Post by aimway921 on Jan 22, 2023 4:28:10 GMT -5
With most of the troops that participated in the Tafatu War now back home, and peace returning to the nation, the 1st Ashinaran Air Wing now had not much to do but drill their skills and maintain their aircraft.
In over two months of the monotone repetitiveness, the Fighter and Ground Attack pilots have familiarized themselves with eachothers aircrafts, and were taking turns with them, rotating between the aircrafts every two weeks.
Today was Marchek te Rostovki's turn to fly a Ground Attack Aircraft. The young noble, Marchek te Rostovski, who became the second Ashinaran ever to take off into the air, and had not one flight and kill under his belt during the War, had an idea to at least somehow make things more exciting. Last night he spotted an old, seemingly abandoned barge at the village dock several miles from the military base, located on one of the minor islands. Securing permission from the Air Wing Commander, Honruchenko, he and a few of his comrades went out to the village to find the owner of the barge. It was a small village, and it didn't take long until they were on the doorstep of one of the inhabitants. An old fox, used to run goods between the village and a town not far on a larger island. The increased supply brought to the island because of the new military base, however, made his job redundant, and running the barge became more expensive than the profits he got from it. Seeing no need in it anymore, the old fox agreed to sell the barge to the pilots for a not too bad price.
Several hours later, the pilots had the groundcrew of the base tow the barge to the bay near the base. Agreeing with the Commander to sacrifice a small towboat to make the barge a moving target during this exercise, te Rostovski took off in his plane loaded with a single bomb. He made several passes over the barge, estimating when to drop the bomb. During the war he dropped many bombs, but none required such an extreme level of precision - a bomb that missed it's target on ground would simply explode and still damage the target with the fragmentation and the shockwave. If he missed the barge, however, the bomb will simply sink underwater and not do much but stun some fish.
Finally, on the 5th pass, he dropped the bomb. Almost immediately he went into a circling turn, tilting his plane enough to be able to observe the impact. While he didn't see it, the bomb crashed through the thin wood cover laid over the deck to cover the bellowdecks, and slammed into the belly of the barge. A split second later, the contact-activated detonator activated the main charge and the bomb blew up inside the barge, blowing a large hole in the unarmored watercraft.
As the barge began to quickly sink, Marchek, with a smug grin on his face, turned to the shore to land at the airfield. Passing over the beach, where the saw all the other pilots and a number of groundcrew gather to observe his stunt, cheering for his success.
Over a week has passed until Commander Honruchenko's report of the exercise reached the desk of a General in the Army, the Air Wing being part of the Army. Seeing potential in what he read, he forwarded the report to the Admiralty. It took another two weeks before someone important read it and decided that a meeting over the matter should be gathered. Attended by the Minister of War, the Princess herself, a number of Admirals, including the Fleet Admiral himself, as well as several high ranking engineers and accountants from the Navy's and Army's R&D departments. After a lengthy discussion about the viability of the idea, it was decided to fund a new project in the Navy. Small scale for now, it would be used to test the viability further to find out if it should be pursued further. While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be tasked with purchasing a few more aircraft from UKUG, as well potentially recruiting someone experienced to assist with the endeavor, the Naval R&D department shall be tasked with the much more monumental project - designing and building a brand new type of vessel for the Ashinaran Royal Navy - an Aircraft Carrier, or Floating Airfield, as it was referred to for now.
In over two months of the monotone repetitiveness, the Fighter and Ground Attack pilots have familiarized themselves with eachothers aircrafts, and were taking turns with them, rotating between the aircrafts every two weeks.
Today was Marchek te Rostovki's turn to fly a Ground Attack Aircraft. The young noble, Marchek te Rostovski, who became the second Ashinaran ever to take off into the air, and had not one flight and kill under his belt during the War, had an idea to at least somehow make things more exciting. Last night he spotted an old, seemingly abandoned barge at the village dock several miles from the military base, located on one of the minor islands. Securing permission from the Air Wing Commander, Honruchenko, he and a few of his comrades went out to the village to find the owner of the barge. It was a small village, and it didn't take long until they were on the doorstep of one of the inhabitants. An old fox, used to run goods between the village and a town not far on a larger island. The increased supply brought to the island because of the new military base, however, made his job redundant, and running the barge became more expensive than the profits he got from it. Seeing no need in it anymore, the old fox agreed to sell the barge to the pilots for a not too bad price.
Several hours later, the pilots had the groundcrew of the base tow the barge to the bay near the base. Agreeing with the Commander to sacrifice a small towboat to make the barge a moving target during this exercise, te Rostovski took off in his plane loaded with a single bomb. He made several passes over the barge, estimating when to drop the bomb. During the war he dropped many bombs, but none required such an extreme level of precision - a bomb that missed it's target on ground would simply explode and still damage the target with the fragmentation and the shockwave. If he missed the barge, however, the bomb will simply sink underwater and not do much but stun some fish.
Finally, on the 5th pass, he dropped the bomb. Almost immediately he went into a circling turn, tilting his plane enough to be able to observe the impact. While he didn't see it, the bomb crashed through the thin wood cover laid over the deck to cover the bellowdecks, and slammed into the belly of the barge. A split second later, the contact-activated detonator activated the main charge and the bomb blew up inside the barge, blowing a large hole in the unarmored watercraft.
As the barge began to quickly sink, Marchek, with a smug grin on his face, turned to the shore to land at the airfield. Passing over the beach, where the saw all the other pilots and a number of groundcrew gather to observe his stunt, cheering for his success.
Over a week has passed until Commander Honruchenko's report of the exercise reached the desk of a General in the Army, the Air Wing being part of the Army. Seeing potential in what he read, he forwarded the report to the Admiralty. It took another two weeks before someone important read it and decided that a meeting over the matter should be gathered. Attended by the Minister of War, the Princess herself, a number of Admirals, including the Fleet Admiral himself, as well as several high ranking engineers and accountants from the Navy's and Army's R&D departments. After a lengthy discussion about the viability of the idea, it was decided to fund a new project in the Navy. Small scale for now, it would be used to test the viability further to find out if it should be pursued further. While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be tasked with purchasing a few more aircraft from UKUG, as well potentially recruiting someone experienced to assist with the endeavor, the Naval R&D department shall be tasked with the much more monumental project - designing and building a brand new type of vessel for the Ashinaran Royal Navy - an Aircraft Carrier, or Floating Airfield, as it was referred to for now.
