Armageddon_ A Novel of Berlin - Leon Uris [295]
“Christ!”
A streak of fire poured from the number-three engine down the side of the plane the instant the fire-warning light came alive.
“Oh shit,” Nick said.
Scott reached over Stan, pulled the fire wall shut-off valve, and looked at his watch to let thirty agonizing seconds pass.
“This is Big Easy One. Emergency. Engine on fire.”
Scott pulled the CO2 extinguisher handle discharging white foam to battle the flaming engine, set down the landing gears to ventilate the wheel housing. The fire smothered to stillness.
Scott’s trained hand closed the cowl flaps and retarded the throttle on the smoking engine. He nodded to Stan, who pushed the feathering button and snapped off the booster pump. The giant prop slowly turned right-angled to the air flow and came to a halt
“Tank.”
“Off.”
Scott flipped the ignition switch. Stan looked out of the window.
“I think we’ve got it.”
Scott looked over his shoulder at Nick. The unlit cigar had been chewed in half. He flipped a book of matches back. “Go on, light it.”
“All heart, you’re all heart.”
“This is Big Easy One calling Tempelhof Airways. Fire under control, number-three engine feathered.”
The bloc behind Scott held rigid discipline. A struggle was now on to bring in the wounded bird.
“This is Tempelhof calling Big Easy One. Contact Jigsaw on Charlie Channel.”
Stan switched to the emergency channel and established contact with GCA.
“This is Jigsaw. What are your intentions?”
With the immediate emergency under control Scott wanted to try for Gatow or Tegel, where the landing would be easier than the steep glide over the cemetery.
“This is Big Easy One calling Jigsaw. Can you give me permission to land at Gatow or Tegel?”
“Stand by.”
Gatow had an emergency. A plane had blown a tire and the runway was out of use. Tegel had fallen below minimums and was shut down.
“Big Easy One this is Jigsaw. Cannot comply with your request. Both fields out of operation. Can you turn around and go back to the zone, over?”
Stan and Nick kept quiet. The few seconds to decision did not allow the luxury of discussion or prolonged procrastination. Scott did not know for certain what had caused the fire and therefore not certain it would not erupt again. There was nothing left to fight it with. He had ten tons of cargo on three engines and an icing condition.
“Let’s get this mother down,” he said to his crew over the intercom. They nodded in agreement.
“This is Big Easy One calling Jigsaw. We want to make an immediate landing at Tempelhof.”
Stan and Nick were already going through the emergency procedures, leaving Scott free to concentrate on the instruments. Nick looked outside. Nothing could be seen.
They listened as Tempelhof Radar diverted the rest of the bloc into the Center corridor and back to Rhein/Main.
“This is Jigsaw calling Big Easy One. We have you positive. What is your altitude?”
“This is Big Easy One. We are at fifteen hundred.”
“Maintain that altitude until further advised.”
Nick and Stan worked down the prelanding check list.
“This is Jigsaw,” an airman named Ed Becker said, wondering why he had come to Germany, why he was sitting before this luminous green scope being thrust into the role of the Lord. Turn left Heading 337.”
“Left Heading 337,” Stan repeated after Scott’s execution.
Fire wagons, ambulances, crash trucks tensed in readiness as the fog began to fall close to the ground.
“This is Jigsaw,” Ed Becker said. “You will land on left runway two seven. Wind fifteen knots northwest, cross winds from right, altimeter three zero zero three.”
“Roger. Altimeter three zero point zero three.”
The NCO behind Ed Becker handed him further weather.
“Big Easy One this is Jigsaw. Ceiling one hundred feet, visibility one eighth of a mile.”
“Oui vey,” Nick whispered.
Stan pretended he didn’t hear the transmission, kept working around Scott on the control panel.
“Ask them if they have the high-intensity lights to maximum?”
“This is Jigsaw calling Big Easy One. Lights are on full. You are over Wedding Beacon. Turn right to a heading of ninety