyMeister.
" There are new squadrons being formed. Any candidates for command? Like Flight Lieutenant Ali?"
"No sir. He is erratic sir. Generally he is top notch but every so often... Leave him with me."
The squadron was given new aircraft and new pilots. For months war went on. And the letters kept coming. As the tide of the war turned the squadron was to go overseas to go on the offensive against the Germans. The posting turned out to be to Greece.
A few weeks later the squadron was on board an aircraft carrier, commanded by Captain Cookie Monster. Second in command was First Officer gerrid.
Afro once more went over the procedure. They were to take off from the carrier before being met by a plane from their new base. It all went without a hitch. In the distance they could see a speck moving toward them. As it got closer the pilots started to laugh as they saw an old Gladiator. A rebuke from Afro shut them up. The guide led them past a large port before landing at a large airfield. The pilot jumped out to greet the new arrivals. Amazingly it was Tilta.
"Welcome to Greece. Look at that, it's Afro!"
"Tilta! Its a small world isn't it? Look Ali, look who it is!"
Ali weakly shook hands before making a quick departure.
"Whats up with him? I wanted to have a reminisce about our days back whe I was still in the squadron" said Tilta.
"I don't know. He takes these funny turns every so often. He'll be fine soon. So how did you end up here?"
Tilta recounted how he had recovered and become an engineer, servicing Blenheims and Wellingtons. He had had a posting in the middle east as the doctors thought it would help his health. After the Italians had invaded Greece he was sent with the bomber squadron to help the Greeks. It turned out he had kept his hand in with flying and had come out to meet them as their was no one else to do it.
As Tilta left a mechanic that was passing said to Afro that "hes a right rare un he is"
"how so?"
"He knocked half the Italian airforce out the sky in his old Gladiator he has"
It turned out that as Tilta had arrived with the bomber squadron he discovered 3 old Gladiators in a hangar. They had been there since before the war. As there had been no fighters in the south of the country the Italians had been free to roam about. Tilta was furious. He wasn't going to sit and getted bombed. He ordered his sergeants to have the aircraft made ready. He then paid a visit to Group Captain Grix Thraves.
"so sir, if we use the Gladiators we can surprise the Italians and maybe knock a few bombers out of the sky."
"Get right to it. The Italians have had it all there way for far too long now. Just one problem, what about pilots?"
That was quickly solved though. Among the HQ staff were a few pilots who were resting from ops. Pilot Officers Tigamilla and Hedfix were only too happy to abandon their desks and get back to fighting.
"we still need a third pilot though sir" said Tilta.
"What about you Tilta? I know your supposed to be unfit, but you look sound to me man. And there's a war on!" replied GC Grix Thraves.
A look out was set up on a hill so as to give advance warning of the bombing raids. Two pilots were to be at standby with a third in reserve. And then it came. The call came through on the field telephone. "BANDITS AT 6000 FEET"
Tilta and Hedfix took up two Gladiators, Tig was in reserve. Although the bombers, Savoia Marchetti 79s were faster than the Gladiators, they intercepted them on the way back.
One bomber was down. It was a morale boosting victory.
On the ground steps were taken to improve the performance of the Gladiators. 3 blade metal props were used instead of the original 2 blade wooden props.
Over the coming weeks there were many battles. Several bombers were downed. Fiat CR42s were sent up to escort the bombers. All three fighters wer pushed into service simultaneously. Tilta, Tig, and Hedfix all manfuly fought on. The strain of the battles however had started to show on the old warhorses. Another blow came when a swarm of Macchi C200s came to attack. They were faster than the Fiats and cought the Gladiators on the ground. One was destroyed in a hail of bullets before exploding.
From then on the bombing raids were fewer. The Greek army fought and turned the tide against the Italians.
But then in was discovered in a recon that on the Romanian border were thousands of Germans, with armour and new fighters. Help however was at hand. That was the day that GC Grix Thraves had heard of the Hurris on their way.
Soon Afro and the other members of his squadron, Ali, Meka Dragon, Borat Sagdiyev, Ant, Grandprix, Dringo, RBS, Goatboy and Phi11ip soon saw action of their own. Knowing the Germans were on their way the Italians made a raid on the port. The Hurris knocked them out of the air like flies.
But AFro had noticed that Ali had nearly been taken down by a comparitively obsolete Fiat.
He also noticed that whenever possible Ali avoided Tilta.
"Is he scared I'll bite him or something" remarked Tilta to Afro.
" I was going to ask you that myself" answered Afro.
The German onslaught began. They broke the lines and pushed forward, taking many miles of land. The Stuka dive bombers wreaked havoc. A Gladiator was lost when Tig was shot and crashed it, although he survived the plane itself was a write off. Tilta then concentrated on keeping the Hurris flying.
