The increasingly loud scream from powerful jet engines attracted most of the passengers who had just arrived in a regional turboprop passenger aircraft to nearly run to the large windows giving a view of the main tarmac and of the runways. Part of those passengers was a military pilot from the U.S. Air Force 92nd Air Refueling Wing, based at the Fairchild Airforce Base near Spokane, Washington, who was travelling with his wife and two young kids. Captain Jeffrey Rosen and his family were arriving in Port Angeles in order to start a long-delayed family vacation in the region of the Olympic Mountains next to Port Angeles. Being well-versed in visual aircraft recognition thanks to his job as a refueling tanker copilot, Rosen frowned on seeing an unfamiliar type of aircraft in the process of lining up at one end of the main runway.
‘’What the hell is this? I never saw a plane like this one before.’
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‘’But you refuel all kinds of aircraft in the air nearly every day, Jeff.’ said his wife, Annette.
‘’True, but this plane is totally new to me... Oh, I understand now: the Hiller Aircraft Corporation has a production plant and prototype development shop here at this airport. This must be a new Hiller-produced prototype. It looks impressive but it also looks quite unusual for a combat aircraft.’
‘’How so, Jeff?’
‘’Well, for one thing, the two jet engines on this aircraft are huge in proportion to the rest of this plane, which is obviously a combat aircraft prototype and not some kind of commercial aircraft. I wonder...’
He was then cut off by the suddenly increasing noise volume from the unknown aircraft, which made conversations difficult inside the terminal. The aircraft then started to accelerate at an impossible rate down the runway and, to Jeff’s disbelief, rotated off the ground and started to climb quickly after a very short ground roll.
‘’Jesus! That thing took off in less than 700 feet and is now climbing like a bat out of Hell. Shit! I should have filmed it.’
‘’Don’t worry, Jeff: I got it on my camera and I took multiple pictures of it.’
‘’Phew! Thanks, Honey: I will have to show these pictures to my squadron leader when I will return to work next week. What an incredible plane that was.’
10:08 (Seattle Time)
Tuesday, May 20, 2003 ‘C’
Prototype workshop, Hiller aircraft production plant William R. Fairchild International Airport, Port Angeles Ingrid was at hand, standing in front of the A-24 prototype, when the Asian-Australian-New-Zealand mixed military delegation arrived in the prototype workshop, escorted by a Hiller security guard. She liked very much the way the nine foreign air force officers reacted on seeing for the first time her SHARK, with their eyes and mouths popping open in admiration and wonderment. On top of two officers each from Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, the original countries which had asked for her advice a year and a half ago, there were also one Australian, one New-Zealander and one colonel from the Malaysian Air Force. As discrete as she had tried to be about her aircraft project, test-flying it had inevitably attracted quite a lot of attention to it from
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around the aviation world. Unfortunately, it had also attracted a lot of bad-mouthing from other American aircraft manufacturers who had taken exception to the lack of competitive bidding involved in her aircraft program, as well as a few pointed questions and comments from American military and political leaders. However, today she was facing what amounted to a most friendly group of visitors.
‘’Good morning, gentlemen, and welcome to the Hiller prototype workshop.
Behind me is the prototype of the A-24 SHARK, which I have been extensively test-flying for the last eleven days. While its testing program still has quite a way to go, the A-24
has up to now proven in my opinion to be a safe aircraft to fly, with no noticeable design vice or handling problems to it. I can now tell you that, barring some unforeseen problem in its flight testing, the Hiller A-24 SHARK should be ready for series production within seven months. You were thus invited here so that you could inspect my A-24 and report about it to your respective governments. To the Australian, New-Zealander and Malaysian officers present, I will start by describing the premise that brought this aircraft program into existence. The initial countries which came to seek my advice in December of 2001, namely Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, were looking for a new combat aircraft better suited to the conditions and constraints of the Pacific region than the existing American and European models of fighter-bombers. Their main requests were for radically extended range and flight endurance, low acquisition, maintenance and operations costs and suitability to engage effectively from close range a variety of ground and surface threats that are too often considered as secondary, low value targets by American and European air force staffs. The A-24 was thus designed mainly for long-range sovereignty patrols, counter-insurgency and counter-piracy and counter-smuggling, using mostly low-cost, unguided weapons like cannons, rockets and bombs. In terms of range and endurance, while I still have to make actual long-range test flights across the Pacific, I did conduct a fuel consumption test return flight between Seattle and Anchorage, in Alaska. The distance between those two cities is 2,309
kilometers, or 1,443 miles if you prefer using the Imperial system. Thus, we are speaking about a total flight distance of 4,618 kilometers, or 2,886 miles, non-stop and without using air refueling. That distance is greater than the maximum ferry range of most existing fighter-bombers using drop tanks, yet it was done strictly using less than half of the capacity the internal fuel tanks of the A-24, with plenty of fuel remaining in the internal tanks at the end of the flight. Furthermore, when I flew that trip, I also carried in my A-24 a five-ton load of internal dummy ammunition and ordnance representing the
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combined mass of 1,200 30 mm cannon rounds, 64 76 mm unguided rockets, twelve 127 mm heavy unguided rockets and two long-range air-to-air missiles inside internal weapons bays, plus four dummy short-range air-to-air missiles on external launch rails.’
