A Flight of Golden Wings (13 page)

Ruth had worked for twelve days without a break when the news arrived that they would be going to the flying school in a week’s time. Now she had a much-needed rest for three days, and wondered where Jack was. She’d hardly seen him since the weekend at her parents’ house. He was terribly busy, she knew, just like the rest of them. If a day was washed out by the weather, they had to work extra hard to clear the backlog from the factories. But the work was satisfying and they were all in their element flying so many different planes. And now she was about to add more to the list. Gussie was taking it all in her stride, but Ruth was extra excited about taking this step forward. At times like this she couldn’t help thinking of Tricia with sadness. How she would have loved the chance to be a part of this.

She poured herself another cup of tea. She was still in the Mess waiting for Gussie to return. Perhaps they’d go to the pub tonight. The door opened and Jack strolled in.
‘Hi, there.’ He kissed her firmly. ‘What brings you here?’

‘Uh-oh.’ He placed his fingers under her chin and lifted her face to study it carefully. ‘Aren’t you pleased to see me?’

‘Of course I am.’ She pulled a face. ‘Sorry, Jack. I’m tired and was just thinking about Tricia.’

He sat beside her. ‘I expect she’s up there urging you all on. Are you too tired to come to London with me?’

She straightened up. ‘No. Where are we going?’

‘The Savoy. Lucy’s there.’

‘What?’ Ruth’s tiredness was immediately forgotten. ‘When did she arrive? What’s she doing in the Savoy?’

‘They docked yesterday. There’s five of them and they’ve been booked into the hotel for two days before being brought down here.’

‘Wow, lucky them! The ATA did that?’

Jack shook his head. ‘No, it’s being paid for by the American woman in charge. I phoned Lucy and she’s got a bottle of champagne waiting for us.’

Ruth was about to ask where they’d got champagne from, but changed her mind. These girls were obviously being treated to a bit of luxury before starting work as ferry pilots. Good luck to them. She leapt to her feet. ‘I must change.’

‘You’re just fine the way you are.’

‘You sure?’ She glanced down at her slacks. ‘I’ve got a skirt here. It won’t take me a minute to freshen up and put that on.’

‘OK, but hurry. I told Lucy we’d be there in an hour.’

‘We’ll never make that. You know how unpredictable the trains are, and I’m nearly out of petrol.’

He looked smug. ‘I’ve borrowed Simon’s car, and I won’t mention where the gas came from.’

‘
Petrol
,’ she corrected, giving his arm a sharp tap.

‘Whatever.’ He shrugged and bent his head to give her another kiss. ‘Hurry.’

It was a good job the Mess was empty, Ruth thought, as she hurried to the washroom. He was in an affectionate mood, and obviously relieved that his sister had made it safely. This could be an entertaining evening, in more ways than one.

As soon as they walked into the bar at the Savoy, there was a loud shriek of delight and a girl hurled herself at Jack. He lifted her off the floor and spun her round and round. ‘Hiya, big brother.’

‘Hi, yourself. Great digs you’ve got here.’ He placed her back on the floor and pulled Ruth forward. ‘Ruth, this noisy bundle is my sister.’

There was no time for Ruth to say anything before she was clasped in an enthusiastic hug.

Jack was laughing at the surprise on Ruth’s face. ‘Lucy, you don’t greet the English like that for the first time. You shake hands and say how pleased you are to meet them.’

‘Oh, listen to his accent!’ his sister exclaimed, dragging him towards her friends. ‘This is my big brother.’ Then she gave him a saucy glance. ‘Anyway, I don’t have to be like that with Ruth. We already know each other.’ She gave Ruth another hug for good measure. ‘I’m sure glad to see you at last, and thanks for all the letters you’ve sent. We did wonder at times if we were going to make it. Ships kept
disappearing from the convoy, and no one would tell us where they’d gone. Come and meet the rest of the gang. This is Edna, Pat, Betty and Sara.’

They took Jack at his word and, laughing, they all shook hands.

‘Barman!’ Lucy called. ‘You got our champagne nice and cold?’

‘I have, miss.’ He produced a bottle and glasses, and seemed fascinated by the ATA uniform. He spoke quietly to Jack. ‘I hope you don’t mind me asking, sir, but are you Free French?’

‘No, we’re Air Transport Auxiliary. I’m American and my friend is English.’

He still looked puzzled. ‘Excuse my ignorance, sir, but what do you do?’

