Photo-Reconnaissance English Electric Canberra XH175 crossed from Yemenite into Saudi Air Space less than half an hour after taking off.
To preserve fuel for the return trip to Aden the climb to her normal operating altitude at only two-thirds of her normal speed, but now she was up there and turned towards the Saudi-Arabian capital.
The mission was using an approach vector that was meant to give the Air Defence Forces around Riyadh the least warning time even though no one expected any fire from the ground, and the Saudi Air Force mostly consisted of late model Vampires, early model Hunters and an increasing number of Russian-built Suchoi interceptors, none of which was thought to be able to reach the altitude twin-engined repurposed infiltrator was operating at.
The pilot glanced over at the co-pilot and then at the altitude indicator. “Right on track. Prepare for second course change in three-zero minutes.”
“Roger.”
As expected down on the ground the Canberra had not yet been officially noticed. Some of the few people in the wide expanse of the desert that heard the faint roar of the engines high in the air they ignored it or were unaware of the nature and nationality of the aircraft.
The loop they were flying over Ryiadh was close to the half-way point. They would take pictures of the situation, return and repeat the same affair tomorrow as part of an effort by RAF Middle East Command to get an accurate picture of what was going on. With the destruction of the Embassy and the likely death of the local Station Chief MI6 and the Intelligence Corps had lost all their sources.[1]
What they did not know was that the entire Saudi Air Defence network, such as it was had been put on alert. While their defences were numerous, they were hardly of the most modern type. In the times of missiles the bulk of their defences was still provided by RDF-controlled guns of various calibres from twin Bofors up to old British-made 90mm guns.
The missile forces present had a small mixture of British and Russian systems that were dotted around the capital. The most potent of these were three brand new batteries of the S-75, known as RAA-2 Guideline to the Allied planners, kept together in a single Air Defence Regiment of the Army.[2]
RDF stations that fed the missiles with their targeting data detected the lone Canberra at 150 miles out and at 22000 metres altitude, just within the missile's engagement envelope.
The Commander telephoned the Defence Ministry to ask for permission to fire for he was fanatically loyal to the Priest for reasons that no one knew but that had something to do with him having been a street kid which the Priest had found and enabled to go to school and join the Army.
Most of his men had their own reasons for hating the British and it never occurred to them that it was no coincidence that they served in the same unit.
The Commander watched as the blip on his screen kept drawing closer and closer and for the third time in ten minutes he picked up the telephone. Again no one on the other end was willing to give the order, and he was running out of time.
The British on the other hand knew what their orders were and passed over the city centre. The smoke from the two burning embassies had subsided for the most part, but the crowds in front had not and as he triggered the cameras the co-pilot remarked that save for that the entire city seemed to be on the empty even though the working hours had long started.
The Pilot concentrated on flying the plane and ignoring the Threat Warning System that told him he was in the search beam of Saudi Air Defence RDFs.
“We got what we came for.” the Co-Pilot said at last and the Pilot gratefully firewalled the engines and they felt as the plane suddenly bucked forward with the increase in engine power. With a glance at the fuel gauge the Pilot decided that if Aden were any farther they would have to meet with a Victor.
They cleared the city limits.
“Jettisoning external tanks.”
He flipped the switch and felt the plane move upwards as the empty weight dropped away. What he neither felt nor saw was that on the ground three missile launchers were turning at his retreating aircraft. What he also did not see was when the first missile launched off the rails in a cloud of smoke.
What he did see in his rear-view let his face go white and even before the Co-Pilot saw the smoke trail the Canberra banked hard to the left, with the flare and chaff dispensers being engaged almost autmatically.
Not that those did the plane any good, but the radical manoeuvre bought them enough time to scream for help.
“Mayday, mayday, this is Red Crown Four-Five, we are under missile attack, repeat we are under....”
They never even saw the second missile which it the plane dead centre and left nothing behind but a cloud of metal fragments.
~**---**~
“Are we sure they were being fired at?” Prime Minister Wilson asked for the third time.
'Bloody hell....' the man from the Imperial General Staff thought.
“Yes, Sir. Formidable is almost in place and we have shoved every squadron that would fit into Aden and Veritas and most of our other bases in the area are being filled up as we speak, so should we...” he said aloud.
Wilson held up his hand. “Not quite yet. I fear in the end it may come to that, but for the moment let us try to talk to them first.”
Like any other PM in history Wilson had filled the cabinet with like minded men, but Defence was far from the only one who believed that the PM was a coward at heart. To prevent this from becoming painfully obvious he said:
“Sir, we need to give them a show of strength either way. We can't let them shoot down our aircraft without some form of reprisal.”
Wilson did some soul-searching for two or three minutes before answering.
“Do it. I need to go and brief Her Majesty on what has happened, but do it anyway. They can't shoot back unless fired upon though, is that clear?”
“Yes, Sir.”
With that Wilson rose from his chair and left the room, with the rest wondering just where the man so intent on slashing the Armed Forces down to size had suddenly found the courage to risk armed conflict in this manner.
“Now, what do we do?”
Defence pulled some papers from his bag.
“My lads have been working on some plans together with the IGS for the last couple of days. If we go right now we would do several low and high-altitude overflights by four Vulcans with as full a warload as the local iss..stores can manage, and then super-sonic overflights by Interceptors and what other planes capable of more than Mach One over their principal port cities on their western coast.”
They all stared at him and he raised his hand.
“Now this of course is the maximum response, if we go for the minimal option on the other hand we'd merely send some of our ships to steam back and forth off their coast.”
The likelihood of either option was not discussed.
“What for the Army?” the Deputy PM asked.
“The 6th Airborne is being flown into the Sudan as we speak, though until the Germans can load the Queen's Own into their transports and fly them to Munich they'll be somewhat understrength. If we carry this through then the 2nd Indian is next to go south.”
The 2nd Indian Infantry Division of the British Indian Army was currently preparing to relieve the 51st Highland Division in Canada.
“And from Rhodesia? Can we remove anything from there?”
With the Republic of South Africa sliding ever further away from the British camp the bulk of the British Army's Sub-Sahara Command was making faces at their forces either in Rhodesia or British South-West Africa.
“Not at the moment, Sir. The 1st King's African is still too valuable down there until we can raise a third and fourth Division.”
“That's it for the moment then.” the Deputy PM said as a way of bringing the meeting to a close.
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Comments, questions, rotten tomatoes?
[1] Reconnaissance Satellites are still in their infancy, and while the RAF has some up, they are one-use only (film capsules like the early Keyholes in OTL) and tasked with keeping an eye on American Bomber bases in the Mid-West and more than one other task.
[2] RAA stands for Russian, Anti-Air. I intend to use NATO codenames if possible. It's a compromise between plausibility and convenience as using OTL NATO names makes it much easier for the casual reader to visualize the various weapons systems.
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