One day however he experimented with the survivng Gladiator, and fitted a machine gun to the upper wings. He knew that it would be possible to hit the Stukas at the bottom of the dive when the automatic pilot kicked in. A better armed plane would be able to take down the stuka. Afro told Tilta that he could have a go, but he was on his own and should expect no sympathy if the old plane fell apart.
The next day, Tilta in his amended kite knocked two stukas down. A third saw the old bi plane in action and jettisoned their bombs over the sea before racing for home.
The next day a fighter escort was sent with the Stukas. Tilta anticipated this and came up with a survival plan. He thought that although slower he could out manoeuvere the 109s against the cliffs.
Tilta was on the verge of being shot down when Afro and his boys appeared. Two 109s were taken down instantly. But Ali didn't notice one on his tail. Tilta flew straight at Ali allguns blazing. The 109 was hit. Ali was badly shaken. On the ground he fell apart. He yelled at Afro:
"He tried to murder me! Hes been waiting for his chance!"
"Hang on a minute. What all this about? Clear off just now Tilta" Afro responded.
Alone with Ali Afro interrogated him. Slowly the truth came out.
"I couldnt face owning up but Tiltas crash was my fault. The letters were from him, hes plagued me ever since"
"so they were from Tilta... Why did you never show me them?"
Ali explained that the letters always appeared innocent but asked after his health and hinted about how he missed the squadron before saying that he would like to see Ali again one day.
Afro ordered Ali to his quarters before seeking Tilta to accuse him of using poison pen tactics to unnerve Ali.
"What about me? He ruined my life! Im up to my elbows in oil nowadays because of him!" countered Tilta.
"Thats rubbish, you've been flying every day for months. I bet your lungs have fully healed now. When was your last medical?"
The next day he was examined by the a doctor, Mystique, and pronounced fit.
He realised later though that he had enjoyed the sympathy. He didn't want to be told he was OK. And worst of all he knew that he had secretly enjoyed torutin Ali.
He knew that he had to apologise to Ali. Ali though would have none of it. His nerves were frayed. He couldn't fly again.
Afro was bealing. His best pilot in the squadron out of action over some stupid letters. Grudgingly he let Tilta take Alis kite to get the squadron back to full strength. But in the first fight in the Hurri Tilta needed rescuing. He wasn't used to fast single wing fighters.
Under Afros tuition he son learned the finer points of modern air fighting. But the Hurris weren't allowed to fly at night, when the nightbombers came. So he sat on standby beside his trusty Gladiator. He knew he had the advantage of surprise. Just as the bombers were about to take off, out of the darkness Tilta pounced.
But the following morning Tilta was awakened by the sound of bombs. Afro realised that Tilta had stirred them up over night. Despite the many efforts the airfield wasn't repaired in time before teh return of the bombers on their way to the docks.
" you deserve a medal Tilta - a German one!" cried Afro as the German bombers flew overhead.
The decision was soon taken to evacuate to Crete. Afro asked Ali to fly the Gladiator there as they needed all the planes they could get. Ali asked that Tilta fly it. but Afro explained that he and Tilta were to guard teh destroyer which was taking the ground crew.
It was a good job there was an air escort. 109s attacked. Afro was shot through the leg and had a hun on his tail. Tilta raced to the rescue, but had no ammo left. All he could do was ram the 109. Due to the damage he had to bale out. Afro managed to land rather bumpily in Crete, discovering that Ali and the rest of his squadron had made it there safely. In transpired that Meka Dragon had seen someone bale out on his travels to Crete. Ali had him pinpoint where in the map room.
As Afro was stretchered off to the field hospital he heard the Gladiator taking off.
"it'll be murder and I can't stop it" cried Afro.
On a sand bank Tilta was sitting, waiting on being picked up by a German patrol. And then he saw the Gladiator. He felt a twinge of fear as he realised who was at the controls. "hes come to finish me off " he thought to himself.
the Gladiator came in low, and bill jumped aside in terror.
He was astonished to see that Ali had actually landed and was shouting that he had to hurry as a German launch was surging toward them.
Tilta reached the Gladiator just as thye opened fire. tilta grabbed onto the wing. The plane eventually lifted, wtill under fire. After what seemed like forever to Tilta, literally out on a wing, the gladiator rumbled to a halt on a Cretan aerodrome. The other pilots gathered round to congratulate Ali on his dramatic rescue.
"thanks Ali. you saved me there"
"remember I used to be quite god at low flying in a Gladiator."
For a moment the two stared at each other. Then Tilta stuck out his hand. Ali shook it.
"I'll buy us all a drink then" muttered Afro.
Page:
I want a Gotha IV Bomber. :D
One captured by the Brits, obviously.
Or one of those Russain troop carrying Helecopters that are armed up to the eyeballs.
One captured by the Brits, obviously.
Or one of those Russain troop carrying Helecopters that are armed up to the eyeballs.
Glad you like it. If I do another you might get a better plane.
