Hiller production plant, Port Angeles
Washington State, U.S.A.
Having been alerted by a call from Jeff Hiller, the owner and CEO of the Hiller Aircraft Corporation, Ingrid was on hand in front of the large building housing the Hiller Port Angeles production plant, prototype workshop and design department when Jeff Hiller’s personal AIRCAR landed on the tarmac next to the building. Ingrid was not surprised to see that Jeff Hiller, an enthusiastic aviator and accomplished pilot, had been piloting his craft. However, she was surprised to see an Air Force lieutenant general in full uniform also step out of the AIRCAR. She went forward to meet the two men halfway, stopping once facing them from two paces away. To her surprise, the Air Force officer saluted her at rigid attention, prompting her to salute back.
‘’Uh, I am retired from the service, General, and am now a civilian. No need to salute me.’
‘’A twice recipient of the Medal of Honor always deserves to be saluted, General Dows.’ replied the officer, smiling to her, before shaking hands with her. ‘’Lieutenant General George McMillan, from the Pentagon Combined Services Procurement Division.’
‘’Welcome to Port Angeles, General. To what do I owe your visit here?’
‘’To discussions we opened with Mister Hiller about a procurement contract for an initial batch of your incredible SKYTRUCK, General. Do you have a place where we could talk in complete privacy?’
‘’My office in the design section should do: it is in the most secure section of this complex and is separate from the design section’s open workspace. Please follow me.’
As the trio was entering the production plant building, Ingrid looked sideways at Jeff Hiller.
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‘’How long ago were you informed by Washington of that intent to procure our SKYTRUCK, Jeff?’
‘’How about three hours ago, Ingrid? It seems that the Pentagon is resolved to keep this offer under wrap for the moment. General McMillan was the one who first informed me of it after arriving at our corporate headquarters in Firebaugh.’
‘’Well, whatever their reason is for being discrete about it, the important thing for us is that they want our SKYTRUCK.’
‘’Exactly!’
Once in her office, Ingrid invited Hiller and McMillan to sit with her around a low coffee table set in one corner, next to a set of large windows giving a view of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, visible a few kilometers away.
‘’So, gentlemen, tell me about this procurement proposal.’
As she had expected, General McMillan was the one to answer her first.
‘’Well, it all came up as a result of our AFGHAN EXORCISM operation in Afghanistan. Early on, we were hoping that a couple of countries, notably Iran, would allow us to bring in equipment and supplies by road into Afghanistan. However, to our chagrin, none of them accepted to let us use their country as a rear supply base. Even getting permission to overfly them was like pulling a tooth out. Up to now, only Iran and Turkey accepted to let us fly from them or over them to get to Afghanistan. As a result and despite our large present fleet of air transport aircraft, we are now finding ourselves short of the types of tactical transport aircraft we truly need to support our invasion force there. We particularly are short of VSTOL aircraft able to carry payloads of more than fifteen tons and land them in small or rudimentary airfields. Our only present aircraft able to do such missions is our C-90 ATLAS but, due to its size and relative lack of agility, it has proved very vulnerable to enemy fire of any kind. This was not made public but we have lost to date three C-90s to ground fire, with another four sustaining damage.
We have since restricted our C-90s to operations to and from the few international airports in Afghanistan. Our other VSTOL transport aircraft, be they C-21s, CMV28s or PELICANs, are fine to deliver various supplies to our forward units but none of them can carry vehicles bigger than medium trucks or light armored vehicles. When we looked at the possible candidates able to fill our operational needs, only one stood out: your
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SKYTRUCK. A decision was thus taken to order as an IOR17 an initial batch of sixteen Hiller SKYTRUCKs, with possibly a lot more as options.’
‘’But, for us to build those sixteen initial aircraft for you and for conducting the training of their future crews will take months, General.’ objected at once Ingrid. ‘’We are still in the process of finishing to build our second prototype and our SKYTRUCK still has not been certified for commercial service. We still have months of test flying and flight hours to accumulate before it could be certified.’
‘’True, but you do have one SKYTRUCK that I consider fully operational: your prototype, which demonstrated its capabilities so brilliantly during the rescue of the PRINCESS OF THE SEAS. Right now, we have a crying need for it for a specific mission that no other aircraft can fullfill right now. I am talking about the transportation to Afghanistan of the vehicles of the two Marine Corps regiments presently fighting in Afghanistan. Those vehicles are embarked aboard our battlecarriers NEPTUNE and WILLIAM F. HALSEY and our initial plan for them was to carry them by sea to the Iranian coast via the landing craft based on those two battlecarriers and on other landing ships of our fleet now on station in the Sea of Oman. Unfortunately, the refusal of Iran to let us land those vehicles in their country has resulted in them being stuck aboard our ships, with no aircraft able to both land on a carrier and lift those vehicles all the way to Afghanistan. What we would like is for us to contract Hiller for the rental of your prototype SKYTRUCK, so that those vehicles could finally be delivered to our marines in Afghanistan.’
Ingrid nodded slowly her head at that: McMillan’s request made a lot of sense.
However, she could see a big problem with that already.
‘’And who will fly it to Afghanistan, General? No Air Force or Navy pilots are qualified to fly our SKYTRUCK. Hell, only me and three other test pilots at Hiller are fully qualified to fly it at the present.’
Somehow, that brought a malicious grin on McMillan’s lips.
