The pilots and crews crawled into their airplanes and completed their preflight list. Then, one-by-one, they started the two engines. The missiles were actually heavier than what the craft was designed to carry, but it was deemed a necessity for the mission to continue. The airplanes reached the end of the runway and ran the engines up to full power. It took nearly the entire runway before the small bombers finally lifted off the ground. Once in the air, the pilots had to maintain 80 percent on the engines just to keep their ships flying. They banked in a circle until all four airplanes were in the air, then lined up and flew in a “V” formation toward the signals from the American radar.
The SPS-43 air search radar aboard USS Little Rock picked up the airplanes as soon as they left the ground over 100 miles away. The position was plotted and the CO informed. A sleepy Captain Jack Ziemer walked into CIC scratching his chin and blinking the sleep out of his eyes. Ziemer was brought out of retirement to command the old cruiser and he missed the regular nights of sleep he had grown used to as a civilian.
“OK, what’s happening?” he asked with a yawn.
“Looks like four contacts coming from this air base above Wonsan. They circled a while, then started heading for us,” said the petty officer of the watch.
“Humph,” Ziemer growled and scratched the stubble on his chin. “Headed right for us?”
“Yes sir, Captain. Right at us. Their course is 120, speed about 250.”
“Do these guys have a missile launching capability? I thought we knocked out their varsity.”
“Yes, Captain, but it looks like they got something together. From the speed it isn’t very modern, but I don’t really know what they might throw together,” the petty officers said.
Ziemer grunted again and looked at the young man approvingly. “I agree. Just keep thinking like that and I’ll sleep better.” He hit the bitch box. “Bridge, combat, this is the Captain, sound general quarters and get ready for a missile launch,” he ordered.
In seconds the ship was pounding with the feet of 500 sailors rushing to their general quarters stations. The ship was ready in less than five minutes. In Combat, Ziemer was talking with Ops.
“Lock them up and ready the fantail,’ Ziemer said.
On the after part of the ship the two huge SPG-49 radars swung around and pointed toward the planes still eighty-five miles away. On command the powerful radars were switched on and the beams locked onto the lead two aircraft. Inside the magazines, two Talos missiles were readied. As they slid along the rail to the doors, several men attached the fins that would control the missile in flight. When complete, the doors on the main deck under the radars opened, guides extended, and two white Talos missiles slid along the guides and onto the rails of the launcher. Once on the rails, the doors closed and the huge missiles turned towards their targets.
“This is Sierra Hotel, request birds free tracks one and two,” said the Operations Officer in the radio handset.
“Sierra Hotel, this is Sierra Whiskey, birds free tracks one and two,” came the response on the receiver.
“This is Sierra Hotel, roger out,” said Ops. He turned to the Captain.
Ziemer nodded. “Weapons free.”
The Operations Officer never believed he would actually get to do it, but he turned to the weapons control officer. “Weapons control, launch missiles.”
“Weapons control aye, in three, two, one.” The man flipped a protective cover and pressed the firing key twice. The two missiles had already been designated to the two targets. When the button was pushed, the squibs on the first then the second Talos missile ignited the rocket motors.
The gleaming white missile some called the “flying telephone pole,” streaked into the night sky. The crewmen on deck followed the trail of the rocket as the booster fired. After a short time, the booster fell off and a ramjet engine provided the thrust. Inside the nose of the missile, the seeker was aimed at the target and the missile was flying inside the beam of the radar. The electronics inside the missile were old, but worked. The missile just kept flying at a speed of Mach 2.5. At sixty miles, the seeker could see the target. At seventy-five miles, the seeker saw that it was close enough and detonated the 300 pound warhead. Both planes were blotted from the sky.
The second two airplanes were behind the others and watched their compatriots meet their end. Screaming over the radio, both pilots toggled off their missiles and turned their airplanes heading back to base.
Aboard the Little Rock, Ziemer made the call. “Sierra Whisky, this is Sierra Hotel. We have inbound Styx from the bearing of the contacts. They are too far away to reach us. Request birds free tracks three and four, over.”
“This is Sierra Whisky actual, I want those two. Birds free, tracks three and four, over.”
“This is Sierra Hotel, roger out.” Ziemer turned to the watch. “Weapons free.” Two seconds later two more missiles were on their way.
“Sierra Whiskey this is Sierra Hotel. Birds away tracks three and four, over.”
‘This is Sierra Whiskey, roger out.”
Once again the Talos missiles streaked towards their target. Both airplanes were rapidly making their way back to base. The two Styx missiles dropped to 1,500 feet and continued on the bearing they were fired. Unfortunately, the onboard radar did not pick up any targets. The missiles maintained their heading until their fuel ran out.
The two North Korean pilots pressed their throttles as far as they could go, hoping they would be too far away to be a target. They were screaming over the radio to have the runway lights turned on at their airbase. Both men saw the lights and began a rapid approach.
At just over 100 miles, the warhead of the first missile went off taking the tail off its target. The second went off just above the last bomber, ripping through the thin skin and perforating the fuel tanks on both wings. Raw fuel entered the engine compartments and ignited, filling the air with flames and melting through the wings and engine supports. Within seconds, the wings fell off the plane within sight of its home base.
Aboard Little Rock, the fire control radars were switched to standby and the ship returned to its regular steaming watch. No other targets presented themselves that night.
Chapter 20
The bombardment had begun at midnight and lasted for six hours. Artillery saturated an area ten miles wide by ten miles deep along a line just south of the DMZ in the direction of Seoul, some 140 miles away. It was as if there had been no night. The flashes from the muzzles of the artillery were nearly constant and anyone nearby could clearly see what was happening all around the guns and their encampments. One soldier thought it was like seeing things through several strobe lights.
The B-52s hit the most congregated valleys along the way. Other aircraft hit the artillery positions and the hilltop emplacements. A recon drone was flying over the areas pinpointing the enemy positions. Once identified, the position was hit by the artillery, bombed, or marked for attention by the Special Forces units brought into the area.
In the early light as the men mounted their trucks and tracked vehicles, they could first hear a deep rumble from far above. Faintly they could see aircraft high in the sky moving over their position heading westward. Then the sound grew louder. Suddenly flights of aircraft flew over much lower to the ground. The artillery barrage had stopped just before the airplanes flew over. One of the men shouted, “They’re F-18s!”