CHAPTER 15

 

UNEXPECTED OFFER

 

Mr Jemmerling saw Willy and smiled. “Hello young William, would you introduce me please.”

That really surprised Willy. He glanced anxiously at Mr Beck and saw that he was looking at Mr Jemmerling with a look of puzzlement. ‘He doesn’t know who he is,’ he deduced. Swallowing to moisten his suddenly dry throat and unsure Willy said, “Mr Beck, this is Mr Jemmerling.”

Mr Beck’s face registered shock and then anger. “Jemmerling! What brings you here sir?” he barked, ignoring Mr Jemmerling’s out-thrust hand.

Mr Jemmerling ignored the insult and casually dropped his hand. “I could say that I am just visiting. I have never seen your collection before sir, but I have heard good reports of it. But actually I also came to make you an offer.”

“An offer?” Mr Beck asked in a voice laden with suspicion.

“Yes, but first I would appreciate a look around if I may,” Mr Jemmerling replied. He held up his hand. “We have paid for our tickets.”

Mr Beck looked a bit baffled and suspicious but then nodded. “Yes, alright. I will show you around myself.”

“Thank you,” Mr Jemmerling replied, adding, “I think it is a good idea to see what others in the business are doing.”

Mr Beck nodded and grunted what could have been agreement. The three men and Mrs Beck then moved away to the main hangar. Norman watched this, then shook his head in amazement. “Jemmerling! Here! As bold as brass.”

“Shouldn’t he be?” Stick asked.

Norman shook his head but said, “He and Dad have had a few disagreements in the past, but apart from that, no.”

“Has he ever been here before?” Willy asked.

Norman shook his head. “No. Never seen him in my life,” he answered.

“Your father didn’t seem to recognize him,” Willy commented.

“No. Even though they’ve been rivals for years he’s never met him before. Well I never, Jemmerling here! I wonder what his offer is?” Norman said.

They did not find this out for nearly another hour. The whole group gathered on chairs in the shade for morning tea. Only after drinking a cup of tea and nibbling a biscuit did Mr Jemmerling start to reveal his offer. First he introduced Mr Hobbs, his ‘man’. Then he praised Mr Beck’s collection and, in particular how well the ‘Airacobra’ had been restored and maintained.

Willy sat at the back and observed, noting that Mr Beck was accepting the praise with grudging acceptance mingled with caution. Mr Jemmerling then drained his cup and brushed crumbs off his white shirt. After looking around at the group he said, “The offer is this. I need a local guide who can show me where the aircraft wrecks in North Queensland are, the ones that are known about that is, and I wondered if you would accept the task. In return I will give you a weekend flight up to Thursday Island and back, visiting some of the wrecks along the way.”

“A weekend?” Mr Beck queried, obviously unsure of how to react.

“Yes. We would go in my restored ‘Catalina’ Pterodactyl. It is possible to go up and back in one day but that leaves no time for sightseeing, so I thought an overnight trip next weekend. What do you say?” Mr Jemmerling asked.

Mr Beck still looked wary. “Why me?”

Mr Jemmerling smiled disarmingly. “Because I have been flying around looking and haven’t had much luck. My enquiries inform me that you are the expert in this area so I thought we could do something of mutual benefit,” he explained.

“What exactly is your offer?” Mr Beck asked.

“That I provide the aircraft and the fuel and pay any landing fees and so on; and that you and your team provide the local knowledge to show me the known aircraft wrecks and sites in Cape York Peninsula. I will even provide the food and accommodation if that helps,” Mr Jemmerling answered.

Willy had been listening with great interest and deep suspicion. He felt sure it must be some sort of trick to reveal to Mr Jemmerling where their own aircraft wrecks were. ‘He wants to beat us to them,’ he thought. But it was a very tempting offer and he was gripped by a strong desire to go for another ‘Catalina’ flight. Seeing that Mr Beck was deep in thought Willy asked, “Exactly who are you offering to take on this flight Mr Jemmerling?”

Mr Jemmerling turned to look at him and again smiled his very charming smile. “I said the whole team didn’t I?”

“All of us?” Willy gasped, his hopes and fears both soaring.

“Who are we talking about?” Mr Jemmerling asked, looking around.

Mr Beck indicated the others with a sweep of his hand. “These are my workers.”

Mr Jemmerling looked at Willy’s father and said, “You too Dr Williams?”