Exclamations greeted those numbers as the foreign officers exchanged stunned looks.
One Australian officer, a lieutenant colonel wearing the wings of a fighter pilot, then asked Ingrid a question.
‘’And, according to your test calculations, what would be the maximum range of your A-24 when using only internal fuel and with a clean aircraft5?’
‘’I have to make a caveat here: my A-24 SHARK uses only internal fuel tanks and no external drop tanks. It also has no air refueling system. Why? Because it doesn’t need them and I kept them out in order to keep the costs low. It can fly to its maximum range purely on internal fuel, thus allowing it to stay ‘clean’ and keep aerodynamic drag to a minimum. I presently estimate its maximum range in clean configuration at a minimum of 11,000 kilometers, or 6,110 nautical miles, while carrying five tons of internal ordnance and while flying at a subsonic cruise speed of Mach 0.9, meaning 950
kilometers per hour. The Hiller A-24 could thus fly a non-stop trip from Sydney to either Manila, Da Nang, Jakarta, Tokyo or Guam, all strictly on internal fuel.’
There were more befuddled looks exchanged before the same Australian officer asked another question.
‘’This sounds like near miraculous results, Miss Dows. How did you manage such a huge range capability on internal fuel alone?’
‘’By using a solution no other designer of combat aircraft has used or even thought of before in a combat aircraft: I chose two engines of a model of very high bypass turbofan of the kind commonly used to power large commercial airliners in order to propel my aircraft: the Pratt & Whitney PW 35006. Each engine develops a maximum thrust on takeoff of 18,182 kilogram-force, or 40,000 pounds of thrust, with a bypass ratio of 7.1 and a very low specific fuel consumption which is less than half that of the low-bypass turbofan engines commonly used to power existing fighter-bombers. Many would then object that such engines are unsuited to supersonic flight, due to their huge airflow and large diameters, but there are ways to make them function well at supersonic 5 Clean aircraft: Common expression describing an aircraft that is not carrying any external load, like bombs, drop tanks and missiles.
6 PW 3500: A fictitious turbofan engine design imagined by the author and based roughly on the real-life Pratt & Wittney PW 2037 engine.
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speeds while keeping their low fuel consumption qualities. In the case of my A-24, I used a divertless supersonic intake, or DSI, which is a large, fixed lump situated at the entrance of the engine air intake channel. Such DSI devices slow down supersonic airflow and allow high-bypass turbofan engines to function correctly at speeds of up to Mach 2, and this while not using any moving parts. Basically, what you have here is a supersonic fighter-bomber able to fly to speeds of up to Mach 2 while using a type of engine normally used by large commercial airliners. Another advantage of using such a type of high-bypass turbofan is that they commonly use a thrust reverser system, something that my A-24 has. It can thus use thrust reversal on landings to drastically cut the rolling distance, thus allowing it to use shorter airstrips.’
‘’I can now see why no other builder of military combat aircraft ever produced a plane with such a range as your A-24, Miss Dows. You really can think outside of the box.’ said the Malaysian air force colonel present as part of the delegation, making Ingrid smile maliciously.
‘’I don’t simply think outside of the box, colonel: I also live outside of the box.
