“Do something? Like what?” Mike asked.
Simpson glanced at Jesse. “Colonel Wood will have to speak for the Air Force. As for the Navy, I’ve been thinking about that ever since you radioed that you were coming. And I had Lieutenant Cantrell do some resource analysis for me. He tells me that there are several speedboats in Grantville, including a couple of good-sized launches and at least one cockpit cabin cruiser. He also informs me that there are at least two or three people who scuba dive as a hobby. And he reminds me that Mr. Ferrara and his rocket club have been working on a ship-launched surface-to-surface missile for us.”
The admiral gave his youthful lieutenant a long, sharp look, then turned back to Mike.
“If we commit those resources to Wismar with orders to hit and run, try and keep the French and the Danes off balance, they ought to be able to disrupt enemy naval operations to at least some degree. Long enough for Gustavus to bring in fresh troops, at least. And I assume that General Jackson ought to be able to provide at least a few surprises for them on the land front, as well.”
For the first time, Jesse spoke up.
“We can commit the two Belles to it, too, if we can get some kind of airfield ready in or near Wismar. The X-2s, unfortunately, won’t be ready in time, no matter how much we try to rush things.
“That’ll mean delaying flight training for the new batch of pilots, but . . . Depending on the circumstances, I might take one or two of the first group with Hans and me. There’s no point in me staying back in Grantville when our only functioning aircraft is on the Baltic coast. And the truth is my original pilot group—especially the best of them, like Hans and Woody—are actually at the point where the experience would do them good. Assuming, of course, they survive the experience at all.”
The Air Force colonel’s face was grim.
“This is going to be a bitch, don’t think it won’t, especially this time of the year. As it happens, I’ve flown a lot in Germany and some around the Baltic. But not in the simple machines we’ve got. We’ll be able to fly on the days between the passage of succeeding storm fronts—of which there will be an increasing number as winter approaches. Then subtract some of the calm days because of fog, which is frequent on the coast.”
He gave Simpson a hard stare; Simpson returned it, after an instant, with a curt nod. Mike realized he was witness to a little inter-service . . . not “rivalry,” precisely. More like a mutual demand for respect.
Apparently satisfied with Simpson’s response, Jesse continued. “Here’s how it is. You can take off in clear weather and not be able to return two hours later. Or it might be clear for days on end. As a best guess, I’d say we’d have at least marginally VFR weather about one-third of the time. On the other days, it would be asking for death to take off in these machines. Not because you couldn’t fly, but because we have no radio navigation aids to guide us to landing and because they aren’t really equipped for instrument flying. A half-trained pilot—which is what I’ve got—would likely get into a classic death spiral after entering heavy cloud formations. There are chances an older pilot like me might take, because they have a feel for weather that surpasses that of new pilots. Plus an older pilot won’t panic, which is often what kills you in weather.”
He drew a deep breath and let it out.
“Mr. President—Admiral Simpson—I’m not going to kid either one of you. Flying in the Baltic doesn’t appeal to me, with winter coming on. I’d say you can bet on perhaps fifty to sixty percent of flyable days in September. Maybe forty percent in October and November. Don’t count on more than twenty-five to thirty percent from December through February. Foggy days will be very common on the coast.”
Simpson grunted. “I remember the year when two F-111s just disappeared during fighter operations in NATO’s BALTAP exercises—that stands for ‘Baltic Approaches,’ Mr. President. I was involved in that, from the naval side. They never were found. One in September and one in March, as I recall.”