Air Rescue Stories are about a fictitious paramilitary-for-hire rescue organization known as Air Rescue Special Forces, a subsidiary of Air Rescue’s commercial helicopter rescue business.

Air Rescue was conceived in the imaginative day-dreams of author Lon Maisttison, while living in England in the 1990’s. The author visualized these day-dream stories based against real life events going on throughout the world at the time and injected his own rescue organization into the scene as they played out in his imaginative mind. It wasn’t until the late 1990‘s that the author started compiling the stories on his home computer into a written outline format about the day-dreams he visualized that day. For years the stories remained dormant on his home computer until 2003 when the author returned to the United States and contracted a flu virus that attacked his heart which developed into congestive heart failure (CHF). During that year, the author made himself a promise to write two styles of books, the first book would deal with surviving congestive heart failure “The Kissed by Death Books,” and the second series would be the “Air Rescue Stories.”

In 2007, the author introduced the first Air Rescue story that appeared in the book titled: “The Two Sisters of Kuwait”. The story was derived from an accumulation of the original eight story outlines conceived by the author in the late 1990’s and presented in the copyright filed with the Library of Congress in 2006. The Air Rescue Story being presented is an expansion of the original story developed in 2006.

It all began in 1980, when Blackie Winner, a pilot, flying out of Haps Airport in Clark County, Indiana started-up a helicopter rescue business. Blackie and his side kick Billy were out flying a helicopter around the Floyd Knobs one day and came upon a car crash in the hills overlooking the Ohio Valley. They landed their helicopter in a farmer’s field nearby the accident and ended up transporting the driver to the hospital to save his life. The insurance company paid the two men handsomely for their services, which got the two men thinking. If they could make that kind of money rescuing people, why not startup a business doing rescues and that afternoon's flight gave birth to a new company. Blackie and Billy decided that since their first rescue was done by air involving an aircraft i.e. a helicopter, they decided to call the company Air Rescue.

During the first year of business, Blackie and Billy modified a 1981 Bell 222SP which later became the first Air Rescue helicopter known as Air One. The modification involved removing one of the back seats and wall partition and installing an entrance door at the real of the helicopter. In place of the removed seat, a platform was installed that could handle an ambulance stretcher. This allowed the patient on a stretcher to be loaded straight onto the platform and slid into the helicopter from the rear of the aircraft. Equipment to monitor the patient in flight was installed overhead; oxygen tanks were added and medical supplies.

In the first year of business, the company successfully carried out 253 rescues. During that year, the two entrepreneurs focused the company’s line of business on transporting medical patients from hospitals, picking up people at car accident sites, taking people off ships on the Ohio River and basically specialized in air pickups of all kinds. Accident rescue was Air Rescues most profitable business in the first year, there bread and butter so to speak, and they were very good at this line of work. Business was good.

During the summer of 1981, Billy's brother Hank, a pilot in Miami, came up to Indiana to visit Billy and Blackie with the intent of starting up another Air Rescue business in Miami. The two entrepreneurs had been approached by other small helicopter companies in various Midwestern cities to franchise their style of business. But Hank was a relative of Billy’s and a successful businessman in helicopter sales and flew helicopters out of a Miami Airport. So, Blackie and Billy invested in Hank’s adventure and help finance his Air Rescue business in Miami.

In six months, the Miami office was booming. Business was good and focused on transporting medical patients from hospitals, picking up people at car accident sites, taking people off ships at sea and basically specialized in air pickups of all kinds. The success of the Miami office fueled interest by other local cities and Air Rescue franchised the business and the Air Rescue name grew into a successful million dollar company.

Then in 1982, the Miami business took a down turn due to the Miami riots that year. During that summer, and appreciating those times of American history, some overbearing cops in Miami beat to death a black motorcyclist which started the Miami Riots. Air Rescue was of course doing rescue work during the rioting period. The official story told by the sister aircrew flying that afternoon with the downed helicopter, indicated that the helicopter came under fire from rioters and was hit in the tail rotor, always the most vulnerable spot for a helicopter, and the chopper crashed. Everybody onboard, including the patient they picked up, was killed. That was a very bad day for Air Rescue. So, some of the rescue aircrew members with military backgrounds started carrying weapons and on several occasions, they shot at rioters and snipers who were shooting at the rescue helicopter.

It was in 1985, that the commando unit was created from an idea of one of the aircrew personnel by the name of Mike Henderson, who experienced the Miami Riots first hand. He was a Vietnam vet, who had a background in Special Forces and spent most of his time in the jungle, and on occasion, had been involved in jungle rescues of servicemen captured and rescued them from the enemy. But for the most part, he spent his time jumping in and out of rice paddies getting shot at. He was a little guy, only 5':4'', but Vietnam had changed him from a naïve young kid to one mean son-of-bitch. He came back to the United States after the war and trained as a medic and was working for Air Rescue part time.

Mike had also become a religious man and attended church every Sunday and helped sponsor the church missionary effort in South America. The church was supporting three missionaries in Colombia, South America who was helping a local poor village and at the same time was preaching Gods word to the villagers on Sunday. But, one of the missionaries went a little too far in preaching about drugs and the local Drug Lord took offense. He had the missionary kidnapped and ran off the other two who returned back to Miami. The Drug Lord soon discovered that the missionary they had kidnapped was, in fact, a very successful businessman on a sabbatical from a well-known pharmaceutical company and rich. So, the Drug Lord put a million dollar ransom on his head.

When word reached the church that the missionary had been kidnapped and a ransom was demanded. Mike volunteered his services to help the church get the missionary released, as he knew the man kidnapped. Mike joined a party of church members who arranged a trip to South America in an attempt to meet with the Drug Lord. What the church members didn’t know was Mike was on a mission to do some freelance work and rescue the businessman if he got the chance. Mike knew he was walking into a trap and the Drug Lord was just playing with them in hopes of bettering his position. But, Mike figured his martial arts training and commando skills from his Vietnam days was good enough for him to disarm any rent-army-bandit he faced.

