pump pressure from the tanker to avoid pressure disconnects,
which would result in less than completely full tanks. The KC-
10 then executed a right turn and headed north for its orbit point
DAY OF THE CHEETAH 331
near Georgetown, and Dragon flight headed southwest toward
their first intercept.
"Five-Five, you got the high CAP,- Coursey said ' "Top of
the block is three-five-oh, so take three-three for now." The
high CAP (Combat Air Patrol) was an overlook position from
where he could react quickly to hostile situations below him.
Coursey hoped as Dragon Five-Five started his climb to thirty-
three thousand feet that the advantages of the high-combat air
patrol would make up for Myers' inexperience.
"Barrier, Dragon flight on blue, " Coursey called on the
scrambled command radio. "Two on heading two-zero-five and
twenty-five thousand feet. One on the high CAP at three-three-
oh.
"Roger, Dragon," the controller on board the Boeing 767
AWACS radar aircraft replied, "your bogey is at twelve moving
to one o'clock, forty miles." Coursey checked his infrared spot-
ting scope, which was slaved to the data-link from the AWACS-
right on the money. The F-16's infrared seeker laid an aiming
square on the target and began feeding targeting information to
the missile's weapons computer.
"Dragon has IR lock, twelve o'clock."
"That's your target, Dragon," the controller confirmed.
Coursey started a left turn to take a greater angle into the
target. The target wasn't maneuvering.
"Dragon, we've got modes and codes on this one," the con-
troller said. "Verify I -D. and make sure he's a solo."
"Rog." Coursey allowed himself to relax a bit. "Modes and
codes," meant the AWACS was picking up standard airliner-
beacon codes, such as air-traffic control codes and altitude read-
outs, but they wanted each aircraft checked out visually anyway.
Apparently whoever they were looking for could transmit
standard codes. They were also expecting whoever they were
looking for to be either traveling in a formation or trying to
sneak through underneath another aircraft, a tactic that even in
high-tech, super-electronic times could still only be detected vi-
sually.
"Twenty miles, one o'clock," the controller said.
"Five-Six, take spacing, coming right," Coursey ordered.
Dragon Five-Six did a slow aileron roll to the right, which in-
stantly increased his spacing from his leader to about a half-
332 DALE BROWN
mile. When he was stabilized in route formation, Coursey started
a turn toward his bogey.
:'Twelve o'clock, ten miles."
'Tally Ho, Five-Four," Coursey called out. The aircraft was
just off the right side of his F-16's nose, heading north. It was
still not maneuvering, nor was it giving off any telltale radar
emissions of its own.
"Five-Four, this is a message from Barrier command, don't
let the target's crew see you out there, " the controller of the
AWACS said. "Select a course well aft of the cockpit and any
cabin windows. Over."
"Copy, Dragon flight, check."
"Two. I I
"Three.
Coursey maneuvered around behind the aircraft and its left
elevator, well out of sight of the pilot and anyone looking out
the windows. He could understand Barrier's concern-airline pi-
lots, not to mention passengers, got very nervous with armed
fighters swarming nearby.
"Barrier, looks like we got a Boeing 707, cargo configura-
tion," Coursey reported. As he closed in, he continued, "It has
Varig colors on its tail. Stand by for serial number. Five-Six,
take the right side and stay out of sight." Dragon Five-Six peeled
off and began to converge on the 707's right side. Coursey pulled
in close to the vertical stabilizer, well clear of the plane should
it make a sudden turn. "I copy M as in Mike, five-seven-oh-
seven-three alpha. No music, no weapons"-"music" meaning
any hostile radar emissions or jamming.
"Belly's clear," the pilot on Dragon Five-Six reported.
"Dragon, this is Barrier. I. confirmed on your bogey. Re-
sume patrol orbit and stand by."
' 'Roger, Barrier. " Coursey rolled left away from the airliner,
then took a second to check his position.
"Barrier, what are we supposed to be looking for?" Coursey
asked.
A slight pause, then: "Stand by, Five-Four.
They were asking the brass on board if it was okay to tell the
guard puke what he was doing in the middle of nowhere, chasing
down airliners, for God's sake. He had a feeling the answer was
going to be don't ask stupid questions, guard puke.
DAY OF THE CHEETAH 333
He got his answer sixty seconds later: "Five-Four, command
says you'll know it when you see it."
"Say again, Barrier?"
Another pause; then a different voice came on the radio:
-Dragon flight, your target is a single-seat fighter aircraft. It
may be armed, and it may be escorted by one or more Soviet
aircraft. It may be supported by a Soviet tanker. The aircraft
may have U. S. Air Force markings on it. It must still be con-
sidered hostile."
