As the night passed, a reddish morning sun resurfaced in the sky.

At the first rays of morning dawn, men in smart black leather coats are hurrying along a dew-soaked stone road at a suburban airport in the central Turkish city of Sivas.

With a brisk and powerful stride forward, the soles of his boots creaking against the rough slates, and his steps revealing a bit of military identity, the man walked along the slightly winding path to a long clearing on the edge of the sparse bushes, to the small airfield that had been used for light aircraft takeoffs and landings, and this was the temporary camp where he and the fighters were stationed.

"Good morning! Miller, please for today. ”

"Ah, where is it! - Good morning, Major Fisher. ”

Hearing the greeting of the man behind him, the ground crew pilot, who was busy in the shelter at the end of the runway, turned around and waved, saying hello to the tall man who had always come to his post on time. As he spoke, the pilot looked at the Major's unsmiling resolute face, and he always felt that Harold Fisher, a young man with brown messy hair and bright lines, was too tall for an Air Force pilot, but he didn't look so cramped when he sat in the cockpit of a fighter jet.

As he spoke, he walked into the makeshift hangar covered by a dense net, and Major Fisher bypassed the bomb trailer parked next to the fighter plane, and sat down on a chair beside him; As a matter of routine, he pulled a small plastic bottle from his jacket pocket, poured one into his palm, and then picked up the kettle to drop the pill he threw into his mouth down his throat.

In the middle of the war, unlike the large military airports scattered throughout Turkish territory, the airport on the outskirts of Sivas in the early morning is not full of roaring warplanes and busy vehicles. There was still silence at this time; There are no noisy distractions. The major calmly prepared for a flight. He looked up at his watch, and then showed a relaxed expression of satisfaction.

At 7:15, the time was just right.

About a week ago, after leaving Edwards Air Force Base, thousands of miles away, after a long training journey in the desert, Harold Fisher arrived in Turkey with an F-15S/MTD fighter jet and settled in the small, makeshift airfield.

As the ace pilot of the US Air Force, the major is the same as his skillful "Agile Eagle" fighter. All of them are high-end forces temporarily assigned to the U.S. Central Command by the military's top brass; In order to ensure that the once number one ace could attack smoothly, and at the same time try to avoid the infiltration and reconnaissance of the pervasive KGB, the headquarters specially arranged for him to be placed at a small airfield that was convenient for hiding his whereabouts, and used off-road trucks to transport and prepare accessories, weapons, and equipment. Because the runway of the airport is too short to support the take-off and landing of ordinary fighters, it was established in this temporary station in Siwass, and only Fisher's fighter plane was stationed for the time being.

As a small airfield temporarily converted into a military airport, for this short, narrow runway on the outskirts of Siwass, which is less than 600 meters long, ordinary fighter jets have no way to land even if they can barely take off.

However, the length limitation of the runway is not a problem for the F-15S/MTD equipped with a binary thrust vector control device, which appeared to explore the short take-off and landing capabilities of first-line fighters; Thanks to the thrust reverser of the engine tail nozzle. Coupled with Major Fisher's precise handling, the shortest landing distance of the "Agile Eagle", which exceeded the empty weight of the prototype F-15C, was less than 500 meters. It's a good place to be here.

Since coming to the Sivas station, he has been flying fighter planes to participate in "Operation Typhoon" for several days, and the combination of major and new fighter aircraft has achieved unexpectedly excellent results, which has also impressed the generals of Central Command; So today, as in the previous mornings, after reading the faxed mission plan, Harold Fisher got up from his chair and strode towards the "Agile Eagle", which was already making a steady roar at the end of the runway.

"'Flying Shark', after the inspection of the weapon system, you can start to confirm the control and manipulation."

"Okay. ——Confirm that the control surface is operated normally and there is no problem with the system self-test; Call 'Obelisk', I'm ready to strike, request to take off. ”

"'Flying shark', this is 'Obelisk', the wind is level 3 in the southwest at the moment, the visibility is good, and it can take off."

Sitting in the cockpit with the hatch closed, turning his head to see that the aerodynamic surface of the landline was moving normally, Fisher's eyes stayed on the huge dark yellow cross on the back of the fuselage for a moment, he subconsciously raised his hand and pressed his chest, and lowered his head to confirm that the flight control and electronic system of the fighter were normal. With the shallow throttle propulsion, the engine tremors were heard through the fuselage, and he radioed the airport commander, and then prepared to fly the "Agile Eagle" into the clear blue sky of the north.

Will you meet that legendary opponent in today's ascension......