I read it. It's good. I could really see it playing out in my mind, very cool.
Ta. Neither is yours. Reading it in another window.
I will get around to reading this but I can't right now as I jsut can't mentaly focus upon it. I've had a litle bit to drink and a friend has now got a nose bleed for some reason. Just to let you know your effort is not in vain(sp).
Back in the summer of 1938 Flight Lieutenant AfroJoe, leading his squadron's aerobatic team, turned to land. Throttling back, he landed his Gloster Gladiator, along with his wing men in a perfect three point landing. All the pilots climbed out of their cockpits.
AfroJoe turned to his newest member, Pilot Officer Tiltawhirl "you'll do Tiltawhirl, you've got the stunt pilots touch."
"thank you ever so much sir!" Tiltawhirl said.
The other team member, Pilot Officer Alistair looked on.
After lunch in the officers mess the CO, Squadron Leader Pro Evo was doing the rounds. " There have been comlaints from locals about the low flying. I know some day it may save your lives but not just now. So practice is to be where and when I say so. OK?" No one dared speak out.
Back in those days, although having to live under hard task masters like Pro Evo, pilots had a lot more use of their machines. After lunch the fliers had the afternoon off. On the way too his Gladiator Ali talked to Tilta.
"I'm off to go visiting another airfield. You coming or staying here to tinker with that old crate?"
"Shes ready for a test flight so give me some space. See you later"
"Be careful Tilta rotary engined kites are difficult to handle"
"Don't worry I had a few shots to get a feel for it"
As well as being a god pilot Tilta was also a decent mechanic. He had been restoring a World War 1 Sopwith Pup, once flown by the famed ace Biggles, for display at the upcoming air show.
After Ali had taken off, Tilta followed him onto the the runway. Pro Evo and a mechanic watched.
"hes a born airman sir"
"yeah he is. He has to be to fly one of them"
For the next hour or so Tilta stunted, revelling in the the feeling of flying an old beautiful aircraft. Noticing the time he turned to go back. At that very moment the engine coughed then died. He was not really worried. Although dangerous without power he knew he could control it in a glide.
"Serves me right for coming so far out. I can land in that big field there" Tilta thought to himself.
On the glide down he noticed at the last moment a Gladiator flying straight at him. Automatically both pilots grabbed at their controls wildly. The Gladiator veered upward, missing the Pup by inches. The Pup went into a spin from which it never recovered.
Two nearby farm hands rushed to the wreckage and dragged Tilta clear. Quickly after a phone call an ambulance arrived. It was touch and go on the way to the hospital. Eventually however his condition stabilised.
An enquiry was started but beyond determining that the culprit was flying a Gladiator nothing else could be gleaned.
Pro Evo did not mince words when he called his remaining pilots together. "Tilta may live but he might be disabled. If the culprit is present stand up and take your punishment like a man. No one? If I ever find him, god have mercy, because I certainly won't!"
The tension in the room could be cut with a knife. Everybody in the room knew it was one of them. Somebody had broken the rules. And somebody nearly died.
As soon as Tilta was strong enough to receive visitors AfroJoe and Ali were the first to go see him.
"How long before you can fly with us again?" asked Afro.
"Probably never they tell me" replied Tilta. "The doctors say I will make a slight recovery in time, but my lungs were damaged and I would only be able to fly at low levels. I'll take a ground job and hope I'm not too old before I can fly fighters again"
"Good lad. You'll make a great engineer officer. If we ever find out who it is we'll skin him alive"
Tilta stared straigh at Afro, a strange gleam in his eyes, with menace in his voice. "I know who it was. I'll get him in my own time and in my own way"
At that point Ali ran out of the room muttering something about hospitals making him feel ill. That signalled the end of the visit. Afro was left feeling troubled by the whold affair. However the squadron was to relocate and re-equip with the new 300+ MPH 8 gun Hurricane so neither him nor Ali had a chance to talk to Tilta about it. Soon all teh pilots in the squadron were well used to the new machines.
One day after teh mail had gone out Afro saw Ali looking slightly pale as he read a letter and re read it.
"Bad news? Your not looking so good"
"No its nothing really"
"Are you sure?"
The next day Ali's normally good flying was atrocious. So bad that Afro had to take him aside and have a stiff word with him.
By now it was 1940 and the squadron was posted to France to help stem teh Blitzkrieg. Ali had matured into an excellent air fighter and quickly racked up his kills. He was always at his best right in the thick of the action. As the mail was handed out one morning Ali got a letter. Being the only one for him he quickly ripped it open and read eagerly. Very quickly though he paled. Again he refused to mention its contents.
Afro was worried. He was knew it a bad time for him to go to pieces like the last time he had one of those letters. But his time they were at war. His worries were confirmed whe the next day Ali was a sitter for a passing Nazi 109. Thanks to the quick accurate shooting of another squadron member, Pilot Officer Memorandum, Ali survived. Afro made a mental note to have it out with Ali when back on the ground.