So, he teamed up with three other church members and caught a flight from Miami to Bogota, Colombia, South America on Aero Mexico Airlines. The church team setup residence in the Hotel Bogotá Real, in downtown Bogota and put the word out on the streets to taxis drivers and hotel staff, that they wanted to meet with the Drug Lord. It was only a matter of days before a messenger showed up at the hotel, wanting to know what they wanted. The church members informed him that they wanted to secure the release of their fellow church member and the messenger left. About two days later, the messenger returned to the hotel and set up a meeting the next evening at the Drug Lords residence, outside of town.

Mike thought to himself, these church members are dumb and as far as Mike was concerned, these guys were walking into a trap. So, he told the others that he was going to have a walk around town and went out and secretly rented a car and parked it near the hotel. Later that evening after dinner, Mike faked being sick with food poisoning and stayed in his room studying maps as how to get to the Drug Lords residence.

The next day after breakfast, Mike put his finger down his throat and faked sickness again. Unwell, the church members thought nothing of leaving Mike at the hotel as they didn’t want any problems with sickness while visiting the Drug Lord. The messenger came to the hotel to escort them to the Drug Lords residence and the church members left with him.

Just as soon as the group left the hotel, Mike followed them out the door and got into his rental car and then continued following them to the Spanish hacienda. Watching from a distance, Mike saw the church members drive into the courtyard of the hacienda compound. As they all got out of the car, they were met at the front entrance of the hacienda by what appeared to be the Drug Lord and went into the building with him.

Mike got out of the car and sneaked over to the compound wall. He climbed on the courtyard wall and laid down flat, so he wouldn’t be noticed by the roaming guards while he viewed and studied the courtyard and grounds. From his advantage point on top of the wall, he could see the church members talking with the Drug Lord through the windows as they all stood around in the foyer with the Drug Lord. Then the Drug Lord laughed at them and motioned with his hand for his guards with automatic weapons to take them down stairs to the basement of the hacienda.

As Mike laid flat on top of the wall, he thought to himself, well I was right, it was a trap. So he starts thinking how he was going to get them out. He decided that the first thing he was going to do was nothing, but just sit tight and wait for things to quieten down, watch guard activity and at the same time, look for cameras.

From Mike’s advantage point, he could see one camera at the entrance. It was the type that rotates back and forth to cover a wide range of the entrance to the building. Mike thought, he can’t just walk up to the entrance without being seen, so he needed a disguise. He needed to look like one of the guards. So, when the camera looked away from Mike’s direction, he climbed down off the wall on the courtyard side and moved across the lawn to the house and hid in the bushes.

Mike waited about 15 minutes for a guard to walk by doing his security rounds. As the guard passed him, he snuck upon him and clubbed him on top of the head and knocked him out. He took the guys shirt off him and put it on with his hat to fake out the guy in the control room who’s watching with the cameras.

When the camera rotated around to the position where Mike was not as visible to the camera, he put his head down so his face was not showing to the camera and walked in the entrance. Once inside, he sneaked along the hall to the door where he saw the guards take the church members.

As it turned out, the door led to stairs going down into the basement. So quietly, Mike sneaked down the steps to the basement area and stopped, because a camera was just above his head and looked into the open room and cells. Mike could see the guard sitting at a table with all of the church members and kidnapped friend sitting around the wall of a small cell together.

Mike thought to himself, I don’t have a prayer in hells chance of getting to the guard before he sees me, and he has a gun and I don’t. So, Mike decided he would get the guard to come to him. If he changed the position of the camera then that will get the attention of the control room, and they will call the guard to go fix it.

Mike reached up to the camera and changed its position so it pointed up at the ceiling, and then waited for the phone call from someone in the control room. It took less than 5 minutes and the control room was calling the guard to check the camera.

The guard got up, walked over to the camera, and while he was correcting the camera’s position, Mike came from behind the stairs wall and hit him on the head with a club and knocked him out.

Mike hurried over to the guards table, collected the keys and unlocked the cell door and opened it to release everybody. He told them all to keep quiet and to follow him. Up the basement stairs they all went to the ground floor. Mike opened the basement door and looked out into the hallway to no activity…no guards …Mike whispered to everybody to follow him as he led then out and along the hallway and out the front door.

Mike figured he had only minutes to get everybody out through the front gate and around to his rental car and drive off, because the control room would have seen them leave, and sound the alarm.

He started the car and drove down the street a few blocks and then parked the car and had everybody lie down on the seats and hide. It was only minutes, before several cars came out of the compound and raced down the streets looking for them.

But, Mike had done his homework, and he knew that the Drug Lord would send paramilitary people to their hotel and airport looking for them. He knew that the only real safe place was the U.S. Embassy in Bogota. So, Mike drove to the U.S. Embassy and identified everybody as kidnapped persons hiding from the Drug Lord and arranged to stay in residence at the Embassy until morning. The next day under protection of the Embassy, they drove to the Airport and flew back to the USA.

The successful rescue of the businessman gained Mike a nice reward of $25,000 dollars from the man’s company for a good job well done. When Mike returned to his job at Air Rescue, they were most interested in his story and wanted someone like Mike to set up a business doing this style of rescue. The small commando unit that resulted from the Colombia rescue later became known as Air Rescue Special Forces.

Once the U.S. Government got wind of the paramilitary operations going on in the United States, the U.S. Government forced Air Rescue into U.S. Federal Court. Through court action,  Air Rescue had to either leave, the United States or cease operations under a federal mandate of the Private Militias Laws, brought on by all the problems with the Cuban National Front in Florida in the 1960’s. Air Rescue made a deal with the U.S. Government that the paramilitary wing of the business would move out of the United States, leaving only the medical rescue business.

That year, Air Rescue Special Forces moved their entire business office for Special Forces Operations to Harrogate, England, under the direction of Frank James, Lieutenant-Colonel (Ret.), Royal Marine Commandos (1984), as British laws are more relaxed about paramilitary organizations. Once the Harrogate Office was established, Frank started the supply office in Northampton, which had operational control of assets being kept off shore in various friendly countries.

By the 1990’s, Air Rescue Special Forces was a well-established, successful paramilitary-for-hire business operating primarily in Europe and Mid-East. Commandos were used extensively on special rescue operations, especially during the Beirut Civil War to save kidnapped victims for large sums of money. One of the heroes of the Beirut period of time was “Jimmy West,” who was so successful in sneaking into and out of Beirut that his paid fee increased to one million dollars per mission and he became known as “the stealth warrior" for his nighttime rescue tactics.

