‘The wheels. Fragile fellers. Still I’d be jolly pleased to have you along for the ride. We have to fly over the enemy trenches and drop leaflets.’

‘Why?’

‘Ah, good question. Hang on and I’ll fetch them.’ He marched off with spider-leg strides and returned with a stack of printed pages. Grimm read them. They were messages to the German troops.

‘Sorry.’ The pilot sighed. ‘They’re in German of course... you’ll not understand them.’

‘I speak German. My grandparents were German,’ Grimm said quietly and read on.

Soldiers of Germany

We urge you to give up

Throw down your rifles and come across to our side

You will receive a warm welcome

You will be taken to a comfortable prisoner-of-war camp

The food is better than what you eat now

Our guests hold jolly concert parties

You know by now that you cannot possibly win the war

The Americans are arriving

Don’t risk your life for a lost cause. Surrender NOW!

Grimm’s face was sour. ‘They won’t believe these lies,’ he muttered.

‘Oh but they do. The German officers are so worried they pay the men to collect these leaflets so they can be destroyed. The leaflets are like money... the Huns fight over them. So of course they read them before they hand them over.’

‘I see,’ Grimm said.

‘Come along and I’ll show you my bus.’

‘Bus?’

‘My plane.’ Brand led the way across to an aircraft much larger than the Sopwith Camels. The observer sat behind the pilot and there was a machine gun for the passenger to use. The pilot officer pointed to the seat. ‘I’ll be glad to have you on board. Commander Jackson wanted me to fly over the German positions and throw the leaflets out myself. Of course I can’t do that and watch out for enemy fighters, can I?’

‘No, sir. Wasn’t there an air force observer to do it for you?’

‘There was... but he didn’t make it back from my last trip. An enemy aircraft sneaked up behind us and shot him before I could get out of the way. I mean to say, I heard the chap scream something but the noise of the engine and the wind in the wires made me half deaf. I thought he was screaming because he’d seen a friend called Albert Ross. “Albert Ross,” he was yelling.’

‘But he wasn’t?’

‘No. I heard the rattle of a machine gun behind me and turned around. There he was... not Albert Ross. A German Albatross. Silly me.’

Grimm looked shaken. ‘He died?’

‘He did, poor chap. But don’t worry. The ground crew have cleaned up the seat and it’s as good as new. Up you get.’

Grimm climbed slowly into the cockpit behind the pilot and took the leaflets. ‘Of course you could always drop me off at Cléry before you fly over the German lines,’ he said.