“We’ve heard rumors about this place for years,” Wendy McLanahan remarked, “but we never thought it truly existed! ”
“Kai-Shan has been in operation for about six years,” Hsiao said. “It was originally intended as the underground command center for the Le Shan air defense network system, but an alternate mountain location closer to Taipei was located and used instead. This was then used as an emergency shelter for troops and politicians until the new caverns deeper inside the mountain were excavated. When we realized we had enough space inside for an airfield, the decision was made to convert it. Our first fixed-wing aircraft, an S-2 Tracker, landed inside the mountain three years ago; the first F-16 landed here just a few months ago.”
Walking across the runway to the south side of the facility was like walking across Grand Central Station or the Toronto Skydome. “We completed this facility late last year, after ten years of construction and ten years of design and development work,” General Hsiao was saying. “The main airbase chamber is almost eight hundred million cubic feet in volume, about half of it natural granite and limestone reinforced with steel and concrete. It is actually a combination of about one hundred smaller caverns, hollowed out and reinforced to make several large caverns. There are approximately two hundred thousand square feet of additional support, housing, and storage space on two levels above and below the airbase chamber. Above your heads is approximately six thousand feet of solid rock.
“We are capable of accommodating up to twenty F-16-size fighters on this level along the side of the runway, plus another twenty or so belowground, accessible via those elevators there and there,” Hsiao went on. “The complex includes weapon, fuel, and spare parts storage, enough to keep two medium attack squadrons supplied during around-the-clock combat operations for about one week. We can house as many as two thousand air base personnel down here, plus a command and control facility of one hundred, plus barrack two thousand additional troops. We have a twenty-bed hospital, four dining facilities, two laundries, even a movie theater. ”
“Sir, how in the world… I mean, how was it possible to keep this facility a secret?” Patrick McLanahan asked as they reached the other side of the chamber, behind the huge steel blast deflectors and into the rock wall itself, to where administrative and mission planning rooms had been set up. “The number of construction crews must’ve been immense. The money, the equipment, the manpower — all of it must have created attention. How was it possible to avoid all scrutiny?”
“Same way we do it, Patrick — by keeping our mouths shut and kicking anyone’s ass who dares to open theirs,” Brad Elliott said.
“Precisely,” General Hsiao replied. “The strictest security measures possible were employed. But this side of the island is very sparsely populated, and it attracts little attention. Once the engineers and workers were safely inside, work could be done in total secrecy.”
“How did you make out during the Chinese attack on Hualien?” Paul White asked.
“We were safe — Kai-Shan is shielded by the mountains, and our cave shield was in place and is thick enough to withstand a bomb strike, so we received no damage from the nuclear blast,” Hsiao replied. “Our facilities are full of the injured and dying, though. We have cremated nearly a thousand men, women, and children since the attack here at Kai- Shan alone — we know of over eight thousand casualties in Hualien alone, and there are undoubtedly many more that were simply incinerated in the blast. Our revenge will be sweet, my friends.”
They heard the sound of a start cart outside on the airfield, and General Hsiao ordered the door closed behind them, which muffled the noise considerably. “One of our air patrols is preparing to depart. Shall we watch?”
The sight was unbelievable. A Taiwanese F-16 fighter, armed with four Sidewinder missiles and a centerline fuel tank, taxied to the very back of the runway. The barrier net had been removed, and the blast fence was diverting the F-16 s engine exhaust almost straight up into a cluster of ventilators. “The engine exhaust is vented outside through several steel plenums and sideways out across the mountains, where it is less likely to be detected by infrared imaging satellites,” Hsiao explained.
The F-16 ran its engine up to full power, then full afterburner power, and released brakes. It looked very much like an aircraft carrier takeoff— the fighter stayed on the deck until reaching the mouth of the cave, then shot off into space. A few minutes later, the barrier net was lowered and an F-16 came in for landing from a patrol. Again it resembled an aircraft carrier landing — the F-16 suddenly appeared at the cave mouth at slow speed, with its nose high in the air; it hit the runway, caught one of the arresting wires, the nose came down hard on the runway, and the fighter screeched to a halt at the end of the arresting wire. Ground crewmen came running out to disconnect the wire from the hook and marshal the fighter to the elevator to take it down to the belowdecks aircraft hangar for servicing.
“My God,” Nancy Cheshire exclaimed. “What if a plane has to bolter? What if they miss a wire? What if a wire or arresting hook breaks?”
“Then, if the barrier does not catch them, we will probably all die,” Hsiao Jason said matter-of-factly. He smiled broadly and said, “Actually, my friends, your two planes have been the first fixed-wing aircraft to land at Kai-Shan without using an arresting wire. We were all in fire shelters for the landing of the DC-10. But the landing of the bomber — well, I think we were all up on deck to watch. It was most spectacular, worth dying in a fireball to see.” The American newcomers were all too stunned to respond. “You must be very tired. We have prepared meals and rooms for you and all your troops.”
“With all due respect, sir, we’d like to get to work and launch our first sortie at dusk,” Patrick McLanahan said.
“Dusk? You mean, tonight?” General Hsiao exclaimed. “You will be ready to fly tonight? ”
“With any luck, yes,” Patrick said. “We need assistance from your aircraft maintenance troops to help turn the bomber and to upload the weapons. Can we count on assistance from your flight crews to help in mission planning?”
“You may count on us for anything you desire,” Hsiao said happily. “You truly are the new Flying Tigers, my friends. In fact, my F-16 flight crews request the honor of accompanying you on your first raid.”
“That would be excellent, sir,” Patrick said. “We’ll be lightly loaded taking off from here, so we can use some extra firepower. Have your pilots ever done any aerial refueling?”
“Only in simulators, Colonel McLanahan,” Hsiao said.
“Well, I’ve heard that doing it for real is easier than the simulator, so your crews will be refueling tonight,” Patrick said. “Our transport jet is configured as a tanker. We have the latest intelligence data — it’s a few hours old, but I think it’ll be useful for tonight. We’ll see about getting our own Sky Masters recon and targeting satellite up in the next day or so. Let’s get to work, everybody. We’ll be launching in about twelve hours.”
CHAPTER SIX
“The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace, whose only thought is to protect his country and do good service for his sovereign, is the jewel of the kingdom.”