The morning sun was slowly rising from behind, and the warm sunlight was projecting on the dark and thick fuselage of the "Agile Eagle", and in the bulging blister-shaped hatch, Fisher's mind was a little distracted; Staring at the boundless sky on the other side of the runway, he remembered the instructions he had received a few days ago, and the Major who would hang a cross on every sortie seemed to be stuck in memory, and he wondered if it would be his own fate.

four AIM-120Bs; Four AIM-9M ......

The drop fuel tank was still not carrying, but it looked like he didn't need it either.

Before leaving, he checked the weapon mount again, and Harold Fisher remembered the depressing trip to the headquarters; In the face of the ace pilot who came from afar, the excited General Clark patted him on the broad shoulder, telling him that the materials he had read before, as well as the records of those terrible air battles, were all nonsense, and the "Caucasus Reaper" was not at all what was described in the materials-

“…… Yes, young man, the Russians are not as terrible as the records portray. How to say it, this dog* mother is even more terrible than what is written on paper! - So, have you been intimidated by my words? But don't worry, Major: my first impression was that you weren't an extraordinary person, maybe a 'hermit' who could restrain the Grim Reaper.

Anyway, do a good job, Major Harold Fisher!

The dignity and honor of the United States Air Force is in your hands, although I am very reluctant to say such a thing. ……”

The general's dull words are still in my ears; Thinking of his mission, after all, he had to meet the legendary terrifying "Caucasian Grim Reaper", but never really fought each other, the Major's hands in his flight gloves were sweating slightly, and the sound of his slightly rapid heavy breathing could be heard clearly.

It can't be helped, a calm mind is necessary for all pilots, but lately, he has somehow needed to take a small dose of sedative before the sortie to keep his mind calm.

Taking a small dose of sedative before an air battle that required intense confrontation seemed to be the exact opposite of the usual combat demands, and also caused the Major some apprehension; However, in the past few days, his battle has been relatively smooth and has achieved a lot of results, of course, how many of them are the opponent's surprise, or the light of the surprise appearance of the "Agile Eagle", he doesn't plan to think so much.

In a trance, hearing the commander's announcement of the weather and permission to take off, the major skillfully released the brakes and pushed the throttle valve forward, and the two F100-PW-229 engines quickly burst out with surging thrust, and the afterburner flame of the binary rectangular tail nozzle was thin and translucent; The big black bird with its wings fluttering, slid quickly on the flat ground and accelerated, and when it was almost 200 meters away from the end of the runway, it suddenly raised its head and flew into the blue sky with a little lightness off the ground.

The powerful and agile F-15S/MTD climbs and turns all the way to the corners, and the major pilots are light and skilful.

Since leaving the European theater of war a few months ago for Edwards Air Force Base in southern California, the long period of closed training and technical tuition has finally paid off, and Major Fisher has now figured out the temperament of the fiery horse of the "Agile Eagle".

In the nineties of the twentieth century, even if the technical level was as strong as that of the United States, the flight control design of the general fighter had not yet reached the level of "integration of flying fire and pushing", in other words, the overhauled F-15C, and a pair of canard wings installed on the side strip of the air intake channel were not completely automatic control. Unlike test flights, only a handful of veterans are likely to exploit the agility potential of the F-15S/MTD in a real aerial confrontation; As a technology verification machine that is difficult to mass-produce and even if it is mass-produced, few people will be able to control it, if it were not for the terrorist threat of the "Caucasian Reaper", it is estimated that no one would have moved such a mind to put the "Agile Eagle", which was still in the verification stage, on the front line of the war.

After liftoff, the disc spun to the northeast, and the agile and irascible F-15S/MTD accelerated forward under Fisher's control.

Sitting in the cockpit of the "Agile Eagle" with a good field of vision, unlike the first S/MTD modified aircraft before, the fighter piloted by the major was modified from the single-seat F-15C, which was better than the first modified aircraft in terms of empty weight and other indicators. Not only that, thanks to the strong power of the F100-PW-229 engine, the thrust-to-weight ratio of the "Agile Eagle" air combat with a lot of structural weight still exceeds that of the prototype F-15C; And with a pair of upper anti-canard wings (taken directly from the flat tail of the F/A-18), the fighter's maneuverability has been significantly improved.

With its back to the rising sun, the "Agile Eagle" with a black fuselage is speeding through the clear light blue sky; On the wide dark body, the dark yellow cross-shaped pattern looks quite eye-catching.

After liftoff, all the way to the north and approaching the Black Sea coastline, Fisher made contact with the "Watchtower" early warning aircraft according to the instructions of the command center, and entered the sky over the Black Sea from the coastline between Giresun and Trabson. The major quickly decided on today's cruising route and engagement strategy, and he gently pushed his rod into a small-angle dive, sprinting towards the northern sky full of MiGs. (To be continued......)