Into the Bombardment

Gustav Bf 109

It was 2016 and was still the dawn of the Great South African Conflict, and Autumn Zephyra had enrolled with the Atomic Venom Mercenaries PMC. Currently, Autumn had been recently issued her first piston fighter; which was a Gustav-series Messerschmitt Bf-109. The plane was armed with an engine mounted MG 151 twenty millimeter autocannon and twin synchronized cowl-mounted MG 131 thirteen millimeter heavy machine guns. She was currently stationed at an undisclosed base in South Africa in the Northern Cape region. Currently, it was twelve noon, and the barometer was hitting ninety-seven degrees Fahrenheit, and the skies were blue, and the sun was out, shining during another scorching summer day in South Africa.

Before Autumn could take off, she did a walk around, inspecting the plane thoroughly. The plane lacked its previous Luftwaffe roundels but was rebranded with a red star, with the anarchist symbol on the sides, and on the wings. It also was all black, lacking any camouflage. Upon finishing the walk around, Autumn opened the plane's canopy, and slipped her body into the cramped cockpit of the plane, as she was getting into a comfortable position, inserting the key into the magneto while twisting the magneto counter-clockwise, igniting the Daimler-Benz DB-605, and listened to the V-12 produce an ominous and throaty growl to life, settling to a rumbling gurgle as the plane idled at the proper RPM.

While the 109s propeller spun up to speed, Autumn checked her fuel level, the gauges stating that she had a full tank. Next, she checked the oil's temperature and pressure, both were in optimal conditions. Then came the hydraulics. Autumn applied pressure to the joystick and the control surfaces responded appropriately, no problems there. Next, she lowered the flaps, which functioned correctly. Last to be tested was the rudder; Autumn pressed down on the pedals in the cockpit, and looked over her shoulders, seeing the plane's rudder worked perfectly.

After doing her inspection, she applied fifteen percent throttle, as the plane instantly responded, and moved forward slowly. Pointing the 109's nose to the left, leaving the parking bay, moving past a Dora-series Focke-Wulf Fw-190, and then a Dewoitine D.521, and eventually slowly passing by an entire row of World War II fighters, getting in line behind a Dornier Do-335 "Pfeil" and in front of a Lavochkin La-9 "Fritz." Autumn was ready to take off and go into the bombardment.

Despite it wasn't Autumn's first time going into the bombardment, it was Autumn's first sortie in a piston engine fighter. She was nervous, but still confident she would make it back to base alive.

Autumn popped her knuckles, and put on her headset, tuning into air traffic control, in time to hear about a heavy bomber landing. A few minutes passed by, and a Consolidated B-24 "Liberator" heavy bomber passed over the Dornier and Autumn's Gustav, and landed, slowing down and taxiing off of the runway, to which the Pfeil started moving quickly, eventually taking off into the bright blue skies.

Autumn moved onto the runway next, with a Boeing B-29 "Superfortress" behind the La-9 she was in front of. She contacted air traffic control, requesting clearance for takeoff, to which she was denied clearance to takeoff by the tower

A few minutes passed by, and a Dornier Do-217 passed over her plane, touching down softly, and applying the brakes to slow down and taxi off of the runway.

Thirty seconds passed by, Autumn was then given clearance to takeoff, to which she lowered the flaps, and disabled the parking brake, and applied ninety-five percent throttle. When the airspeed indicator touched 65 nautical miles, Autumn pushed the column forward slightly, allowing the tail wheel to lift off the ground. Pulling back on the stick, the Gustav rose into the air, flying low over a twelve-foot fence guarding the airstrip, raising the landing gears.

As Autumn flew over the South African terrain, she entered a side climb, rounding out at twenty thousand feet in a small amount of time, feeling her adrenaline level building up, starting to slightly tremor in nervousness.