Warriors by Barrett Tillman Read Online Free PDF Page B

stick and rudder to line up another and fired a similarly economical burst. Flames and smoke erupted from its engine compartment but Ran hardly noticed. He had learned what every snapshooter knows: Once you have engaged a target, ignore it. Just shift targets and shoot again-there is no time for sightseeing.
           The two A-4s bottomed out of their runs and hugged the deck, scooting for safety behind every sand dune and depression. Ran had a brief image of helicopters launching missiles into the massed enemy armor. It looked like a good job.
           Ran was eager for another pass; he felt sure of one kill and probably another. He had the best record in the squadron for rounds fired to tanks killed, as the Heyl Ha'Avir kept meticulous records on combat efficiency. David's armorers proudly boasted that their pilot was destroying one enemy tank with fewer than ten rounds of ammunition. His gun camera films were being shown as examples of how to do the job, and he was only getting better.
           The flight leader pulled up at a safe distance and assessed the situation. He judged that the Egyptians were still preoccupied with results of the first attack and decided to risk another. A terse radio command told Ran what to do. The A-4s varied their roll-in headings from the previous pass and once more dropped into the seething caldron of missiles and flak.
           A lucrative target offered itself in the form of a Gun Dish antiaircraft unit. Ran destroyed it in one pass while his wingman damaged another T-62. Both A-4s were down to sandblower altitude again when Ran felt a moderate thump. He thought it came from the rear of his aircraft. He scanned his instruments. Fuel state, hydraulic pressure, engine RPM and tailpipe temperature all registered normal.
           Climbing back to altitude, Ran asked his wingman to look him over. The brown-and-tan Skyhawk dropped back and smoothly slid under Ran's tail, reappearing on the opposite side.
           "You've got some battle damage to your stabilizer, but it looks all right. Any instrument fluctuation?"
           "Negative." David thought he'd probably taken a near miss from a hand-held SA-7, but in flight there was no point speculating. After landing, the two fliers examined the torn aluminum of the Skyhawk's tail. Ran's wingman was in a chipper mood.
           "You see what happens when you develop a reputation as a sharpshooter? People start shooting back."
           David Ran turned on his heel and paced off to debrief.
     
           THE 1973 WAR ENTERED ITS THIRD AND FINAL PHASE on Day Eleven. Two-thirds of the Egyptian and Syrian missile batteries were knocked out, freeing more Israeli aircraft for direct support of ground forces. Additionally, Iraqi and Jordanian forces were contained along the Golan Heights so the emphasis of Israeli operations shifted westward.
           Suppression of Arab air defenses had badly affected IAF efforts.
           Though hundreds of sorties were flown daily, the early portion of the war required the large majority to be devoted to auxiliary tasks: flare and chaff drops, ECM and actual attacks on flak and SAM batteries. Now that had changed.
           Captain Solomon Yatanahu explained the new situation in a briefing to his flight crews.
           "Our tank forces are launching Operation Gazelle, designed to cut off the Egyptians in this area." He tapped a large-scale map with his pointer. "Bridging and bulldozer units are providing crossings over the Suez Canal in order to put our armor in the enemy's rear." Yatanahu smiled broadly. His fliers knew him as a determinedly cheerful leader, despite fatigue and losses.
           "Boys, this is an historic moment. It's only the second time in Jewish history that we've crossed the Red Sea without getting our feet wet."
           The aircrews shared the mirth. Yatanahu thought it was good to hear laughter again. After what they've