They laughed and told him that Russia had a lot of old working electrical devices of all types. Nothing was ever thrown away in Russia, and all Russian aircraft already had a full system of radio beacons and their frequencies went all the way in and out of Russia in all directions. All that was needed were the several military AM radio frequencies and as long as all aircraft were entering Russia on peaceful missions, they now had the “Right” to fly through or into any major city any time they wanted. He was told to tell the Chinese that they would be offered the same opportunities.
Everyone shook hands with General Allen, The most senior man telling him the President of the United States was welcome to visit at any time, by special order from the Prime Minister of Russia himself. The three satellite phones were also welcomed and would be used wisely since they did not have a satellite communication system anymore either.
The benefits of flying with an escort, as well as the new radio beacon frequencies coming out of the military base in Omsk, gave all the crew, except the eight fresh pilots flying the aircraft, four hours of hard-earned sleep. Even the responsibility of monitoring the only satellite phone on board was given to them and General Allen slept as well as the other crew members until touchdown in a snowy Omsk four hours and twenty minutes later.
The nasty weather was also heading south and the general was escorted out of Russian airspace several hours later, saying goodbye to their escort who reported back that they had orders to wait for the American’s return to Omsk. The freshly refueled C-130s headed on a direct course to the base in Osan, 2,800 miles east of them.
His current Ghost Rider pilot told the general that the phone had rung twice while he was sleeping and a Chinese voice had tried to communicate. The pilot had done what everybody had been told to do when answering a call—listen for the Allen Key password from the caller before uttering any communication. The general checked in with Carlos and found out that his phone had also rung once from this unknown caller, and the general told Carlos to get someone to call up all the numbers on the American list and remind the ones answering the phones to keep quiet until the password was given.
Carlos relayed the information to the general that Mother Goose was inbound to Osan, heading over the northern route, and that her estimated time of arrival was six hours and forty-five minutes. They had hit bad weather and were having to make a 30-minute detour flight around a large storm. It was beginning to blanket most of Russia, and the general should expect to have the same problem in three or four hours. Osan was still open and should continue to be long enough to get both flights in and then out to Shanghai.
“How many people did we get aboard, Carlos?” General Allen asked.
“Twelve pilots, Pete,” Carlos replied. “There isn’t a non-pilot aboard except for the ten cowboys from Lejeune. In total, we have 22 people on the flight manifest with full fuel and parachute gear for 30. You will have to pick up more men on your next stop to use all the silk. I’m sure you can find one or two of them who are able to jump, or fly at their next stop.”
General Allen agreed, saying there should be enough to choose from in Osan, and he wanted the flight’s phone number so that he could talk. He immediately called Mother Goose and found them flying in pretty lousy weather, but now actually thinking they had a decent tailwind and that they could get back on schedule.
The flight commander, a sleepy Major Joe Patterson who was a multi-use pilot himself, told him that they were supposed to check in with Carlos in an hour. Ghost Rider was still working on the several radio frequencies they had received from the Russian military. These radio frequencies were expected to work well into China. Pete Allen gave all the Russian beacon frequencies to the pilots of the tanker, and after several minutes Patterson told him that they had new fixes on three very faint radio beacons—enough to plot their exact position by intersecting the three beacon locations to their aircraft’s position. They came back, thanking him and telling him that they did have a tailwind, were 110 miles off course but 160 miles closer to Osan than they thought, and that they could make it in with 40 minutes of fuel to spare.
General Allen called Carlos back. “Carlos, did you know that you could be out of a job as the world’s only air traffic controller pretty soon?” he laughed into the phone.
“Thank God for that!” Carlos replied. “Being out of a job will give me a chance to fly instead of watch the world’s weather for you all.”
All the flight personnel who were not flying managed to get another four hours more sleep before the bad weather and turbulence made it almost impossible. The general was pretty refreshed after seven good hours, however, and decided to shave, with a bowl and a bottle of water serving as his shaving equipment.
The C-130s were strong aircraft, and the elements battering the aircraft outside were not much of a concern. The luxury of very faint radio beacons still obtainable at 29,000 feet were also helping all the aircraft stay on course, and three hours after the general shaved, they landed at Osan in snowy conditions on a freshly cleared white runway—one hour after Mother Goose had arrived direct from McGuire AFB. It was the morning of the ninth day—cold, blustery, and snowy.
All of the men on the mission who had done nothing but sleep in some cozy bit of space on the airplane were rested and ready for action. Major Patterson had already rounded up another ten experienced C-17 and Stratotanker pilots at Osan, and 30 men were going over the parachute gear, preparing it for use and familiarizing themselves with the best the Marines had. One of the flown in radio beacons was already being set up close to the southern end of Osan’s longest runway, and would be operational by take-off.
General Allen immediately held a meeting with all soldiers, pilots, and crew.
“Ok, guys, I want to hear your plan,” said the general, “but first I want Mother Goose to head up to Misawa in Japan ASAP and get the second radio beacon operational. I will personally deliver the third one to Beijing once our operation at Shanghai Pudong International Airport is over.
“OK! I want the 30 parachutes dropped in low by Blue Moon and Easy Girl, with fifteen men per aircraft plus a pallet of arms. They will go in just before dawn, and the final decision on your landing site is perfect. The open land between the ocean and the west side of the airport should be far enough away for the snow to blanket any aircraft sounds.
“Captain Wong? Well done at JFK. This one is going to be just as easy, as long as we don’t end up with troops blocking the runways with trucks, or whatever they have that can stop the Air China aircraft from taking off. We cannot win a war against the larger numbers of troops they must have stationed there, but remember complete surprise is on our side. Now, tell me exactly how you did it at JFK, and what is your plan for getting into the aircraft here?”
Major Patterson and Captain Wong spent an hour telling General Allen what had happened at JFK, as well as the plan they had formulated on their flight over the North Pole at 31,000 feet. It was very risky, but the element of surprise and the way the Chinese engineers and soldiers had reacted to hearing of the Supreme Commander’s surprise visit, it certainly could be done again. Hopefully, nobody knew where the Supreme Commander was at the moment, but it didn’t matter, and to the men they were going to encounter, he was most probably God!
Mother Goose left two hours later, refueled, and headed on her way to Japan, then over to Hawaii, and back to McGuire. She had done her job. Now it was up to the men she had brought in to increase the size of the U.S. Air Force, commercially.