“It is always a good idea to have a doctor along on expeditions,” Willy’s father replied with a grin.

“And a girl?” Mr Jemmerling asked, indicating Marjorie.

Willy answered, seizing the chance to put in for his friends. “Three girls. There are three navy cadets in our team,” he said.

“And my wife as the adult female to look after the girls,” Willy’s father added.

Mr Jemmerling did not show any surprise. He did a quick mental calculation and said, “That is seventeen people, about four thousand pounds weight- that is if you are coming too Mrs Beck?”

Mrs Beck looked horrified. “Oh dear me no! Count me out. I’m happy to stay at home.”

“Can the ‘Catalina’ carry that many?” Willy asked.

Mr Jemmerling nodded. “Oh yes. It has seats for four in the cockpit and nose, plus eight more in the cabin and we can fit in a couple of extras in the saloon. The plane can lift seventeen thousand pounds but that includes fuel. If it was carrying guns and bombs these would typically have weighed in at about three thousand pounds.”

“When are we going on this jaunt; you mentioned next weekend?” Mr Beck asked.

“Yes, that is the most convenient time for me. I do have businesses to run so can’t stay on holiday swanning around for ever,” Mr Jemmerling replied.

Willy’s father now asked, “Can you be more specific; times and places and so on?”

Mr Jemmerling nodded. “Yes. I can pick you up here at Mareeba at nine next Saturday morning and we can then fly north, overnight on Horn Island or Thursday Island and then fly back on Sunday to be back by about lunch time,” Mr Jemmerling answered.

“Why Mareeba, isn’t your plane at Cairns?” Willy’s father asked.

Mr Jemmerling shook his head and replied, “No, not anymore. I have just moved it up to Mareeba. The airport fees here are much less and there is a lot less traffic, so not as many flying problems,” he explained.

A few more details were discussed and Mr Jemmerling then gave the adults his telephone number to co-ordinate. He then thanked them and excused himself, leaving with Mr Hobbs.

As the two men vanished from view Stick burst out, saying, “I wonder what his devious plan is? I’ll bet he just wants to trick us into showing where our planes are.”

“He seemed too nice and too friendly,” Norman agreed.

“It could be a trick,” Willy added.

Marjorie shook her head. “Well, I thought he was a really charming gentleman and I would love to fly in his aeroplane.”

“So did I,” Willy’s father said. “And even if he does hope to pick up clues I don’t see why we shouldn’t take advantage of his offer.”

“You mean we can go Dad?” Willy cried, thrilled by the opportunity.

Dr Williams nodded and said, “If your mother agrees.”

They left it at that and went back to their various jobs. Willy spent the afternoon carefully cleaning the interior of the ‘Neptune’ and was instructed in more of the arts of maintaining vintage and replica aircraft by Norman, who was a skilled expert.

As soon as they picked up his mother from Aunty Isabel’s Willy explained the proposal to her and asked if they could go. His mother looked at Willy’s father and raised her eyebrows; to which he nodded. “Yes, alright,” she replied. “Lloyd must come too, if he wishes,” she added.

But Lloyd wasn’t interested. He had already made arrangements for a party with his Year 11 mates at Darren’s house. That pleased Willy who did not want his big brother along. Next he phoned Andrew to see if he and Carmen were interested.

Andrew replied, “Yes, but I will have to ask Carmen and then Mum and Dad. I will also call Tina. Wait and I will call you back.”

Willy did. He lay on his bed and read the magazine article on the Dutch ‘Dornier’ flying boats. What he read both amazed and fascinated him. ‘I didn’t know the Dutch had so many planes in the Far East,’ he thought. He now learned that the aircraft were German designed Dornier Do 24s; all-metal, high-wing monoplanes with three engines and with the impressive maximum range of nearly 3,000 nautical miles.

‘Wing span 27 metres, length 22 metres, wights: empty 13,500 kg; loaded 18,400 kg; maximum speed 340km/h; service ceiling 19,360 feet. And a pretty impressive armament for a flying boat: three gun positions with one 7.92 mm MG in the nose, another in the tail and a dorsal turret with either a 20mm or 30mm cannon.’

That got him studying the illustrations and photos. It took him a few seconds to find the tail gun turret. At last he found it, perched right up on the tailplane between and slightly aft of the twin tail fins. ‘I wonder if the gunner could get back into the main fuselage from back there,’ he mused.  They were, he decided, quite impressive aircraft.