That was not possible however as Pro Evo had been killed in action. Afro was sent for by his superior, Air Commodore PB, and was given command of the squadron. On returning to the airfield he gave command of his flight to Ali. Ali declined. Afro dragged him aside.
"You will take the promotion! It might take your mind off whatever is bothering you"
"Yessir I'll do my best for you"
For a time it seemed to work. Ali was his usual self. But the battle for France was already over. The squadron was ordered back to Britain. Afro reported to his superior, Group Captain FantasyMeister.
" There are new squadrons being formed. Any candidates for command? Like Flight Lieutenant Ali?"
"No sir. He is erratic sir. Generally he is top notch but every so often... Leave him with me."
The squadron was given new aircraft and new pilots. For months war went on. And the letters kept coming. As the tide of the war turned the squadron was to go overseas to go on the offensive against the Germans. The posting turned out to be to Greece.
A few weeks later the squadron was on board an aircraft carrier, commanded by Captain Cookie Monster. Second in command was First Officer gerrid.
Afro once more went over the procedure. They were to take off from the carrier before being met by a plane from their new base. It all went without a hitch. In the distance they could see a speck moving toward them. As it got closer the pilots started to laugh as they saw an old Gladiator. A rebuke from Afro shut them up. The guide led them past a large port before landing at a large airfield. The pilot jumped out to greet the new arrivals. Amazingly it was Tilta.
"Welcome to Greece. Look at that, it's Afro!"
"Tilta! Its a small world isn't it? Look Ali, look who it is!"
Ali weakly shook hands before making a quick departure.
"Whats up with him? I wanted to have a reminisce about our days back whe I was still in the squadron" said Tilta.
"I don't know. He takes these funny turns every so often. He'll be fine soon. So how did you end up here?"
Tilta recounted how he had recovered and become an engineer, servicing Blenheims and Wellingtons. He had had a posting in the middle east as the doctors thought it would help his health. After the Italians had invaded Greece he was sent with the bomber squadron to help the Greeks. It turned out he had kept his hand in with flying and had come out to meet them as their was no one else to do it.
As Tilta left a mechanic that was passing said to Afro that "hes a right rare un he is"
"how so?"
"He knocked half the Italian airforce out the sky in his old Gladiator he has"
It turned out that as Tilta had arrived with the bomber squadron he discovered 3 old Gladiators in a hangar. They had been there since before the war. As there had been no fighters in the south of the country the Italians had been free to roam about. Tilta was furious. He wasn't going to sit and getted bombed. He ordered his sergeants to have the aircraft made ready. He then paid a visit to Group Captain Grix Thraves.
"so sir, if we use the Gladiators we can surprise the Italians and maybe knock a few bombers out of the sky."
"Get right to it. The Italians have had it all there way for far too long now. Just one problem, what about pilots?"
That was quickly solved though. Among the HQ staff were a few pilots who were resting from ops. Pilot Officers Tigamilla and Hedfix were only too happy to abandon their desks and get back to fighting.
"we still need a third pilot though sir" said Tilta.
"What about you Tilta? I know your supposed to be unfit, but you look sound to me man. And there's a war on!" replied GC Grix Thraves.
A look out was set up on a hill so as to give advance warning of the bombing raids. Two pilots were to be at standby with a third in reserve. And then it came. The call came through on the field telephone. "BANDITS AT 6000 FEET"
Tilta and Hedfix took up two Gladiators, Tig was in reserve. Although the bombers, Savoia Marchetti 79s were faster than the Gladiators, they intercepted them on the way back.
One bomber was down. It was a morale boosting victory.
On the ground steps were taken to improve the performance of the Gladiators. 3 blade metal props were used instead of the original 2 blade wooden props.
Over the coming weeks there were many battles. Several bombers were downed. Fiat CR42s were sent up to escort the bombers. All three fighters wer pushed into service simultaneously. Tilta, Tig, and Hedfix all manfuly fought on. The strain of the battles however had started to show on the old warhorses. Another blow came when a swarm of Macchi C200s came to attack. They were faster than the Fiats and cought the Gladiators on the ground. One was destroyed in a hail of bullets before exploding.
From then on the bombing raids were fewer. The Greek army fought and turned the tide against the Italians.
But then in was discovered in a recon that on the Romanian border were thousands of Germans, with armour and new fighters. Help however was at hand. That was the day that GC Grix Thraves had heard of the Hurris on their way.
Soon Afro and the other members of his squadron, Ali, Meka Dragon, Borat Sagdiyev, Ant, Grandprix, Dringo, RBS, Goatboy and Phi11ip soon saw action of their own. Knowing the Germans were on their way the Italians made a raid on the port. The Hurris knocked them out of the air like flies.
