Spectrum Angel Starfighter

It is February 1971 and after the close shave of the Apollo 13 mission the previous April, security around the Apollo 14 mission is fierce.

The problems encountered by the previous mission had been put to the public as a failure of an oxygen tank on the Apollo 13 Command Module. However, the real story was kept secret from the public for fear of the panic it might cause. Pictures of the Alien space ship that attacked Apollo 13 were captured on the TV camera James A Lovell had been preparing to stow away after that day's scheduled telecast was finished. This footage and the damage caused by the laser blast fired by the Alien UFO were considered conclusive proof that we were not alone in the Universe and that our 'nearest' neighbours were potentially unfriendly.

In the intervening 9 months between the two missions, the US military and the United Nations initiated two new military and scientific programmes. One was tasked with secretly preparing for Alien attack. This was called SHADO and was charged with developing advanced technologies that would enable UFO tracking and space-based defensive systems. As a cover for the vast expenditure this would require, a more modest but public programme was initiated called Spectrum that would adapt existing vehicles and equipment for a 'Peace Keeping' role. Both of these programmes were run separately from the existing UN funded United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, a predominantly British and European operation that had been responsible for dealing with a series of peculiar events in Great Britain in the previous few years.

Spectrum was as much a PR exercise as an effective military organisation. It was quickly decided that it needed to have its own air force for reconnaissance, logistics and power projection. It was decided to take the innovative step of recruiting the best female pilots of the time and creating a special squadron of 'Angels'. These Angels were given code names taken from popular culture of the time, so the first four pilots were code named Galadriel, Eowyn, Arwen and Luthien. The aircraft they were trained to fly was a specially adapted Lockheed F-104Q Starfighter, and so the Spectrum Angels Starfighter squadron was born.