Shadow Flight

The American missile hit the wingman's tail, blowing off the entire aft section of the MiG. The aircraft tumbled end over end, then exploded at the same instant the pilot ejected. His parachute, engulfed in the horrendous fireball, was partially destroyed when the pilot separated from his ejection seat. Strapped in the streaming parachute, the flash-burned fighter pilot fell four miles to his death.

Sokolviy completed his evasive maneuver and banked the Fulcrum around, tracking the elusive Americans. He fired two AA-11 Archer missiles at Diamond One, then shot into the vertical and snap-rolled the Fulcrum 180 degrees. Shoving his throttles to the stops, he arched his head back to follow the two missiles. The Russian was surprised to see the two F-14s facing him canopy to canopy.

SAN JULIAN

Raul Castro, enraged and shouting orders to everyone in sight, heard the antiaircraft guns start firing. He dashed to the control tower windows and shook his fist at the A-6Fs and Hornets approaching the airfield.

The aircraft were on the deck, screaming toward the air base in left echelon. The flight leader, flying so low he caused the tops of trees to sway when he roared overhead, was pointed straight at the hangars.

The Cuban general watched, stunned, as the strike aircraft leveled a dozen radar-controlled guns. The second wave of attack aircraft boomed across the field, dropping huge loads of bombs on the flight line, runway, and hangars. The windows blew in, knocking Castro to the floor. He picked himself up, partially blinded by the dust and debris, and grabbed his command phone.

Vince Cangemi blasted down the length of Ciudad Libertad, spraying 20mm shells into parked aircraft, hangars, and a large fuel storage area. The fuel farm exploded, sending billowing black smoke and orange flames into the early morning sky.

Cangemi fired a last burst at a taxiing Cubana de Aviacion Ilyushin-62M transport. The four-engine jet shuddered to a halt with the right wing and both engines engulfed in blazing jet fuel.

The fighter pilot flashed over the perimeter of the airfield, scooting down in his cockpit as the cannon shells whizzed by the canopy. He shoved the twin General Electric turbofans into afterburner and pushed the nose down. The tracers were still sweeping past the cockpit when the F/A-18 screeched across the coastline at 550 knots.

Cangemi stayed on the deck for another minute, hugging the water and flying as low as he dared. He raised the nose slowly and started to breathe normally. The marine aviator quickly checked his annunciator panel and eased back on the power. He decided he had just enough fuel to return to the carrier without tanking when he sensed something ahead of his Hornet. He looked up and blinked, not believing his eyes. A Bear bomber, slightly to the right, filled his windshield. Cangemi judged the lumbering bomber to be one and a half miles in front of his fighter.

The pilot hit the air/ground button, switching to air-to-air missiles. He waited a second, swinging the pipper gently on the bomber, then locked up the Tupolev Tu-142.

"Ivan, Cangemi said to himself, bringing the power back further, "the dance is over." He squeezed off a Sidewinder and jinked the Hornet around, checking for his wingman and MiGs.

"Fox Two!" Cangemi broadcast over the radio. He snapped his head forward a split second after the AIM-9 struck the Bear's left outboard turboprop. The big engine came apart in slow motion, flinging blades into the fuselage and tearing into the inboard engine. The huge bomber continued to fly, streaming smoke and fluid.

Cangemi was startled when two cruise missiles, mounted one to a wing, dropped off and ignited. The weapons quickly accelerated out in front of the heavily damaged Bear, steadying at a cruise speed of 0.74 Mach.

"Shit!" Cangemi said to himself as he squeezed off his last Sidewinder. "Fox Two!" he warned, watching the missile plow into the stricken bomber's left wing.

"Animal One," the distressed pilot of the number four Hornet radioed his leader, "Dash Three went in… comin' off the last target.

"Oh, sweet Jesus," Cangemi replied as the Bear, missing the outer half of the left wing, rolled inverted and plunged for the Gulf.

The marine flight leader saw two figures jump out of the spinning bomber, then pop open their parachutes. Cangemi knew that his armament was almost depleted, but he had to intercept and destroy the two Soviet-made cruise missiles.

Karns had a quick glimpse of the two AA-11 missiles flash under him as he watched the MiG-29, canopy to canopy, pull into his Tomcat.

Anatoly Sokolviy rudder-rolled the Fulcrum into the F-14, firing his 30mm cannon. He could see the tracers arc under the Tomcat's tail

Karns dropped the F-14's nose, going for knots and separation, then snapped into the pure vertical. Vapor trailed off the wings, signaling the severe positive g load being imposed on the fighter.

The MiG pilot, matching Karns's every move, pulled hard into the F-14 and fired a short burst.