Churchill's Ace (Epic War Series Book 1) (37 page)

“So is that now, what we are calling it?”

“I’m sorry; I didn’t know what else to refer to it as. It’s a most unusual operation.”

“Go on.”

“There is reason to believe that Wolf Kruger’s cover may have gone up in smoke.”

Winston chomped down on a cigar to calm himself down. “Tell me that isn’t so.”

“It seems there was a double agent milling about RAF headquarters. He was to be arrested and brought in but, unfortunately, disappeared into the bowels of London. Heaven knows where he is now. We, of course, thought he was on our side, but that has been disproven much to the embarrassment of the SIS.”

“How do you know; he would be looking or even remotely interested in a pilot?”

“Prime Minister, who knows what the damn Jerries are really up to.”

“This is more than disconcerting. You bloody well run the SIS.”

“That’s the truth. We do our best, but it isn’t a linear equation. The unexpected is around every corner. Among other things, Captain Kruger’s service record is now missing. Anyone who sees that in Berlin will be on to Captain Kruger almost immediately. His life's in danger.”

“Damn well pull him out. And do it now, before the Gestapo comes calling.”

“That’s impossible. We have no way to warn him, much less get him out of Rechlin. The test facility is totally secure.”

“How much time does he have, or do you know?”

“Prime Minister, it is very difficult to say. The Luftwaffe and even the Gestapo suffer from the same organizational problems that plague most governmental departments, whether that would be here or in Germany. It could be some time before the file gets to the right person who sees fit to act on it.”

“Major a young man who I must remind you, depended on us for sound judgment and discretion, appears to have been tossed overboard to swim not with the sharks, but the Gestapo.”

“I’m sorry.”

“So what are we to do? Light a candle at St. Paul’s Cathedral and wait for what will come, no matter how dreadful that may be?”

“I’m afraid so. We will never see Captain Kruger again unless he flies the Me 262 out of there. At this point, since he has been gone for over a two weeks, and seems to have vanished from the face of the earth that looks highly unlikely.”

“Major that wasn’t the news I was yearning to hear. Mind you, I don’t blame anyone for what has happened...but only myself. It is I who must live with the consequences, but it is the others who are close to Wolf, who will die a little each day.”

The Abwehr was the intelligence arm of the German military. Its duty was the same as the SIS, its counterpart in England. The morning traffic came in from its operatives who were spread throughout Europe and the world for that matter. The traffic was hit and miss, and the operatives in the field could go weeks at a time before risking sending in coded radio messages. The preferred method was to contact their handler on a face to face basis. This wasn’t nearly as dangerous as one would think. There simply was no way for the other side to keep a 24 hour a day watch on numerous enemy operatives. And if they were unknown, then, of course, it didn’t matter.

On this day, the urgent message came from England. The German operative risked everything to inform the Abwehr that the Luftwaffe’s greatest ace was a traitor and had been flying for the RAF. And now he was back in Germany.

Once the message had been decoded the section chief said, “Get me the Luftwaffe Intelligence... hurry.” It took twenty minutes to get to the right person, and by that time the sun was rising. The section chief listened carefully and then said, “Contact Rechlin and put Major Kruger under house arrest. Do it immediately.” The section chief hung up the phone, and he said to no one in particular. “Major Kruger was very bold. Now he will be dealt with.”

True to his word, flight engineer Lieutenant Rudi Waltzer had both Me 262’s fully armed and each jet had two large drop tanks under the pilot’s compartment. The jet engines of the ME 262s were idling and waiting for a pilot. Wolf was halfway up the roll away ladder and stepping into the cockpit of his jet when General Ahrent’s adjutant ran onto the tarmac. He was unarmed, and he yelled, “Stop him. He’s a traitor!”

Rudi looked at Wolf with bewilderment. Wolf yelled back, “Traitor, that depends on who’s judging. And Zigfried, I killed your father. It was me in the Mosquito.” Wolf closed the canopy. He pushed the throttle forward and his jet roared down the runway.