Next he read that they carried underwing bombs or depth charges. ‘They were naval aircraft,’ he read. ‘Used for maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine duties. Usually they carried a crew of six: Pilot, co-pilot, navigator/radio operator, and three air gunners. First flew in 1937, last flew (in Spain) in 1967.’

There were details of their manufacture. The article read: An excellent tri-motor flying boat, it was one of the few aircraft to be designed and sold by the Nazi government to a foreign country, in this case to the Netherlands. A total of 11 were manufactured by Weserflugzeugbau. In addition 26 more were manufactured under licence by the Dutch de Schelde and Aviolanda companies. All were deployed to the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia). The Dutch aircraft were designated the Do 24K-2.

‘That Jacob van der Heyden we rescued said that his father was an officer in the Dutch navy and that he had been a navigator on flying boats. I wonder if he was on these planes?’ Willy thought. For a few moments he wondered what had become of Jacob. Then he shrugged and went back to his reading.

Willy read that after the Netherlands were conquered by the Germans in 1940 the Dutch factories, plus the French Potez-CAMS plant were used to make more, the aircraft being used by the German Luftwaffe. 170 were manufactured in the Netherlands and another 48 in France. What surprised Willy even more was to read that, after the war, the French made another 20 for their own use and that they had as many as 60 in service until 1955. Others were sold to Spain.

What he found most interesting were the short paragraphs mentioning that when the war with Japan began the Dutch Dorniers did magnificent service in reconnaissance, bombing attacks and laying mines as part of the allied defence. They were crucial in providing early warning of several approaching Japanese fleets, including the one that took part in the Battle of the Java Sea.

Here another big gap in Willy’s historical knowledge was exposed and he only gained a glimmer of it by reading that a combined Dutch, British, Australian and American fleet, all commanded by the Dutch Admiral Karel Dorman took part in the battle. Willy was saddened to learn that the allies lost badly and that one of the ships which took part, and which was sunk two nights later in the Sunda Strait, was the Australian light cruiser HMAS Perth.

‘I must read more about that,’ he decided, feeling a strong desire to know his own country’s history. Then he read the paragraph which mentioned that the Dutch Dorniers were also very extensively used to evacuate important senior officers and political leaders, diamonds, gold and money, and Dutch and British civilians from the Netherlands East Indies to safety in Australia as the Japanese invasion progressed.

That reminded him of the tragic story of the flying boats sunk at Broome by the Japanese air raid when many civilians were killed because they were still on board the anchored flying boats out in the bay. ‘Some of those flying boats were Dutch,’ he remembered.

He went to look up the details of this but was interrupted by Andrew phoning back. “Sorry Willy, but I am the only one,” Andrew said. “Carmen and Tina have both already made commitments to go to some birthday party and they don’t feel they can let their friend down.”

“So it is just you?” Willy asked.

“Yes. Look, if you need more, why don’t you ask Graham or Stephen?” Andrew suggested.

That seemed like a good idea but Willy was very wary of phoning Graham’s house and did not want to invite Stephen. ‘I will try Peter,’ he thought. So he phoned Peter and put the idea to him. Peter sounded interested. “I’d love to go,” he said, “But I leave for my sergeants course on Saturday.”

Without thinking Willy added, “Do you think Graham would be allowed?”

“Graham! Oh hell, you don’t know. He’s gone missing,” Peter said.

“Missing!” Willy was shocked and at once apprehensive. “You don’t think he.. that he..”

“Has done himself in?” Peter finished. “No, I don’t. He has taken his camping gear. I think he is camping somewhere and having a fit of the dejections. But I’m really worried.”

“You don’t think he might have gone to Castor to see Carol?” Willy suggested.

“Don’t think so. He was told not to go anywhere near her,” Peter replied.

Feeling really anxious Willy hung up and went to tell his parents. That took some explaining as they did not know the background. Both adults just shook their heads sadly. “I don’t see what we can do,” Willy’s father said.

Nor did Willy and that made him feel even worse. As a result he slept very badly, with bad dreams full of death and grinning skulls. Several times he woke up in a cold sweat and then tried not to go back to sleep.

As a result Sunday was not a good day. Willy moped around the house, did his share of the chores and then lay on his bed and worried. Even a visit in mid-afternoon by Stick, Marjorie and Vicki did nothing to cheer him up. He told them the tale and the girls became so upset that Willy was first astonished, then jealous, then annoyed. ‘I didn’t know Marjorie liked Graham so much!’ he thought.