Furthermore, as an ex-fighter pilot with six decades of combat flying experience, I also know what works, what doesn’t and what is needed or superfluous. Take for example the present insistence for fighter aircraft to be able to fly at speeds above Mach 2. While such top speeds may sound attractive, they are in my opinion a false ideal, as they necessitate the use of engine post-combustion, which hugely increases fuel consumption and can thus be sustained only for a few minutes, while speeds above Mach 2.2 necessitate the use of special metal alloys or composite materials, both of which are very expensive and add a lot to the acquisition and maintenance costs of an aircraft. I flew many types of supersonic combat aircraft in my life and thus know plenty about the problems of flying above Mach 2. In the case of the A-24, I voluntarily limited its top speed to Mach 2. That allowed me to both use a high-bypass turbofan equipped with a DSI air inlet and to use only standard aluminum alloys in its construction, except for the engine hot parts. Even if an enemy aircraft tries to flee at faster than Mach 2, it will be able to do so for only a few minutes and then will find itself with empty tanks, while the A-24 will be able to sustain its top speed of Mach 2 for much longer and will then be able to catch up with its prey. To better make that point, I was able during a recent test flight to dash out on a simulated intercept mission at Mach 2 to a radius of 2,500 kilometers, with then enough internal fuel left for twenty minutes of intense air combat followed by a return trip at subsonic speeds. Know that the PW 3500’s specific
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fuel consumption at maximum thrust is only 0.31 pounds of fuel per pound of thrust per hour, while a typical military low-bypass turbofan engine using post-combustion has a SFC at maximum augmented thrust of well over 0.8. Thus, while flying supersonic, my A-24 will be about three times as economical in fuel usage as the other fighter-bombers in existence. That is the main reason for the astounding range and endurance of my A-24.’
‘’Well, I’ll be...’ could only say Filipino Air Force Major General Jesus Alba.
‘’Miss Dows, you are truly a magician when it comes to aircraft design...and to piloting.’
‘’Thank you, General Alba. However, flattery will get you nowhere.’
A concert of laughs greeted that joke from Ingrid, who then invited her visitors to do a detailed tour of her A-24 with her.
Ingrid was about halfway through her guided tour and was showing to her visitors the internal weapons bays under the belly of the aircraft when the leader of the private security team employed by Hiller to guard her production plant came to see her and spoke to her in a near whisper.
‘’Miss Dows, an Air Force colonel has arrived at the main gate and wants to meet with you. He arrived in an official, chauffeured Air Force staff car and his name is Colonel James Forrester. Should we allow him in?’
Ingrid thought about that for a moment before taking a decision.
‘’Let him in the plant but not in the prototype workshop. Lead him to my secretary’s office and tell him that I will see him once I am finished with my visitors here.
If he insists on seeing me right away, stay polite but tell him that he will have to wait. He is not to be allowed to eye my prototype or to disturb my presentation to this delegation.’
‘’Understood, miss.’ said her security chief before walking away, allowing Ingrid to resume her guided tour of the A-24.
A good fifty minutes later, and having let her visitors go to the plant’s cafeteria for a lunch break, Ingrid went up to her office, where she found an American air force colonel in dress uniform arguing quite heatedly with her secretary, Jenny Nakamura.
Irritated by the tone used by the senior officer, Ingrid charged into her secretary’s office and interposed herself between Jenny and the colonel, eyeing him coldly.
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‘’Colonel Forrester, if you continue talking like this to my secretary, I will personally throw you out of this building. She had instructions from me and she was simply following them.’
‘’And then why did you make me wait like this for a good hour? I was sent here on official government business.’ replied rather brusquely Forrester.
‘’Why? Because I had my own business to attend to and was hosting a delegation of foreign customers. Follow me in my office, so that you could leave my secretary in peace.’
The poor Jenny Nakamura blew air out in relief after Forrester followed Ingrid out of her office: that senior officer was a big, intimidating man who seemed to be accustomed to push other, so-called lesser people, around. However, that James Forrester was about to learn that no one pushed Ingrid Dows around.
As soon as they both were inside her office, Ingrid closed the door behind her and threw a cold stare at Forrester.
‘’Now, tell me what is the goal of your unannounced visit, Colonel.’
‘’My goal is to convey to you the misgivings of my superiors at the Pentagon concerning the way you deal in secrecy with those Asian countries about your new combat aircraft, and this while refusing to inform the Air Force staff about your A-24.
General Spurling is not happy at all about the way you failed to keep his air force staff informed about your new plane.’