Bio: Jimmy West - joined Air Rescue Special Forces in 1986 after being discharged from the U.S. Army Special Forces. During Jimmy’s 19 + years Army career, he had spent several years in Japan where he was trained by a monk; a real 19th century ninja, in the mountains of Iga Province. The monk trained Jimmy in Ninjutsu, the ancient art of stealth, and taught him to be a ninja, a shadow warrior who specialized in blending into his surroundings, the art of non-detection and avoidance. Being an American national and having a career in a paramilitary organization, presented legal problems for living in the United States. So, he eventually took up residence in a Mediterranean villa in the small beautiful town of Port de Soller, Mallorca.

At the height of the Beirut period, one of Jimmy’s most famous rescues was “The Tripoli Mission,” a cloak & dagger, special ops, secret Air Rescue mission to Tripoli, Libya. On this mission, Jimmy West, the stealth warrior, was sent to rescue an Egyptian envoy's wife and two daughters and get them back on Egyptian soil alive.

The rescue mission became famous throughout the Arab world and led to the mission called “The Two Sisters of Kuwait.” This commando mission was to Kuwait City during the first 24 hours of the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait, to rescue the Emir's grandson Prince Nasser. Jimmy landed in Kuwait City and unexpectedly stumbled upon nine marauding Iraqi soldiers attacking the two sisters and rescued them. The sisters befriended Jimmy and helped him rescue the prince and complete his mission. Hunted by the Iraqi Army, they escaped capture in a mad dash across Kuwait City, engaging in several running gun battles, to be extracted by Air Rescue Aircraft.

It was in 1988, when Air Rescue started contemplating business expansion. They wanted to get into the multi-million dollar rescues. Commandos like Jimmy West could only do so much in cloak and dagger based rescues. So, Air Rescue conceived the idea of the ship / gunship combination to support their rescues. The world was exploding around the globe and Air Rescue wanted a piece of the action and saw a need for a ship that could carry muscle i.e. the gunship.

But, even though Air Rescue was a successful million dollar company, their business thoughts were in practical terms and they simply didn’t have the money to support the construction of a new ship. Air Rescue also realized that in a gun battle up against a host country’s military during a rescue, they would be out gunned in a fight and their ship wouldn’t last five minutes. So, they conceived the idea of a clandestine ship (a Ghost Ship) based on secrecy, stealth, and deception. Basically, what Air Rescue wanted for rescues was a ship that could disappear or disguise itself. Air Rescue figured if Jimmy could be so successful in cloak and dagger, clandestine work, why couldn’t Air Rescue modify a ship to operate in deception i.e. cargo, tanker, or cruise ship mode of operation.

The deception idea would be based on pop up display props and picture projection (hologram displays) systems to display containers, cars or other various cargo items to make the ship look like some form of cargo or even cruise ship. Pictures of the ocean could also be displayed to mask the ship against the sea for semi-stealth. But, at no time would the flight deck runway be visible to the public, because that would give away the true mission of the ship.

In the minds of Air Rescue engineers, the ship was the transportation vehicle for the gunship. It was the gunship’s muscle that was needed during rescues which formed the bases for two thoughts. One: the ship would carry only four gunships. Not just any ordinary military style gunship, but a high performance 250+mph gunship that carried three 30 cal. Gatling guns and a 105 mm main gun. The gunship could attack its targets at high attack speed and would be based on advanced technology. And two: it would carry two helicopters needed to transport rescued people and commandos. So, that meant a ship with at least a 100 foot runway or similar launch platform for the type of helicopters proposed.

In addition, there was ship protection. The Fast Attacks would be the main line of defense and the other would be an anti-missile protection system. On each side of the ship would be mounted two radar controlled pods, front/rear, with three gatling guns each, capable of firing 12,000 rounds per minute to shoot down missiles or attacking aircraft. At various locations around the ship, would be stored shoulder launch anti-aircraft missiles and automatic weapons. Later, Air Rescue added a very advanced robot submersible to protect the ship from under water weapons.

Once Air Rescue engineers laid out their designs for the ship and gunships then costs were determined. The process began to find a commercial helicopter that would meet their needs and a ship that could be modified to Air Rescues requirements for conversion to include a flight deck.

*****

Building the First Phantom Cobra Class

Fast Attack Gunship.

The first two Fast Attacks were built from modifying the AgustaWestland AW109 that were salvaged from a hanger fire and purchased by Air Rescue in an insurance sale.

The helicopters were shipped to a Norwegian factory where all the modifications were performed, because of the Norwegian high technology welding skills developed for building cruise ships.

The first function was to strip down the Agusta to the shell and modify the body to accommodate the new jet turbine engines, weapons platform, heavy duty landing gear, supercomputers and microcomputer electro-mechanical devices.

At the rear passenger section of the airframe, the glass window was removed and replaced with a solid metal one. Below the glass window was honeycombed out to create a cavity for the tires to fit from the new heavy duty landing gear.

Sections of the passenger compartment flooring were cutout to create a cavity on either side of fuselage flooring to accommodate the mounting of two small jet turbine engines. The flooring behind and under the pilot / co-pilot seats were modified for air ducts to be installed so the jet engines could receive outside ram air to feed the engines. The rear end of the passenger compartment flooring was modified to extend the engine cavities out the rear of helicopter. A two foot tail section, that meets the fuselage, was squared off at the back to create thrust ports cavities for the new jet engines. Hinged covers were installed to cover the engine compartments on the belly of the helicopter.

Second - the weapons platform wings were wielded to the fuselage on both sides to accommodate the 105 mm main gun and laser aiming device on the right side of the helicopter. The platform wing on the left side was installed to support the (three) 30 mm gatling guns. Over the newly installed engine cavity was installed another metal subfloor to accommodate the weight of the main gun auto-loader / shell bank and 30 mm magazine installation. The sliding rear doors were replaced with solid doors, cutout to accommodate the features of auto-loader on one side and the 30 mm shell belts on the other side. Doors were locked into place and could be opened to service the ammo banks.

Third - double tire, heavy duty retractable landing gear was installed for ship landings.

