‘Oh yes.’ His expression fell serious for a second. ‘Women make great fliers. Look at Amelia Earhart and Amy Johnson. And we’re going to need all hands on deck before long.’

‘I’d be terrified. It’s my brother who wants to be the pilot.’

‘So he tells me.’

‘But don’t you need qualifications?’

‘Not if you’re prepared to learn fast. Mark’s keen as mustard, which is what really counts in the end. Now, let’s get you out of there.’

Before she’d had time to object, his hands were beneath her arms and she was being lifted over the edge of the cockpit and lowered until her feet met the wooden platform. Feeling slightly giddy, she held tightly onto the rail as they descended the steps.

‘What a dish,’ Joan said as they sat on the side of the wharf eating ice creams. ‘I nearly fainted with envy when he lifted you up like that.’

‘It was just embarrassing,’ Kath said, crunching the end of her cone. ‘C’mon, let’s say goodbye to Mark before we go.’

When they got back to the hangar Mark and the captain were in conversation with a group of others, including a woman in a tight red dress. She’d obviously just said something hilarious, and everyone was laughing extravagantly. It embarrassed Kath to see her brother flirting so blatantly.

‘What’s the joke?’ she asked, as they approached.

The woman turned, the smile freezing on her face.

‘Nancy? What are you doing here?’

The answer was perfectly plain.

‘I might just as well ask the same of you.’

‘This is my brother, Mark. And my friend Joan. We met Captain Burrows earlier.’

‘If I’d known you had such a handsome brother, Kath, I’d have asked for an introduction earlier.’ The wide brim of Nancy’s hat emphasised the coquettish tilt of her head.

‘Nancy and I work together,’ Kath explained, feeling suddenly protective of her brother. She’d break his heart with the flutter of an eyelash.

‘The captain is going to show me his joystick,’ Nancy giggled. ‘How can I possibly resist?’

As they watched the pair walking away, Kath looked at her brother’s crestfallen face. Poor Mark, she thought, he’s just a kid interested in model aeroplanes. A girl like Nancy would eat him alive.

8

Vic was standing at the base of the wooden steps beside the aircraft, awaiting his turn in the queue, when a tall man in naval uniform pushed to the front with a glamorous young woman in a red dress whose face he vaguely recognised.

‘What a ruddy nerve,’ someone in the crowd muttered. ‘We’ve been here half an hour.’

The girl giggled and simpered, hanging on the pilot’s every word. Vic could never imagine any girl, pretty or otherwise, showing him such attention. Not that he’d have any idea how to respond, even if they did. Since the age of seven he’d lived in male-only institutions: prep school, boarding school, Cambridge and now here at the research station. Sometimes, when feeling low or under the weather he would recall his ayah in India, or his mother, and long for the physical comfort of a woman’s arms.