Red Moscow

  Chapter 530 Lilia returns

After Khostnikov put down the phone, his face was filled with smiles. He reached out his hand to Raisa and said friendlyly: "Comrade lieutenant, I just learned from the commander that all the achievements you have achieved It's true, you guys are amazing."

  Raisa held the hand extended by Khostnikov, and asked with some wonder: "We just returned, how did the headquarters know so quickly?"

"I heard from the commander that the brigade commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade sent a telegram to the Front Army Command to report your results." Khostnikov explained: "It is said that the brigade commander also I met Lilia and the others."

   "They?!" Raisa was taken aback when she heard the address Khorstnikov used, and then a surprised expression appeared on her face: "So, Katya is still alive?"

"That's right, it should be alive." Khostnikov nodded and said with a smile: "If Lilia is the only one, when the superiors tell me the news, they will say 'she' instead of 'them' gone."

"Katya is still alive, that's great, that's great." After Raisa confirmed the news that Katya was still alive, she asked Khostnikov excitedly: "Comrade Colonel, do you know the brigade commander?" What's your name? I want to thank Katya for his rescue."

   Regardless of whether Sokov is a brigade commander, or a brigade commander who often wins battles, but because he does not belong to the air force system, Khostnikov really can't remember his name. Hearing Raisa's question at this moment, he scratched the back of his head and said in embarrassment: "Comrade Lieutenant, I really don't know his name. Or, you can ask Second Lieutenant Lilia when she comes back? Maybe she knows who What's the brigade commander's name?"

   Seeing that Khostnikov could not tell the other party's name, Raisa felt a little disappointed, so she could only say helplessly: "Okay, I will ask Lilia after she comes back."

Khostnikov picked up the phone on the table and said into the microphone: "Notify the captains of the first and second squadrons to come to me for a meeting...the deputy captain is also here." After he put down the phone, he looked at Raisa with a happy face Said, "Comrade Lieutenant, the results you have achieved today belong not only to you, but also to our entire regiment. Therefore, I called the other squadron leaders and let them hear about your impressive achievements."

Raisa accepted Khostnikov's gesture of goodwill frankly, and she was still thinking in her heart: "You looked down on us female pilots two days ago, but now you know how powerful we are? If If you ask your superiors not to accept us, maybe there will be other fighter flight regiments rushing to take us."

  The four principal and deputy squadron leaders of the first and second squadrons soon came to the regiment command post. When they entered the door, they saw the head of the group, who was always a little arrogant, standing in front of Raisa with a smile on his face. Their first reaction was that they were delusional. Khostnikov has always looked down on female pilots, how could he be uncharacteristically courting female pilots today.

Unexpectedly, when Khostnikov saw them coming, he immediately stood up straight and said to them with a straight face: "Comrades, let me introduce to you the squadron leader of the third squadron—Lieutenant Raisa." .”

Hearing what Khostnikov said, the four captains and deputy squadron leaders looked at each other even more, thinking to themselves: Lieutenant Raisa has been in the regiment for several days, everyone knows her, and she needs to be specially introduced to us ? Did the leader take the wrong medicine today?

After Khostnikov finished speaking, he saw several of his old subordinates standing still and felt a little embarrassed, so he stared and said displeasedly: "What are you still standing there for?" ? Hurry up and say hello to Lieutenant Raisa."

   "Comrade head, we have known Lieutenant Raisa a few days ago." The first squadron leader said first: "You don't need to introduce us anymore."

"A few days ago was a few days ago, and now is now." Seeing that the captain of No. 1 Squadron did not greet Raisa as he wanted, Khostnikov said very dissatisfied: "They just arrived at that time, We don't know them well enough, so we can't help being a little neglectful. Today, we re-acquainted with her and said that she and her squadron have officially become members of our 437th Flying Regiment."

"Comrade Commander," Alexey felt that something was wrong. With Colonel Khorstnikov's character, unless something serious happened, his attitude towards the women's flight squadron would never be 180 At a sharp turn, he tentatively asked, "Did something happen today?"