Fourth – three supercomputers were installed behind the electronic officers control panel located on the left side, behind the pilot’s seat. Microcomputer controlling electro-mechanical devices were installed at various locations around the helicopter to perform the functions of controlling the rudder, cyclic/collective control and throttle functions of the aircraft, as well as electronics officers control panel and pilots display screens and systems were wired and tested.

The co-pilots seat was removed and the pilot’s seat moved two feet over to center in the front of the windshield and the electronics officer’s position seat was placed behind and to the left of the pilot’s seat.

Two new Pratt & Whitney Canada 206C turbo shaft engines were installed with a four blade rotor. In addition, two new MAT Pegasus RP-6 turbine engines with specialized reverse thrusters for ship landings and hovering were installed.

The software operating systems (Voice Command-Fly-By –Wire) developed by Air Rescue was flown in and loaded on the supercomputers by a team of technicians for testing.

Voice command-fly-by-wire: is a voice command and control software package that is stored on the Flight Supercomputer and controls all functions of the helicopter electronically. The software takes the voice command from the pilot, converts that command into a function and sets up the flight dynamics of the helicopter to do it. For example: if you tell the helicopter to lift…it's programmed to lift 10 feet straight up and it will sit there all day until it runs out of gas. If you say move forward, it’s programmed to move forward at one mph, until you tell it to stop. If you tell it to accelerate 5, 10, 20, 30, 40 mph and you will start picking up speed all the way up to 250 mph.

For commands to turn right, left, climb and dive, the nose of the helicopter is zero degrees and a right, left, climb or dive is based on 90 degree or some degree thereof….10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, or 90 degrees. Another example: full right or left turn is 90 degrees. When climbing/ diving, straight up is 90 degrees and straight down is 90 degrees. If you are under speed and you command a right or left turn, it banks the helicopter to the right or left and makes a full 90 degrees turn or number of degree stated. If you are hovering, a right or left turn command and the helicopter will turn the nose 90 degrees to the right or left and waits on the next command. Or you could tell it to reverse and it will back up or U-turn and it will turn the nose 180 degrees and wait on the next command. For climb or dive, command to climb or dive 10, 20, 30 to 90 degrees and the helicopter will start to climb or dive at the degree stated. Standard commands are: take-off and landing (automated), forward, reverse, U-turn, accelerate, right / left turn, climb, dive, de-accelerate, hover, stop, and execute.

Once the software packages were debugged, voice command data tables set, and software patched on the Flight Supercomputer, the aircraft completed its first test flight and modifications were made at the factory.

The first two fast attacks were cargo lifted to the nearest port to the ship, and then flown out to the ship for months of pilot training in how to fly a fast attack.

*****

Fast Attack Specifications

MFG: Agusta

Country of Origin: Italy

Model: AW109

Color: solid black

Crew: 2 (Pilot & Electronic Officer)

Electronics: voice command, electro-mechanical flight

control systems, three supercomputers. Flight, Battle and

standby

Length: 42.9 feet

Height: 11.6 feet

Weight: 4555 lbs (3461 lbs unloaded)

Speed: 250+ mph

Range: 600 miles

Ceiling: 19,600 ft

Power: 567 HP (two Pratt & Whitney engines) and two

Williams F112 turbofan engines.

Rotor Blades: Two foot shortened, curved/twisted four

rotor blades.

Weapon- platform wings, expandable 3 feet for

takeoff/landing.

Wing guns: left side - 3 x 30mm mini-guns

Right side -105 mm self-propelled main gun (laser fire

control)

Defense: Anti-missile flares

Radar/ radio countermeasures

Anti-missile decoys

*****

Building Global Rescuer

At the same time, the first two Fast Attacks were being constructed; Air Rescue was negotiating an insurance deal for a cruise ship.

In 1990, a cruise ship sailed out of Miami harbor and caught fire and everybody had to abandon ship. The ship was a total loss in the eyes of the insurance company and they were going nuts trying to sell the burnt out ship.

Air Rescue inspected the ship and found that it was in good shape and the engines were just fine and so were the forward 50 cabins and state rooms from the smoke stack to the front of the ship.

Air Rescue had been looking for a ship to buy, but companies wanted a fortune for them. But, one of their engineers, who took a look at the ship, sat down over lunch and drew out a plan on a napkin of how simple it would be to adopt the ship to what they wanted. So, Air Rescue made a ridiculous offer and five days later the insurance company accepted it. Air Rescue put a skeleton crew onboard ship and sailed it to a harbor in India, where they had all three burnt out decks cut out to make a large hanger. A steel floor was laid down and over the top of the hanger was installed a steel flight deck and elevator to the hanger. The other damaged decks were made into storage rooms except for a large room behind the bridge where the battle room was constructed.

The battle room is a unique control room that is somewhat like the command and control center you see on a starship in the movies. Like most ships, the bridge on the cruise ship was left pretty much intact much like any other ships bridge. But, directly behind the bridge and down the stairs begins the battle room, and this sets Global Rescuer apart from any other ship. The battle room begins behind the stairs with the cubical rooms that are set aside for the Skyspy and Remote Control Device. These rooms control up to eight Skyspy aircraft and fast attack gunships when en-route to a target. Just in front of the stairs is located the Air Traffic Control, Radar and Comm.’s stations with information and picture collection displays that are used to fly the gunships. Just past these positions, and in the center of the room, is located the Captain's chair next to the Science Officer’s chair and she runs the battle room. Facing the Captain and Science Officer are display consoles that control weapons systems used to protect the ship and activate weapons on the fast attack gunships. Against the wall behind the consoles are very large display screens, that displays maps, radar pictures, pictures from skyspy, close circuit TV pictures from the flight deck, signals and analysis displays, and anything else that the Captain and Science Officer needs to make a decision. Around the room are extra chairs and desks for guests for meets with the Captain and Science Officer. Behind the Captain's and Science Officer’s great room is located the Signals and Intelligence room and their purpose is to collect signals and evaluate.

Next deck down and directly under the battle room is located the Air Conditioned Electronics Room which houses the three mini-supercomputers. These three computers control the entire ship, and all command and control consoles and displays. It’s the brains of the ship.

During the ships reconfiguration, all the other decks and 50 cabins / state rooms forward from the battle room and hanger were left intact with some becoming crew and guest quarters.

