We had warm soup and bread in a spacious dining room. They were delicious. There seemed to be many pilots here, aside from us, who had just newly arrived at the place. I thought the number of those just in the dining room would probably be more than 50.
The briefing session started at 10:00. At first, as the plenary meeting for all, they explained issues to us in a huge room. About 100 people were gathered there.
We are making a sortie in about 30 hours. In other words, in the afternoon of tomorrow. You will be organized into teams and each of you will hold a respective meeting. If you need to have your aircraft tuned up, you will have to conduct flight maneuver training within four hours in the afternoon today. Each pilot may fly for 10 minutes. At 10:00 a.m. tomorrow, 24 hours later from now, the final meeting will be held. The final decisions will be announced then. There will be about 30 percent of chance that we will not conduct the operation. So the explanation went. Team formations were shown on the screen of the slide projector, and we moved to the next room according to what was displayed on it.
About 15 people were in the room. I did not know any of them. We did not introduce ourselves to each other.
When the flight formation was projected on the screen, our code names were called and we raised our hands one by one. I was assigned to the second row from the front. I jotted down the names of the leader and just three of other members. We were given the detailed explanation about the equipped weapons. We were then scheduled to meet again in the early evening. We were directed to check our aircrafts and their armaments. After we were dismissed, the leader called to me.
“Kurita, go to A5 hangar. Sanka Mark 7B is moored there.”
“Sir, whose aircraft is it?”
“It is not brand new, but still relatively new. Pilot it in the time slot from 14:20 to 14:40.”
“Roger.”
“You may check the armaments after that. Is the condition okay?”
“If possible, I would like to have the aircraft loaded with weapons before the test flight. The heavier, the better.”
“Alright, then do it that way.”
I promptly ran out of the building and headed for the hangar. It was spacious and six Sankas were moored inside. My aircraft was the closest to me. I found a mechanic and started the discussion. He was young and wearing a red jacket on overalls. I told him I would conduct a test flight in three and a half hours.
“Sir, you can fly right now. Only if you give me some time to fill it up.”
“I want you to equip it with weapons.” I opened the reference filed document, and showed him the corresponding page in question.
The mechanic brought his head close to it and ran through it. He was apparently nearsighted.
“Alright, sir. I think I can do it.”
“If you don’t have enough time, you need not equip it with all the weapons, of course.” I said. “I just want to check the general feel to the balance of the weight.”
“Sir, have you ever piloted Mark 7?”
“I have piloted it all the time. But I haven’t done so in the most recent three months.”
“You got injured, right?”
“Yes.”
“The engine of this one is superb, sir.”
“So, I leave it to you. I will come back here in one hour.”
I went to a billet to put my belongings there. As much as it was in a billet, so to speak, our room was small, and two bunk beds in it were arranged in two rows. Another man was reading the reference material on his bed. I pushed my luggage under the bed next to his. Then, I washed my hair and brushed my teeth in the shower room. After moving to the dining room, I read the reference material while drinking hot coffee.
In the timetable, the parts indicating the time and the location were left blank. I guessed the information to be filled into the blanks would be announced the next day. Still, I could grasp the general flow. We would take off from this airbase and join another units in the middle. Before that, two waves of scouting missions were planned. Four patterns of mission schedules were prepared, and which one of them would be employed depended on the outcome of the scouting. One team was to escort bombers and its course was a bit different from others’. Also, the course of one team was designed to stray off in the middle. I guessed it was for a feint maneuver.
I belonged to the leading team, which would reach the front soonest. The operation was so large-scaled to the extent that we would join it only once a year or two. Since they needed many pilots for such an operation, we were summoned in haste.
Is Kusanagi’s team joining this project? I thought. Even if we may not necessarily do so simultaneously, I’m sure they will also fly. If not, why would they bother to summon a dulled dolt like me? I have not flown for three months.
After reading the reference material twice, I poured the remaining cold coffee into my throat and went back to the hangar.
The mechanic was ducking under the main wing. The hatch was open. Cartridges of machine gun was piled up on an electric dolly nearby. Because a lift was attached to the dolly, he seemed to be able to load them by himself. All other Sankas were being maintained by respectively assigned mechanics. From one Sanka, its cowling was removed. It was obvious that all of them were scheduled to fly next day.
“Is anything wrong?” I asked while crouching down near the leading edge of the main wing.