The Spitfire Girls

by Soraya M. Lane

  Dear Ruby,

  I’m in some sort of hell. Honestly, I know hospital was bad, but I’d do anything to be back there and not under the same roof as my mother. I’ve tried, honestly I’ve tried so hard, but sometimes she’s insufferable. My poor father! Please promise me that we’ll never be like this with our children? I don’t know how I ever listened to her about you. Please accept my apologies a hundred times over!

  She is most upset that I’m at home convalescing and you’re still away flying, despite me trying to explain to her that you’re not exactly gallivanting around having fun instead of caring for me! I honestly don’t know why she’s still bleating on about your decision to fly. Remember that I will stand by your side no matter what, even if it means constantly telling my mother that she doesn’t know what she’s talking about and needs to show you more respect.

  The one nice thing has been getting to know your parents better, although I can tell it must be hard for your delightful mother being with me when she’s so worried about you. But the look on her face when she talks about you, or when she tells someone that her daughter and son-in-law are pilots, is something to behold. She’s a wonderful woman, and I can see that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Your father is fantastic – we had a whisky or three the other night and toasted our marriage, and my father came along too.

  Stay safe in the air, my darling. I’ll be back on base again within the week I expect, and perhaps then you can arrange leave to visit me? Or even just figure out a way to fly into my base so I can make all the other officers jealous again.

  Tom

  Ruby read the letter one more time before carefully folding it into a small square and slipping it back into her pocket. She fingered the ring she still wore on a chain around her neck, smiling as she thought about Tom, and imagining a time when the war was over and they were back flying together. She wanted to perform acrobatics in the sky and challenge him to races, or fly in a two-seater and just enjoy being in the air for fun.

  Her pulse raced as she thought about him getting back in the sky again, knowing how much more dangerous his role was than hers. He was engaging in air attacks, whereas her biggest enemy was the cloud.

  ‘Time to go, ladies!’

  Ruby picked up her small bag and stretched out her back; these days she felt so stiff and achy all the time. It was going to be a long day with a Spitfire to fly to the first base, then a Halifax further afield, and if the weather held long enough she’d be bringing back a Lancaster before having to make her way by train to Hamble, with her bag, parachute and maps in tow. Central Operations at Andover had a horrendous job, trying to shuffle planes and ferry pilots all over the British Isles, and she seemed to be regularly logging three flights instead of two each day as more planes were needed.

  ‘Oh, listen!’ one of the other girls called out, turning up the volume on the wireless. ‘Our boys bombed Berlin last night! Twice!’

  Ruby gasped and swelled with pride, wondering if the four-engine bomber she’d delivered the day before had been the one to do it.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  TEXAS, EARLY 1943

  LIZZIE

  ‘Captain!’ Lizzie called out, seeing Jackson walk past her office. His head appeared in her open doorway and she beckoned him in.

  ‘Well, don’t you look like the cat that got the cream,’ he said, eyebrows raised. ‘What is it?’

  ‘I’ve just received a letter from General Arnold,’ she told him, still clutching the paper like a lifeline.

  ‘And what exactly did your good friend Hap have to say today?’

  Lizzie rolled her eyes at him. ‘You make it sound like I’ve brainwashed the poor man into being my best friend.’

  Jackson laughed. ‘Well, I’ve heard worse things said about how you managed to convince a burly general to let women climb into planes and fly them all around the country.’

  ‘Who’s saying these things?’ she asked, horrified. ‘I would never do that!’

  He was clearly enjoying this, and she hated how much he’d managed to rile her. She knew people would gossip and say all sorts of things about her, but the only thing she was guilty of was believing in women and wanting to serve her country.

  ‘Do you want to hear what he has to say or not?’ she asked.

  He shrugged. ‘Just get on with it. I’ve got work to do.’

  ‘Congress is considering a bill that would finally make the WASPs part of the Army Air Forces!’ she said excitedly. ‘Can you believe it? After all this time, they’re starting to realise what assets we are.’

