“Mercury Leader, Mercury Leader, this is Domino.” That was the call sign
for Air Ops aboard the Jefferson. The voice sounded worried. Had the carrier
been listening in on the channel, or had the KA-6 called on higher authority
after Tombstone’s demand for another try? “Say your fuel state, over.”
He answered as the Tomcat backed away from the basket and watched it
disappear into the gloom once again. “Point three,” he replied tersely. His
palms were sweaty now, and he didn’t want to be reminded of his fuel state
again. The probe reappeared ahead, almost dead on target, and he started
forward once again. Tombstone knew this would be his last chance.
“Mercury Leader, Domino. Recommend you back away now. We don’t want a
flame-out that close to the Kilo Alpha. Over.”
Tombstone gritted his teeth but didn’t answer. He wasn’t going to give
up yet …
The probe hooked up and he pushed the basket forward. It crossed the
first line … the second … still no green light. Magruder muttered a curse
against Murphy’s Law, gremlins, and careless maintenance men and edged the
throttle further forward. Another stripe disappeared … and another.
The Tomcat’s canopy was only a few feet from the belly of the tanker, and
even in the dark Tombstone thought he could see individual rivets in the
fuselage.
“Darkstar, I’m pushing her all the way in,” he told the pilot. “Stay
frosty and keep her level.”
“Roger that, Mercury Leader,” the pilot replied. “Good luck and may the
Force be with you.” Behind the banter Tombstone knew the other pilot was as
worried as he was.
The Tomcat inched forward …
f
… and the green light came on.
“Yes!” Tombstone whooped. He could feel the plane’s weight increasing as
fuel flowed into the tanks. The Tomcat started to drop back, but Magruder
increased the throttle to hold his precarious position. There was no way of
knowing if the avgas would continue to pump if he let the plane slip back to
the normal position, and he wasn’t about to try this maneuver again.
“Mercury Leader, Darkstar. Are you getting anything? Over.”
“Affirmative, Darkstar,” Tombstone replied. He looked down at the fuel
gauge in time to see it rising above the two-hundred-pound mark. It had been
a damned close call.
He concentrated on holding the Tomcat steady as the fuel continued to
pump into his tanks, easing back after the gauge reported a thousand pounds to
a less dangerous distance. The avgas kept flowing steadily, nearly five
hundred pounds entering the Tomcat’s tanks every minute. Tombstone held the
aircraft in position until he had 3500 pounds aboard, then called the tanker
again. “Darkstar, Mercury Leader disengaging. And we thank you for your
support.”
The tanker pilot gave a chuckle on the other end of the line. “Glad to
help out. Sorry for the trouble.” There was a long pause. “Oh, yeah, almost
forgot. Just before we launched, the boys in Viper Squadron told me to give
you a message, Tombstone. Welcome home!”
2257 hours Zulu (457 hours Zone)
Air Ops, U.S.S. Thomas Jefferson
The North Atlantic
A man-made island far from the nearest dry ground, the U.S.S. Thomas
Jefferson, CVN-74, plowed through the cold, dark waters of the North Atlantic,
her course north-northeast at a speed of thirty knots. America’s newest
nuclear-powered supercarrier, like the other vessels of the Nimitz class, was
one of the most powerful ships of war ever to sail the world ocean. She
measured over a thousand feet in length, with a flight deck that covered four
and a half acres and ample space to house the 5,500 officers and enlisted men
who called her home. As the core of Carrier Battle Group 14, comprising seven
warships and an Air Wing of over ninety aircraft, Jefferson formed the heart
of a naval fighting force of incredible power and versatility.
But sitting near the back of the glassed-in Air Operations room, commonly
known as Primary Flight Control, or “Pri-Fly” in carrier slang, Captain Joseph
Stramaglia couldn’t help but ponder the limitations of that power.
He had decided to monitor flight operations this evening from Pri-Fly,
and had arrived about the time that the ferry mission from Oceana NAS had met