Burning Blue

Disclaimer: Castle and the characters contained therein are the property of ABC and Andrew Marlowe. I'm just borrowing them.

This is another of my AU's. I am writing this one in response to a request made by a friend well over a year ago and just reiterated in a recent review. Darn flyboy causing problems for us ground pounders again. It is dedicated to a family member, an F-86 pilot who went missing in action over Korea. His story is out there. If anyone is interested the book title is Unforgotton Hero.

Summary: Major Richard Castle is an F-86 pilot flying during the Korean War. A world War Two ace flying P-51's he now has eight kills to his credit, three of them Mig-15's. He is a member of the Air Force Reserve called up for Korea. A successful mystery writer he is divorced with a seven year old daughter. He is thirty years old.

Kate Beckett is the first female war correspondent allowed in a forward base. She's twenty-seven, anxious to make her mark in the journalistic world. Both her parents are lawyers and wanted her to be one. Kate took two degrees out of college. Government/pre-law and Journalism. In her first year of law school Kate found herself bored to tears so she dropped out and proceeded to get her masters in journalism. There is a minor rift with her mother over her choice of career. Johanna Beckett is alive and well in this story.

Prologue: Red Hunter.

Lieutenant Colonel Grigori Mikhailovich Kalinin Soviet Air Force was furious. Some damn American pilot had shot down three Mig-15's, the most advanced fighter in the world. Faster, more maneuverable and more heavily armed than the American F-86. One was understandable, it was flown by one of those yellow monkeys* but two were flown by experienced Russian pilots from the VVS. That was both humiliating and unacceptable. Kalinin had come out of the great patriotic war with more than thirty kills. He was going to get himself assigned to the VVS and hunt that American down and show the whole world the glory of the Soviet air force.

Two weeks later, Kalinin found himself at a forward air base in North Korea, eager to get his shot at the American ace but disgusted with the primitive conditions. Kalinin was a first rate pilot but a bit of a prima donna and fond of his creature comforts. There wasn't any good vodka here so he had to carefully ration what he's brought with him. The tea was acceptable but the stink of kimchi almost turned his stomach and there was no borscht available at all.

He wanted to get this mission over with and back to Mother Russia as soon as possible. He'd flown four sorties so far and not encountered the Sabre jets. He didn't consider it worth his time to go after the F-80 fighter-bombers on the first two sorties and the second two had been Marine and Navy F2-H's escorted by F9F's. The Navy pilots good enough to drive off the North Korean Migs. In fact, one Mig had been shot down by a Panther pilot.

Intelligence had identified the American pilot Kalinin was hunting. It infuriated him even more that the pilot was a reservist, not even a regular Air Force pilot. Kalinin's ability to think rationally was further damaged on his fifth sortie. He finally encountered a squadron of Sabre jets. Another Mig was shot down and Kalinin's own jet was damaged enough that he had to break off and return to base for repairs. The hunt for the American ace went from a mission to an obsession. An obsession that would cost him his life.