Elsa Bibat wrote:

Victims # 11 !

Hiya Jamie and Bridget !

Aloha!
 

This is a repost in preparation for the release of "Angels of Blood and
Fire, Mission 02: Day of the Weasel," later this evening. Comments and
criticisms are most welcome.

[Elsa Bibat]
Oooohh ! Day of the Weasel ! It seems I have to dig up my military lore
again. I'm a member of the only branch of the Bibat clan to not join the
air force, but my family still has the love for fast aircraft.

Weasels being a reference to "Wild Weasel," or missions involving the
suppression of Surface to Air Missile and Anti-Aircraft Artillery sites.
A lot of my air combat tactics and technical advise on radars and such
came from Greg Sandborn, who used to do that sort of thing (Wild Weasel)
for a living. Mission 02 is dedicated to him.
 

<snip opening scene>
Damn good opener ! Whets the appettite and as far as I can tell very
accurate. I thought you were with the Navy, Jamie ? ^_^

Thank you! Rather than focus too much on the planes, weapons, and
tactics of aerial combat, I wanted to keep the fic grounded firmly
within the human element of Area 88. The lives of the pilots themselves,
and how they each relate to the civil war. Shin's the only one who
doesn't want to be there, everyone else volunteered.

Aircraft were my first love. I wanted to be a Naval Aviator flying F-14
Tomcats since the third grade, but then my eyesight started going bad,
and now I wear coke-bottles instead of glasses. At least on a submarine
I didn't need to worry too much about looking at objects very far away
from me...
 

The characters and situations of Area 88 are the creation of the
great shojo artist turned air combat god, Kaoru Shintani.

[Elsa Bibat]
Wooohoooo !!!!!!!!! I had the great privilege of reading a few copies of
the manga way back when and being the military freak I was back
then, I devoured them. <sigh> Pity that it's damn hard to find a fanfic
based on Area 88 so you automatically get points for this.

As far as I know, "Angels of Blood and Fire" is the ONLY Area 88 fanfic
available for public consumption. I know that it's the only Area 88 fic
in the r.a.a.c. archives. It is sad that there aren't more, because it
seems there are enough fans of the manga to support it.

_____________________________________________________________________

<very long snip>

High in the clouds, steel crumples like paper and flesh burns bright.
This is Area 88, and the skies are filled with the Fallen Angels.

[Elsa Bibat]
A very nice ending line.

A-heh... ^_^ 

I forgot to mention in my notes that this was taken from the Viz
translation of the manga. This line and Shin's Angels of Blood and Fire
quote at the end are from the manga. My apologies to all.

<snip> 

3) Some of you may have noticed that I doubled the price Shin must
pay to buy out his contract. Fret not, because I also increased the
prize money they get for battle. Ah inflation...

[Elsa Bibat]
I almost choked on my Tang when I read that it was three million now !!!
Anyway, a very good fic and very nice. The details on the planes and
weapons were accurate as far as I can tell and the dogfight scenes ...
are you sure you really joined the Navy, Jamie ?

I've got the radiation exposure and the DD-214 to prove it.

Anyway, a very good fic. I hope others would give the fanfic a try even if they
don't know the series, it really is that good. Another gem in the rough, I say.

Thanks again for your time and effort!

Jamie
-- 
       "Why are they wearing bras?"
          -Rachel Wilde, age 4,
while watching the Dirty *ahem* Lovely Angels...
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