Once the cruise ship completed its reconfiguration and sea trials, and Air Rescue signed off on the ship, it became known as Global Rescuer. At any given time, Global Rescuer carries four Fast Attack gunships, two rescue helicopters, and when needed, one little bird.

*****

The development of Air Rescue Technology.

It was in 1993, when Global Rescuer was on a rescue mission and got into a situation with Government forces of a country that shall remain nameless after passing over the Line of Death in the Gulf of Sid. If it wasn't for their ships stealth technology, and the smart action of one of the Fast Attack pilots, the ship would have been sunk. This was a shock to Air Rescues operations and they quickly came to the realization that more advance weapons technology was needed such as missiles, remote spy aircraft and even maybe a robot gunship. You have to appreciate that Air Rescue Special Forces is not a very big paramilitary organization and rely heavily on technology, especially to operate their ship - Global Rescuer. So, Air Rescue embarked on developing a standard missile to be used by both the Fast Attacks and onboard ship in the form of a missile bank and the Scorpion Missile was created.

Scorpion cruise missiles are tube fired remote controlled / GPS guided missiles that turns on radar in the final 30 seconds before impact to home in on the target. These cruise missiles are 14 feet long, 16 inches in diameter, plastic fuselage with a 3 foot, 6 inch wind span and one foot horizontal and vertical stabilizer tail. The small cruise missile is powered by a solid fuel turbofan combined booster engine built only by Air Rescue. The solid fuel in the booster burns fast to accelerate the missile out of the tube to 500 mph then switches to slow burning solid fuel that powers the turbofan engine. The Scorpion cruise missile has a range of 13 to 15 miles and carries a 200 pound warhead of high explosives.

*****

Drone Aircraft

The other eye opener came during the almost near fatal rescue situation, when Air Rescue couldn't see the ships that were coming towards them until it was too late. They were relying too much on long range radar and what they really needed were eyes on the target. This idea led Air Rescue to creating a concept called forward-eyes-on-target utilizing drone aircraft and Air Rescues name for their aircraft was Skyspy.

Skyspy- are compound delta wing (tailless), small pusher propeller driven aircraft capable of flying over a thousand miles on internal autonomous program or by a remote controller from Global Rescuer. The airframe shell is made from a one passenger, modular, composite fiber, and commercially available kit built aircraft manufacture. The aircraft is 14 feet long, 5 feet high, weighs 580 pounds and has a wingspan of 22 feet. These simple light weight aircraft are capable of flying 1635 miles with a top speed of 175 mph. It's powered by a multi-fan prop, air cooled, self-start, 100 hp gas engine. Aircraft flight control has been modified to operate by electronic/mechanical devices, controllable by navigational system composed of global positioning satellites electronics, micro-computer and autonomous software. These spy planes are capable of taking pictures night or day in conventional format or infra-red.

Skyspy Console is where the controller sits. It's composed of a standard equipment rack containing two CRT displays. The top CRT is the workstation display for displaying aircraft hardware parameters and computer functions. The mid-CRT (operator eye level) displays the video from the aircrafts onboard TV camera. Extending from the rack is a "U" shaped console table. In the center of the table is the keyboard. On the right side of the "U" is mounted the joystick for controlling the aircraft. On the left of the "U" is a mouse pad used for selecting hardware parameters for aircraft control, speed, altitude, autopilot, cameras, etc.

Once Skyspy was developed and flying, Air Rescue soon discovered that having an aircraft over the target gave them a tremendous military advantage. One: they could spy on the target. Two: they could shoot Scorpion missiles from the ship or fast attack at the target with deadly GPS positioning accuracy, and Three: if Air Rescue had a remote controlled gunship over the target, it could shoot at the target. The third idea led to the development of GunRunner, a remote controlled, robot gunship

GunRunner Aircraft – are a larger version of the Skyspy autonomous aircraft and only carry weapons. The gunrunner airframe shell was built from a four passenger, modular, composite fiber, compound delta wing, commercially available airplane kit manufacture. The aircraft is 20 feet long, 7 foot high, weighs 2900 pounds and has a wingspan of 31 feet. The larger size aircraft are designed to carry a 30 cal gatling-gun weapons system and two rocket pods of eight rockets each and if needed can be fitted with Scorpion missiles. The weapons systems can only be activated by operator override and can’t be activated by autonomous systems. The aircraft was modified to handle a Williams F107 turbofan jet engine and has the same electronic autonomous systems as Skyspy, but no spy camera or instrument measurement packages are on the aircraft, it's strictly weapons.

Gunrunner Console utilizes the same console at Skyspy. The difference is in the computer software package that ties the console to the ships supercomputer to control the weapons. Only the Captain and Science Office together can approve weapons use. The other difference is the joystick contains two red buttons. One button fires the main gatling gun and the other fires rockets.

*****

Undersea Technology

It was during a technology meeting as the Captain was being updated on the latest technology developments in Global Rescuer’s arsenal that a smart ass engineer brought up an interesting comment regarding undersea dangers. The engineer explained to the Captain that Global Rescuer had developed all this high technology to fight off ships, torpedo boats, missiles, helicopters, aircraft and everything coming at them from the air. But, nothing had been done about undersea weapons such as mines, subs or long range fire torpedoes. The captain sat back in his seat thinking, while he rubbed his chin with his right hand, knowing full well, this guy is no dummy. So the Captain asked him to explain himself and give him some suggestions. The young engineer went on to suggest undersea remote controlled robot submersible devices that would carry undersea missiles. These submersibles would be launched during battle conditions to protect the ship from torpedoes or subs. They could operate autonomous or be controlled from the ships remote control room by acoustic communications. The ideas are unlimited explained the engineer, but this technology doesn’t exist, it’s virgin technology and Air Rescue would be the first to use it. The Captain thought about it for a few minutes and asked the young engineer to write him a white paper on his ideas.

The white paper titled: Undersea Technology called for the development of four submersible devices that could be launched from the ship, much like life boats, but more automated. All four devices would be robot submersible (no human) twenty feet long, four feet wide and five feet tall with three foot winds and two foot tail fin. They would operate autonomously, but under control from the remote control room, and feedback video from onboard CCTV cameras. Their express mission is to operate within 500 to 1000 yards from the ship, using decoys & sonic blasts to alter torpedoes path and if all else fails, self-destroy the incoming torpedoes. Under certain battle conditions, the submersibles would be outfitted with more destructive weapons to attack submarines and underwater mine fields.