  ‘And it took women being stationed at one hundred and twenty bases around the country before they did,’ Jackson said. ‘What a bunch of idiots. They should have done this from the very beginning.’

  ‘I know there are some women who don’t want to be part of the army, but most will be thrilled.’

  ‘What’s the reluctance? Won’t they finally be paid properly?’ he asked.

  She nodded, dropping the letter to her desk. She’d campaigned so long for them to be fairly recognised, it was almost hard to believe it was going to happen at last. ‘Our pilots will be paid the same as any male pilot. They’ll be supplied with proper uniforms at all times, and they’ll be covered by army insurance. It’s incredible.’

  Jackson smiled. ‘I hope they all remember to thank you.’

  ‘I’m going to start as many WASPs as possible in the army’s four-week officer training course. We have around four hundred who’ll be interested.’

  If Jackson was surprised, he didn’t show it. ‘Good.’ He paused. ‘Is there something you’d like to say to me?’

  ‘Why, is there something I’ve forgotten? It’s not your birthday today, is it?’

  ‘I thought you might want to thank me, actually,’ he said. ‘Your girls have pretty much already been through army training, so they’ll find officer training a walk in the park.’

  Lizzie grabbed a ball of paper and threw it at him, laughing when he dodged it and jumped out of the doorway. She still found it hard to believe that someone who’d annoyed her for so long had come to mean so much to her. Even if he did still drive her crazy most of the time.

  Jackson popped his head back around the door, and his eyes met hers. ‘Any chance you want to go see that new movie, the one based on you girls? Some of the others are attending the first screening tonight, I’m told.’

  ‘Will you take me to dinner first?’ she asked, not letting on that she’d already planned to go to the first screening. They were all so excited about the film.

  ‘Will you come with me to the movie if I say no?’

  She folded her arms across her chest. ‘No.’

  ‘Dinner it is, then.’

  Lizzie shooed him away, laughing, and picked up the letter again. It was actually happening. Women were on the cusp of being fully accepted by the army. She couldn’t wait for the day it was announced, so she could see the looks on the faces of every single WASP. They were all going to feel so proud. She only hoped this new movie, Ladies Courageous, was as good as they all expected it to be.

  They’d endured so much, and the fact they were women hadn’t had any impact on their flying skills. They’d flown through painful periods and cramps, endured hours without being able to go to the bathroom, and despite all the negativity thrown in their direction. And still they’d succeeded. Nothing was going to stand in their way now. Nothing.

  Later than night, she followed Jackson into the little theatre.

  ‘I’m nervous,’ she said, keeping a respectable distance from him as they sat side by side.

  The theatre was full of WASPs and some locals who’d always been huge supporters of theirs; there was a low hum of chatter, and she dug her fingers into her knees, wishing she could reach for Jackson’s hand. In truth, she could have; who was going to care if she made it plain that there was something between them? But she didn’t want to cross that line. Both she and Jackson were highly respected by the recruits,
and she didn’t want anything to jeopardise that.

  ‘It’s going to be great,’ he said.

  ‘I just . . .’ she groaned. ‘I hope they give us the respect we deserve. I’m quietly terrified.’

  ‘I’ve heard a rumour that there’s a group of men causing a bit of a fuss over you girls at the moment, especially given the publicity you’re getting over this film,’ Jackson whispered. ‘I wasn’t going to say anything, but the army has closed some flight schools where these men were flight instructors. They’ve lost their jobs, which is why they’re so upset.’

  Lizzie felt her eyes widen. ‘What do you mean? What sort of a fuss?’ she whispered back. ‘What does that have to do with us?’

  ‘Well, they want your head on a stick to start with,’ he muttered.

  Lizzie blanched at the thought, but she knew full well how many men she’d riled with the very existence of the WASPs. But how was this her fault? She hadn’t even known about the closures.

  ‘Apparently, they’ve trained all the new pilots they need, which is great on the one hand because we haven’t had as many pilots killed in battle as expected. But with your WASPs taking over so many non-combat roles here, well . . .’

