Silver Wings

by H. P. Munro

  ***

  “Sleeping Beauty. It's Hot Lips. Do you read me?”

  Lily looked over to her left, through the small cockpit window towards Sadie's plane.

  “I read you Jones,” Lily point blank refused to call Sadie ‘Hot Lips’. Therefore, when she could she would ignore her call name when on the radio, “What's up?”

  Sadie pulled back her lips in a smile, “You see those suspension lines ahead? You think you can fly under them?”

  Lily focused her attention to the front, spotting the poles holding the high wires that Sadie referred to. Doing a quick mental calculation Lily broke from their formation and swooped down, easily clearing the lines that crisscrossed their way across the landscape. Whooping as she pulled the plane back up to the formation Lily chuckled into her mouthpiece, “What you mean? Like that?”

  “Show off,” Rita interjected laughing looking across to Lily's plane.

  On their fourth trip of the day it was Lily's turn again to navigate the impromptu course they had created for themselves to relieve the boredom of the flight. She dropped the plane down, However, this time, she misjudged the sag in one of the lines. The cable snagged on her wing, causing the plane to list momentarily. Lily fought with the controls to keep the plane level, her heart started to race as for a split second she thought she was going down. Fortunately, the wire snapped from the poles, wrapping itself tightly around the wing. Taking a deep breath Lily put the plane back into a climb to join her friends.

  “Good luck explaining that when we land,” Sadie laughed inspecting the wing of Lily's plane from her vantage point, remarkably there seemed little damage to the wing itself. However, it was bearing a rather telling length of thick cable wound around it.

  Lily laughed, the relief evident in her tone, “Let’s go for boring next time we do the trip. That was a bit more spice than I have an appetite for.”

  ***

  Sitting out on the flight line, Lily tapped her lips with her pen, she loved coming out here to relax. She felt an overwhelming sense of comfort from the noise and activity around the hangars. It reminded her of her childhood and despite the racket from the engines, she felt at peace, there were only two other places in the world that provided that feeling, sitting in the orchestra, lost in the music that was playing and the other…Helen's arms.

  Helen,

  Machine gun fodder? Explain!

  I'm glad that Matty is making Dodge a more enjoyable experience for you.

  Lily paused, she was happy that there was another WASP on the base, as she'd detected in Helen's letters an unhappiness, despite obvious attempts to keep her correspondence upbeat. The first weeks particularly seemed to have been tough, Lily was grateful that in her first few weeks she had been kept busy flying, which gave some distraction to her misery at being parted from Helen. Up until her little flying display – which, when Lily had read about it, had caused her to laugh for a good ten minutes at Helen's description of the major's face as she flew over him - it seemed that Helen had been office bound. Having seen Helen when rain kept them grounded during training, Lily could not imagine Helen not flying regularly, the thought of the blonde sitting behind a desk conjured up the image of a tiger that Lily had seen when she and Henry had visited the zoo in Central Park on one of their first dates. She had watched as the tiger prowled back and forth in its small enclosure and had felt sorry that those strong muscles would never get the chance to run the speed and distance they were designed for, instead destined to only pace back and forth. Helen was destined to fly.

  It's good that you're getting the chance to fly, I hope however that you're not doing any more dangerous aerobatics.

  Lily smiled to herself thinking of her own recent moment of insanity and more so, the ground crew’s faces when she had parked in the stand with a long length of wire attached to her wing. At their quizzical looks, Lily had merely shrugged and announced that it must have been there when she picked it up, before hopping into the truck beside her laughing friends to be driven to their ride home.

  I've been selected for Bomber Training and so will be leaving Las Vegas soon. I'm slightly apprehensive! Although I will be returning homeward for it, so hope to get a day or so to see family on the way there.

  I miss our preflight check training session; flying solo is nowhere near as rewarding or fun. If you think that my pre-flight checks are something wait ‘til I take you through my landing procedures, I am particularly good at reverse thrust.