"The Army Group Command called me today, saying that the Red October Tractor Factory was attacked by the German army, and asked me to send a squadron to drive away the enemy's bombers." When Khostnikov said this, his eyes widened. Staring at Raisa next to her, "So I handed over this glorious and arduous task to Lieutenant Raisa's squadron."

  Alexey heard this, and suddenly remembered that when he came, he saw only two Yak-1 fighter jets parked beside the runway, and Maria was checking the plane with the mechanic. But Lilia, Katya and the plane they were flying were nowhere to be seen. He couldn't help worrying: Could it be that the planes of these two girls were shot down by enemy planes during the battle?

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but asked anxiously: "Comrade commander, when I just came here, I only saw two Yak-1 fighter jets, where is Lilia and her wingman? Why didn't I see them? Was it because they were attacked by the enemy?" The plane was shot down?"

"Katya's plane was shot down by an enemy plane, but she should have been rescued by our ground." Before Khostnikov could answer, Raisa said first: "As for Lilia, she said she would go to After looking for Katya, they landed in the open space of the factory area."

"Commanders, I have called you here today because I have something important to inform you." Khostnikov said triumphantly: "In today's air battle, the women's flight squadron Eight German planes were shot down, including seven bombers and one fighter..."

Before Khostnikov finished speaking, several squadron leaders exclaimed: "What, eight enemy planes were shot down? They only have four fighter jets, and they shot down twice as many enemy planes as their own. Everyone has to shoot down two..."

Although it was said by Colonel Khostnikov himself, the squadron leaders were still dubious. The first squadron leader glanced at Raisa, and asked his regiment leader cautiously: "Comrade commander, what did you say about the results of the battle?" is that true?"

"Of course it is true." Khostnikov nodded, and replied affirmatively: "I have checked the results with the comrade commander. Among them, Lieutenant Raisa shot down two bombers, and her wingman shot down two bombers." One was shot down, and the remaining four bombers and one fighter were all shot down by the deputy squadron leader, Second Lieutenant Lilia."

Knowing that the results of the battles he had heard were all true, the leader of the No. 1 Squadron said in surprise: "Our No. 1 Squadron has twelve fighter jets, and we can shoot down three to five German planes per attack, which is considered a very good result." I didn’t expect that the women’s squadron could achieve such amazing results with only four fighter planes. It’s simply unbelievable.”

"Lieutenant Raisa," Alexey stepped forward two steps, came to Raisa, offered her hand, and said sincerely: "I congratulate you on the great results you have achieved in the air battle. "

"Thank you, Captain Alexei!" Raisa and the others have been the friendliest to them since they came to this field airport. Captain Alexei, the captain of the Second Squadron, now saw the other party take the initiative to congratulate him, so he reached out and shook hands with him He shook his hand and said with a smile, "Thank you for taking care of us during this time."

  As a new branch that gradually developed after World War I, the Air Force has always been a force that does not care about seniority, but only about strength. As long as you can shoot down more enemy planes than others, then you will be respected by everyone. Seeing Alexei approaching Raisa, the other three captains and deputy squadron leaders also surrounded her and extended their hands to Raisa to express their respect to her.

  Aleksey asked Khostnikov: "Comrade commander, what did the superiors say about Ensign Lilia shooting down so many enemy planes?"

   "Decided to award her the title of 'Ace Pilot'," Khostnikov said thoughtfully: "Maybe there will be a more important medal."

"Comrade Commander," Khostnikov was talking to Aleksey when a sentry at the gate suddenly broke in and shouted at him: "A Yak-1 plane is heading towards us. Fly over here."

Hearing that a Yak-1 fighter jet was flying towards the airport, Raisa jumped up from her seat and ran out the door, because she knew very well in her heart that there was no other squadron except the one she commanded Equipped with the Yak-1 fighter.

  The rest of the people were stunned when they saw Raisa rushing out of the command post with a whoosh, and then they also thought that the plane that came back must be piloted by Lilia. Before Khostnikov gave an order, everyone ran out.

  When they came outside, everyone looked up into the sky and saw a Yak-1 fighter jet flying towards them in the distance. Khostnikov waved his hand and said loudly: "Come on, let's meet our Queen pilot!"