But AFro had noticed that Ali had nearly been taken down by a comparitively obsolete Fiat.
He also noticed that whenever possible Ali avoided Tilta.
"Is he scared I'll bite him or something" remarked Tilta to Afro.
" I was going to ask you that myself" answered Afro.
The German onslaught began. They broke the lines and pushed forward, taking many miles of land. The Stuka dive bombers wreaked havoc. A Gladiator was lost when Tig was shot and crashed it, although he survived the plane itself was a write off. Tilta then concentrated on keeping the Hurris flying.
One day however he experimented with the survivng Gladiator, and fitted a machine gun to the upper wings. He knew that it would be possible to hit the Stukas at the bottom of the dive when the automatic pilot kicked in. A better armed plane would be able to take down the stuka. Afro told Tilta that he could have a go, but he was on his own and should expect no sympathy if the old plane fell apart.
The next day, Tilta in his amended kite knocked two stukas down. A third saw the old bi plane in action and jettisoned their bombs over the sea before racing for home.
The next day a fighter escort was sent with the Stukas. Tilta anticipated this and came up with a survival plan. He thought that although slower he could out manoeuvere the 109s against the cliffs.
Tilta was on the verge of being shot down when Afro and his boys appeared. Two 109s were taken down instantly. But Ali didn't notice one on his tail. Tilta flew straight at Ali allguns blazing. The 109 was hit. Ali was badly shaken. On the ground he fell apart. He yelled at Afro:
"He tried to murder me! Hes been waiting for his chance!"
"Hang on a minute. What all this about? Clear off just now Tilta" Afro responded.
Alone with Ali Afro interrogated him. Slowly the truth came out.
"I couldnt face owning up but Tiltas crash was my fault. The letters were from him, hes plagued me ever since"
"so they were from Tilta... Why did you never show me them?"
Ali explained that the letters always appeared innocent but asked after his health and hinted about how he missed the squadron before saying that he would like to see Ali again one day.
Afro ordered Ali to his quarters before seeking Tilta to accuse him of using poison pen tactics to unnerve Ali.
"What about me? He ruined my life! Im up to my elbows in oil nowadays because of him!" countered Tilta.
"Thats rubbish, you've been flying every day for months. I bet your lungs have fully healed now. When was your last medical?"
The next day he was examined by the a doctor, Mystique, and pronounced fit.
He realised later though that he had enjoyed the sympathy. He didn't want to be told he was OK. And worst of all he knew that he had secretly enjoyed torutin Ali.
He knew that he had to apologise to Ali. Ali though would have none of it. His nerves were frayed. He couldn't fly again.
Afro was bealing. His best pilot in the squadron out of action over some stupid letters. Grudgingly he let Tilta take Alis kite to get the squadron back to full strength. But in the first fight in the Hurri Tilta needed rescuing. He wasn't used to fast single wing fighters.
Under Afros tuition he son learned the finer points of modern air fighting. But the Hurris weren't allowed to fly at night, when the nightbombers came. So he sat on standby beside his trusty Gladiator. He knew he had the advantage of surprise. Just as the bombers were about to take off, out of the darkness Tilta pounced.
But the following morning Tilta was awakened by the sound of bombs. Afro realised that Tilta had stirred them up over night. Despite the many efforts the airfield wasn't repaired in time before teh return of the bombers on their way to the docks.
" you deserve a medal Tilta - a German one!" cried Afro as the German bombers flew overhead.
The decision was soon taken to evacuate to Crete. Afro asked Ali to fly the Gladiator there as they needed all the planes they could get. Ali asked that Tilta fly it. but Afro explained that he and Tilta were to guard teh destroyer which was taking the ground crew.
It was a good job there was an air escort. 109s attacked. Afro was shot through the leg and had a hun on his tail. Tilta raced to the rescue, but had no ammo left. All he could do was ram the 109. Due to the damage he had to bale out. Afro managed to land rather bumpily in Crete, discovering that Ali and the rest of his squadron had made it there safely. In transpired that Meka Dragon had seen someone bale out on his travels to Crete. Ali had him pinpoint where in the map room.
As Afro was stretchered off to the field hospital he heard the Gladiator taking off.
"it'll be murder and I can't stop it" cried Afro.
On a sand bank Tilta was sitting, waiting on being picked up by a German patrol. And then he saw the Gladiator. He felt a twinge of fear as he realised who was at the controls. "hes come to finish me off " he thought to himself.
the Gladiator came in low, and bill jumped aside in terror.
He was astonished to see that Ali had actually landed and was shouting that he had to hurry as a German launch was surging toward them.
Tilta reached the Gladiator just as thye opened fire. tilta grabbed onto the wing. The plane eventually lifted, wtill under fire. After what seemed like forever to Tilta, literally out on a wing, the gladiator rumbled to a halt on a Cretan aerodrome. The other pilots gathered round to congratulate Ali on his dramatic rescue.