Pricked by Forrester’s choice of words, Ingrid walked quickly to him, stopping nearly nose-to-nose to him and staring unflinchingly into the colonel’s eyes.
‘’I didn’t inform General Spurling about my new aircraft because it is none of the Air Force’s business: it is Hiller’s private business. I designed and built my A-24 in order to satisfy an initial request from three countries in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, to produce a combat aircraft better suited to their needs than the existing models of fighter-bombers produced in the United States and in Europe.
Four more countries, Australia, Malaysia, New-Zealand and Singapore, have since joined that initial group of customers for Hiller. Yet, after having already worked for eighteen months on my project, this is the first time that the U.S. Air Force is officially contacting me about my A-24...by sending you unannounced to Port Angeles. Again, this is private Hiller business and is of no concern to the Air Force. The customers for this aircraft project are all countries which have good, friendly relations with the United
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States and thus have every legitimate right to seek the help of Hiller in order to procure a new combat aircraft for their national needs.’
‘’Without opening any competitive bidding for their new aircraft? Without giving other American aircraft manufacturers the chance to bid for such an aircraft?’
‘’And since when are other countries obliged to follow the acquisition rules of the United States concerning military equipment, Colonel? Those countries want a new plane suited for the vast distances of the Pacific Theatre, and this at a reasonable price and within a quick design and production time. They came to see me because they knew that I could think out of the box and produce a solution for them at minimal costs and time. If the Air Force is so interested by my plane, why didn’t it send me an official request for tender?’
‘’Because, at the moment, the Air Force fleet inventory is full and that no extra budget was voted by the Congress for a new aircraft acquisition.’
‘’Then, the Air Force can mind its own business and let Hiller deal with willing customers, Colonel.’ replied Ingrid, hardening her tone. ‘’You can return to the Pentagon and tell General Spurling to leave Hiller, a privately-owned aircraft corporation, alone. If he doesn’t want my plane, then he should let other customers free to procure my A-24.’
‘’That makes you the agent of foreign countries, miss, and...’
Ingrid, stung by those words, rose her voice to a near shout.
‘’ME, AN AGENT FOR FOREIGN COUNTRIES? HOW DARE YOU OR
GENERAL SPURLING CALL ME, A TWICE RECIPIENT OF THE MEDAL OF HONOR
WHO SERVED THE UNITED STATES FOR OVER SIXTY YEARS AND TEN WARS, THIS? YOU’RE A SIMPLE FUCKING LOGISTICAL BRANCH OFFICER AND I SEE NO
COMBAT MEDALS ON YOUR CHEST, COLONEL, SO YOU CAN PACK AWAY YOUR
ACCUSATIONS AND LEAVE...NOW!’
Turning red with contained anger, Forrester however did not fire back a response and stomped out of Ingrid’s office, with Ingrid following him closely. She escorted Forrester all the way down to the reception lobby and put him into the care of her security chief.
‘’Nathan, Colonel Forrester is leaving the plant now. Make sure that he finds the right way out.’
‘’Yes, Miss Dows!’
As the security boss escorted Forrester back to his staff car, Ingrid did her best to cool down the anger inside herself.
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‘’Me, an agent of foreign governments... What a load of shit!’
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CHAPTER 5 – IN THE CROSSHAIRS
15:09 (Paris Time)
Friday, June 13, 2003 ‘C’
French Air Force Mirage 4000 fighter jet
On patrol over the Atlantic, west of the coast of Brittany, France Captain Jean Vermeil was flying his Dassault MIRAGE 4000 fighter on a maritime patrol, accompanied by his wingman, Lieutenant Pierre Favreau, when his radar started showing a fast blip which had just appeared on his radar screen, coming from the West. While there were plenty of aircraft in the air in this area, mostly commercial airliners, the speed of the newcomer instantly put Vermeil on alert and he spoke in French to his wingman on the radio.
‘’Lima Two, from Lima One: I have a supersonic contact coming from the West and which has just entered my radar range. Follow me and turn to heading 310. Be ready to go to afterburners if that contact proves to be a possible hostile, over.’
‘’Lima Two, understood!’
Next, as vermeil turned to the new heading and pushed forward his engines throttles, he called up his air controller at the Mont-de-Marsan airbase, just south of Bordeaux.
