Cold War

Priestman called his adjutant into his office as soon as he arrived and asked what he’d been able to find out about the problems at Tempelhof the day before.

“It seems a pilot new to the Airlift mistook the building site for the operational runway and tried to land on it.”

Priestman dropped his head in his hands for a second and then finished the picture, “His undercarriage sank into gravel and stopped, while ten tons of cargo continued forward.”

“Not quite. He landed on the rubber underlining and I’m told the Skymaster slid, slithered, skidded and spun around like a fat figure-skater on ice. All the crew escaped without injury.”

“God loves America,” Priestman commented. “But that doesn’t explain why they closed the airfield.”

“No, it was another pilot new to Tempelhof who caught a glimpse of the apartment buildings in his glide path and lost his nerve. He pulled up a bit and couldn’t land until he was halfway down the runway. By that point he couldn’t stop in time, overshot, and crashed into the perimeter fence. The aircraft caught fire and burnt. A total write-off including cargo, but at least the crew was pulled to safely, albeit a bit singed. The aircraft behind, however, was unable to abort in time and to avoid colliding with the fire trucks and ambulances, the pilot stomped on his brakes so hard that both tyres burst. No one was injured, of course, but the wreck was blocking the runway and that was what closed the airfield.”

“I should think so.”

“Now, here’s the interesting bit,” Stan added, raising his CO’s eyebrows. “Aboard one of the incoming flights was General William Tunner, the American’s new Airlift commander. He ordered all aircraft back to base — fully loaded. Rumours are rife that he’s going to make some big changes.”

“Sounds as though we need them. What’s his background?”

“He turned the supply organisation across the Himalayas from a comedy into a success — while lowering casualty rates by half. He’s arguably the world’s greatest expert on military transport — and knows it. You’ll have the pleasure of judging for yourself. He has requested permission to land here this afternoon at 14:30 for ‘consultations.’” Stan handed a notepad to Priestman on which he’d scribbled the request from US Airlift HQ.

Priestman nodded. “Then we’ll roll out the red carpet and hope nobody rams anyone else in the meantime.”