Birds Watching…
The Crewman of the SR-71 Blackbird out of one of America's many Airbase looked at their charts one last time as they planned a small detour on the return trip.
Now it wasn't exactly a difficult thing to actually do, the flight over Vietnam and Cambodia was planned well in advance of any of their commanders orders and it was well known that spying on other nations from 30,000 feet was a viable and useful use of time and resources.
After all, no one was gonna catch them even if they tried.
"Hey Bruce? We got enough Fuel for a little sightseeing in Guangchou, I always wanted to see their little light shows." Capt Alan Cirino asked his RSO, Capt Bruce Liebman.
"I don't know Alan…we're gonna have to run the paperwork with the guys on the Ground for this on plus aren't we pushing our luck after flying over the Warsaw Pact a few weeks ago?" He said.
"I know but I think a Few photos to see what's up is in order." You said.
"Al I get it? Its a nice remote paradise that happens to be run by Commies, just like the Norks in North Korea or the Gooks in China?" Bruce said.
"I'm all for beaches and oceanfront property…Command, I know it's a bit sudden, but requesting permission to fly over Guangchou for recon." You asked.
"Running request by Base Comm…we have something of a situation you might be qualified to handle 71' we'll run it by your bosses…welcome to our neck of the Woods." The Operator said
"Well, guess we get that beach photo after all…send traffic Yokota?" Bruce said.
"We have reports of a Missing US Aircraft Carrier that went missing in the Guangchou area, and we want to confirm their status." He said.
"Roger that, we'll find them? Anything else to Order?" You said.
"U2 spy planes have been seeing some odd activity in the Guangchou jungles and Mountains, give them a whirl around if you get the chance." He asked.
"Wait…How do you lose an aircraft carrier?" You said.
"Its the Iwo Jima, and while the circumstances are troubling in what she's doing far from her post, we lack the information to make a concrete guess." The Operator said.
So this was a blind op…Neat. "How low should we go?"
"Scare the shit out of them…and remind them they can't touch you." The Op said.
"Bruce…BRUCE…We're gonna be going low in the next few hours." You said.
"HELL YEAH! Let's scare the shit out of them."
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Captain Bai Han, was on guard duty over one of Guangchou's small military command bases over the west side of the island, it was primarily a shelter that watched the sea's for…unwanted visitors and disasters.
All he could hear now was the buzz of the night and a loud booming sound.
He couldn't place it? Was it a test for the Tiger Lady? Or whatever they were calling it these days.
The Booming sound was getting louder, and the coming dawn was not yet bright enough to-.
Alright they were CLEARLY doing an aerial test without sending you the Memo.
FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT WAS GOOD !! Can't they SHUT THE HELL!-
You saw it..flying low beneath the cloud cover was a black speeding monster, moving faster than a missile.
A Missile of Precision and Human control.
"Rồng đen" You said remembering the words spoken by your fellow soldiers in Vietnam. "The Black Dragon"…what the Americans called a Blackbird.
She was moving fast as the Ensuring BOOM of the speed of its passing came and shook the base, the glass cracked as the shaking of your desk failed to cease.
You saw it…flying low…you could SEE the cockpit…see the little helmets of the pilots passed the tinted glass.
You had to smile at their courage…flying this low for their photographs.
The Americans are truly insane.
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"HOLY SHIT BRUCE I ALMOST CLIPPED THAT BUILDING!!" Alan said. " Did you get the Photos!"
"Yeah, can we go home now?"He said.
"No, we haven't found Iwo Jima yet?!" You said. "Raising altitude to cruising and a little below the cloud cover. Let's not push our luck."
"Oh alright, we're gonna make another pass over the island," Bruce said.
"SR-71 Making another pass." You said.
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Captain Hiro looked to the Sky within the Iron Tiger and wondered quietly if he could actually hit something with what he had.
The Hot Seat was getting uncomfortable.
He looked and waited as something cried out from the Radio on an open channel.
"Smile for the Camera."
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"Bruce, I see it in the What the…opening all frequencies." You were going crazy...that couldn't be right?
"SMILE FOR THE CAMERA!" Bruce said as the Camera took photos by the dozen.
"I think we scared the shit out of them this time. Did you see that walking statue?" You said.
"I don't think it's a statue? I think it's a new kind of turret?" He said.
"It looks kinda ridiculous." You said.
"USS Iwo Jima.This is SR-71 Blackbird…Send Traffic." Bruce said.
"No response?" He said. "What the Fuc-"
It was there alright...beached on the Island...Shit
You didn't have time to process this as the Photos were taken.
"Are they any good?" You asked.
"I don't know...they came up blurry? Has that happened before?" Bruce said.
"Equipment failure at a time like this...what else can go wrong?" You said.
"We got boogies deploying, Six on our Six." He said.
"They can't catch us…We're 30,000 and Climbing…" You said before pulling up into the cloud cover. And then making a turn.
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"We lost them, they just banked up?!"
"Keep on Patrol they can't have gotten-"
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"Hey! LOOK UP!" You shouted over the Open Channel.
Then you Flew past Mach 3 flying over the Six Boogies in a somewhat taunting manner.
"YEEHAW!!" You felt the power of the Machine push you away from the airspace at speed.
Was it Childish to use one of the Most expensive pieces of Machinery the US had ever designed to mock them?
Yes yes, it was?
DId it get you what you came for? Absolutely.
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"They Reached our airspace…took photos of our prototype equipment and made a mockery of our airforce." The Officer said to the Pilots.
"Yes…we couldn't have caught them even if we tried."
The Captain wasn't even mad…he was just impressed that they reacted so quickly.
"There will be an investigation into this…but for now, we are impressed with how quickly you reacted."
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"Bruce." You said.
"Yeah Alan?" He said.
"They will never let us do this again?" You said.
"Can't argue with the results….can we?" He said.
"That we cannot, that we cannot." You said.
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Notes: It is realistic that The US Forces in the Pacific would Ask for an SR-71 to find their misplaced carrier and I took it to an extreme.
Now would they have gone as low as they did? Likely not, but it would have depended on the weather conditions that day.
Capt Alan Cirino and RSO, Capt Bruce Liebman are both a real SR-71 Crew that Flew in 1974…and likely would have been used in this situation.
Edit: And because of the Weather? Yeah…they would have flown low.
Also
@HeroCooky I'll just leave this here