"An American aircraft? We're going after an American air-
craft? "
"The bad guys got it, Major," the voice said. "We want it
back. Yourjob is to identify it, force it to follow you to George-
town, or if necessary destroy it. Those are your orders, Major
Coursey. Over and out. "
This was becoming less and less like a Caribbean vacation,
Coursey thought.
"Five-Six, I've got the lead. Join on the right."
"Three. I I
"Five-Five, maintain your high CAP until the next refueling,
then you'll swap With Five-Six. Set best endurance power. Seems
this is going to be one long day."
Colonel Edward Marsch, commander of the 21st Airborne
Warning and Command Squadron from Tinker AFB, looked at
General Bradley Elliott and shrugged when they heard Coursey's
reaction. "Air Force Reserve boys," he said.
"No need to apologize for him, Colonel," Elliott said. "I
should be apologizing to him. He's the one putting his ass on
the line."
"How long do you think we'll be on station?"
"If I'm wrong we'll get recalled in about six to eight hours.
If I'm right, things will start happening in the next two, three
hours. "
"Which should I be hoping for, sir?"
No answer. Either way, Elliott thought, it had already turned
into a nightmare.
334 DALE BROWN
20 June 1996, 0840 CST
"Dragon Five-Seven flight of three reporting airborne," the
communications officer relayed to General Elliott. "ETA one-
five minutes. "
Elliott nodded, took another sip of coffee. It seemed that the
Russians would actually honor the agreement drawn up with Vil-
izherchev. They had come up empty on each of the twelve in-
tercepts the three F-16 Falc
on interceptors had performed.
Although there had been no recall order it was only ten A. in
Washington. Still plenty of time for an agreement to be struck.
They could already be on the phone together making a deal.
"Dragon Five-Five, you take the lead," Elliott heard the
interceptor-formation leader, Major Coursey, say on the com-
mand radio. "Five-Six, you're on his wing. I'll take the high
CAP. Let's see if you guys have learned anything today."
:'Two. "
'Three.
Lieutenant Myers, the pilot of Dragon Five-Five, called out:
"I've got the lead. Dragon Five-Four, clear to climb and clear
the formation. Five-Six, clear to my right wing."
" Three," Douglas, aboard Dragon Five-Six, replied. Of all
three pilots he had had the least to say the entire flight-his
vocabulary had consisted of the word "three," his original for-
mation assignment. Even when they changed leads, Douglas
would always report in as "three" because he had started out in
that position.
"Five-Four's outta here."
Elliott glanced at the master radar display. Another aircraft
had just appeared on the scope at two hundred miles range. The
operator had drawn an electronic line on the screen, depicting
the airway A321 and the new target was dead on that line. This
airway ran all the way from Rio de Janeiro to Goose Bay, pass-
ing near Colombia, Panama, Nicaragua, Cuba, Miami and New
York-A321 was the most widely used airway in South and Cen-
tral America. Every aircraft they had intercepted had been dead
on this airway, and each had been transmitting the proper iden-
tification codes. When they were intercepted by Coursey and his
wingmen they had turned out to be just what their I. codes
said they were.
The exercise was beginning to wear on Coursey and his pilots,
DAY OF THE CHEETAH 335
so they had been swapping leads on each intercept. For the first
time, the least inexperienced pilot, Myers on Five-Five, was
going to be in the lead for an intercept.
"What's the inside pitch on Myers, Ed?" Elliott asked the
767 AWACS commander.
"A hard-charger, from what I hear," Marsch replied, check-
ing his duty roster for this mission. "Top in his class at Nellis.
One of the first pilots to go directly from an Air National Guard
commission to F-16 ADF training. He's low-time but he's
good. I I
Elliott nodded. A good opportunity for Myers to get some
training-he hoped that was all he'd get. He checked the data
readouts on the newcomer. "Relatively low altitude," Elliott
remarked. The new aircraft was at fifteen thousand feet and
climbing. "Got an origin?"
"Negative, sir," the console operator said. "I should be get-
ting his IFF data in a minute."
"Five-Four's on the high CAP,- Coursey reported.
"Slow down your turn rate for me, Five-Five," Elliott heard
on the radio-obviously Dragon Five-Six was having trouble
keeping up with Five-Five. In many ways being a formation
leader was more stressful than staying on a guy's wing-you had
to think ahead all the time. On the wing all you had to worry
about was staying on the wing. As lead you had to consider your
wingmen's reactions to each of your moves and radio call-
every throttle movement, hesitation, control input or decision
had a ripple effect on everyone else.
"That's better, Bob," Douglas on Dragon Five-Six said.
Just then Ed Marsch handed General Elliott a messageform.
"Message from SAC headquarters via JCS, sir," he said. Elliott
read the note, lips tightening; then nodded and flipped the note
onto the console.
"It seems the Russians have agreed to the President's terms.
They've promised not to move the XF-34 out of Nicaragua.
