The RCFS is, beyond doubt, the premier aviation unit on Alwyd. There are those who
say that without the RCFS, the Crusade would have rolled over Coftyr within a year
of first reaching her borders. Instead, the tractors and airships of the Iron Regime
foundered against the Wall, kept at bay by countless sorties flown out of aeries across
Coftyr. Even after the breach of the Wall in 1771, Crusader advances were se-
verely curtailed by the unceasing efforts of the Flying Service. In their kites and krates,
the pilots of the RCFS fearlessly serve their king and the glorious memories of their
ancestors.
Since the first kite was successfully flown in 1533 by the renowned inventor
Kylslyr M’vyyn, Coftyr has been at the forefront of aviation, both military and civilian.
While the Tokish military chose to channel most of its research and development into
airships, the Coftyrans have been the innovators responsible for every new kite and
krate design. From the light Scout Kites used for reconnaissance and artillery observation
to the Bomb Krates recently deployed across the front, many of the best designs have
come through Coftyran innovation. Their designs are unsurpassed in terms of speed,
payload delivery, and durability; likewise, the RCFS training program produces the
finest pilots on the continent. By comparison, the Tokish and Toulmorese Air Corps,
the RCFS’s nearest competitors, fly much older aerocraft, and often rely on weight of
numbers for success.
Operating from a dozen aeries deep inside Coftyr’s borders, far from the grasp
of the invaders and their airships, the aerocraft of the Service have a long reach indeed.
Gun kites harass enemy columns in locations as distant as southern Toulmore and
northern Arnyara. Bomb krates pummel Crusader supply lines and depots in Maer
Braech and the Inischol Islands, loosening their hold even on lands already conquered.
The various flying branches of the Crusader states are hard pressed to oppose the
Flying Service, such is the superiority of both its equipment and pilots.
If there is any shortcoming apparent in the Flying Service, it is that its standards
were too high; at the onset of the Crusade in the Coftyran Theatre, the roster of active
pilots was only 10,000, even after an accelerated induction process that began with the
fall of Maer Braech. By 1772 that number had been reduced by two-thirds, with materiel
loses in the thousands.
This sacrifice was not without some victories. For the first time the vaunted
Airmobile had been stopped by quar, not the vagaries of topography as they had been
in Fidwog. Nor had the Crusader ground effort met with any better success, thanks to
the Wall and relentless harassment by Coftyran fliers. With the advent of the Maeshyn
Bomb Krate, Crusader losses were pushed even higher; the only thing preventing further
pounding of the bottlenecked attackers was the lack of munitions. Quite literally every
bomb produced in the factories was dropped as quickly as it could be delivered to the
aeros. Here, too, lack of forward planning, one of Alykinder’s greatest criticisms of the
First Families, strained the effectiveness of the RCFS.
Instead of ramping up munitions production during the lull between the
conquest of Maer Braech and the assault on the Wall, the Coftyrans focused on shoring
up their defenses and conscripting more rhyflers to fight the Crusaders on the ground.
It was only after the Wall was breached that GHQ decided to employ strategic bombing
rather than the tactical strikes they had used before. While decidedly more effective,
the new bombing campaigns quickly drained what stockpiles Coftyr had. Not only
that, noncombatant casualties skyrocketed, in direct contravention to the Laws of
Ehn’k’du. The use of bomb krates in this way has been thoroughly publicized across
the continent by the newspapers and propaganda machines of the Iron Regime as
further proof of the decadence of the First Families and their growing desperation.
Nor is a lack of supply the only problem facing the RCFS. The sustained loss
of pilots has begun to take a toll on its efficiency as well. Pilots used to hours or days
off between missions have found themselves waiting in their harnesses while their
aerocraft are refueled and refitted. Operator fatigue has proven as much a threat to the
branch as Crusader antiaircraft fire. But the Coftyrans, like all quar, are renowned for
their tenacity, and will press on so long as Alykinder’s lackeys continue to defile their
homeland.