‘We fly planes from factories and deliver them wherever they’re needed.’

‘You’re both wearing wings, so does the lady do the same?’

‘Sure, there are a lot of women in the ATA. They fly anything.’

‘And we’ve come over to join them,’ Pat said. ‘Don’t they look great? I can’t wait to get my hands on a Spitfire.’

The barman’s mouth dropped open, and he looked as if he wanted to ask more questions, but he had to attend to other customers.

It turned out to be a lively evening and they gathered quite a crowd around them, including several American soldiers who had been attracted by the sound of the American accent. The drink was flowing freely, but Ruth had never
been fond of too much alcohol. She noticed that Jack was also making do with one glass, refusing all attempts to buy him more.

‘Can you stay the night?’ Lucy asked. ‘We’ve got another day in London before we join you. I’m sure they could find you a room –
rooms
,’ she corrected quickly.

Jack shook his head. ‘I’m flying in the morning.’ He glanced at Ruth. ‘You stay if you’ve got the time.’

‘I’m going to spend a couple of days with my parents before going on a course.’ She really needed a rest, and that wouldn’t be possible if she stayed in London with this boisterous crowd of girls. They were obviously determined to have a good time, and she knew she would probably feel the same if she found herself in New York, but gaining her new rating was the only thing on her mind at the moment. The chance to fly twin-engine bombers was an exciting one, and she was determined to pass the tests.

‘What course is that?’ Pat asked. She was slightly older than the others, and had a direct, intelligent way about her.

Ruth was reluctant to go into details. ‘Oh, it’s just to upgrade my rating. We all do them from time to time.’

Pat was about to continue with the questions when Jack stood up. ‘We must get back, but we’ll see you all in a couple of days.’

It took them at least ten minutes to get out of the door. They’d parked the car round the back of the hotel and Jack placed an arm around Ruth as they walked along the Strand for a few yards, and then down a side street.

When they sat in the car, Jack turned to her. ‘Overpowering in a group, aren’t they? But they’re the pick of the bunch.
They’re finding it all very exciting at the moment, but they’ll settle down once they start ferrying.’

‘I liked them.’ Ruth touched Jack’s arm. ‘Lucy’s lovely, and I look forward to getting to know her better.’

‘They’ll be going to Luton first, then to White Waltham to take some tests, and they’re going to have to learn to navigate around this country.’ Jack started the car and they made their way along the Strand, heading for home.

Ruth relaxed, content to let Jack do the driving, her tiredness returning. She would go to her parents’ and sleep for two days.

Simon leant against the wall and watched the American girls in the room. A couple had been quite disgruntled to discover they had to take flying tests before they could start work. His gaze lingered on Jack’s sister. The sun was streaming through the window and turning her corn-coloured hair to gold. She was quite lovely and had a good temperament, just like her brother. She had taken all the tests with cheerful good humour, and now they were at White Waltham for more instruction before they could start work.

Captain Anders was about to give them a lecture, and Simon wondered how the girls would take the news of more delays before they could start the job they came here to do.

‘You have all passed the flying tests, but no one doubted that. You wouldn’t have got this far if you hadn’t been competent pilots. I know some of you thought it was a waste of time, but the ATA has its rules.’ He paused, glancing at each one in turn, then continued. ‘I am now going to give you a list of dos and don’ts. For the most part you will
be flying planes coming straight from the factories. They will not be fitted with radios or any navigational aids, so you must at all times keep below the clouds or you will get lost. The weather in this country can be changeable. Always check with the Met. The decision on whether to fly or not will be yours. Don’t take chances. We don’t look kindly on aircraft getting damaged.’ He paused again. ‘And we don’t like losing pilots, so don’t be reckless. We will sack you if we discover that you can’t be trusted. And that brings me to another point. Members of the ATA are not part of the military, as you already know, so there is no need to salute anyone. We wear a uniform to identify us because we fly into operational airfields. The task ahead of you now is to learn to navigate around this country. An additional hazard you will encounter is that all the factory sites are well camouflaged. These are not easy to spot from the air unless you know they are there. These are all things you must learn before you can start work.’

Simon managed to keep a straight face with difficulty when there were several groans.

‘How long is that going to take?’ It was Pat who spoke.

‘That will be entirely up to you. Learn fast, ladies, because we need you. The instructors here will give you all the help you need. Listen to them.’ With a brief nod, he left the room.

Betty gave a growl of frustration. ‘What’s with all these delays? We’re experienced pilots, and I thought we’d start work straight away.’

