Description

The Third Girls Aerial Squad Episode 1.Four years ago, the enigmatic Builders appeared on Earth, creating mysterious structures known as Pillars, which now cover one-third of the world's surface, and copying technology for their own use before permanently disabling the real devices. The only aircraft that remain operational are those from the 1970s and before. In the present day, the 307 Aerial Squad, otherwise known as "Hell Alice", accompanies a group of other jets in an operation to retrieve survivors at the Midway Base, which has been mostly destroyed by a Pillar. The jets engage a squad of Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor while Hell Alice provides escort for a rescue transport plane. The rescue plane successfully lands on an available runway and is rescued from a barrage of air-to-surface missiles by Japanese pilot Aria Hitotose, an exceptionally skilled pilot of Hell Alice. The rescue team recovers only one survivor, a teenage girl, but they are all killed by a Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning IIs, which Aria then destroys. She then lands on the runway and checks on the survivor, who is still alive. As Aria puts the girl in the cockpit of her jet, the rest of Hell Alice is attacked by a Mitsubishi ATD-X, an experimental Japanese aircraft. Aria takes off, but the ATD-X follows her, intent on killing the survivor. Olivia, the leader of Hell Alice, sacrifices herself to save Aria and the survivor. When Olivia's aircraft explodes, Aria takes advantage of it to destroy the ATD-X. After overhearing a radio conversation between two other pilots in the aftermath of the battle, concerning Aria's nickname of "Ice Doll", the survivor comments on Aria's true nature and then tries to introduce herself, only to realize she has amnesia. Sometime later, the survivor is signed up on Hell Alice's roster, having taken the name of Catherine Weller. The pilots are then sent out to dispatch a squad of Builder jets, which are carrying a Pillar Seed, the sole instrument required to create a Pillar.