My P-7 Skystreak shuddered as I pulled back on the stick, rising skyward. Raising the landing gear, I pushed the throttle to maximum, gaining altitude. As I leveled out, I joined up with my wingman. 

>“Coming up on your 5 o’clock.” I radioed to him. 

As I pulled into formation with him, he acknowledged my call. Reaching the frontlines, we received a request for an airstrike on a German position. 

>“This is Havoc 1-1, requesting air support at grid 117138, German APCs, Danger close! Any units on station, requesting air support!”

>“Havoc 1-1, this is Raider 2-1, request acknowledged. Mark your position with smoke, air support enroute.” I replied. 

Orienting North, we pushed our Skystreaks to the redline, ladened with as much ordinance as they could fit on the pylons. After a few minutes, we had reached their grid coordinates. Even from this altitude, we could see the red and green tracers flying across the field. Green smoke billowed from the church, as it was being hammered by 20mm autocannon rounds. Lining up the gunsights with the APC, I let loose a burst of 20mm rounds into the upper left hull, followed by two 76mm rockets. 

Pulling up from my dive, I watched as the APC burst into flames and exploded in a fiery explosion. My wingman began his pass, strafing the exposed infantry. As I began another pass, the sky lit up with tracer fire, aimed at me. I broke off, and searched for the source of AA fire. There. An old Sd.Kfz. 251 with quadruple 20mm cannons in an AA mount. 

>“Havoc 1, this is Raider 2, we cannot continue with airstrikes with that AA in the area. Deal with the AA so we can resume fire support, over.” 

We circled above, watching the firefight between the church and treeline. A rocket flew from inside the church, which slammed into the Sd.Kfz. 251, causing it to cook off. Diving in once again, I strafed the German position with 76mm FFARs and 20mm HE. 

As I climbed, I again watched my wingman’s attack run. He dumped 250lb bombs on the same position. Just after pulling out of his shallow dive, more tracer fire came in from above this time. My Skystreak came under fire seconds after spotting the tracers from the enemy aircraft, Luftwaffe Bf. 107/49s. Banking left, I attempted to get out of his line of fire, to no avail. Green and white tracers clipped my Skystreak’s fuselage, a few rounds puncturing my self-sealing fuel tank. Yanking the stick right, I rolled out of the Luftwaffe pilot’s gunsights, as he continued his dive. I dropped my four 250lb bombs to lighten my aircraft, and began pursuing the Bf.107/49. 

I knew he had the energy advantage, so I launched my rockets in an effort to shoot him down, and to lighten the P-7 even further. With rockets streaking all around him, the Luftwaffe pilot weaved through the storm of rockets. Now lined up, I let loose a long burst of 20mm. Throttling to full power, I felt the aircraft lurch forward. Without ordinance, the P-7 quickly gained momentum, slowly catching up to the Bf. 107/49. Before I could fire again, I heard a large explosion. Looking around for the source, I immediately noticed the large plume of flame and smoke. 

>‘Shit.’ I thought.

Suddenly coming under more tracer fire from the rear, I tucked into the armor plating in the seat as close as possible while evading simultaneously. The P-7 shuddered from the 30mm and 7.92mm rounds raking across the airframe.
I felt the rifle rounds impacting the rear of the seat, leaving miniscule bulges in the seat. The fuel gauge spun wildly, leaving me to realize in horror that the fuel tank was riddled with so many holes that it could no longer self-seal. I was leaking oil, fuel, hydraulics, practically everything in addition to trailing smoke like a oil fire. The only thing keeping this plane together was sheer willpower, and German bullets. Weaving left and right, I desperately tried to shake the aim of the Luftwaffe pilot behind me, whilst also trying to engage the Bf. 109/49 in front. I got a lucky break, lining up the closest thing to perfect while evading an enemy fighter, and pulled the trigger on the stick - to no avail. Both 20mm cannons on the left wing jammed, and the right wing had 30mm holes where the cannons used to be. 

Now unable to engage, I focused solely on survival. Another burst of 7.92mm burrowed into the armor plating on the Skystreak, hammering in the fact that I was helpless. My only consolation was that the German fighter behind me seemed to have run out of 30mm. Another burst of fire came in, shattering the cockpit plexiglass, and leaving multiple rifle rounds in my display. Miraculously, I was unhurt, but my chances of returning to a friendly airbase were getting slimmer by the second. 

The german pilot to my front leveled out, and ceased evading. Wondering if this was a trap to allow his wingman to shoot me down, I continued evasive maneuvers, keeping an eye on him. Waggling his wings, he maintained his course. Cautiously, I too leveled out, and pulled up on his right wing. glancing  over at his cockpit, I noticed blotches of blood on one of his glass panes. I stared at the pilot, obviously in pain, who gazed back at my aircraft, astonished it was still flying. Looking closer, my 20mm HE rounds did a number on his airframe. Chunks of his fuselage and wing were missing, and his airbrakes completely inoperable,along with his left stabilizer gone. 

I was pretty sure my P-7 was in pretty bad shape as well. Waggling his wings once again, he looked at me for a reply. I, in turn, waggled my wings. I located the other fighter behind me, and  he banked right in synchronization with his wingman, who also banked away, to which I presume was the direction to their airfield. Breathing a sigh of relief, I realized I’d live to fly again. Returning to the friendly airfield for repairs, I whispered silent thanks to that Luftwaffe pilot.