The next day, in the hangar where the Boeing 747 was parked, 24 gray-haired former American Flying Tigers, dressed in the US military uniforms of World War II pilots, stood outside the spiral staircase for a long time, accompanied by their families, unwilling to board the plane.
It had been half an hour past the scheduled registration time, but these old people were moved to tears as they stared at the familiar shark mouth paint on the Boeing 747.
Modern Americans no longer recognized the paint, which was specially designed by Disney for the Flying Tigers during World War II. The old people had never thought that the paint, which they had not seen for many years and had a special meaning to them, would appear on a Boeing 747.
The unique fighter aircraft paint from World War II had now been reproduced on a modern passenger plane. The intertwining of the past and the present made these old people recall the extraordinary years of those years and the course of life after leaving the battlefield.
The old people hugged each other and cried, and their families also snuggled up to each other, watching their lovers, fathers, and grandfathers sigh. At this moment, these old people, who were infinitely old, shone with infinite greatness.
The boarding time had passed, and the control tower was already urging the plane to taxi and line up for takeoff. The captain could not bear to interrupt the precious feelings of these old people, so he could only personally explain to the control tower that there was a delay in boarding and could only postpone the departure time by an hour.
The accompanying photographers had been constantly taking pictures. These photographers, who were extremely moved, were also trying their best to leave the most precious and perfect memories for these old people, and also to leave a precious record for future generations.
A photographer from Hua Xia suddenly suggested, "Let's take a group photo with the plane, just like the photos you took with the plane in Flying Tigers."
The old people nodded excitedly. An old man wiped away his tears and said with a smile, "When we were Flying Tigers, every time we took photos with the plane, I had to climb to the fuselage and stand at the highest point. It's just that this Boeing plane is too high, and I can't get up."
The old people next to him suddenly laughed, and the atmosphere suddenly became a lot more lively. The old people stood under the nose of the plane, and above their heads was the huge shark mouth.
Hua Xia and the American photographer were seriously taking pictures of them from all angles. The family members watched from the side and were also moved by this situation, so they also joined in the group photo.
After taking countless photos of these elderly people, it was already past the time for the second takeoff.
The five-star captain sent by China Airlines was also the captain of this flight, Chen Xu. He wasn't in a hurry at all. Other than requesting for a later takeoff from the control tower, he had been standing at the cabin door, motionlessly paying his respects to the elders outside.
While the elderly hugged each other and cried, Chen Xu turned around and secretly wiped away his tears.
He used to be an Air Force pilot, but later transferred to the civil aviation industry. With his superb flying skills and strong sense of responsibility, he became the most outstanding pilot and instructor of Air China. He no longer flew on duty very often, and only occasionally flew on the more important flights, as well as flights that required pilots to be promoted to captain. But because Air China attached great importance to this charter event, they specially assembled the best flight crew and sent him to be the captain of this charter flight.
Chen Xu had never personally experienced war. The reason why he was so moved was because when he was in the Air Force, he had once trained a pilot who died in the South China Sea two years ago.
The Air Force pilot named Wang Wei was only 33 years old when he died. His first solo flight was under Chen Xu's guidance, and the two had a standard teacher-student relationship. Two years ago, Wang Wei was ordered to drive away the US military reconnaissance plane that had intruded into Hua Xia's airspace. He collided with the US military reconnaissance plane and parachuted out of the sea. His whereabouts were unknown, and he was eventually confirmed to have died.
Although Chen Xu had retired many years ago when Wang Wei died, the news still saddened him. At that time, he was preparing to take off for a flight. The co-pilot was checking the plane with the flight crew and confirming the amount of fuel. When he came up, he found the usually serious captain, a man in his fifties, crying like a three-year-old child in the cockpit.
Other than the two flight attendants who stayed behind to receive the passengers, everyone else rushed into the cockpit to comfort Chen Xu. At that time, they thought something had happened to Chen Xu's family. Later, they learned that the captain had received a message from his old comrade before takeoff. After many days of searching, the military officially announced that the hero had died. So, the hope for a miracle was instantly shattered, and all that was left was sadness.
At that moment, when Chen Xu saw these veteran pilots who had experienced World War II, the first person that came to his mind was the hero who had slept in the South China Sea. It was almost the second anniversary of his death, and some people were still thinking about the old hero from fifty or sixty years ago. Who knew how many people were still thinking about the young hero who had died less than two years ago?
After secretly crying for a while, the purser came to Chen Xu's side and whispered in his ear, "Captain, it's about time for the old people to board the plane. Number Two told me to tell you that the control tower is already rushing you."
Chen Xu nodded and let out a long sigh. "Go tell the volunteer representative of Hua Xia that I can't just disembark at this time."
