Leonov nodded. He turned back into the troop compartment, pushing aside the small curtain that divided the cockpit from the rear section. He signaled his flight technician in the back.
"Stefek, we're heading down to the forward strip ahead of the squadron. You get off here and help out the other crews."
Leonov's flight technician opened up the side cargo doors and jumped out. After securing the doors, he ran to the right side of the cockpit and gave Leonov the thumbs-up sign to let him know he was clear. At that signal, Leonov gave the rotors power and lifted off again. He heard the solid clunk of the main gear retracting and pushed the controls forward. The Mi-24 responded well and soon reached cruising speed. Leonov kept the helicopter at an altitude of about 100 meters. He was familiar with the terrain in this area, all the way to the border. It was very rugged countryside, covered with thick woods. He got on the intercom.
"Sasha, keep your eyes out for enemy aircraft. Let me know if you see anything. I'll keep us well over the treetops until we arrive in Germany."
It took the helicopter only four minutes to reach the Czech-German border. The flight was uneventful. The roads below were clogged with traffic. There was some air activity to the north, but little evidence of hostile aircraft. Dorfl was just across the Czech border, in a valley below a large reservoir. It proved easy to find, and Leonov radioed ahead for permission to land. This was quickly approved, although he did notice that his Khrom Nikel IFF set was interrogated as he made the final approach to the staging area.[49]
From the looks of it, the landing site at Dorfl was not the main airstrip for the attack, probably only a forward base for the helicopters of the 69th Attack Regiment. He saw the long tadpole shapes of Mi-24s at the edge of the clearing, and landed well away from them.
After doing a quick post-flight check, Leonov opened up the cockpit door and climbed down out of the helicopter. A small truck arrived to tow the helicopter to the shelter of the woods. The Air Direction group was located in a small mill building. When he arrived, he did not see Captain Kurasov. One of Kurasov's men, a young lieutenant, was the only member of the team there. Leonov dutifully conveyed the instructions from his squadron commander, then walked out to talk to the pilots from the other Mi-24 squadron of his regiment.
The pilots were out near their helicopters, most of which were covered with camouflage nets. There were only six left of the original twenty-one. The pilots seemed exhausted. The big Mi-24s showed evidence of their recent combat experiences. Many of them had patches from small arms fire, and several had evidence of more extensive damage that hadn't been fixed. Leonov found a friend, Sr. Lt. Roman Shurko, near number 54. Leonov was taken aback by Shurko's appearance. Normally very prim and neat, the small pilot looked like he hadn't slept or shaved for three days, which it turned out was close to the truth.
"Hey, Roman Ivanovich! The 1st Squadron's here to save your ass."
Shurko did not look amused. It was a bad joke in the circumstances. Leonov tried to make amends.
"Can I give you a hand?"
Shurko was up on the engine platform with a couple of ground crewmen looking at the rotor head assembly. He climbed down to talk to Leonov.
"Hello, Dmitri Mikhailovich. Sorry to be so abrupt with you. But we've been having problems keeping these helicopters in operation. We're supposed to be getting a few new machines later today out of the front reserves.[50]
So what are you doing here?"
Leonov explained his squadron's mission and began questioning Shurko about the past few days' operations.
"Fm the last survivor from our flight. We were on a fire support mission the first day when Lavarev's bird was hit by ground fire. It plowed into the woods. Nobody got out. Yesterday, while we were carrying out a rocket pass, my wingman's bird just blew up in midair. No warning, no smoke, no nothing. The goddamn artillery had laid in a Grad rocket strike
at the same time and in the same area we were operating. Then Vasily Abramovich's machine was hit on the way back by a Stinger. He was lucky. The missile really smashed up his engine, but he managed to crash-land it in a pasture. Some of our troops were nearby.. they pulled him and his gunner out. He ought to be here later in the day.
"You know, Dmitri, we've been doing a good job. But we've really paid the price for it. It's about time you guys are finally being brought in. It's a tough situation out there. The ECM doesn't work as well as it should, and I really don't think the countermeasure flares are worth a shit. Stay low and move fast. That's all I can tell you. Once they get you in their sights, you don't have much chance."
Leonov was a bit taken back by his friend's pessimism. With a few hours to kill before the squadron arrived, he assisted Shurko in repairing and checking the aircraft. At about 1430, the 1/69 AHR arrived over the field and landed. Fuel trucks were quickly sent out to tank them up. Leonov rejoined his unit.
The attack was launched at 1530. The four flights of helicopters made an impressive sight in combat formation. Their light-colored camouflaged fuselages stood out sharply against the dark fir trees on the mountains below. The big Mi-24s stayed up high near the ridges. Not too high to be silhouetted against the sky, but high enough to avoid the inevitable humps and bumps of the mountainous terrain. Fortunately, during the final approach, the valley fed right into the landing area, and the helicopters were able to make a smooth transition to low altitude.
The helicopters made the final approach to the landing zone in two waves. Three flights were in line, up front, with Dudarek's flight in the second wave behind. The flights were several hundred meters apart to prevent the helicopters from running into each other. Nevertheless, it would be necessary to make tight turns exiting the target area to prevent collisions.
As they approached the landing zones, the pilots tensely awaited enemy fire. There was none. They had taken them by surprise! The landing zones had a small number of farmhouses and other buildings. The roads were quite visible beyond the landing zones, and had a fair amount of traffic. Leonov called over the intercom and told his gunner that he would trigger the rockets. On the approach, they had been flying at an altitude of about 300 meters, at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour. On the attack, Leonov popped the helicopter up to get a better view, then nosed it down into a dive for the firing ran. He rotated the switch for rocket pods 1 and 4. The S-8 rockets hissed and whined in succession as they cleared the pods. It took several seconds for the rocket salvo to hit. Leonov could see his first salvo spatter the road, with one salvo hitting a large track. He pulled his helicopter back around in a 180 degree turn, and the second pair began their firing pass.
This was a classic Soviet ground attack maneuver, sometimes called the "wheel of death." The idea was to continue to revolve around the target, giving it a continuous stream of bombs or rockets. As the second pair cleared the target, Leonov and his wingman, Mikhail Popov, made another firing pass. The 1st Flight leader, Captain Nalepka, radioed the squadron.
"Kontsert One, this is Blue One. Let's make a final firing pass with cannon. I want all flights to wheel around and go down the road west to east. After that, pull back to the north and let Bison land."
The final firing pass was more destructive than the first. By paralleling the road, it was possible to put more rounds on target. By this time the German track convoys were a shambles. Trucks were scattered pell-mell on either side of the road, and many more were smashed and burning in the center of the highway.
49
Khrom Nikel is the Soviet name for the identification-friend-or-foe (IFF) system codenamed Odd Rods by NATO. Ground defenses beam a signal at approaching aircraft, which triggers a coded response from friendly aircraft.
50
Soviet helicopter regiments usually have a reserve of six to ten helicopters to replace battle casualties and helicopters suffering from extensive mechanical failure.