  When Lilia lowered her altitude in mid-air, she accidentally found that both sides of the runway at the airport were full of people. She couldn't help being startled. She thought to herself, "Damn, why are there so many people on both sides of the runway?"

   Not only Lilia saw it, but Katya who was sitting on her lap also saw it. Because the cabin was too narrow, Katya couldn't turn her head. She could only stare forward and said, "Lilia, there are so many people on both sides of the runway. I don't know where they came from."

"Don't care about them," Lilia said in a highly nervous mood at the moment. The two people squeezed into such a narrow space added a lot of difficulty to the landing of the plane. She didn't care about what the people on both sides of the runway were doing, but Staring closely at the runway that was getting closer and closer to him, he tried hard to land safely. "Let's land first."

  The altitude of the plane was getting lower and lower. Raisa, who was standing by the runway, accidentally found that there were two people crowded in the cabin, and couldn't help but exclaimed: "Oh, that's bad!"

   "Comrade Lieutenant, what's the matter?" Alexei stood not far from her, heard her exclamation, and asked with concern, "Is something wrong?"

   "Comrade Captain," Raisa grabbed Alexei's arm and said nervously, "Did you see that? There are two people sitting in the cockpit."

"What, two people?" Alexey quickly looked towards the cockpit, and found that there were indeed two people inside, and the expression on his face suddenly became tense: "It's really two people, they are crowded in such a narrow space , can it land safely?"

   "Can't she ask the infantry brothers to find a way to send Katya back, insisting on this dangerous method." Raisa stomped her feet anxiously at this moment: "This Lilia, I'm really mad at me."

Whether it was Raisa and Alexei who saw two people sitting in the cockpit, and the rest of the pilots standing by the runway, the ground crew, and the security forces guarding the airport, everyone saw Lilia and Lilia sitting in the cockpit. Katya couldn't help breaking into a cold sweat for the two of them.

  Auspicious people have their own destiny. What they were worried about did not happen. The plane that Lilia was driving landed steadily on the airport runway, and after taxiing forward for a few hundred meters, it finally stopped. As soon as the plane stopped, people waiting on both sides of the runway surrounded it. Raisa rushed to the front because she was worried about the safety of Lilia and Katya.

  When Raisa rushed to the side of the plane, the ground crew had already set up a ladder for the plane and helped Katya and Lilia get out of the cockpit. When Raisa saw that the two girls under her had come back safely, before she could speak, her eyes turned red and tears flowed down first. She stepped forward and hugged Lilia and Katya, and said excitedly: "You are finally back! I've been worried about your safety."

   "I'm sorry, Comrade Squadron Leader." Katya choked up and said, "It's all my fault for being stupid. The plane was shot down by the Germans, which made you worry about me."

"It's fine, it's fine." Raisa took half a step back, raised her hand and patted Katya's shoulders a few times, and An Wei said, "As long as people are still alive, there will still be revenge." Opportunity. Wait for the superior to add new planes to us, and if you shoot down a few more enemy planes, you will be ashamed today."

But Raisa turned to face Lilia's matter, and her face became serious. She pointed to Lilia's nose and said sharply: "Since you know that Katya is still alive, you can definitely ask the infantry brothers to send her back." Base, why take the risk of bringing her back by plane? Don't you know that if the plane crashes, both of you will die?"

"I'm sorry, Raisa." Hearing Raisa's criticism of herself, Lilia blushed. Instead of arguing with the other party, she lowered her head and admitted her mistake: "It was my mistake! I promise you, I will never Will make similar mistakes again."

   "What, do you still want to have a future..."

   Before Raisa finished speaking, she was interrupted by Khostnikov who came over. He smiled and said to Raisa: "Lieutenant Raisa, what's wrong with you? Seeing our Queen's pilot come back, instead of congratulating her, he was furious at her. Look, she was frightened by you." I can't even look you in the eye."

"Queen pilot?!" Lilia, who was bowing her head to admit her mistake, suddenly raised her head when she heard what Khostnikov said, and asked in surprise: "Colonel, lieutenant, what is going on? Become an ace pilot?"

  (end of this chapter)