"Okay." The purser immediately agreed. Just as she was about to walk down the spiral staircase, she suddenly turned around and said to Chen Xu, "Captain, I believe that 81194 will also be remembered by everyone."
Chen Xu looked at her in surprise and nodded gratefully.
Wang Wei's plane number was 81194. Many people had seen the aerial photos taken by the Americans and thought that 81192 was the plane that Wang Wei was piloting at the time of his death. In fact, the photo was not taken on the day of the crash. On the day of the crash, the plane that Wang Wei was piloting was actually 81194.
This purser had worked with Chen Xu for many years and was also a five-star purser of Air China. She knew Chen Xu very well. When Chen Xu had cried in the cockpit, she had been beside him. Just now, when Chen Xu had quietly wiped away his tears, she had seen it with her own eyes. Almost instantly, she knew who Chen Xu was crying for.
The purser relayed the request from the control tower to the volunteer representative of Hua Xia, who was also the person in charge of Hua Xia. The representative quickly explained the situation to the veterans who were still taking photos and watching the plane under the shark's mouth. When they heard that the plane's departure had been delayed by more than an hour, everyone started to get ready to board.
All the crew members gathered outside the cabin door. The captain and co-captain stood on both sides of the spiral staircase outside the door. Their expressions were solemn and full of respect. They saluted every old person that walked past them and said in English, "Welcome aboard Hua Xia Airlines. It is our honor to serve you."
The old people responded very politely. One of them even shook Chen Xu's hand and said, "Will you change the paint on the plane after this flight?"
Chen Xu hurriedly said, "Of course not, sir. In order to show our respect to you and the old Flying Tigers like you, Hua Xia Airlines has reached an agreement with the Veterans Never Die Charitable Foundation to keep the paint on this plane forever until it is retired!"
When the old man heard this, he immediately said excitedly, "That's great, that's really great. I hope that this plane can fly to America in the future. I'm too old, so old that I'm afraid I won't have the ability to visit Hua Xia again. If I can't see her in the future, it'll be such a pity. If she can fly to America again, I'll definitely go to the airport to see her!"
Chen Xu's eyes reddened. He hurriedly said, "I'll definitely report your request to the company. I hope that in the future, this plane can fly to Hua Xia Airlines regularly."
The old man was very excited. He shouted, "Hey, brothers, did you hear that? The paint on this plane will not be changed in the future, and it may even fly to America regularly! "
The people who had already boarded the plane, went up the spiral staircase, and were about to board the plane burst into cheers. They all thought that the paint on this plane would be changed back after the flight. They didn't expect that it would be permanently preserved, and that it could even fly to America regularly. This was great news for them.
Spielberg sighed in his heart. He thought of how he felt when he was filming Schindler's List. Just like Li Mu, he hoped that the world would remember the hardships that their people had gone through. However, he obviously didn't think as far as Li Mu. He had only filmed a movie, but Li Mu had come up with a huge set of plans. Spielberg couldn't help but feel that he was inferior to him.
Half an hour later.
The Boeing 747 with a shark's mouth paint took off in the sky, flying toward Hua Xia, flying to the old haunt where countless fierce air battles had taken place.
The old people on the plane were very excited. They shouted the slogan they had thought of long ago. "After 58 years, we're back!"
…
At 10: 30 am on the 14th day of the first lunar month, Southwest Spring City Airport. The weather was sunny.
The weather in Spring City was exceptionally good. The sky was clear for miles, and the visibility was so good that it almost broke through the horizon.
The temperature wasn't too cold, and the sun was warm, making people feel especially comfortable.
There were no media outlets at the airport. There were only film crews hired by the Undying Veterans Foundation and frontline reporters from YY website. All the Flying Tigers from Hua Xia were waiting on the tarmac. The airport's relations were not mediated by Li Mu, but by the Yun Province military.
The military had a lot of say in civil airports. Legally, the airspace was under the control of the military, and all civil aviation had to obey the military's orders. Therefore, although the airport did not know why the military had made a request, they still had to follow the rules.
At this time, the China Airlines Boeing 747 was preparing to enter the airport. After more than ten hours of flying, the old people were very tired, but they were very excited. From the moment they entered Hua Xia, they had been extremely excited. They did not know which airspace the plane was passing through was the place where they had fought against the Japanese back then.
Chen Xu was communicating with the control tower before entering the airport. After the control tower docked with the 747, they suddenly received orders from their superiors and immediately said to the 747, "The superiors want you to fly five laps around the airport at 300 meters before entering."
Chen Xu was stunned and asked in surprise, "The superiors want us to do that?"
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