‘Because today is the inaugural flight of the new freight service,’ she replied, bringing the car to a standstill. ‘Kitty, Charlotte, Roger and Martin will be here with Anne, the children and everyone from Beach View to celebrate.’

‘You should have told me, Danuta,’ he gasped. ‘I would have brought champagne.’

Danuta didn’t reply as she drove down the newly laid track past the Nissen huts which had been developed into weather-proofed, comfortable homes for the men and their families who would work for this new venture. She knew that many of them had been out of work and virtually homeless before Roger and Martin had started recruiting, and they’d worked hard to turn the derelict Nissen huts into decent dwellings and bring the airfield back into a serviceable state.

‘There has been much work here,’ murmured Stanislaw as they passed the reconstructed control tower and drove parallel to the smooth, weed-free runway. ‘Oh, look,’ he said excitedly, ‘a pair of DC-47s.’

Danuta smiled inwardly and continued down the track to the far end of the field where a large gathering clustered around a sturdy wooden hut bedecked with bunting. She’d known Stanislaw’s interest would be piqued by the sight of the planes, and she just hoped that the excitement of the day would chase away his depression and give him something new to think about.

She parked the car a little distance away from the office hut and it was instantly surrounded; the door was thrust open and Stanislaw almost unceremoniously hauled out to be embraced by his fellow flying officers, and introduced to the ground crew.

Danuta smiled as she saw the light return to his eyes. Stan hadn’t flown with Roger or Martin, but the brotherhood of airman was tight-knit, and soon he was laughing and joking, and making his way towards the planes.

Danuta realised she’d been forgotten in the joy of this meeting, but that was all part of the plan, and as Kitty helped her to free the wheelchair, they shared a knowing smile.

‘That’ll be the last we’ll see of any of them for a while,’ said Kitty cheerfully. ‘Once they get talking planes, we might as well not be here. Come and have a cup of tea, Danuta. Charlotte baked a lovely Victoria sponge, I made some sandwiches, and the other wives brought all sorts of goodies, so no one will go hungry.’

‘I did not expect so many people to come,’ said Danuta, eyeing the large crowd.

‘We felt we had to celebrate properly and involve everyone who put so much time and effort into this venture. We couldn’t have done it without them, and this is a very special day for all of us.’

‘How is Charlotte feeling about it all?’ Danuta asked quietly.

‘A mixture of sadness that Freddy can’t be here and a sense of pride that we’ve seen all our plans come to fruition.’ Her smile wavered. ‘It’s how we both feel, really, but this isn’t a day for looking back. Freddy wouldn’t have wanted us to.’