‘It would help to know where we’re going, though,’ Lucy pointed out. ‘We’d soon get lost if we didn’t know
the landmarks, especially as some are hard to spot.’

Ah, thought Simon, Jack’s sister has his good sense. Now it was his turn. He stepped forward. ‘Absolutely right, Miss Nelson. The sooner we start the sooner you’ll get to work.’

At the end of the day, Jack was waiting for Simon. ‘How are they doing?’

‘Fine. Once we got started they soon realised the importance of what we’re trying to teach them. There are hazards in this country they have never encountered before. Like our weather, balloons, ground crews who will shoot at them if they fly too high and aren’t easy to identify – not to mention marauding Luftwaffe who won’t know they are unarmed women flying the planes.’

‘I guess they soon got the point.’

‘Very quickly.’ Simon walked beside Jack as they made their way to the Mess. ‘They’re a bright bunch, and we’ll soon be able to put them to work. Your sister seems the steady sort.’

‘Yeah, she’s a darling.’ Jack grinned. ‘Come and have a drink with us tonight. I’m going to introduce Lucy to the English pub.’

‘I’d like that. Where are you going?’

‘The Stag, just down the road. See you there around eight.’

‘I’ll get there as soon as I can. I’ve got some paperwork to deal with first.’

The pub was packed when Simon arrived. He pushed through the sea of uniforms – being close to Portsmouth
there were quite a few sailors there. Someone was pounding away on the piano and the singing was enthusiastic. And the evening had only just begun.

Simon found Jack, Rob and Lucy in the other bar where it was marginally quieter.

Lucy waved when she saw him. ‘Hi, teacher. Isn’t this fun? Come and have a drink.’

When he reached them, Jack already had a pint of bitter on the table for him. He knew Simon’s tipple and hadn’t needed to ask. He grabbed a chair from another table and sat down. ‘Didn’t the other girls want to come?’

‘Nah.’ Lucy gazed from one man to the other. ‘I wanted to keep you three handsome men to myself.’

Simon had been drawn to Lucy from the moment he’d seen her and was happy to be spending an evening in her company. ‘So, what do you think of the pub?’

She gurgled with amusement. ‘I’ve never seen or heard anything like it. I think I’m going to like it here.’

I hope you do, Simon thought. He couldn’t remember when he’d been so attracted to a girl. He wanted to ask her out, but he’d wait for a while until she’d found her feet in the ATA. As her instructor at the moment, he wanted her whole attention focussed on what she had to learn. There would be plenty of time to get to know her better.

There was a knot of excitement churning in Ruth’s stomach as she walked towards the Blenheim bomber. This was the last step towards her new rating, and then she would be able to fly all the twins.

Once she had strapped herself in the nerves vanished. There was nothing to worry about. All she had to do was take off, do a circuit around the airfield, and land. She wouldn’t think about all the eyes watching her.

A young RAF boy was standing with a group of others, his mouth open in disbelief. ‘She ain’t going to fly that, surely?’

‘Why not?’ Simon asked.

‘Well, she’s a blooming girl!’ He watched as the engines roared in to life and Ruth taxied for take-off. ‘My God, she is!’

Jack joined Simon as the Blenheim soared into the air.

‘Go girl!’ Jack murmured, never taking his eyes off the plane. ‘Nice smooth turn … that’s it … perfect …’

This was a tense time for any pilot, Simon knew only too
well, but he had complete confidence in Ruth’s ability. He’d known from the start that she was going to be a competent pilot, and not only was that true, but she had surpassed all his expectations.

‘Now, start your approach.’ Jack was still murmuring instructions under his breath. ‘Wheels down … right …’

Simon watched with everyone else as the Blenheim touched down in a faultless landing, and taxied over to the parking bay. Captain Anders gave Simon a thumbs-up sign as he waited for Ruth to join him.

‘You can breathe now, Jack,’ Simon joked.

The tall man beside him gave a grunt of satisfaction. ‘Even I would have been proud of that landing. Our Ruth certainly has steady nerves. She did well.’

‘I never had the slightest doubt.’

‘Yeah.’ Jack watched Ruth jump down, walk beside the examiner and disappear into the building. ‘She’ll have passed. Do you know how Gussie’s getting on?’

‘She went up two hours ago and has her new rating.’

‘Great.’ Jack glanced at his watch and pulled a face. ‘I should have been at Cowley ten minutes ago.’

