Chapter 20

Vee and the Sukhoi performed one of those extend the gear at the top of the loop and squeaked into a landing as they locked maneuvers that scare the living hell out of everybody. Now that she was on the ground people noticed the P-38 with the Merlins.

"What in the hell is that?"

"We never built one of those."

"That's so cool."

"How does she fly?"

Then they noticed the British roundels and That started a whole new discussion. They were looking at an airplane that wasn't (according to the British) built in 1944 ... but looked as new as yesterday.

Very few aircraft that were from that war ... even those that never saw combat ... survived. The smelters were fed airplanes that rolled off the assembly lines and were flown directly to the scrappers.

The people were looking to forget and having a stack of warplanes sitting out on runways and in hangars was too much of a reminder that cousin Jack was still missing and might never be found. Scrap went from a precious and costly commodity to nothing but junk and in the way. The kids who cut the lids from both ends of a rationed soup can and flattened it couldn't give them away.

A ship that survived the U-boat getting to the front hauled scrap back ... because battlefields waste a lot but our army ... any army ... didn't want the material that littered the fields to end up back in enemy hands if the tide of battle turned.

The Finns captured thousands of Mosin Nagant rifles from the Russians, refurbished them and armed their armies with a rifle that killed Russians as easily as it killed Finns.

The Germans captured Mosins and armed prison camp guards and patrol boat crews with a perfectly good tool ... and that freed up KAR 98's for the soldier at the front.

Thousands upon thousands of Italian rifles captured when whole armies surrendered were shipped home. Tanks, aircraft, articles of kit found the way back to warehouses in victorious countries. Huge buildings were filled with the war trappings of the enemy and stored because there might come a day when even 10 year old school children ... and their mothers ... might be armed to defend their homeland.

Every military round makes a sound that is unique when the trigger is pulled ... some thunder, some crack ... some make huge balls of flame that light up the night. If the rifle that killed your buddy sounds like the rifle that your platoon shoots ... you might cuss someone out thinking that that's friendly fire ... yeah ... stand up and wave. Let them know you're on their side. God that was stupid.

But now the war is over ... the boys are coming home and there are all these ENEMY weapons in warehouses all around the country and those warehouses cost money to rent, lease or whatever and it would be a whole lot cheaper if those expensive warehouses could be used to put factories in and alleviate the plight of the unemployed.