They're negotiating on terms for the removal of the aircraft-
they say the aircraft is damaged and unflyable. The pilot will
not be returned until the investigation is completed. We've been
ordered to stand down. The fighters have been granted a two-
night stay in Georgetown but are ordered back to Panama by
Monday. "
Marsch let out his breath, trying to restrain his relief at being
336 DAIE BROWN
ordered to get out of this duty. His E-5A AWACS radar plane
was vulnerable out here, with no ready fighter protection and
only a few minutes flying time from Cuba. "I'll order the fight-
ers from Georgetown to RTB,- he said. Elliott nodded. To the
senior controller, Marsch ordered, "Tell Dragon Five-Four flight
to recover to Georgetown ASAP. Set up a refueling for them if
they need it-they must be down close to an hour's duration.
The senior controller nodded.
"If they can properly secure your plane, Colonel," Elliott
said, "request permission for you and your crew to spend the
weekend in Georgetown. It beats flying all the way back to Okla-
homa. I can find my own way back to Nellis." Back to Dream-
land. Back to forced retirement. Back to disgrace . . . ?
"Excellent suggestion, sir," Marsch said excitedly. One
weekend in the Caribbean beat a year in Oklahoma City. "I'll
work on it immediately.
"We've got an I. code on the newcomer, sir," the radar
plan with Georgetown air traffic control now."
Marsch had gone over to the communications section, so El-
liott said, "Let's have it, Sergeant."
"Flight plan from Georgetown says it's a flight of three-a
Soviet Ilyushin-76 Midas tanker-transport plane and two MiG-
29 Fulcrum fighters. One four-zero-nine-six code and one mode
JC." Standard civilian air-traffic beacon codes; the first transmit-
ted aircraft-identification data, the second transmitted altitude.
"What's their origin?"
"Origin code is MMNP, sir," the operator replied. "Augusto
Cesar Sandino International Airport, Managua, Nicaragua."
Elliott slipped on his headphones and keyed the mike switch.
"S-One, this is S-Five. Have the fighters from Georgetown
turned back yet?"
Marsch's head poked up from behind a communications con-
sole as he punched his mike button. "Affirmative, sir."
"Tell them to turn around and rendezvous with us," Elliott
said.
"Excuse me, sir," Marsch said and exited the communica-
tions console and began to walk toward Elliott, "we've been
ordered to stand down-"
"We got two fighters and a Soviet transport heading our way
DAY OF THE CHEETAH 337
Elliott said. "I want to run an intercept on them. And I want
cover for us until they pass.
Marsch returned to the master radar-console and checked the
readouts. "An II-76 and a couple of MiGs. Have they got a
flight plan?" The operator nodded. "They're squawking the
proper codes, General. They're on the airway. I don't see what
the problem is-"
"There's no problem, Colonel," Elliott said. "I just want an
intercept on them and I want air cover for us un, til the
y leave."
"Sir, the mission is over," Marsch said, we've been or-
dered to return to base. Besides, it's crazy running an intercept
on Russian aircraft. If something goes wrong we could be in
serious trouble-"
"I know what we've been ordered to do, Colonel - I also know
what my responsibility is and I know what your responsibility
is. Do what I tell you, goddamn it." Marsch nodded, eyes on
Elliott. No question, Marsch thought, that the old man meant
what he said. He turned back to the communications cabin.
"Have the mid-CAP run an intercept on the transport," El-
liott told the senior controller. "But I want no hostile moves out
there. Have the mid-CAP flank the fighters, but no radar and no
tail-attack aspect. I just want them close enough for a visual on
the transport."
"Yes, sir. "
Marsch came back to the radar cabin and stood behind Elliott.
"Dragon Five-Seven flight is on its way," the radar-console
operator reported. "ETA twenty minutes."
"What's the ETA on the MiGs?"
"Fifteen. "
"I want one of the fighters in the Dragon Five-Seven flight
joined on us in twelve minutes," Elliott said. "How's the inter-
cept running?" Elliott didn't expect an answer; he could hear
the strained interchange of the pilots as they closed in on their
first hostile bogeys.
"Dragon Five-Five on heading two-zero-five, level flight level
two-zero-zero," Myers replied. The transition from flight lead
to eventual Caribbean beach bum and back to flight lead was
jarring.
"Roger, Dragon," the controller said. "Your target is one
o'clock, one hundred and fifty miles, flight plan reports two
338 DALE BROWN
MiG-29 fighters and one "-76 transport. Radar showing one prii-
mary target only-" Only one of the possible three aircraft was
positively being tracked.
"What the hell are we doing, Barrier?" Coursey said. He was
still on the high combat air patrol, electing not to take over the
lead from Myers. The kid needed the experience, and what bet-
ter experience than intercepting some real Russians? But the sud-
den switch from stand-down to I.'ing some -Russians was