"thanks Ali. you saved me there"
"remember I used to be quite god at low flying in a Gladiator."
For a moment the two stared at each other. Then Tilta stuck out his hand. Ali shook it.
"I'll buy us all a drink then" muttered Afro.
AfroJoe turned to his newest member, Pilot Officer Tiltawhirl "you'll do Tiltawhirl, you've got the stunt pilots touch."
"thank you ever so much sir!" Tiltawhirl said.
The other team member, Pilot Officer Alistair looked on.
After lunch in the officers mess the CO, Squadron Leader Pro Evo was doing the rounds. " There have been comlaints from locals about the low flying. I know some day it may save your lives but not just now. So practice is to be where and when I say so. OK?" No one dared speak out.
Back in those days, although having to live under hard task masters like Pro Evo, pilots had a lot more use of their machines. After lunch the fliers had the afternoon off. On the way too his Gladiator Ali talked to Tilta.
"I'm off to go visiting another airfield. You coming or staying here to tinker with that old crate?"
"Shes ready for a test flight so give me some space. See you later"
"Be careful Tilta rotary engined kites are difficult to handle"
"Don't worry I had a few shots to get a feel for it"
As well as being a god pilot Tilta was also a decent mechanic. He had been restoring a World War 1 Sopwith Pup, once flown by the famed ace Biggles, for display at the upcoming air show.
After Ali had taken off, Tilta followed him onto the the runway. Pro Evo and a mechanic watched.
"hes a born airman sir"
"yeah he is. He has to be to fly one of them"
For the next hour or so Tilta stunted, revelling in the the feeling of flying an old beautiful aircraft. Noticing the time he turned to go back. At that very moment the engine coughed then died. He was not really worried. Although dangerous without power he knew he could control it in a glide.
"Serves me right for coming so far out. I can land in that big field there" Tilta thought to himself.
On the glide down he noticed at the last moment a Gladiator flying straight at him. Automatically both pilots grabbed at their controls wildly. The Gladiator veered upward, missing the Pup by inches. The Pup went into a spin from which it never recovered.
Two nearby farm hands rushed to the wreckage and dragged Tilta clear. Quickly after a phone call an ambulance arrived. It was touch and go on the way to the hospital. Eventually however his condition stabilised.
An enquiry was started but beyond determining that the culprit was flying a Gladiator nothing else could be gleaned.
Pro Evo did not mince words when he called his remaining pilots together. "Tilta may live but he might be disabled. If the culprit is present stand up and take your punishment like a man. No one? If I ever find him, god have mercy, because I certainly won't!"
The tension in the room could be cut with a knife. Everybody in the room knew it was one of them. Somebody had broken the rules. And somebody nearly died.
As soon as Tilta was strong enough to receive visitors AfroJoe and Ali were the first to go see him.
"How long before you can fly with us again?" asked Afro.
"Probably never they tell me" replied Tilta. "The doctors say I will make a slight recovery in time, but my lungs were damaged and I would only be able to fly at low levels. I'll take a ground job and hope I'm not too old before I can fly fighters again"
"Good lad. You'll make a great engineer officer. If we ever find out who it is we'll skin him alive"
Tilta stared straigh at Afro, a strange gleam in his eyes, with menace in his voice. "I know who it was. I'll get him in my own time and in my own way"
At that point Ali ran out of the room muttering something about hospitals making him feel ill. That signalled the end of the visit. Afro was left feeling troubled by the whold affair. However the squadron was to relocate and re-equip with the new 300+ MPH 8 gun Hurricane so neither him nor Ali had a chance to talk to Tilta about it. Soon all teh pilots in the squadron were well used to the new machines.
One day after teh mail had gone out Afro saw Ali looking slightly pale as he read a letter and re read it.
"Bad news? Your not looking so good"
"No its nothing really"
"Are you sure?"
The next day Ali's normally good flying was atrocious. So bad that Afro had to take him aside and have a stiff word with him.
By now it was 1940 and the squadron was posted to France to help stem teh Blitzkrieg. Ali had matured into an excellent air fighter and quickly racked up his kills. He was always at his best right in the thick of the action. As the mail was handed out one morning Ali got a letter. Being the only one for him he quickly ripped it open and read eagerly. Very quickly though he paled. Again he refused to mention its contents.
Afro was worried. He was knew it a bad time for him to go to pieces like the last time he had one of those letters. But his time they were at war. His worries were confirmed whe the next day Ali was a sitter for a passing Nazi 109. Thanks to the quick accurate shooting of another squadron member, Pilot Officer Memorandum, Ali survived. Afro made a mental note to have it out with Ali when back on the ground.
That was not possible however as Pro Evo had been killed in action. Afro was sent for by his superior, Air Commodore PB, and was given command of the squadron. On returning to the airfield he gave command of his flight to Ali. Ali declined. Afro dragged him aside.