  IWU

  Liliana

  She released a small groan as her mind drifted to what she wanted to be doing with Helen. Deciding it would be better not to work herself up on the flight line, she folded her letter and headed back towards her bunk for a cold shower.

  Chapter Thirteen

  March 1944 - Dodge City Army Air Base, Dodge City, Kansas

  Helen shouted to Matty to release the target. Pulling the lever the tall brunette woman watched as the long white sock flew out of the back of the plane, fluttering behind them. She walked back up the length of the aircraft her hands pressed against the walls to steady herself. She sat back down in the co-pilot seat and raised her thumbs. Helen nodded, pulling the plane round in a steep bank and flying over the anti-aircraft mounds below. The sound of gunfire punctuated the air they flew, the noise eventually trailing off as they flew beyond the range of the guns. Turning the plane around again, they took another fly over the stations. Despite this being a regular training activity for them Helen still felt her heart rate increase. Her thoughts would often drift to her father and what it had been like for him in those final moments before gunfire took his plane down. These flights were always tense and doing them had reignited her nightmares, she was only grateful that she had a single room on the base, so her yells did not disturb anyone. She had become accustomed to waking up in a cold sweat, panting at the images her brain tormented her with.

  They repeated their fly over a further two times before she brought the plane down to a low level and Matty released the target. The material fluttered down to the ground to be collected and analyzed; each gunner's bullets left a different colored mark on the fabric allowing their accuracy to be assessed.

  Matty and Helen were walking back to the flight line, when they saw the officer in charge of gunnery practice frog marching a young GI, who looked no more than nineteen, towards them. They gave each other a quick look before watching the approach with a mix of amusement and confusion.

  “Captain Vallance,” Helen greeted the tall dark haired man. He gave a curt nod in response, his lips terse.

  “Richmond, Gordon,” he replied, shoving the soldier in front of them. “Say hello Private Dickson,” he barked. The GI looked at them sheepishly and murmured a greeting. “Now say sorry,” Vallance ordered.

  Helen and Matty exchanged bewildered glances.

  “What exactly is he apologizing for?” Matty asked eyed the GI suspiciously.

  Vallance turned to the soldier. “Well?” he prompted. “Tell them soldier. That's an order!” he yelled as the GI looked reluctant.

  “I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I misunderstood my orders, Ma'am.”

  Helen gave the captain another puzzled look, the tall man clipped his hand against the back of the GI's head. “Genius here, after you passed over for the fourth time, asked what the sock flying out of the back of the plane was for. We're all damned lucky that he couldn't hit a cow's ass with a banjo, ‘cause the whole time you were up there he was firing at the damn plane and not the target.” He gave the sheepish man another smack for good measure.

  Helen's puzzled look grew into surprise before settling on a mild fury. “You idiot!” she yelled. “You're using live ammunition. You could have killed us!” she stepped forward ready to pummel the idiotic youngster. Her progress halted by Matty snatching an arm out to hold her back.

  “I'm sorry,” the private said repeatedly, backing away in terror, attempting to put the captain between him and the small woman glaring at him.


  Helen breathed heavily through her nose, her nostrils flaring.

  “Hey pocket rocket,” Matty stood in front of her and made their eyes connect. “Why don't we go for a long walk, in that direction?” she nodded in the opposite direction, pushing on Helen's shoulders turning her away from the two men. She spun her head round and looked directly at the young GI, “You got lucky today, not just that you didn't kill us, but that she didn't kill you. Do better.”

  Vallance watched the women walk off.

  “Idiot,” he muttered, cuffing the GI once more.

  ***

  April 1944 – Tyndall Army Air Base,Panama City, Florida

  “Oh my giddy aunt.”

  Lily froze at the voice that had shouted a phrase that Adele had used to express disbelief or excitement. Her mouth spread into a broad grin as she chuckled to herself and turned around, standing behind her arms outstretched ready for a hug was Adrienne.