‘’I fully realize that, General. I came to ask you and your test pilots if you would be willing to fly for us during this conflict, and this for at least the time needed to carry those vehicles stuck on our ships.’
Stunned by this, Ingrid looked at Jeff Hiller, who nodded his head to her.
17 IOR : Immediate Operational Requirement. A clause that supercedes most normal administrative steps in the procurement of a specific type of military equipment judged essential for a military operation.
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‘’I told General McMillan that, on top of accepting to produce on an urgent basis sixteen pre-series SKYTRUCKS for the United States armed forces, I would let him ask for your service and that of your assistant test pilots. So, what do you say to that, Ingrid?’
Ingrid was thoughtful for a moment before looking at McMillan.
‘’You do realize that we are civilians, and not military fliers, or at the least not current military fliers, General. Furthermore, one of my three assistant test pilots qualified on the SKYTRUCK never served in the military and has exactly zero experience of combat. From what you told me earlier, Afghanistan is not a very friendly environment for transport aircraft and forcing or enticing a civilian pilot with no military experience to go fly there would be irresponsible and also something I would refuse to condone.’
‘’And what kind of combat or military experience do your two other test pilots have, General Dows?’
Ingrid gave a most sober look to McMillan while answering him.
‘’The two test pilots I am talking about are veterans of World War 2 who started flying in combat in 1942 as part of the Fifinellas, the combat air unit I created. One of them, Shirley Slade, flew as my wingman in the Pacific and eventually left the service as a full colonel in command of a jet fighter wing. The other pilot concerned, Elizabeth Gardner, also flew as a fighter pilot in the Pacific and retired as a lieutenant colonel in charge of a fighter squadron. Both of them then went to work as commercial pilots in the Philippines until one year ago. I then had Mister Hiller hire them as test pilots, so that they could take some of the weight off my shoulders.’
‘’But, they would be way too old for flying into a combat zone today, General Dows.’ protested at once McMillan, making Ingrid shake her head in response.
‘’Normally, you would be correct, General. However, know something that is not general knowledge: both of them were rejuvenated by me one year ago and now look as if they are in their very early twenties. They are dedicated patriots, brave women and first-class pilots and I am certain that they would say ‘yes’ to your request for their services. As for me, you also have a ‘yes’ on my part. Now, one final question: do we fly in as simple civilian pilots under government contract or would you like to temporarily reactivate us as military pilots?’
‘’Uh, you are really catching me unprepared with that question, General Dows. I will have to ask General Sherman about this. Mind you, if he agrees to reactivate you,
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then I doubt that you would like to end up with simple junior officer ranks pinned on you, right?’
‘’Hell no! Me, a retired General of the Army, back as a captain and liable to be led around by men with less than one fifth of my military experience? Forget that! The same would go for my two friends.’
‘’Uh, could I use a phone to call the Pentagon, General?’
‘’Go right ahead and use the phone on my work desk, General. In the meantime, me and Mister Hiller will go see my two friends to ask them their opinion about this.’
Ingrid and Jeff Hiller then left the office and went downstairs to the prototype workshop and hangar, where Ingrid knew she would find Shirley and Elizabeth. Both of the women were effectively there, supervising and helping the technicians busy doing some maintenance work on their SKYTRUCK. Contrary to many contemporary civilian commercial pilots, both Shirley and Elizabeth had learned out of necessity to help maintain their aircraft during their military service in a number of past wars. Thanks to their decades of service experience together, all three women were very close friends indeed. Shirley Slade first saw Ingrid approach and smiled to her at once.
‘’Hi, Ingrid! What pushed you to leave your upper floor nest to come and see us here?’
‘’An unexpected contract proposal from the Pentagon which may interest you and Elizabeth. Libbie, could you join us for a moment?’
‘’Sure!’ replied Elizabeth Gardner, who put down her small wrench before joining Ingrid and Shirly under one of the ducted propellers of the SKYTRUCK. With Jeff Hiller staying a couple of paces away while listening to them, Ingrid then repeated to the two women what General McMillan had told her. As she had fully expected, both Shirley and Elizabeth eagerly accepted the offer to fly in support of their country, with Elizabeth then asking one question.
‘’Will we fly as civilian employees of the Department of Defense, Ingrid?’
‘’I still don’t know and neither did General McMillan. He is presently talking by phone with the Pentagon to clarify that point. We should know soon what Washington decides about us.’
‘’Uh, I’m going back up and see if he has finished his call, girls. You can wait here in the meantime.’ said Jeff Hiller before walking away. Once alone with her two friends, Ingrid lowered her voice to a confidential level.
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‘’Do you girls still have your leather flying vests from your time with the Fifinellas, girls?’
‘’Of course we do, Ingrid!’ replied Shirley in a falsely indignant tone. ‘’How could we throw away or even lose such a precious souvenir?’
‘’Excellent! We may just have a chance to carry them again while in a combat zone.’
‘’Should we dust off our service ribbons as well? asked Elizabeth, making Ingrid nod once.
‘’Of course! You think that three Fifinella veteran pilots like us would walk naked in front of a bunch of rooky Navy and Marine Corps pilots?’
‘’Hum...naked... that would be quite a spicy moment, no?’ asked Shirley, a malicious smile on her lips, making both Elizabeth and Ingrid chuckle in amusement.
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CHAPTER 15 – FIFINELLAS BACK AT WAR
Shirley Slade
