Chapter 25

Without giving it a second thought, Commander Drummond turned back to the crowd and continued the training.

"So, can anyone tell me the sequence of maneuvers Sergeant Hastings and Airman Stratford performed in the air?" Commander Drummond asked.

Suddenly, with a whooshing sound, a sea of hands shot straight up from the crowd. Clearly, no one wanted to let the chance of joining a Navy squadron slip by, Anna thought. She was going to raise her hand, too, but after having her view completely blocked by a screen of arms, she changed her mind. She could see that Chris was thinking the same, too, as she caught him trying to raise his hand then timidly dropping it back down.

The commander pointed at a random boy in the front row, and the hands dropped back down.

"Sir, Staff Sergeant Hastings first performed an Immelmann turn, while engaging his afterburners on his ascent. Once he reached sufficient velocity and altitude. He then performed a hammerhead turn and continued in knife-edge flight. After that he performed 5 barrel rolls and a split-s-turn to land the craft," The boy said confidently, there was a hint of boastfulness in his voice.

It was pretty basic knowledge that everyone was taught in the academy. Anna didn't know why the boy sounded so prideful.

"That's correct. However, there was something else to Hastings's last split-s-turn. It wasn't like your normal pilot-school maneuver. What was different about it?" Commander Drummond asked the boy again.

The boy thought for a moment. Anna couldn't see his face, but she could tell that he was panicking a little bit.

"N-No, Sir."

The commander nodded to the boy's answer as if he had expected it, then he turned to the rest of the students.

"Can anyone tell me what was special about the split-s-turn?"

No one moved. Anna looked over to Chris, who also didn't seem to know the answer. She then looked at Owen, who was looking back at her with this expectant expression in his eyes.

Anna slowly raised her hand.

"I can."

"Oh?" Commander Drummond had slight doubt in his voice.

Anna could feel the side-glances she was receiving from the people around her.

"The final maneuver O- Sergeant Hastings performed was not a split-s-turn. It's actually a variation of the Kulbit maneuver. The G-22 is an aircraft capable of supermaneuverability and vector-thrusting and is one of a select few fighters with such capabilities currently in service. It means that the plane can be under a certain degree of control even when stalling. While flying upside-down, Sergeant Hastings vectored the thrust upwards to create a rotational force, which increased the angle of attack to exceed 20-degrees, therefore losing lift and began stalling. Then, as a post-stall maneuver, while utilizing the supermaneuverable capabilities of the jet, Sergeant Hastings completed a Half-Kulbit turn until he reached an upright position, after which he engaged the afterburner to regain velocity and lift. It is an incredibly difficult feat that requires the skills of an elite, which is why so few planes are capable of it, and very little is known about it."

Anna could see Owen's bright smile after she answered.

Liam whispered something into Owen's ear, then Owen discreetly and forcefully kicked Liam in the shin, who tried to hide his pain behind a twisted smile.

What Anna had answered wasn't taught at school, since it was very recent technology and had barely made its way into combat. Anna had learned about it during her summer job at Hamilton-Douglas, where she tested out the capabilities. Of course, although she could enable such features for testing purposes, she wasn't experienced enough to actually use them in a maneuver like her brother had done, which had genuinely impressed her.

"T-That would be correct. What's your name?" Commander Douglas was quite surprised to hear Anna's perfect answer.

"Anna Hastings, Sir."

"Hastings?"

Commander Douglas looked at Anna, then turned to Owen, and the expression on his face went from surprise to confusion, then to sudden realization in less than 10 seconds.

"Well, Private Hastings, your knowledge in aviation has been duly noted."

"Thank you, Sir."

Anna glanced over to Chris, who gave her a smile.

"Now then, Private Hastings, would you like to pilot the G-22 next?"

Anna had been waiting so long to hear that.

"Yes, Sir, that would be great."