  ‘What are you trying to say?’ she hissed.

  ‘Most of those men, the flying instructors, they were civilians. They were excused from joining the army only because they were training our pilots, but now with those flight schools being closed, they might well end up as foot soldiers.’ His hand covered her knee and she didn’t bother reprimanding him. ‘I thought you’d want to know.’

  ‘So they want our jobs?’ she asked. ‘Is that it?’ She’d been so excited about the bill in front of Congress, so certain everything was working in her favour, and then to be told this?

  The screen crackled to life and she shuddered, suddenly seeing everything falling to pieces around her. How could this be happening when they were so close to being recognised by the army? Would this little group of men, jumping up and down in protest, derail all the progress they’d made?

  ‘These instructors have been teaching beginner pilots. It would take them forever to train well enough to handle advanced aircrafts,’ Jackson said. ‘So let’s hope it’s nothing more than a bump in the road.’

  She looked back at him, wondering if he was just saying that to make her feel better. She had the feeling he was keeping something from her still; she could tell from the tight lock of his jaw, the way he wasn’t meeting her gaze.

  ‘There’s more, isn’t there?’ she asked sadly, tucking her fingers around his. ‘Tell me. I need to know, otherwise they’ll blindside me when I’m least expecting it.’

  ‘They’ve started a campaign to discredit you,’ he whispered. ‘They’ve already got wind of this bill before Congress, and they’ve started a deliberate attempt to get rid of the WASPs entirely. The first story ran today in a small paper, but I can see that it’ll be picked up everywhere soon. It’s why I knew I couldn’t keep it from you.’

  ‘How bad was it?’ she asked in a low voice, as the black-and-white images crackled over the screen.

  ‘They’re saying that women have stolen men’s jobs, that you have a terrible accident rate, and that it costs a fortune to train a woman to fly a military plane.’

  Lizzie gulped and sat silently as a tear ran down her cheek, then another and another. She held tight to Jackson’s hand, not needing to tell him how wrong it was; he knew it as well as she did.

  They officially had a lower accident rate than men flying the same missions. There was no difference at all in the cost to train them; in fact, they cost less, as they didn’t even receive the same quality uniforms. But no one was going to care about that. All they’d see were the headlines screaming ‘Women Stealing Men’s Jobs’ or something equally obscene. The women pilots would be told to go back to homemaking and knitting, instead of being lauded for the serious contribution they’d made to the war effort.

  She would fight every slanderous word until her last breath, but for the first time she wondered if this was one fight she didn’t have a hope of winning. The only thing she could do was ensure the bill received support, and to do that she’d need to exercise an extremely bold bluff.

  ‘I’m going to tell Hap that if the WASPs can’t be in the Army Air Forces, like every other army pilot, then the WASP programme will come to an end,’ she murmured.

  Jackson nodded, and she knew she had his support. The only problem would be if her gamble failed, but she had to believe they were too important to the army for them to risk losing her or her programme. And if they didn’t think that, then the demise of the WASPs would be on her head. She couldn’t see any other way forward through this mess.

  She stared at the screen and wished she hadn’t. What on earth?

  Lizzie looked around her and saw the horrified faces of her pilots as they watched the film. They’d come to see a movie about their incredible work, about women flying enormous military planes and taking on roles that should have impressed anyone, and instead they were being portrayed as silly girls more interested in flirting with officers and gossiping. She groaned at the immature actress on screen giggling and making love-eyes at a man in uniform, wishing she’d just stayed on base for the evening.

  She’d never been so embarrassed in her life.

  ‘This is ridiculous,’ Jackson said, loud enough for everyone around them to hear.

  Lizzie shut her eyes and blocked it all out. It was like the world was conspiring against her, and she wasn’t going to stand for it: just as she’d refused to take no for an answer before she was sent to England. This was not going to signal the end for the WASPs, and she was not going to let this ridiculous film make a mockery of their work.

  ‘Let’s go,’ she said to Jackson, standing.

  He looked surprised, but he stood.