It was late in 1995, and Global Rescue was in the Mediterranean when an emergency mission came up which involved supporting Jimmy West in a rescue. It involved Global Rescuer crossing the Atlantic Ocean to Colombia, South America to rescue an airplane load of passengers kidnapped by a Drug Lord and held for ransom. Jimmy West organized and executed the mission titled: "The Girlfriend I Almost Lost," because it was Jimmy's girlfriend Phyllis who was on the airplane and rescued her.

When Global Rescuer returned to the Mediterranean from the mission in South America, the ship headed through the Suez Canal enroute to dry dock in India. But, at that same time, Madam President's airplane was landing in Cairo and was attacked by terrorists on the runway. She was taken hostage and Jimmy West was sent in to do the rescue with Global Rescuer supporting the emergency, very secretive, cloak and dagger mission title: "Kidnapping Madam President." Jimmy succeeded in rescuing Madam President from a grand house in Cairo, and got her to Port of Suez by car. There, they boarded Global Rescuer and sailed down the Suez Canal, secretly smuggling her out of the country.

A week later, Global Rescuer reached dry dock in India and the modifications to accommodate 100 Scorpion Missile bank located in the front of the ship began. While the ship was out of water, two pockets (cavities), one on each side of the ship, two decks above the water line, were cut out to house the submersibles and transporters. Two mechanical launch channel mechanisms were installed on each side of the ship. This feature allowed submersible transporter to mechanically scale down the side of the ship to just below water level to launch the vehicles. This mechanism gave the Captain the ability to launch the underwater vehicles automatically in under 30 seconds if the ship became under attack. As the robot submersible hits the water, they automatically activated their preprogrammed mission of protecting the ship and launch.

Once the ship was re-floated and back out at sea, eight Skyspy, and four Gunrunner aircraft were flown out to the ship for flight training.

*****

Upgrading the Fast Attack

While Global Rescuer was in dry dock in India, Air Rescue engineers removed and modified the .30 cal gatling gun pod on the Fast Attack gunships.

The idea originated back in the late 90’s, after several years of experience in flying the Fast Attack gunship. Pilots talked about the need to keep guns locked onto target even after the gunship was past the target. This led to the idea of multiple guns on a single target from multiple gunships dubbed guns-on-target.

The “B” version Fast Attack weapons upgrade involved removing the three 7.62 mm (.30 cal) GE/Dillon, 4,000 RPM mini-guns from the left side weapons platform and extending the barrels. The three mini-guns are then mounted in a rectangle, swivel pod with radar transponder dish to keep the guns locked on target. The gun pod is then mounted to the fuselage belly of the airframe. The subflooring of the airframe is modified to accommodate 7.62 mm shell belt feeds from the ammo bank. This modification gives the Fast Attack the capably of 359 degree right to left, left to right rotation with 180 degree forward /down / rear rotation gunfire. Replacing the mini-guns on the left side weapons platform are four tube fired, turbofan, Air Rescue Scorpion missiles, previously mounted on the airframe.

Several months later, after dry dock and weapons modifications in India, Global Rescue returned to the Mediterranean by way of the Suez Canal. It was on this return voyage that Global Rescuer encountered a cruise ship in distress in the Gulf of Aden also known as "Pirates Alley and helped rescue them.

*****

Pirates of the Gulf of Aden.

Global Rescuer's current location: Gulf of Aden / Arabian Sea, Latitude: 11.781325, Longitude: 44.868164 - 200 miles East of Djibouti, 75 miles South of Aden, Yemen.

In the Gulf of Aden, a cruise ship has come under attack by pirates.

Boom….. boom again….as the cruise ship shudders.

Over the ships PA system, "This is the captain… everybody leave the top deck and get inside the ship and take cover and stay away from windows.”

Boom…..and the shattering of glass could be heard all the way up to the captain’s bridge.

The captain picks up the mike for the ship to shore radio.

"This is the MS Ocean Breeze."

"Mayday….Mayday….Mayday, we are being attacked by pirates."

"Can anyone hear my voice, we need help?”

Radio silence….just static.

Again, "Mayday….Mayday, we need help."

The Captain hears nothing on the radio, but silence.

In the electronics officers helmet receiver on the distant helicopter….a faint signal can be heard…Mayday, mayday, mayday…we need help, we are being attacked by pirates.

"Hey Jake," as the electronics officer reaches over and taps the pilot on the helmet.

“I am receiving a mayday distress signal from a ship,” remarks the electronics officer.

“Roger,” replies the pilot. "Let me know if you hear it again?"

From outside the cruise ship, over a loud bull horn used by the pirates can be heard…."Captain, stop your ship so we can board you or we will fire more rockets."

On the bridge the captain gives the order to increase speed to try and out run the small pirate boats.

Boom…..as the cruise ship shudders again

Captain grabs the mike for the ship to shore radio.

“This is the MS Ocean Breeze….Mayday, Mayday, Mayday."

"We need help. We are being attacked by pirates.”

"Hey Jake, there it goes again…I am receiving a mayday distress signal from a ship called the Ocean Breeze,” says the electronics officer.

“Roger,” replies the pilot.

“Flight Computer…do a trace on the mayday signal.”

“Roger," replies the Flight Computer.

And again on the Captain's ship to shore radio, he hears nothing, no one responds.

On the ship to shore radio again, the Captain begs for help…"mayday, mayday, mayday.”

Again silence.

From outside of the ship, once again the pirates yell, "Captain, stop your ship or we will fire more rockets."

“Flight Computer!”

“Roger Flight," replies the pilot.

I have triangulated the signal and the mayday is coming from a ship that is at 11:00 o’clock of our position about 10 miles.

“Flight Computer take me to the signal,” commands the pilot.

“Roger,” responds the Flight Computer.

The helicopter starts turning as the Flight Computer adjusts the flight path to intercept the ship 10 miles away.

A small pirate's boat approaches the ship and a man aims an AK-47 rifle and starts shooting…ratatatatatt.

Pop, pop, pop can be heard on the bridge as bullets hit the ship.

