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"His heart felt compassion towards the weaker enemies he downed. Some day, if an equal appeared and challenged the limits of his skills in a fight, he would bear no resentment about being shot down."
Side Story Narrator[2]

Yellow 13 (黄色の13 Kiiro no Jū San), or Yellow Thirteen, was an Erusean fighter pilot and leader of the Yellow Squadron. During the Continental War, he was the most feared pilot of Erusea's air forces.

Thirteen found a rival in ISAF's ace, Mobius 1. The two met in the skies multiple times, and their final confrontation over Farbanti led to Thirteen's death.[1]

Biography[]

Early life[]

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Yellow 13 is presumed to have been born in Erusea, but he went to great effort to keep his identity a secret. During the Ulysses 1994XF04 planetfall in 1999, his hometown was destroyed by a meteor fragment. He joined the Federal Erusea Air Force and was trained by ace pilot Mihaly A. Shilage. During some training sessions, Thirteen collided his plane with Mihaly's, who took it as a sign that Yellow 13 was skilled; no one else ever managed to collide with Mihaly.[3]

He later met a young Yellow 4, whom he befriended, trained in aerial warfare, and took in as his wingman.[4] Thirteen and Four would later develop a close relationship; Four loyally remained by his side and refused to let any harm befall him, whether in the air or on the ground.[2][5]

Service with Erusea[]

After the outbreak of the Continental War in 2003, Yellow Squadron executed several offensive operations against the ISAF. During an engagement over the capital of San Salvacion, Thirteen shot down an ISAF aircraft, which crashed into a suburban neighborhood, killing the Side Story Narrator's parents.[6] As the ISAF retreated farther into eastern Usea, Thirteen and his squadmates would participate in various long- and short-range missions,[2] including their successful defense against a surprise ISAF air raid on Stonehenge.[7]

FEAF command relocated the Yellow Squadron pilots to San Salvacion to stand guard over the Stonehenge facility. However, following the ISAF's retreat from the mainland, Thirteen and the rest of Yellow Squadron began experiencing periods of downtime between missions.[2]

Yellow 13 Guitar

Yellow 13 and the Side Story Narrator playing music at the Sky Kid

One evening in late 2004, Thirteen met the Side Story Narrator while visiting a bar frequented by Erusean troops. As Thirteen played guitar, the young boy began accompanying him on harmonica; the two would eventually become close and frequently played for the bar patrons.[8] Unbeknownst to Thirteen and the other Eruseans, however, the barkeep and his daughter were both active members of the San Salvacion resistance.[9]

On November 15 of that year, after weeks of drills and maintenance checks, Yellow Squadron was deployed to intercept ISAF aircraft that had attacked an Erusean oil-drilling and refinery facility. Thirteen and his squadmates bagged several of the fleeing ISAF fighters and returned home unharmed.[10] When the ISAF began scoring major victories in the east, and word of Mobius 1's accomplishments began to spread among the Erusean enlisted men, Thirteen openly praised the enemy ace, whom he regarded as a "worthy opponent".[5]

ISAF counterattack[]

"Do you hate us that much?"
― Thirteen confronting the Side Story Narrator[11]

By the time ISAF began its campaign to reclaim the Usean mainland, Yellow 13 and 4 were the only pilots to consistently remain with the squadron; other members were regularly rotated out to reinforce other FEAF squadrons.[5]

On April 2, 2005, Yellow Squadron's runway and aircraft were sabotaged by a Resistance bomb, which also caused light injuries. Before ground crews could begin repairing the damage, air raid sirens sounded, announcing ISAF's second raid on Stonehenge. Despite her crippled aircraft, Yellow 4 scrambled with Thirteen and the rest of Yellow Squadron.[12]

Yellow 13 before mission

Yellow 13 following ISAF's second raid on Stonehenge

The squadron's significantly delayed reaction allowed the ISAF to destroy Stonehenge. Yellow 13 ordered his squadron to engage Mobius 1 and the other ISAF pilots. During the ensuing dogfight, Yellow 4 was shot down by Mobius 1, forcing the Erusean aces into retreat.[13] After returning to base, 13 was found by the Side Story Narrator inside his quarters, silently gazing at 4's token handkerchief. The two later discussed his memories of her at a nearby pond.[4]

