Anastasia watched the liaison’s P-02 until it cleared the tree line — to her great relief — and disappeared from view. C-Section, short a bomber, had borrowed the plane for the previous night’s sorties. It had taken AA fire, and this morning Anastasia had been unable to fix the damage, only cover it up. She hadn’t been sure until now that it would even take off. And now she had nothing to fly tonight.
Later, at sunset that day, the visiting Lt. General posed for a photo-op in front of one of the 586th’s gleaming fighters. The Night Witches’ bi-planes took off in the distance. As the photographer set up his camera, the fighter unexpectedly roared to life. The Lt. General jumped away, and turned in time to see Anastasia smile and wave from the cockpit. The fighter throttled up and rolled towards the runway.
As the plane receded, an army truck approached from the access road. The muddy tail section of a P-02 hung out the back. The Lt. General’s liaison was in the truck’s passenger seat.
A favourite moment from last night’s game of Night Witches.