Sand castle

Chapter 1

1944
I duck as I almost hit my head on the narrow b17 door. I walk over to the pilot seat and brush my hand over the ripped leather seat. Just then my co-pilot arrives. I take a seat and start going over the flight plan. The rest of the crew arrives with the munitions about 10 minutes later.

The plane takes a slight jolt after we hit the end of the runway. I raise the flaps and raise the gear. We start to climb. This mission is one of the most important missions in the war. We and 20 other b17's have been tasked to drop something called a "nuke". We carry bombs as the lead plane and the b29 takes the nuke. I suddenly realize how beautiful it is up here. The sun rays bounce off our planes and clouds mingle with one another amongst the bright blue sky. A slight breeze makes me shiver. I look at the map and signal the bombardier. He gives a slight nod and opens the bomb bay doors. Our escort had left about 30 minutes ago so we were on our own. I look up from the controls and see a weird black cloud, then another and another. Flack explodes within a few feet from the fuselage. I grip the yoke and pull up in a panic, slowly taking us up about ten or so feet. A plume of smoke explodes one of the other b17s. Flames begin crawling up the side of the plane wrapping it in a fiery blanket.

Just 5 minutes from the target zone the other b17s and b29 open the hatch doors. The flack stops and in the distance, a cloud of gray fly's. Then suddenly they start to climb. Almost straight up. After that a faded droning noise. Closer and closer till they peel off in different directions completely.

Bf109 view

I pull the throttle lever to full and go straight up rather than forcing the nose down. The yellow sun skimming my plane, then the sun bounces off the U.S flags, the tallies of kills I have glow like they contain the souls of the dead. My finger hovers over the red button over the yoke. See the first plane coming into view, the four engine beast screaming over the sound of somewhat distant gunfire. I press the innocent red button once the metal beast is fully in my sights. My plane vibrates until I release the trigger. The b17 burst into flames and almost immediately started to nose dive.

Then I see a different looking plane in the front. It's a silver shadow reflecting back at me. I pull the trigger, the silver turning red and orange like a bonfire. The right wing peeks off, almost hitting me in the process.

B17 view

The b29 goes down just a few hundred meters away. Our mission failed. We drop the bombs and start banking home. I sit there at the controls, wondering what is a nuke and what would it have done. I hear a faint engine noise but I figure it's just it's one of the other bombers. A single engine fighter roars past us, the U.S flags painted on the side looking back at us.

Bf109 pow

I bank past the formation giving them a little bit of a show. I scream past them slowly banking right before slamming the yoke up and cutting the throttle. I grab the flaps and pull them out. My plane travels a few hundred meters before the speedometer reads zero and starts to spiral backwards. My nose dips down and I squeeze the trigger as a b17 desperately tries to escape my hungry bullets.