  ‘We don’t need to sit and watch this nonsense,’ she said in a loud voice to the women around her. ‘Stay for a laugh if you like, by all means, but remember that this is fiction and does not for a moment reflect the incredible work of the WASPs.’

  And with that she walked out, holding her head high. She’d collapse and cry in her own bed later, but now she needed to set an example to her girls.

  ‘Elizabeth?’

  She was surprised to see one of her office assistants standing outside the venue, holding a sheet of paper in her hand. The paper was trembling.

  ‘Gina, what is it?’ Lizzie asked.

  But when the other woman just handed the envelope to her, her face ashen, Lizzie felt all colour drain from her own.

  She unfolded the page quickly, scanning the words fast. It only took her a few seconds before she was reading the words again. And again. And again. Until Jackson took the paper from her and wrapped her in his arms, holding her as her legs gave way beneath her.

  ELIZABETH. YOUR FATHER HAS HAD ANOTHER HEART ATTACK. NOT EXPECTED TO MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT. PLEASE COME HOME.

  ‘No,’ she whispered. ‘No, Daddy, you can’t die on me.’

  Jackson swung her up into his arms, carrying her as she clung to him like a child. ‘Gina, report to base and get a telegram to General Arnold. Tell him I will be taking over duties for Elizabeth for the next few days,’ she heard him say.

  Stay alive for me, Daddy. Please, just hold on.

  ‘I’m taking you home, Lizzie,’ Jackson murmured into her ear, striding across the road and somehow getting her into the passenger seat as she numbly let him move her, incapable of saying a word.

  I still have so much to prove to you, Daddy, she thought as she stared out of the window, her forehead pressed to the glass.

  The past few hours had felt like a blur. Lizzie knew she’d sat in the car with Jackson, pointed out her parents’ home to him, held her mother in her arms and then let Jackson hold her, kissing her forehead. But the only moment that felt real was right now, lowering herself to the chair beside her father and staring at him lying there, his eyes shut, his breathing raspy
.

  ‘Hey, Daddy,’ she said, trying to sound bright even though every part of her was cracking apart. ‘Daddy, it’s me, I’m here.’

  She wanted to scream at someone to call an ambulance and get him to hospital, to do something, anything to help him. But she knew it was too late. Her mother had made the decision to keep him at home, where he wanted to be, rather than spend his last days or hours or minutes hooked up to machines in a hospital, surrounded by strangers.

  The nurse had told her it was a miracle he was still alive, and she wanted to believe that he’d waited for her, that he wanted to be with her one last time before he passed.

  ‘Daddy?’ she whispered.

  His eyes opened, and she smiled at him, blinking through her tears. Her father was a big, strong man, but now he looked a shell of his former self.

  ‘Lizzie,’ he rasped, barely audible.

  ‘I’m here,’ she said. ‘Don’t think you can leave without saying goodbye to me.’

  Then Jackson leaned forward. ‘Sir, I just want to say what an honour it is to meet you,’ he said, as her father’s eyes seemed to search his. ‘I want you to know that I’ll always look after your Elizabeth. She’s a wonderful woman and I will always be there for her.’

  Lizzie sobbed as her father slowly blinked, as if acknowledging Jackson’s words.

  ‘I’ll be sure to tell my own father, Lieutenant David Montgomery, that I had the great fortune to meet you, sir. I know he holds you in very high regard.’ He cleared his throat and dropped a kiss onto Lizzie’s hair before moving quietly away.

  Her mother came forward then and placed something in her father’s hands, and Lizzie watched as he slowly pushed it towards her.

  ‘For,’ he murmured, ‘you.’

  Lizzie glanced at her mother.

  ‘He wanted you to have it. He made me promise to give it to you, and tell you he was so proud of you,’ her mother said, coming to sit with her and placing an arm around her shoulders. ‘We’re both so proud of what you’ve achieved.’

  Lizzie reached for his hand, opening his palm and sobbing when she saw his Distinguished Service Cross. She traced her fingertips over it, touching the eagle in the centre and then the two words.