Page 104 - Demo

102landed %u2013 two successes in one day, it can%u2019t last %u2013 and were quickly refuelled, and tucked away in a very Soviet-looking, but serviceable, hardened shelter. We then wandered to the Air Traffic Control Tower to book in, pay our dues and get a taxi into town %u2013 for what we regarded as a well-earned beer. The delightful young chap in the Tower seemed to be a one-man band and, it transpired, had previously been a flying instructor at Bautzen, flying L39 jet trainers %u2013it was then the East German Air Force Advanced Flying Training School. We passed a very pleasant few minutes shooting the breeze, until a very prominent telephone on his control desk started ringing loudly. His demeanour changed instantly - this was a phone that did not ring very often, and he picked it up as if it was hot to the touch.As he talked, his serious face turned to look straight at me, and there was no doubting that I was the subject of his conversation. %u201cIt is German Air Defence for you,%u201d he said, passing the phone quickly to me.My %u201cHello%u201d was greeted with a very angry voice which introduced itself as Major Schmidt (I cannot actually remember his name, but Schmidt works for me), the duty controller at the local Air Defence HQ. %u201cAre you the pilot of Golf Bravo Oscar Mike Lima?%u201d he demanded. %u201cI am,%u201d I confessed. %u201cYou infringed Czech airspace earlier,%u201d he shot at me. I countered very firmly, my hackles already rising. %u201cI did not, I could see the actual border crossing point well to my starboard as we turned the Czech corner.%u201d One to me! Not beaten, he responded, %u201cYou were flying inside the German ADIZ.11%u201d I was on firmer ground now, having once been a staff officer in HQ RAF Germany, so came back: %u201c I can fly in the ADIZ, as long as I fly parallel to the border, which we did.%u201d Two to me! There was a discernible thinking pause at the other end of the line, and then he came back at me: %u201cYou were flying at more than 150 knots in the ADIZ.%u201d Damn, that was one I couldn%u2019t counter, and admitted that I was flying at 180 knots. I was then subjected to a long triumphal lecture on how I must not fly at more than 150 knots in the German ADIZ. He paused for breath, and then asked what types of aircraft were in my formation ...d%u00e9j%u00e0 vu. Rather fed up, I replied, %u201cMy aircraft is a Messerschmitt 109, and my wingman is flying a Spitfire.%u201d A long pause followed and, in a much less confrontational tone, he enquired, %u201cAnd these are military aircraft?%u201d I replied that, no, they were on the civil