  “Looks like the tall girls get all the good jobs again,” Adrienne laughed as Lily practically skipped over into her arms.

  “You're looking good,” Lily smiled inspecting her friend.

  “I could say the same of you,” Adrienne smiled. “So you ready for this?” she asked nodding towards the screen where they were about to be shown their instruction film on how the fly the B-26. Lily gave her a halfhearted smile. “Yeah I know what you mean,” Adrienne said out of the side of her mouth as they sat down. “Back at my base they call the plane the prostitute, ‘cause it has no visible means of support,” she whispered as she shot Lily a wide-eyed look.

  “I hear that male pilots hate flying them,” Lily whispered as the lights dimmed.

  Adrienne reached over giving her hand a quick squeeze, “We're gonna love it then.”

  ***

  May 1944 - Dodge City Army Air Base, Dodge City, Kansas

  It had been four weeks since Lily entered the training program, and in those four weeks Helen had only received one letter, she knew that the training program was intense and from the letter she did receive, it appeared to be taking its toll on Lily.

  The sheer size of the plane twinned with it being multi-engined was taking everything out of her. Helen was only glad that Adrienne was there to provide support and encouragement. She didn’t envy the altitude training that they'd gone through. Sitting in a pressure chamber being asked to write your name on a chalkboard as they increased the pressure didn't sound like a barrel of laughs to Helen. Lily had said that when she looked back at what she'd written it looked like a toddler’s attempt at writing or close to Helen’s own scrawl. Helen also did not envy the pre-flight checks that the plane apparently required. From Lily's description, the checks lasted longer than their first flights at Avenger. She curled up on her cot to concentrate on her letter.

  Dearest Liliana…and Adrienne,

  I hope that you're both well and coping with the training. Things here at Dodge are good. I haven't been shot at this week, so that's always good…one gunner clipped our tail last week. Matty had to sit on me to stop me kicking his ass.

  We had a ‘brass’ visit this week, Chissy had me ferry the visitor back. He refused to get in a plane with me ‘cause I'm a woman! Chissy told him he either flew with me or he walked…he flew with me! - I kept the plane the right way up the entire way too.

  I'm getting some leave soon…three whole days…do you know when you will be finished? Would be good to see you.

  There's not much gossip going on in the base, Matty has her eye on Lewis, the surly one I told you about. They went to a dance together last Saturday.

  Fly safe

  IWU

  Helen

  ***

  Lily and Adrienne stood waiting to be called into the major's office, both unsure why they'd been selected from their class, the training had completed and both would admit that it had been the toughest six weeks that they'd experienced, physically and mentally.

  They were just plain worn out.

  Adrienne had been putting extra time in on her upper body strength as the plane was a fickle one, particularly on take-off and landing, you had to fly it every inch of the way and she needed every ounce of strength that she had to control the wheel. The door opened and they were motioned inside.

  “Well, that was a turn up,” Adrienne remarked as they walked back towards their rooms.

  Lily was still slightly shocked by the turn of events. “I'm not sure whether to be flattered or terrified,” she laughed.

  “I'd go with flattered.”

  Thanks to acing their training, they had been selected as part of a scheme to show male pilots that the B-26 could be flown safely, they were to tour bases flying the B-26’s. They wouldn't be returning to their own base for a number of weeks until they'd visited their share of the bomber bases.

  “Flattered and petrified,” Lily said, throwing her arm around her friend’s shoulders.

  ***

  July 1944 - Dodge City Army Air Base, Dodge City, Kansas

  Helen had received a telegram from Lily as letter writing appeared to be proving difficult while she did her new assignment. She had been touring the country for eight weeks and in eight weeks Helen had received one lousy telegram and had not been able to write back as she didn't know the schedule; to say she was pissy would be an understatement of her current mood. She had taken her three days leave and visited home; enjoying being looked after in the way only a mother could do with lots of home baking and cuddles.