Once again, the pirate's demand, "we told you to stop your ship Captain."

Again, the pirates shoot at the ship….ratatatatat.

Pop, pop, pop, as bullets can be heard hitting the ship again.

“Flight Computer!”

“Roger Flight Computer,” replies the pilot.

“The mayday signal is coming from the ship directly ahead”

“Roger Flight Computer,” replies the pilot.

The pilot looks ahead and sees a cruise ship in the distance, with pirate boats on both sides of the ship firing AK-47 assault weapons and RPG's at the cruise ship.

The pilot keys the mike, “cruise ship Captain, do you have your ears on?”

On the cruise ships ship to shore radio, the Captain hears, "cruise ship Captain, do you have your ears on?"

The Captain looks at one of the ship's crewmembers… “Who is this dumb ass?” he demanded.

The Captain picked up the mike and keys it, “Who are you? Is this some kind of joke? We are being attacked by pirates?”

In the helicopter pilot and electronics officer's helmet receivers….”Who are you? Is this some kind of joke? We are being attacked by pirates.”

The pilot and electronics officer by now are laughing… “Man this guy is uptight”….laughs the pilot.

“Wouldn’t you be, if someone was shooting your ship full of holes,” replies the electronics officer.

“Global Rescuer!”

“This is Flash”…replies the pilot, “Are you watching my video transmission?”

“Roger Flash, we see the ship in trouble from the video you’re sending.”

“Flash! This is the Commander.”

“Roger Commander.”

“These pirates have been a pain in the ass for everybody in the shipping business. I am activating your weapon systems, go help them.”

“Roger Commander,” replies the pilot.

Onboard the gunship…”Weapons systems activated,” announces the Battle Computer.

“Ok,” replies the pilot, “we are in business, let’s go get them.”

“Roger,” replies the electronics officer.

“This is Air Rescue, cruise ship captain; do you need a little help?”

“A little help!” Yells the Captain, “We are being attacked by pirates.”

“Roger on the pirates, Captain.”

“Keep the boat straight and steady; I am coming down your right side first.”

“Who are you?” demands the captain.

“This is Jack-Flash,” replies the pilot.

“Battle Computer come up online!”

“Battle Computer!”

The pilot picks up the digital pin and circles all the small boats on the battle’s computer display screen.

“Battle Computer, these are bad guys….go get them……plot a course to the target."

"Roger,” replies the Battle Computer.

“Bring me up to full attack speed; let’s go get them…execute.”

The attack gunship starts to speed up, heading towards the small boats.

The pilot responds to the Captain’s comment… “No Captain ….. I am a gunship…I am going to solve all your problems in about 10 seconds.”

The captain butts in …"is this some kind of joke?”

“No Captain,” the voice replies as the radio signal fades and the captain can’t hear the reply -“I am a gunship.”

The signal returns and the Captain only hears, … “I am going to solve all your problems in about 10 seconds.”

The pilot keys the mike, “Keep it steady Captain. Keep it steady.” The gunship is approaching the small boats on the right side of the ship.

“Battle Computer,” shouts the pilot.

“Battle Computer!”

"Guns down," replies the pilot.

“Arm guns."

Under the gunship the three mini- guns arm.

“Lock guns onto target,” commands the pilot.

In a split second, the gunship automatically fires a laser beam at the target to find the range to the target, the gunship shifts its position to set guns on target.

“Guns locked! Ready to fire,” announces the Battle Computer.

The Captain hears on his ship to shore radio…. “Keep it steady Captain, keep it steady.”

As the captain yells orders to his bridge crew, he walks over to the right side of the bridge.

“Battle Computer,” shouts the pilot.

“Battle Computer! Fire, execute"....ratatatatatatatat and the pilot can see flashes of fire coming from the left side of the gunship.

The Captain can hear the crackling of automatic cannon fire ratatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatat. Being curious, he looks out of the right port window to see small boats flying in the air in a grey cloud of lead.

In that second, a flash of an object passes by the bridge windows at high speed and he hears the high pitch sound of helicopter rotor blades.

“What the hell is that thing?” asks the Captain…as the object flies several miles ahead of the ship.

“Battle Computer,” replies the pilot.

“Battle Computer!..... Cease fire on guns,” “roger”, responds the Battle Computer.

The gunship is still moving at high speed and goes several miles ahead of the ship…

“Battle Computer come up online,” commands the pilot…

“Battle Computer!” …The pilot circles the small boats being displayed on the screen on the cruise ships left side…bad guys.

"Battle Computer….go get them….plot me a course to the target."

"Roger”, replies the Battle Computer…

“Flight Computer,” commands the pilot…

“Flight Computer!”

“Bring me around 180 degrees, hold altitude, start your left turn now…execute.”

The gunship banks to the left and starts its turn. The gunship lines itself up with the small boats.

“Battle Computer,” commands the pilot.

“Battle Computer! Take me to target; bring me up to full attack speed….execute.”

“Roger,” replies the Battle Computer.

As the pilot gives the command, the gunship starts to accelerate forward towards the small boats on the left side of the ship.

One of the crew replies to the Captain, “It’s a helicopter gunship.”

In the distant, they see the helicopter turn and then comes straight back at the ship.

The gunship pilot keys the mike, “Keep it steady Captain, I’m coming down your left side.”

“Battle Computer,” replies the pilot.

“Battle Computer…. lock guns on target!”…. “ready," replies the Battle Computer.

“Fire …..Execute,” commands the pilot.

And the 3 mini-guns start to fire. Ratatatatatatatatatatata tatatatatatatatatat, and a flash of fire can be seen coming from the left side of the gunship.

At a distance in front of the ship, he can see the flashes of gunfire from under the helicopter as it approaches at high speed.

All the Captain can do is look out the left port window to see pirate boats flying in the air in a grey cloud of lead and water spraying into the air.

"That should do it Captain," announces the voice on the radio, as the helicopter gunship passes by the bridge of the ship.

“Battle Computer,” commands the pilot.

“Battle Computer!.... cease fire on all guns,” replies the pilot,

“Roger,” replies the Battle Computer.

The gunship pilot keys the mike, “Cruise ship Captain, my Commander will be landing on your ship in a few minutes. Don’t be afraid, you ship is safe.”

“Roger,” replies the cruise ship Captain.