‘Had engine trouble, did you?’ Simon asked dryly.

‘Hmm, strange noise coming from the engine, so I thought I’d better land here and get it checked before continuing.’

‘Very wise.’

They gave each other knowing looks, and then Jack thumped Simon on the back. ‘We’d better get going then. Looks like we’ve got two more pilots for the twin-engine bombers.’

He started to walk away when Simon called him. ‘The American girls are about to be sent to their pool at Ratcliffe.
They’ve all been passed as Class 2 single-engine pilots, and are ready to start work.’

‘Lucy told me. They’re raring to go.’ Jack was about to continue walking when an Airacobra swept low over the airfield.

‘What the hell?’ Simon shaded his eyes, watching the plane bank, turn, and fly over again at treetop level.

‘Trouble.’ Jack tipped his head to one side, listening. ‘Sounds OK. I’ll bet the instruments are saying that the nose wheel isn’t down. It happened to me in one of those. I took a chance and was lucky, but it’s a tough decision.’

‘Well, it’s down, but is it locked?’

‘That’s something the pilot will have to decide. It’s a choice between setting it down without any wheels, or risking a somersault if the nose wheel collapses.’

An RAF flight sergeant joined them. ‘What do you think’s wrong?’

‘Nose wheel,’ Jack stated. ‘Next time round we’ll have to signal somehow that it’s down.’

The plane came over again very low and the sergeant gave the signal. ‘Hope he understood that.’

‘Looks like it. He’s coming in this time.’ Simon noted that the fire trucks and rescue teams were already in place.

The Airacobra touched down and they held their breath, eyes fixed on the nose wheel.

‘It’s OK,’ Jack said in relief as the plane slowed to a stop.

‘I heard that we’re sending these to Russia.’ The sergeant glanced at Jack. ‘Sorry, mate, but the RAF boys don’t like this American plane.’

‘Not many do,’ Jack agreed. ‘It looks good in the air, but it’s got a few unpleasant habits.’

They all walked over to the plane and waited for the pilot to get out.

‘Hello, Sally.’ Jack helped her down. ‘Were you worried about the nose wheel?’

‘Yes, there was a chance that it wasn’t down.’ She patted the wing. ‘Temperamental beast, isn’t it? I just prayed that the signal I’d received meant all was well and I could come in.’ She smiled at the sergeant. ‘Thanks.’

‘You’re welcome.’ He was eyeing her with some respect. ‘I’ll get it checked.’

‘Glad it turned out all right.’ Simon looked at his watch. ‘We must get going, Jack. Oh, and Sally, you’ll find Ruth and Gussie here. They’ve taken the final test for their new rating.’

‘Wonderful! I’ll find them at once – and I could do with a strong cup of tea after that flight!’

As they walked towards their waiting aircraft, Jack nudged Simon. ‘That young boy must be a new recruit. He’s staring at Sally as if he can’t believe his eyes. Girls flying combat aircraft is not something he expected to see.’

Simon’s mouth twitched in amusement. ‘Someone should have told him, but he’ll soon get used to it.’

Now there was a Hurricane making its approach and Jack couldn’t resist calling the boy. ‘Hey, buddy, here comes another woman. Better make a fresh pot of tea.’

The boy giggled. ‘Why don’t we scramble a squadron of women pilots? Jerry would run for his life.’

‘Cheeky sod,’ Simon snorted.

As soon as the Hurricane landed, Sylvia jumped down, spotted Jack immediately, and began waving frantically.

Simon gave Jack an amused glance. ‘I hear she’s been chasing you.’

‘She does have a habit of turning up quite often, but I’m not interested. Can’t you get her sent up north somewhere out of the way?’

‘Coward!’

‘You bet.’ Jack paused in the act of climbing into the Spitfire. ‘You interested in my little sister?’

‘Might be. Do you mind?’

‘Nope, she makes her own decisions. Good luck, though.’ With a wave of his hand he got in the plane and wasted no time taking off.

Simon followed in the Anson. He had pilots to pick up.

It was two hours later when Simon arrived back at White Waltham and found Lucy waiting for him.

‘Hi, teacher. We’re off to Ratcliffe in the morning and I wanted to thank you. You’re a great instructor.’

Simon nodded in acknowledgement of the compliment. ‘Where are the others?’

‘Off celebrating, but I wanted to see my brother and Ruth before I leave.’ She gave him a teasing smile. ‘And you, of course.’