"You will take the promotion! It might take your mind off whatever is bothering you"
"Yessir I'll do my best for you"
For a time it seemed to work. Ali was his usual self. But the battle for France was already over. The squadron was ordered back to Britain. Afro reported to his superior, Group Captain FantasyMeister.
" There are new squadrons being formed. Any candidates for command? Like Flight Lieutenant Ali?"
"No sir. He is erratic sir. Generally he is top notch but every so often... Leave him with me."
The squadron was given new aircraft and new pilots. For months war went on. And the letters kept coming. As the tide of the war turned the squadron was to go overseas to go on the offensive against the Germans. The posting turned out to be to Greece.
A few weeks later the squadron was on board an aircraft carrier, commanded by Captain Cookie Monster. Second in command was First Officer gerrid.
Afro once more went over the procedure. They were to take off from the carrier before being met by a plane from their new base. It all went without a hitch. In the distance they could see a speck moving toward them. As it got closer the pilots started to laugh as they saw an old Gladiator. A rebuke from Afro shut them up. The guide led them past a large port before landing at a large airfield. The pilot jumped out to greet the new arrivals. Amazingly it was Tilta.
"Welcome to Greece. Look at that, it's Afro!"
"Tilta! Its a small world isn't it? Look Ali, look who it is!"
Ali weakly shook hands before making a quick departure.
"Whats up with him? I wanted to have a reminisce about our days back whe I was still in the squadron" said Tilta.
"I don't know. He takes these funny turns every so often. He'll be fine soon. So how did you end up here?"
Tilta recounted how he had recovered and become an engineer, servicing Blenheims and Wellingtons. He had had a posting in the middle east as the doctors thought it would help his health. After the Italians had invaded Greece he was sent with the bomber squadron to help the Greeks. It turned out he had kept his hand in with flying and had come out to meet them as their was no one else to do it.
As Tilta left a mechanic that was passing said to Afro that "hes a right rare un he is"
"how so?"
"He knocked half the Italian airforce out the sky in his old Gladiator he has"
It turned out that as Tilta had arrived with the bomber squadron he discovered 3 old Gladiators in a hangar. They had been there since before the war. As there had been no fighters in the south of the country the Italians had been free to roam about. Tilta was furious. He wasn't going to sit and getted bombed. He ordered his sergeants to have the aircraft made ready. He then paid a visit to Group Captain Grix Thraves.
"so sir, if we use the Gladiators we can surprise the Italians and maybe knock a few bombers out of the sky."
"Get right to it. The Italians have had it all there way for far too long now. Just one problem, what about pilots?"
That was quickly solved though. Among the HQ staff were a few pilots who were resting from ops. Pilot Officers Tigamilla and Hedfix were only too happy to abandon their desks and get back to fighting.
"we still need a third pilot though sir" said Tilta.
"What about you Tilta? I know your supposed to be unfit, but you look sound to me man. And there's a war on!" replied GC Grix Thraves.
A look out was set up on a hill so as to give advance warning of the bombing raids. Two pilots were to be at standby with a third in reserve. And then it came. The call came through on the field telephone. "BANDITS AT 6000 FEET"
Tilta and Hedfix took up two Gladiators, Tig was in reserve. Although the bombers, Savoia Marchetti 79s were faster than the Gladiators, they intercepted them on the way back.
One bomber was down. It was a morale boosting victory.
On the ground steps were taken to improve the performance of the Gladiators. 3 blade metal props were used instead of the original 2 blade wooden props.
Over the coming weeks there were many battles. Several bombers were downed. Fiat CR42s were sent up to escort the bombers. All three fighters wer pushed into service simultaneously. Tilta, Tig, and Hedfix all manfuly fought on. The strain of the battles however had started to show on the old warhorses. Another blow came when a swarm of Macchi C200s came to attack. They were faster than the Fiats and cought the Gladiators on the ground. One was destroyed in a hail of bullets before exploding.
From then on the bombing raids were fewer. The Greek army fought and turned the tide against the Italians.
But then in was discovered in a recon that on the Romanian border were thousands of Germans, with armour and new fighters. Help however was at hand. That was the day that GC Grix Thraves had heard of the Hurris on their way.
Soon Afro and the other members of his squadron, Ali, Meka Dragon, Borat Sagdiyev, Ant, Grandprix, Dringo, RBS, Goatboy and Phi11ip soon saw action of their own. Knowing the Germans were on their way the Italians made a raid on the port. The Hurris knocked them out of the air like flies.
But AFro had noticed that Ali had nearly been taken down by a comparitively obsolete Fiat.
He also noticed that whenever possible Ali avoided Tilta.
"Is he scared I'll bite him or something" remarked Tilta to Afro.
" I was going to ask you that myself" answered Afro.