From the bridge, the Captain can see in the distance the approach of a helicopter, as it comes up to the back of the top deck of the ship. A rope is dropped and down assails an individual dressed in black. Then, he holds the rope for another person in ships uniform to assail down the rope.

The two security guards look at each other and one says to the other, “You go tell him, he can’t come on this ship.”

The other guard took one look at the individual dressed in black with the sword handle towering above his head and holding an AK-47 assault rifle. The security guard shakes his head sideways to indicate no. “No, says the security guard… I am not going to tell him to do anything.”

The two guards decide the best course of action is to walk up to the two people who had just landed on their ship and see what they want.

Once the two strangers had landed on the deck of the ship, the command helicopter pulled away from the ship to wait their passengers return.

As the two guards approach the two strangers, one of them says to the security guards, “Take us to your Captain.”

“Yes Sir”, replies one of the security guards.

"Follow us to the auditorium," and they lead the way to meet the captain.

“Command helicopter, you got your ears on? This is Flash." "Roger Flash …What do you need?”

“You guys have any spare jet fuel? I am running on fumes.”

“Roger,” replies the command helicopter as it lowers it mid-air refueling pod.

“Flight Computer,” replies the pilot.

“Flight Computer!” “Dock with the refueling pod,” commands the pilot.

“Roger,” replies the Flight Computer as it pulls the gunship up behind the command helicopter and docks with the pod and starts taking on fuel.

The two strangers walk into the packed auditorium, but it is not the Commander who entered first that everybody was looking at. It was the Commanders bodyguard who followed him, who was dressed in commando uniform that got all the attention.

As the bodyguard entered the auditorium, a lady with a little kid was standing at the entrance and he tugged at his mummy’s dress. He shouted, “Mummy, mummy, look at the man in black.” She took one look at the bodyguard and grabbed the kid in a flash to protect him.

“Don’t worry you’re safe.” he replied as she just stared at him.

The Commander noticed that things got real quiet in the auditorium as he looked back at the lone figure, then the commander laughed.

He turned to the people and raised his hands to calm them as he spoke…“It’s ok everybody. He’s my bodyguard…. It’s ok.”

There stood the bodyguard dressed in black from head to foot, including the black mask with only his eyes showing, a big hairy sword handle towering above my head, and holding an AK-47 loosely with one hand, and two hand guns on my left side. He looked like a one man army.

“Flight Computer!”

“Roger Flight Computer,” replies the pilot.

“Finished refueling,” says the Flight Computer.

“Roger Flight Computer.”

“Undock and pull away from the fueling pod,” commands the pilot.

“Roger,” replies the Flight Computer.

The Commander talked to the cruise ship Captain for a few minutes and then the Commander and his bodyguard left to a rapturous applause from everybody, but as they walked back to the top deck, people just stared at them.

The helicopter came back in over the deck and dropped a lift line.

The Commander was the first to be lifted back aboard the helicopter, then his bodyguard was second to be lifted aboard.

"Commander, says the command helicopter pilot: You wouldn’t believe the show the ladies have been putting on; on the top deck. They have been mooning us and flashing their boobs. It’s been quite a nice show Commander.”

The two helicopters pulled away from the cruise ship and headed back to Global Rescuer, which was sailing north bound in the Red Sea towards the Suez Canal.

*****

The Saga of Global Rescuer

Introduction

The English newspapers were going crazy speculating about the cruise ship story and especially who owned the advanced helicopter gunship, because no country was claiming responsibility. So, when the newspapers couldn't print facts, they invented fictitious stories which fueled more fictitious stories. It was these wild stories followed by other secret missions carried out by the ship known as Global Rescuer that led to the stories becoming known as the Saga of Global Rescuer.

Releasing Soon The Saga of Global Rescuer Book

The paperback book will feature three main stories to include: “Flight of the Gunships,” released 2011. In the story, Air Rescue is pursuing a terrorist wanted dead or alive for $10 million dollars. But, the terrorist is on a suicide mission to the USA with three homemade one kiloton atomic bombs. To save the three American cities, Air Rescue uses its high tech Fast Attack gunships to stop him. In 2012, the author released “I Earn My Keep,” a story about a smart, beautiful and very successful business lady who wins a three billion dollar contract after being kidnapped by a rival competitor and rescued by Air Rescue. But, love awaits her when she goes to Mallorca to pay for her rescue. The latest Lon Maisttison Book release of 2013 is a story titled: “Red Rock.” It’s a story about Thunderbrit and five commandos stealing a transportation vehicle to rescue 300 hundred passengers from right under the noses of the hostage-takers. But, when the hostage-takers figure out that Thunderbrit isn’t a part of their Government forces, all hell breaks loose and gunships are used to blast her a way out.

Future releases continue with the Global Rescuer Stories Series including: “The Egyptian Affair,” “Rape Day Wednesday,” “Darlene Darlene,” and “The Daughter.”

Author’s Biography.

Lon Maisttison's hobby is self publishing. He controls all phases of the publishing process including the cover art. Lon started writing books after being diagnosed with congestive heart failure (CHF) contracted from a flu virus in 2004. In 2005, he authored his first book from researched work titled: “Kissed by Death: Congestive Heart Failure,” centered on patients surviving CHF. During his assignment in England in the 1990’s, Lon’s hobby was writing stories about a paramilitary organization he created known as Air Rescue. As a pledge to himself after being diagnosed with CHF, Lon published his first action-adventure book titled: “Two Sisters of Kuwait” in 2006. In 2008, the author updated and reformatted the “Kissed by Death” book and issued a new version titled “Kissed by Death II: Congestive Heart Failure.” In 2010, the author released a second Air Rescue Book titled: "The Girlfriend I Almost Lost.”  In 2011, the author changed focus to ebooks and converted the two previously printed Air Rescue Stories to ebooks. Then, he embarked on publishing “The Saga of Global Rescuer" series of ebooks. It was during this period, the author published free on Smashwords “Kidnapping Madam President” and "The Tripoli Mission” to promote his style work. In addition, the author published an epub version of "Kissed by Death II: Congestive Heart Failure" on Smashwords in 2012.

Thank you for buying my books -Lon Maisttison

Website - https://lonmaisttison.tripod.com/lonmaisttison

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