Warriors by Barrett Tillman Read Online Free PDF Page A

northward to the near end of the Suez Canal, the U. S. task force anticipated problems with Palestinian forces on Bab el Mandeb, the former British possession at the mouth of the Red Sea. The strait measured only a few miles across, and artillery on the small island could engage any ship transiting the strait.
           The United States informed Yemen that Hancock's task force would exercise its right of passage through international waters. Consequently, when the lead destroyer entered the waterway between Yemen and Djibouti, twenty bomb-laden Skyhawks and eight hungry Crusaders were overhead. The message was not lost on local hotheads; the passage was uneventful.
           The airborne planes were recovered before Hancock herself entered the Red Sea, for flight operations would be difficult in the confined waters of that body. Instead, an all-pilots meeting was called in the wardroom, where the task force commander's staff was to present a contingency plan drafted in response to orders from Washington. Some eighty aviators squeezed into the wardroom, fidgeting and jockeying for space. Clanlike, they sat by squadrons behind their respective skippers.
           Bennett had a seat up front with a good view of the rostrum and regional map.
           Stepping to the rostrum, a full commander shuffled his papers and looked around. Robert Tatum was a non-aviator-a "blackshoe" in fliers' parlance-but he was trusted by the admiral to handle an apparently unpleasant task. He let out a long breath and began.
           "Gentlemen, the purpose of this briefing is to acquaint you with a contingency plan to deliver this air wing's aircraft to Israel."
           Bennett leaned forward in his chair. He was conscious of almost complete silence behind him, contrary to the exclamations he would have expected.
           "All forty-two A-4s and twenty-four F-8s are to be launched here," Tatum said, tapping the map, "about one thousand miles south of Tel Aviv. The route has been planned to remain in international airspace most of the way. But at the northern leg it will be necessary to overfly northwestern Saudi Arabia and part of Jordan." A murmur ran through the room, at once questioning and angry.
           Tatum explained that the sixty-six carrier planes would land at designated airfields in Israel. Then, having taken a civilian suit and overnight kit, the naval aviators would don their "civvies" and board an airliner for New York.
           Bennett glanced across the aisle at his opposite number in VF-211. They exchanged knowing looks. Contradictory thoughts rushed through their minds. How do I down a couple of birds to keep a combat air patrol for the ship? Or How do I make sure I get in on this in case some MiGs come up to play?
           The pilots sat in awed silence for a moment. This was a veteran air wing, honed to a fine edge by seven years of combat over Southeast Asia. These men were warriors. They understood war, but they did not understand the rationale behind the plan. An aircraft carrier without aircraft was an overpriced transport vessel. Air Wing 21 had not sailed halfway around the planet merely to deliver its precious planes to another nation. Yet the aviators were to be deprived of their weapons. Ina word, emasculated. The resentment was tangible.
           But some, like Bennett, sensed an implied message. Hancock's proposed reinforcement would amount to about 20 percent of the prewar Israeli Air Force, and it was axiomatic that no air arm could sustain a 10 percent loss rate for long. Bennett thought back to what had seemed the sweetheart deal with the MiGs in Nevada now maybe it made sense. Perhaps payment had been deferred.
           After Tatum finished his briefing the squadron commanders got together. One Skyhawk CO said, "I can understand us giving the Israelis A-4s. They've flown them for years. But F-8s? Come on!"
           The fighter skippers agreed. The Heyl