Zigfried lost time as a fuel truck was blocking his jet from taking off. Finally, it pulled out of his way. He yelled to Rudi, “I’ll shoot him down!” Zigfried rolled down the runway.

Rudi had his hands on his hips. He said to General Ahrent’s adjutant. “So much for the jets. They both may be gone for good.”

“Will Captain Bockler shoot him down?”

“Maybe... if he’s very lucky and Major Kruger makes a mistake. Of course, there’s always the chance that Wolf will shoot him down.”
That wouldn’t bother me a bit
.

The adjutant said, “You don’t seem very upset.”

“What the hell do you want me to do? Besides Captain Bockler shot down Major Kruger, at least that was the rumour. Now I think it is true.”

“Where is he going?”

“Where do you think? England.”

General Ahrent ran out to the runway. He was out of breath, and he doubled over as Wolf turned left and headed west. Zigfried was also approaching takeoff speed. “Major Kruger is a traitor! He must be stopped!”

Rudi said flatly, “Captain Bockler is after him.”

“Who is the better pilot?”

Rudi smirked, “Major Kruger.”

General Ahrent took his adjutant by the arm. “Come with me.”

“General, what are we going to do?”

“Scramble every fighter squadron between here and the French coast. If Major Kruger is successful, I will be shot and so will you.” The adjutant swallowed hard and ran toward General Ahrent’s office. General Ahrent asked Rudi, “Does he have enough fuel to reach England?”

“No doubt.”

“What if he has to dogfight his way through our forces, between here and over France?”

“Then that would be a problem for Major Kruger.”

“Lieutenant, where do your loyalties lie in this situation?”

“General, I’m only a flight engineer, who has seen his two prized jets fly away. As for Wolf Kruger, a better man I have never known. The same can’t be said for Zigfried Bockler. That’s the truth. Will you have me shot now?”

“Don’t be a fool, who else can I get to prepare the Me 262 for production.”

“Can you get another one if theses don’t come back?”

“Not for two months.”

“That is bad.”

* * *

Wolf lifted the Me 262 quickly to 12,000 ft. and plotted a course to London. That course would take him straight over Amsterdam. The distance was 557 miles. That would mean a flight time of over 80 minutes. He knew the Luftwaffe would throw everything they had at him. If something went wrong and he had to bail out, or if he simply went down, chances were he would be captured, tortured and summarily executed.

Now, where and when would the Luftwaffe come after him? Even though the Me 262 was capable of a top speed of 540 mph, Wolf held the wonder jet steady at 500 mph. This would conserve fuel, which would buy him time if he had to dogfight. Zigfried was no doubt clawing to get at him. Wolf pulled into a cloud bank and continued on. It wouldn’t be easy for Zigfried to find him in the heavy cloud cover. The Nazi pilot risked wasting time, fuel and most importantly mental concentration. That could play into Wolf’s favor down the line if Zigfried had the guts to catch him somewhere over the Channel.

After 20 minutes Wolf and his Me 262 cleared Bremen. He took the jet up to 14,000 ft. and wasn’t surprised that he didn’t see any fighters from the surrounding airfields searching for them. He figured it would take time to notify the Luftwaffe bases and then get organized. Besides, how were they going to find a single plane in the sky? His jet could out run anything they had. He simply had to avoid contact and any dogfighting.

Behind him and on a general course to London was Zigfried. Zigfried decided on an altitude of 15000 ft. as he searched the horizon for his nemesis. With each passing minute, Wolf was heading for the safety of London and what would be the greatest coup in the history aviation warfare.

If the Me 262 by some miracle was brought in safely and presented to the RAF as an early Christmas gift, the jet, and its engineering designs would change the future of the air war. But where was the traitor and would Zigfried be able to find him?

General Ahrent poured over a map with his adjutant. Then the questions came. General Ahrent said, “How much time do we have?”

“90 minutes at the most.”

“Cruising speed in your opinion?”

“General I assume Major Kruger will keep the jet’s speed close to five hundred miles per hour. He won’t want to push it too hard... until he has to.”

