On the way downstairs she wondered if she should mention what David had told her to her mother, but then decided against it. It would only worry and upset her and that was the last thing Kathy wanted. Sunday was no spring chicken and Kathy didn’t want to alarm her. For now, at least, she would keep the news as her secret and wait to see if anything developed from it.

It was a blustery, wet day at the airfield, and Livvy was having a cup of tea in the mess with Giles and the rest of the air crew that would be flying that day. ‘I wonder if the flights will be cancelled. The weather forecast is appalling, gusty strong winds and rain,’ Livvy remarked.

Giles shrugged. ‘I doubt it; we’re targeting an arms factory and a big airfield in Berlin today so it’s going to be an important raid from what our flight officer told us.’

Livvy bit her lip as she glanced out of the window anxiously. It was mid-October now and already the weather had turned, and the leaves were beginning to flutter from the trees. She could see the trees bending in the strong wind and shuddered to think of the pilots who would soon have to fly the large Lancasters that had recently been delivered to their site. The planes were enormous and heavy, and she knew that controlling them in such bad weather conditions made flying them all the more difficult.

Not that Giles seemed concerned. Over the last few weeks they had gone out together on a number of occasions when their time off coincided and although she hated to admit it to herself, she had grown fond of him to the point that each time he was out on a mission she would watch anxiously for his return.

Already the pilots were kitted out in their flying suits and Livvy, who would be one of the operators guiding them out of the base, was due at work in ten minutes’ time. ‘Take care then and have a safe journey.’

He grinned at her. ‘You bet. I’ll see you when I get back, if you’re not already tucked up in bed by then, that is. I can’t see us being back until very late tonight at the earliest.’

She nodded and headed out to the station where soon she was seated with her headphones on. From the control tower she could see the pilots walking across the runway and climbing into their planes and then she saw the great beasts shudder into life and watched as one by one they turned to point their noses down the runway.

‘Oscar Tango, get into position and prepare to take off,’ she told Giles over the radio when it was his turn. She knew exactly which plane he and his crew were in.

‘Oscar Tango to control, receiving loud and clear.’