Eleven Eleven - By Paul Dowswell Page 0,24

usual gesture. He didn’t know why he even shouted. The noise drowned everything out. The ground crew spun the Camel on its spindly wheels, holding on to its tail, safely away from that roaring engine. The machine emerged from the barn and Eddie began to trundle along the bumpy grass to the runway.

Checking wind direction, and making sure he had maximum length for take-off, Eddie gave the engine a final gunning and then began his run. The wind started to sing in the struts and he could feel the terrific power of the machine at his fingertips.

This manoeuvre required supreme concentration, working the ailerons, elevators and rudder with hands and feet, and pushing the throttle just so. The torque was phenomenal. As Eddie gained speed, the whole aircraft was wrenched to the right. He set the stick and the pedals to counteract that swing and pulled back the throttle.

If he got this wrong, he could easily find himself in a high-speed collision with a tree, and then they really would have to take the cylinder out of his kidneys, and all the other grisly things from that song. Eddie had seen enough Camels leap in the air, only to stall and land with a sickening explosion, or worst of all tip forward, shattering the propeller and engine housing and mangling the pilot . . . it was all too easy to do.

He felt the tail lift. This was the trickiest part. Keeping her level for a few seconds more. His eyes darted down to the speedometer. It was at 70 mph. He pulled back the stick and the jolting stopped as he parted company with the ground. Immediately, his anxiety vanished. He climbed to the low cloud base, keen to break out into the vast blue domain above. He could feel the moisture of the heavy clouds in his throat and sensed their clammy coldness on his face.

Five minutes later he was through and basking in brilliant sunshine. The thrill of that never left him. Those mere mortals down on the ground – they had to put up with whatever weather the heavens decreed. A pilot could enjoy the sunshine whenever he took to the sky.

And the clouds up there. Some of them were as big as mountains – with craggy promontories and great gullies. And when you got really high up, you could see the cloud fields stretch to the horizon. You could even see the curve of the Earth.

Being able to do that made Eddie feel like a god. And the girls loved him. Even in New York, in the week before he left, they had flocked to hear his news. All the most glamorous girls went for the flyboys – especially the fighter pilots. They were the princes of the sky. Eddie enjoyed the attention, but he was wise enough to know how shallow it all was.

Now he had reached 1,000 feet, just above the cloud base. He turned the nose of his Camel to the east and the enemy.

CHAPTER 10

8.45 a.m.

‘No talking,’ whispered Sergeant Franklin, ‘and watch where you step. I don’t want any falling over and giving us away to a sniper. You never know who might be in here. Hosking, you stay on point for now; I’ll be right behind you.’

Will watched the others respond. With some of the other sergeants and corporals the men would exchange glances, even look askance at their orders. Jim’s commands were met only by stern nods and brief murmurs of agreement. He noticed how the men would often bunch around Jim, as if being close to their sergeant offered them extra protection.

Jim checked in his pocket and brought out a small compass. ‘Any of you got one of these?’ he asked. ‘No? Then make sure you keep with me. It’s very easy to lose your direction in a wood, especially where it’s dense.’

Hosking took the lead without a word and the nine of them began to advance into the great green-and-brown shelter of the forest. The evergreens and deciduous trees made for a beautiful mixture. Some of the deciduous ones had shed now, with only a few tattered leaves remaining. But the evergreens offered dense cover for anyone who might be watching.

One by one they were swallowed by the forest, and Will immediately felt a chill as he moved into its shadow. How strange, he thought, that such a place of natural beauty should suddenly become so sinister. Will loved the woods back home in the Lune Valley