  Since her return back to base Helen was trying hard to be upbeat and peppy, but the effort was starting to take its toll, particularly when the engineers at the base seemed out to kill her more that the gunners. They'd had a few run-ins over her time there; where things that were meant to have been fixed, weren't, as they were so busy with the fixes that they would lose track of what had been done and what hadn't. The bulk of the planes she and Matty had flown that week had resulted in their having to perform emergency landings and she was getting sick of it. She fastened her seat harness on the Bobcat and turned to Matty to complete their pre-flight checks.

  They trundled along the runway building up speed, Helen pulled back on the stick taking the plane into a steep climb. When she heard Matty's voice in her ears.

  “What the hell?”

  She turned to look at her friend and immediately saw what Matty was referring to; out of the window black smoke was billowing around them.

  “Hollywood, you're on fire!” Betty's panicked voice came onto the radio from the observation tower.

  “Is that what the smoke is?” Helen said tersely into her microphone. “I'm gonna turn round and come back in.”

  She turned the plane back towards the strip and took the pressure off the throttle, immediately the smoke stopped.

  “There's no oil,” Matty said, looking out of the window. “The smoke stopped when you eased up, there must be a problem with the oil line.”

  Helen shook her head, “I may kill someone today.”

  Matty looked around at the small blonde, sitting with a determined look on her face, “Just make sure it's not me.”

  Laughing Helen lined up for landing. They limped back to the stand and were greeted with the crew chief looking white faced, “What happened?”

  Helen leapt down from the plane yelling, “I'll tell you what happened. You didn't fix the damn oil line, that's what happened.”

  “I did,” he yelled back.

  “Really!” Helen shouted ignoring Matty tugging on the back of her zoot suit. She reached a hand up towards the wing and wiped her hand across, bringing down her hand slick with oil, she wiped it on the crew chief’s face. “Then what's that? Next time we go up in a plane, your ass is going to be sitting right next to mine. So you better make damned sure that it's fixed.”

  Matty pulled harder on the back of Helen's zoot suit.

  “What?” Helen yelled, turning away from the blackened face of the crew chief to look at her friend.

  “That,” Matty pointed up towards the sky.<
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  A large aircraft bearing down on the strip dominated the landing line, its three large propellers spinning as it approached. Around twenty male pilots joined them on the flight line, watching the plane as it came down at speed; its wheels touched the tarmac and screeched before slowing as it taxied along the runway.

  There were murmured approvals from the pilots at the landing as they watched as the bomber taxi onto the far end of the stand. Helen felt as though her heart had stopped as she waited watching for who would get out of the plane. Finally, three figures came into sight, however Helen's focus was on the one whose swagger she would recognize anywhere. She pulled her helmet off her head and threw it to the ground, taking to her heels at full speed, running as fast as her legs would carry her towards Lily.

  Lily looked over at the pilots lined up, they were accustomed to this type of welcome, and usually the noise of the engines from the bomber would ensure that they had an audience for their arrival. Then would come the shock from the male pilots that two women had completed the landing they had just witnessed. Then the posturing would happen, where they would try to either hit on her and Adrienne or show off their own flying skills.

  However, as they walked towards the offices, the welcome she was about to receive in Dodge was going to be completely different to the other bases they had visited. She had spotted Helen as soon as she had rounded the plane, and it would appear from the sprinting woman that she had recognized Lily. Lily grinned as Helen's blonde hair, which had grown since they had seen each other more than six months previous, bounced around as she ran towards them. She had no time to say anything before arms were wound tightly around her neck and she was held in a tight embrace.

  “You're here,” Helen whispered. “You're really here.” She finally released her grip and placed her hand against Lily's cheek, immediately seeing her error as she'd managed to cover her in the oil from her earlier altercation with the crew chief. “Oh God I'm sorry,” Helen laughed stepping back, and spotting a smiling Adrienne out of the corner of her eye. She turned and held out her arms towards the tall red head.