‘Jack was here a while back, but you were all out on training flights. He should be back any minute now. He’s bringing pilots in the Fairchild.’ Simon glanced up. ‘Sounds like him now.’

Lucy watched the plane land and disgorge its pilots. There was a wistful smile on her face as her brother walked towards them, his parachute over his shoulder. ‘You know, Simon, he’s a different man now. I believe he’s truly happy for the first time ever. He loves this country, and feels he’s
making a worthwhile contribution to the war effort by using his talent for flying.’

Simon said nothing as Jack reached them. He had the feeling that Lucy was right, and from what he’d seen today, it was more than the love of this country keeping him here. Ruth was another reason.

Before even greeting them, Jack turned straight to Simon. ‘Have you had confirmation yet about Ruth?’

‘Yes, Captain Anders phoned me. She passed with flying colours.’

‘Great.’ Jack smiled and said, ‘Hi, Lucy.’

She gave him a hug, and then stepped back, almost dancing with excitement. ‘Are you saying Ruth has her new rating?’

‘Sure she has. We both watched her fly the Blenheim, didn’t we, Simon?’

‘She did well, and Gussie passed as well.’

‘Wow! We must all celebrate. Can we go over to Hamble now? It’s the only chance I’ll get because I’m leaving early in the morning.’

‘I was about to nip over there now the day’s flying is over. There’s a Lysander sitting there doing nothing.’

‘Let me check in and I’ll be right with you.’ Jack strode towards the ops room.

They were in high spirits when they took off, looking forward to seeing Ruth and Gussie.

The smoke was visible as they approached Hamble. Simon circled over the airfield to get a good look at the burning plane.

‘Get down!’ Jack ordered Simon between clenched teeth.

‘Not possible.’ The airfield was littered with wreckage,
people were running around and fire trucks were on the scene. ‘It’s only just happened by the look of it.’

‘There’s a field over there. Use that.’

‘Jack—’ Simon protested, but got no further.

‘I don’t bloody care where we land. Just get down!’

Lucy gripped hold of her brother’s arm when it looked as if he might try and take over the controls. ‘Easy, big brother. Simon’s right. We can’t land there.’

Jack closed his eyes for a moment to steady himself. ‘Dear God, it’s damned stupid to get fond of people in this war. Sorry, pal.’

‘It’s all right, Jack, I know how you feel.’ Simon circled again, noting two other planes doing the same thing. ‘We’ll hang on. They’ll clear the field as quickly as possible.’

Jack nodded, not taking his eyes off the frantic scenes below. ‘Whoever was in that didn’t stand a chance by the look of it.’

‘It’s a risk we all take.’ Simon spoke calmly as he banked to go round again, not voicing the fear they all held, knowing it was going to be someone they knew. A picture of Ruth’s parents flashed before Simon’s eyes. They would be inconsolable if they lost their daughter as well – and it would be his difficult job to tell them … He blanked out the thought and focussed his whole attention on flying.

‘Can you make out what plane it was?’ Lucy asked in hushed tones.

‘A twin.’ Jack wiped a hand over his eyes to clear his vision. ‘Could have been a Hudson.’

Two more circuits and enough room had been made to allow the waiting aircraft to touch down. Simon allowed
the others to go in first in case they were low on fuel, and then he followed them in.

As soon as Simon cut the engine, they all jumped out and stood silently as a stretcher was loaded into an ambulance – a stretcher completely covered.

Lucy held on to her brother and Simon as they made their way to the operations building. Like the two men, she was silent.

There were a group of people standing around and Simon scanned the faces anxiously for someone who was missing.

‘Over there,’ Lucy pointed, a quiet sob in her voice. ‘By the doorway.’

Without a word, they all walked towards the two women. They were wearing the one broad and one narrow stripe of a second officer – a recent promotion. Their heads were bowed and they didn’t look up.

‘Who was it, honey?’ Jack asked, reaching out to grasp Ruth’s hand.

She shook her head, unable to speak.

Gussie spoke. ‘It was Rob.’

‘Oh, dear God, no!’ Jack gasped.

Ruth seemed to recover enough to say, ‘Tricia’s parents are going to be devastated. They were fond of him. We all were.’

‘I’ll go and break the news to them.’ Simon didn’t relish the task, but it had to be done.

‘I’ll come with you.’ Jack ushered them all inside, away from the scene of the accident.

All thoughts of celebration were forgotten. This was the time to grieve for the loss of a fine man.