Yellow 13 and Yellow 4

Yellow 13 and 4 inspecting the runway during pre-flight preparations

Upon reading of Mobius 1's participation in the Stonehenge raid, Thirteen posted the headline to the wall of the Sky Kid bar. Despite his defeat and personal loss, Thirteen commended Mobius 1's actions, shouting: "Look! Here's something worthy of praise. Even among the enemy there are men like this. Not all of them are despicable bastards who rob our wings through cowardly sabotage."[4]

The barkeep's daughter was chased by occupation soldiers one night when she was discovered planting laser transmitters for triggering explosives. She eventually reached an alley where Thirteen was waiting inside a parked car. Thirteen realized she was responsible for bombing his squadron's runway and, by extension, Four's death. The two silently stared at each other for a moment before the Side Story Narrator caught up to them, denouncing Yellow 13. Yellow 13 only gave a pained response before releasing the children. The next morning, Thirteen resumed his daily routine, making his usual requests to the squadron's crew chief.[11]

During the ISAF liberation of San Salvacion on July 10, 2005, members of Yellow Squadron scrambled to defend the city airspace, but Thirteen was not deployed. Eventually, ISAF forces overtook their defensive positions, and Yellow Squadron—along with the other Erusean forces—retreated from the area.[14]

Death[]

Grave

Yellow 13's and 4's makeshift grave

"Yellow Thirteen's body vanished into the blue skies, never to return to earth."
― Side Story Narrator[1]

On September 19, 2005, the ISAF laid siege to the Erusean capital, Farbanti, in hopes of ending the war. Yellow Squadron scrambled to reclaim air superiority over the capital, but arrived just as the Erusean ground forces surrendered. Ready to make one last stand for Erusea, Thirteen and his wingmen engaged Mobius 1. In the ensuing dogfight, Yellow Squadron was shot down.[15]

Since Thirteen's body was never recovered, he is assumed to have been killed in his aircraft. Yellow 4's handkerchief was found floating down by the Side Story Narrator and the barkeep's daughter, who buried the handkerchief in a shared unmarked "grave" for both Yellow 4 and 13.[1]

Legacy[]

One week later, a group of young officers in the Erusean military captured and activated Megalith. A squadron of pilots from this rebellious group painted their aircraft in Yellow liveries in honor of Yellow 13 and the rest of his squadron.[16]

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Yellow 13's name and mannerisms were inspired by Hans-Joachim Marseille, an ace of the German Luftwaffe who shot down 158 Allied aircraft over North Africa in the early years of World War II. Marseille, callsign "Yellow 14", was a remorseful man who did not find joy in his kills and went as far as delivering notes concerning downed pilots to enemy airfields. Both men were also musicians, and were not motivated to fight by their countries' causes.[17][18]
    • Marseille also experienced the loss of a friend, fellow ace Günter Steinhausen, to Canadian pilot James Francis Edwards in 1942; Edwards had previously damaged Marseille in an encounter three days prior, similar to the air battle over the Comona Islands where the player, as Mobius 1, can damage a Yellow aircraft.
  • Thirteen's record of never having lost a wingman is a reference to another Luftwaffe pilot, Erich Hartmann, who achieved the highest number of fighter kills in aviation history: 352.[19]
  • Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War features a particular ace named Erich Klinsmann, callsign "Reiher", who can be only engaged in "Mayhem" if the Knight Ace Style is chosen. The lack of details about this pilot, such as his "unavailable information" biography, has led to rumors that Klinsmann was Thirteen's former identity.
  • During the final battle over Farbanti, it is impossible to distinguish 13 from the rest of his squadron, as all the planes are marked on the IFF with the word "Yellow".
  • Yellow 13's livery can be found in most of the series' installments following Ace Combat 04:

References[]

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