The German onslaught began. They broke the lines and pushed forward, taking many miles of land. The Stuka dive bombers wreaked havoc. A Gladiator was lost when Tig was shot and crashed it, although he survived the plane itself was a write off. Tilta then concentrated on keeping the Hurris flying.
One day however he experimented with the survivng Gladiator, and fitted a machine gun to the upper wings. He knew that it would be possible to hit the Stukas at the bottom of the dive when the automatic pilot kicked in. A better armed plane would be able to take down the stuka. Afro told Tilta that he could have a go, but he was on his own and should expect no sympathy if the old plane fell apart.
The next day, Tilta in his amended kite knocked two stukas down. A third saw the old bi plane in action and jettisoned their bombs over the sea before racing for home.
The next day a fighter escort was sent with the Stukas. Tilta anticipated this and came up with a survival plan. He thought that although slower he could out manoeuvere the 109s against the cliffs.
Tilta was on the verge of being shot down when Afro and his boys appeared. Two 109s were taken down instantly. But Ali didn't notice one on his tail. Tilta flew straight at Ali allguns blazing. The 109 was hit. Ali was badly shaken. On the ground he fell apart. He yelled at Afro:
"He tried to murder me! Hes been waiting for his chance!"
"Hang on a minute. What all this about? Clear off just now Tilta" Afro responded.
Alone with Ali Afro interrogated him. Slowly the truth came out.
"I couldnt face owning up but Tiltas crash was my fault. The letters were from him, hes plagued me ever since"
"so they were from Tilta... Why did you never show me them?"
Ali explained that the letters always appeared innocent but asked after his health and hinted about how he missed the squadron before saying that he would like to see Ali again one day.
Afro ordered Ali to his quarters before seeking Tilta to accuse him of using poison pen tactics to unnerve Ali.
"What about me? He ruined my life! Im up to my elbows in oil nowadays because of him!" countered Tilta.
"Thats rubbish, you've been flying every day for months. I bet your lungs have fully healed now. When was your last medical?"
The next day he was examined by the a doctor, Mystique, and pronounced fit.
He realised later though that he had enjoyed the sympathy. He didn't want to be told he was OK. And worst of all he knew that he had secretly enjoyed torutin Ali.
He knew that he had to apologise to Ali. Ali though would have none of it. His nerves were frayed. He couldn't fly again.
Afro was bealing. His best pilot in the squadron out of action over some stupid letters. Grudgingly he let Tilta take Alis kite to get the squadron back to full strength. But in the first fight in the Hurri Tilta needed rescuing. He wasn't used to fast single wing fighters.
Under Afros tuition he son learned the finer points of modern air fighting. But the Hurris weren't allowed to fly at night, when the nightbombers came. So he sat on standby beside his trusty Gladiator. He knew he had the advantage of surprise. Just as the bombers were about to take off, out of the darkness Tilta pounced.
But the following morning Tilta was awakened by the sound of bombs. Afro realised that Tilta had stirred them up over night. Despite the many efforts the airfield wasn't repaired in time before teh return of the bombers on their way to the docks.
" you deserve a medal Tilta - a German one!" cried Afro as the German bombers flew overhead.
The decision was soon taken to evacuate to Crete. Afro asked Ali to fly the Gladiator there as they needed all the planes they could get. Ali asked that Tilta fly it. but Afro explained that he and Tilta were to guard teh destroyer which was taking the ground crew.
It was a good job there was an air escort. 109s attacked. Afro was shot through the leg and had a hun on his tail. Tilta raced to the rescue, but had no ammo left. All he could do was ram the 109. Due to the damage he had to bale out. Afro managed to land rather bumpily in Crete, discovering that Ali and the rest of his squadron had made it there safely. In transpired that Meka Dragon had seen someone bale out on his travels to Crete. Ali had him pinpoint where in the map room.
As Afro was stretchered off to the field hospital he heard the Gladiator taking off.
"it'll be murder and I can't stop it" cried Afro.
On a sand bank Tilta was sitting, waiting on being picked up by a German patrol. And then he saw the Gladiator. He felt a twinge of fear as he realised who was at the controls. "hes come to finish me off " he thought to himself.
the Gladiator came in low, and bill jumped aside in terror.
He was astonished to see that Ali had actually landed and was shouting that he had to hurry as a German launch was surging toward them.
Tilta reached the Gladiator just as thye opened fire. tilta grabbed onto the wing. The plane eventually lifted, wtill under fire. After what seemed like forever to Tilta, literally out on a wing, the gladiator rumbled to a halt on a Cretan aerodrome. The other pilots gathered round to congratulate Ali on his dramatic rescue.
"thanks Ali. you saved me there"
"remember I used to be quite god at low flying in a Gladiator."
For a moment the two stared at each other. Then Tilta stuck out his hand. Ali shook it.
"I'll buy us all a drink then" muttered Afro.
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