Watchers in the Sky
Posted: 12 Aug 2019, 01:35
Chief Warrant Officer Hate was getting impatient.
A stint in the U.S. Army Air Corps, followed up by enlisting in the Korean Air Force, had provided plenty of experience with 'hurry up and wait', but he couldn't help but feel that a two-hour wait was a bit much. He had caught a nap, yes, but the small office he was being held in didn't even see fit to offer him a coffee - only tea.
Whatever his gripes with his adopted country, that was, by far, the largest - the relative scarceness of the sacred dark liquid of life.
"Chief Warrant?"
Turning his head, Lance squinted at the harried-looking Captain addressing him. Standing, he came slooooowly to attention, hand coming to a rest against the corner of his eye after a long and arduous trip.
Said captain, now regarding him with obvious amusement, return the salute with equal slowness. "Sorry for the wait, Chief. Guy who was supposed to pick you up had a heart attack on the drive over. C'mon." he finished, waving Hate to follow along.
Maybe the warrant was just being crusty, but if it were him, he'd have ignored the heart attack and kept driving.
"File says you were a radarman in the USAAC?" the officer inquired, waving the enlisted man into the back of a jeep; climbing in the passenger side, he started the trip with a tap on the driver's shoulder.
"Yeah, both ground systems and Black Widows." Hate returned sourly. "Some work with navy systems after the Flu came to town." And taken half his surviving buddies with it.
"You've been tapped for work with a new aircraft. Airborne electronic surveillance or something is the official term. Here."
Hate took the offered folder, flicking through it. "That an airliner?"
"Not exactly."
Reading further, the warrant officer's brows began to rise. Finishing the brief document, he looked up at the captain. "Alright, I can see where you're going with this. Neat idea, but does it work in practice?"
"See for yourself." the man replied, pointing; turning, Hate eyed the four-engined aircraft sitting in the hangar in front of the jeep. A rounded dome below and a short, fin-like projection above broke up the lines of what was obviously a Lockheed Constellation - or, he presumed, a Pyongyang Air Works Constellation.
"The second Watchman E.1 to roll off the line." the captain said, eyes on the plane. "You've been tapped to command the radar operators aboard - someone noted you've worked with airborne radars more than most of our new operators combined, so you get to both teach and write the book."
He grinned at Hate, who glared back, mostly out of habit. "Congrats, Chief."
A stint in the U.S. Army Air Corps, followed up by enlisting in the Korean Air Force, had provided plenty of experience with 'hurry up and wait', but he couldn't help but feel that a two-hour wait was a bit much. He had caught a nap, yes, but the small office he was being held in didn't even see fit to offer him a coffee - only tea.
Whatever his gripes with his adopted country, that was, by far, the largest - the relative scarceness of the sacred dark liquid of life.
"Chief Warrant?"
Turning his head, Lance squinted at the harried-looking Captain addressing him. Standing, he came slooooowly to attention, hand coming to a rest against the corner of his eye after a long and arduous trip.
Said captain, now regarding him with obvious amusement, return the salute with equal slowness. "Sorry for the wait, Chief. Guy who was supposed to pick you up had a heart attack on the drive over. C'mon." he finished, waving Hate to follow along.
Maybe the warrant was just being crusty, but if it were him, he'd have ignored the heart attack and kept driving.
"File says you were a radarman in the USAAC?" the officer inquired, waving the enlisted man into the back of a jeep; climbing in the passenger side, he started the trip with a tap on the driver's shoulder.
"Yeah, both ground systems and Black Widows." Hate returned sourly. "Some work with navy systems after the Flu came to town." And taken half his surviving buddies with it.
"You've been tapped for work with a new aircraft. Airborne electronic surveillance or something is the official term. Here."
Hate took the offered folder, flicking through it. "That an airliner?"
"Not exactly."
Reading further, the warrant officer's brows began to rise. Finishing the brief document, he looked up at the captain. "Alright, I can see where you're going with this. Neat idea, but does it work in practice?"
"See for yourself." the man replied, pointing; turning, Hate eyed the four-engined aircraft sitting in the hangar in front of the jeep. A rounded dome below and a short, fin-like projection above broke up the lines of what was obviously a Lockheed Constellation - or, he presumed, a Pyongyang Air Works Constellation.
"The second Watchman E.1 to roll off the line." the captain said, eyes on the plane. "You've been tapped to command the radar operators aboard - someone noted you've worked with airborne radars more than most of our new operators combined, so you get to both teach and write the book."
He grinned at Hate, who glared back, mostly out of habit. "Congrats, Chief."