The good news was that Stick and Marjorie were allowed to go on the ‘Catalina’ flight. “Even if you are the only girl?” Willy queried.

“Yes. Your Mum is going isn’t she?” Marjorie answered.

Willy nodded. At that moment the phone rang. Willy picked it up. It was Peter. “Good news!” he almost shouted. “Graham is safe.”

“Where is he?” Willy asked.

“At the police station,” Peter replied.

“The police station! Is he in trouble? What did he do?” Willy asked.

“I don’t know,” Peter said. “I just got a call to say he was safe. We will have to wait till tomorrow to find out.”

But they did not find out on Monday. When Willy got to school he walked around looking for Graham. He found Peter, Roger and Stephen but all they knew was that Graham was safe but not at school.

What really got Willy and his friends speculating were the news headlines on both days that mentioned another suspicious death at the Castor Mill. “Graham suggested that there was something fishy was going on there. I wonder what it was?” Willy said, hinting to Stephen.

It was not until Willy found Graham sitting with is friends on Tuesday lunchtime that he finally got the story. The main fact was that Declin Riley had recovered in time to save Graham’s life and to tell the police that both he and Stephen were innocent. Two other men had bashed him (For the full story read ‘Sugar and Spice’).

When Graham had finished his tale Peter asked, “Have you spoken to Capt Conkey yet Graham?”

Graham nodded. “Yes, first thing this morning,” he replied.

“Can you still go on the promotion course?” Peter asked.

“Yes.”

The whole group seemed to sigh with relief. Stephen mentioned that he was allowed to go as well but it did not have the same emotional impact. From then on the mood lightened and they began to joke and laugh. Willy could see that Graham was still upset and guessed it was from a broken heart. ‘He will be OK. He will soon fall in love with some other girl,’ he thought.

For the last three days of the week the atmosphere became a mixture of boredom and excitement. As the Year 10s and 11s were finishing that Friday they had no interest in school work and a holiday and party mood gripped them. Willy and the other Year 9s were infected by this but also mildly resentful that they still had another week still to endure.

“The whole system is a bloody farce,” Stephen said. “All year levels should finish on the same day and save all this waste of time and effort.”

“It’s so that the teachers can mark all our assignments and exams,” Stick said.

Stephen snorted. “Oh piffle! They did that weeks ago. Now we are just wasting time. We could be out searching to get the plane wrecks before that Jemmytingle beats us to it,” he said.

That made Willy feel quite anxious, again being tormented by suspicions that Mr Jemmerling’s offer of a flight over Cape York might be just a trick. ‘We will just have to be careful what we do or say,’ he decided.

Both Graham and Stephen assured Willy that they were still interested in taking part in an expedition up the Cape after Christmas. They both expressed some mild resentment that there was to be an expedition before then, but as both were going on the army cadet promotion course the next day this was not very strong. When told of the proposed flight that weekend Stephen was quite obviously annoyed and jealous.

“You could have asked us!” he said.

“I knew you were leaving for your promotion course on Saturday,” Willy answered.

Graham shook his head. “Good luck then. But if you are going in that Mr Jemmerling’s ‘Catalina’ you will need to be very careful in case he manages to get information out of you about our plane wrecks.”

“I’ve thought of that,” Willy answered. “We will be careful, won’t we Marjorie?”

Marjorie nodded. Stephen guffawed and cried, “That’s what they say; if you can’t be good then be careful!”

It took Willy a few seconds to realize what Stephen meant. Then he got annoyed. Marjorie sniffed and turned away from him while Vicki, once the innuendo had been explained to her, said, “Don’t be horrible Stephen!”

That afternoon at the school gate Willy said goodbye to Graham. “I hope you do well on your promotion course,” he said.

“I’ll try my best,” Graham promised. “Now you watch out for that Jemmerling character.”

“I will. You have a happy Christmas. See you in the new year,” Willy replied.

The two boys parted with cries of ‘Merry Christmas’. As he rode home Willy was quite emotional. He found it hard to realize that another year of school was almost over- was over for Graham and his friends. ‘Now we can really start searching for these plane wrecks,’ he told himself, excitement bubbling up with the thought that tomorrow he was going flying again- and in a ‘Catalina’!