‘’Mont-de-Marsan, from Lima One: I have just detected an aircraft coming from the West and heading towards the general direction of Paris while flying at close to Mach 1.6. Do you have any military flight scheduled for this area this afternoon, over?’
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It took a few seconds before the military air controller at the base housing the 3/30
LORRAINE Fighter Squadron answered his call, probably because he took the time to consult his list of flight schedules.
‘’Lima One, from Mont-de-Marsan. The only supersonic-capable aircraft announced for this afternoon is a prototype heading to the Le Bourget Airshow. It is designated as the Hiller XA-24 SHARK, coming from Seattle. Intercept and confirm visually its identity, over.’
‘’Lima One understood, out!’ said Vermeil in his oxygen mask’s microphone before thinking about the information he had just received. A prototype coming all the way from the American West Coast and arriving at supersonic speed near the French coast? Did that Hiller XA-24 fly supersonic all the way or did it just go supersonic now, possibly to make a show of itself? If it was the second case, then that American pilot would not impress him much with such a braggard attitude.
‘’Lima Two, from Lima One: we are going to intercept and visually confirm the identity of what may be an American prototype aircraft heading towards the Le Bourget Airport. Accelerate to Mach 1.7.’
‘’Lima Two, understood! Will follow you on your port side.’
Vermeil then briefly looked down at his fuel gauge, checking out how much fuel he had left. While the MIRAGE 4000 could attain speeds of Mach 2.5, it could only sustain such speeds for a few minutes at the most before emptying its fuel tanks. Even at Mach 1.7, he was going to have to use his engines’ afterburners at partial power, as his aircraft could only ‘super cruise’ at up to Mach 1.4 before having to switch its afterburners on.
That Hiller XA-24 must thus be drinking up fuel like crazy in order to perform its little supersonic stunt.
Using his radar to intercept the fast blip ahead of him, Vermeil was able to spot the newcomer after another three and a half minutes. What he saw as he performed a wide turn to the right in order to get in an intercept position behind and below the newcomer made him exclaim to himself.
‘’Look at that big bugger! It must have the biggest aircraft engines I ever saw on a combat aircraft. It is also quite big for a fighter-bomber, with some unusual design features. The wings are positively huge in proportion to the rest of the aircraft.’
Vermeil then realized something that left him utterly flabbergasted and prompted him to talk again to his wingman on the radio.
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‘’Lima Two, from Lima One: that XA-24 is flying clean, with no fuel drop tanks visible under its wings and belly. I don’t even see any wing pylons on it.’
‘’How the Hell can it fly supersonic and cross the Atlantic without using drop tanks, Lima One? That’s impossible!’
‘’Well, that kind of confirms my belief that it went supersonic only after getting near our coastline. If that pilot was trying to impress me, then he got the wrong result with me.’
A female voice then spoke on his frequency, using excellent French.
‘’French MIRAGE 4000 patrol, from Hiller XA-24, on the way to Le Bourget: sorry to contradict you but I have been flying transonic since I crossed the American East Coast and I am not in the habit of bragging when flying over international waters, over.’
‘’Did you release your drop tanks before approaching our coast, XA-24?’
‘’Negative! I designed the XA-24 as a very long-range fighter-bomber and it does not use drop tanks nor has an air refueling system. It can actually cross the Pacific without the need for air refueling or refueling stops.’
‘’Your aircraft can cross the Pacific by itself? How did you manage that?’
‘’I will be most happy to explain that to you if you come visit us at the Le Bourget Airshow. Lady Hawk, out!’
‘Lady Hawk? The famous Ingrid Dows? Wow! She is the biggest, most distinguished name in aviation and in air combat history. Hell, I must find a way to find time to visit Le Bourget during the coming days.’ thought Vermeil before speaking on his radio.
‘’Then, have a good trip to Le Bourget, Lady Hawk. Lima One, out to you! Lima Two, switch off your afterburners and follow me back to base.’
Jean Vermeil had a last look at the impressive prototype aircraft before veering away and heading southeast towards Mont-de-Marsan. This new jet sighting was going to deserve a full debrief to his squadron commander. Maybe he could also convince him to have the whole squadron travel to Le Bourget, in order to examine as a group this new wonder plane from up close.
16:14 (Paris Time)
Le Bourget Airport, Northeast suburbs of Paris
