Sorry this little series is taking so long! I'm still a novice at the mission builder and first I have to build the missions, then test, then fly them and capture the screenies, so...

Anyway, installment 3!



The story so far... RAAF 77 Squadron CO Lou Spence has been shot down SE of Samcheok in Korea during the RAAF unit's first combat mission since the end of WWII. Flt Lt George 'Spud' McKilwraith and P/O Tom 'Robbo' Robinson, returning to the scene of the crash, spotted North Korean People's Army (KPA) troops organising a search in forest near the crash site, indicating that Spence had survived and was trying to evade the enemy forces. A chopper from the 3rd Air Rescue Squadron of the US 5th AF has been sent from Kadena AFB, Okinawa, to assist in extracting Spence. But first Spud and Robbo and the pilots of 77 Squadron have to rendezvous, escort it to the crash site, hold off enemy air or ground forces, locate Spence, and keep the battlefield clear so the chopper can land...

JUNE 2 1950, AFTERNOON

Diary of Flt Lt 'Spud' McKilwraith

The Yanks were fantastic. A Chopper from the US 3rd AR took off from Okinawa at the same time as the Mustangs from 77 Squadron took off for Pusan. The timing was tight, but Robbo and I would just have enough time to land back at Pusan, rearm and refuel, and get back to rendezvous with the chopper at a place called Lake Etoko, for the rescue attempt. We only had enough crew with us to turn around two more of the 77 Sq Mustangs, so I briefed 'Dingo' Wilson, and 'Lizard' Lennard - both Borneo campaign vets - and within 40 minutes of landing at Pusan we were taking off again.



Myself and Robbo were in the old WWII Sharkmouth livery, while the rest of the Sq was in the new Korea unit markings with red white and blue roundels and spinners.







The terrain over Korea was still new to us, and we had to navigate to Etoko with map and compass, the Mustang's fuselage humming and vibrating as we headed for the rendezvous point at full throttle. All we knew about the chopper was that it was a twin rotor, and spotting it against the dark green fields and jungle of Korea would not be easy.



As we neared the rendezvous point, I told the formation to spread out, "Keep a sharp eye open you blokes," I said, "We're about 10 miles out."

"It all looks bloody green to me," Lizard remarked, "I bet the chopper is US Marine Green too. This could be a dogs breakfast." He was the squadron pessimist, despite having survived against the Japanese at Darwin and in Borneo, without so mich as a scratch.



I let him grumble. We all knew Spence was down in that jungle somewhere, KPA troops closing in on him, if they hadn't already got him.







As we closed on Etoko, we were inside friendly territory, so at least we didn't have to worry about AAA. But at Pusan the Yanks had warned us the North Koreans were fielding some Chinese build Mig 15 jets - probably flown by Chinese 'instructors' - in Samcheok airspace. We did not want to run into those mongrels.



And we couldn't afford to have them jump us while we were looking down at the treetops, "Robbo and Dingo, you look for the chopper," I ordered, "Lizard, you're our fullback, keep an eye on the skies."

We began to circle over Etoko, staying low to make the job of spotting the chopper easier.



It was Robbo, again, who spotted it first, a tiny speck on the horizon. The guy had eyes like a wedge tailed eagle.

"Spud, I have an aircraft on my 11 o'clock, looks like him," came his voice over the radio.





I switched over the US AF frequency, "3AR chopper this is 77 Sq Red Flight, we've got you in sight."

A young voice came crackling through the static, "...to see you Aussies! We was feeling a bit lonesome up here."

I banked over the top of the chopper and pointed the nose towards Samcheok. "3AR we are going to run ahead of you and sweep the road clean, acknowledge."



"Roger 77 Sq. And we need a visual on that pilot. Get his attention and fix his position."

"Roger, out."



As we crossed our lines and approached the forest on the hill beside the crash site, I realised what long odds we were playing. It was just a hunch that Spence would be holed up there. It's where I would have gone. But we'd overflown it once, and I didn't see him. OK so, back at Pusan, I might have intimated that I actually saw something - I didn't want the blokes to give up hope. But I hadn't. He might already be sitting in some KPA hell hole for all we knew. My thoughts were broken by the calm tones of Lizard. Nothing got that bloke excitable, not even a possible KPA AAA nest...

"Red 1, this is Red 4. I got, looks like, three groups of enemy vehicles, spread over about a mile on the treeline at my 12 o'clock."

I reached forward, flicking on my ground attack gunsight, and arming my HVARs, setting them to single release.

"OK Red flight, I'll go in first, ID the targets, the rest of you orbit."

They acknowledged and I began my run. All I could see was small vehicles, but Samcheok was surrounded by KPA, so they had to be enemy forces.



I counted three groups of three vehicles before I triggered four rockets at the middle group.





It was a AAA nest.



As I swept overhead I saw I'd fired wide, and spotted troop trucks and truck mounted AAA.



"OK Red flight, engage ground forces with rockets, we have multiple AAA down there, stay at max range," I said.