“What are we going to do? As soon as we scramble our squadrons, if he is spotted it will already be too late. Major Kruger will simply accelerate and fly by.”

“That is correct. However, there is one thing which may work. We scramble our fighters which are based on the French coast. We do it right now and have them form a picket line. All of them, every Me 109 and ME 110 we have. Major Kruger will have to take evasive action. Perhaps we will get lucky, and he will get shot down. This will also give us his exact position and Captain Bockler can be notified on the radio. If he is close enough, he may be able to engage Major Kruger over the Channel. If Captain Bockler eliminates Major Kruger, he will be able to land his jet at one of our airfields on the French coast. It could work. It has to work.”

“Notify all the fighter bases. I will do the same. Hurry.”

It had been over a week since the Luftwaffe had performed a daytime raid on London. The loses in airplanes and pilots had been severe enough, that Hitler decided to keep the pressure up. but only under the cover of darkness. For this reason, JAG 23 found themselves in the unusual position of being grounded for over four days.

This gave Colonel Dunkel time to integrate his new pilots into the squadron. That all changed when he received an urgent call from General Ahrent. The conversation was swift and precise. “Major Kruger has stolen the Luftwaffe’s experimental jet; you are to launch every fighter you have and patrol the French coast. If our calculations are correct, you should make contact in less than a half hour.”

Colonel Dunkel replied, “Are you sure Major Kruger has done this?”

“I don’t have time for an academic discussion. Just do it. You are to shoot him down. If you do spot Major Kruger, your squadron is to radio Captain Bockler, who is in the second jet. He will destroy Major Kruger’s jet if all else fails.”

“Yes, sir.”

When Wolf reached the outskirts of Amsterdam, he had one final decision to make. He could fly due west and reach the English coast in no time, and look for an airfield in which to land. That wouldn’t be too difficult to do. The mission would be over and the Me 262 would be in the hands of Winston Churchill and the RAF. The other choice was to keep on his southwest heading and make for Biggin Hill. But that wasn’t all of it...not even close.

He knew that Zigfried Bockler was out there and more than likely on his own course toward the London capital. If Wolf hightailed it to northern England and landed, Zigfried would not pay for what he had done to Wolf’s mother and father.

Wolf thought of Madeline and their life together. It was more than a miracle that he had found her. And now, was he willing to risk that to settle a score with a Nazi murderer? He had only a few seconds to decide. One can’t move toward the future with the past gnawing at you. No matter what you did the thought would be there. Wolf stayed on his course for London and slowed his jet down to 450 mph. That would conserve fuel and give Zigfried a chance to find him.
It will end today. It will be me or him
.

12 Me 109 fighter planes were scrambled and sent out in a northeast heading. They hugged the French coast at 13000 ft. and looked for Wolf Kruger and his Me 262. Another squadron from the Luftwaffe fighter base at Nieuwpoort, Belgium were already on station just to the north of JAG 23.

Together the squadron formed a picket line that was waiting for Major Kruger. They didn’t have to wait long. Wolf saw the familiar dots on the horizon as the cloud and fog banks were now far behind him. The dots, of course, were planes. No doubt fighters from the Luftwaffe fighter bases near the French coast. They were the only planes besides the jet flown by Zigfried that had any chance of stopping him.

Soon the dots grew larger and more were appearing by the minute. There were more than he could count. Wolf soon realized that there were three full Luftwaffe squadrons out there. At least 36 planes were buzzing around in front of him. Any time now they would see him streaking toward them. His Me 262 was over 100 mph hour fast than the Me 109, but that as he saw it didn’t settle the situation. Not at all.

He thought what he would do if he was in charge of the Luftwaffe picket line. Wolf decided the key to stopping him was to get out in front of his plane and make him turn and maneuver. He knew from his first flight in the experimental jet that its turning radius was wider than the prop fighter planes. In essence, the jet was a good machine, but it wasn’t invincible. He also knew that what Winston and the RAF wanted was to deconstruct the Me 262 and see if that could leapfrog their own jet engine technology.