Chapters (52)
- Cover
- Margaret Dickinson
- Dedication page
- Contents
- Part One
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Part Two
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Sow the Seed
- Note
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- Copyright page
‘Kate! Kate!’ Suddenly there he was, coming towards her, a bulky figure in his sheepskin flying jacket and leather boots, his parachute slung carelessly over one shoulder. But the cheeky grin was the same as ever.
‘Danny, oh Danny . . .’ For a moment her vision blurred as tears filled her eyes. Then she was reaching out and he was taking her hands in his.
‘I had to see you, I want to tell you . . .’
‘Eland,’ came a deep voice behind them and they both glanced round. ‘Time to go.’
‘Sir,’ Danny responded and turning back, squeezed Kate’s hands quickly. ‘I’m sorry, Katie . . .’
‘But, Danny, I have to talk to you, I have to explain . . .’
‘Later, Katie, when I get back.’
For a desperate moment she clung to his hands, but he pulled himself free, smiled a rueful apology and hurried after the rest of his crew.
‘Danny, Danny . . .’ she called, running after him. ‘Which – which is your plane, please tell me?’
She had to know which aircraft he was in; she had to be able to watch for it coming back.
He turned back briefly, raised his hand in a wave, and called, ‘D-Doggo . . . I’ll see you when I get back.’
Thirty-Three
Kate watched him walk away from her. There was still an hour to take-off, but the crews needed to go out to their aircraft, for all the cockpit checks and starting the engines of forty aircraft – more now a third squadron had arrived – would take up every minute of that time.
As she saw Danny climb into the back of a covered lorry, Kate turned towards the staff car. It was time to pick up Philip.
She watched take-off from the roof of the control tower as she had done so many times before alongside Philip. This time it was different; this time Danny was out there somewhere, hunched in his lonely rear turret, the most vulnerable position in the whole aircraft to enemy night fighters. The huge aircraft, cumbersome with their weight of bombs and fuel, taxied from the various dispersal points, forming up to take off in orderly, timed intervals. At the end of the runway, each aircraft waited for the controller’s red light to switch to green before revving its engines and beginning its lumbering, heart-stopping take-off. The noise of over two hundred Merlin engines filled the night air, as one by one they trundled down the runway, gathering speed, faster and faster, till Kate found she was holding her breath, willing each one into the air. The end of the runway came nearer and nearer until it seemed impossible they would make it. Then, just as her knuckles were turning white as she gripped the rail, the aircraft would lift unwillingly into the air, its undercarriage immediately raised. Silhouetted against the darkening sky, the bombers were like a flock of predatory birds carrying death and destruction in their bellies.