Robbo, Dingo and Lizard began their runs. Dingo was first, never one to waste ammo, he let go with a single HVAR at max range and peeled away.



It was a hit.

Robbo was not one to trust either his equipment, or his luck, he closed to fist fighting range, ignoring the AAA which had now woken up and was firing wildly into the sky at the circling Mustangs. He bored down on a group of trucks nestled in the crook of hill, and hammered them with a salvo.









The rockets struck home and the trucks disappeared in a ball of flame.







He pulled up and away, without a scratch.



We continued like that for the next five minutes. Tracer flew through the air around us, heavy calibre, but fired in panic. The KPA forces didn't know if we were coming from the East, West, Up or Down.







One group of trucks was sited in the lee of a hill. It meant they only had a 180 degree field of fire, but it also meant they were protected and knew exactly what direction we had to come at them from. Lizard and Robbo made two runs without success, and Lizard picked up some holes in his tail.

"This is Red 3, I'm out of rockets, engaging with guns," I heard Robbo say. I could see he was already on his way in, it was too late to try to pull him back. When his blood was up, he was unstoppable.

He came in low. Too bloody low. I could hardly watch, it was like he wanted to ram the KPA position.





Not twenty feet above the ground, he levelled out.







If they didn't die from his salvo of .50 cal, the KPA forces on the AAA truck probably died of fright.



As he pulled away, the anti air truck went up in a secondary explosion, taking one of the others with it.





There was one unit left.

"Beginning my run," Dingo said tersely.



"Rockets away."







"Bullseye," he said, without a trace of elation.



I saw the remaining KPA forces fleeing their vehicles, and running for the trees. All they left behind were burning wrecks.



I switched back to the US 3AR frequency, "3AR helo, this is 77 RAAF, we have cleared out a KPA position in your path, you are free to ingress. We're going in to try to find our man now."

"Roger 77, we see the smoke," came the reply. "Thankyou kindly."





The blokes rejoined and we took a status as we neared Samcheok. Lizard had a perforated rudder, but it was still responding. The others had come through untouched, even Robbo, who probably collected dirt in his air intake, he was so low.



"Robbo, Lizard, Dingo, you go ahead, engage any target of opporunity you see. If they are still searching for Spence, keep their heads down. I'm going to circle the hilltop. If he's there, this is his chance to make himself seen."



The boys were soon back at work over the crash site, where enemy troops were still combing the area. With guns and their remaining rockets, they keep the KPA busy.









Meanwhile I closed on the jungle at the top of the river valley.



Dropping onto one wing, I circled. It was almost hopeless, and if there had been a decent heavy gun in the area, I'd have been crocodile bait.



But it did the trick.

Suddenly, huddled in a ditch, in a clearing in the jungle, I saw him. And he saw me.





I grabbed for the radio button on the throttle, "3AR helo, this is 77 RAAF, we have identified our pilot. He is in a a clearing at the western edge of the jungle on hilltop LP36, repeat, western edge of the jungle on hilltop LP36, you are clear to ingress."



"Roger that 77 RAAF, we are going in. ETA 2 minutes."



I took status. Robbo and Lizard were sweeping the valley, gunning anything that moved, taking only light arms fire. Dingo was... where the hell was he?

"Red leader to Red 4, report your position please," I called.

There came a grunt, and then, "...a bloody armoured truck heading for the western edge of the hilltop."

"Repeat Dingo!"

"I said..." he repeated, "I'm engaging a KPA troop transport making for the western edge of the jungle, and it must be armoured with five inch bloody plate! I can't dent the #%&*$#."





I took a deep breath, I couldn't see either him or the enemy truck, and there was no time to waste.

"Listen Dingo, you've got to stop that truck. It's heading straight toward Spence's position and we can't let it unload a whole platoon of commies right where that helo needs to put down."

"Crickey Spud, what do you think I'm bloody trying to do, get out of my earhole will ya?" he said.

I pulled my machine hard around and now I could see him, and the truck, both heading full pelt for the treeline.

Lizard opened up at about 500 yards, the ground around the truck boiling with fire.





As he swept overhead, it rumbled to a stop, half a mile short of the trees.



"It aint dead, but it aint going anywhere either," Lizard reported. "Can someone finish the swine off before those troops get out?"

"Right behind you Reptile," came a laconic voice, "I figured you'd bugger it up."

Dingo dropped down on the truck, and let fly with his remaining rockets.





I saw an angry black cloud erupt where the truck had been.



No one came out of it. The KPA troops had been stopped about 200 yards from where Spence had gone to ground.



The chopper came in at treetop height, and dropped down into the clearing.





I saw a small figure scurry from the ditch, and run, head down, into the belly of the helo, and it lifted smoothly away.

"This is 3AR helo to 77 Flight leader, we have your man Aussies, repeat, we have your man. Heading 290 for Pusan."

"Roger 3AR, we've got you." I replied, my throat tight.



The others started hollering and whooping. It felt like victory, but inside I knew, we were only halfway home.