WOOOOOOO! wailed the air-raid warning.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Shells exploded all around them, rocking the truck as if it were on a roller coaster.

“WAAHAA!” screamed the gorilla in fear.

She began thrashing around in the cabin.

“GERTRUDE, NO!” shouted Eric, trying to calm her. But it was clear the shells were frightening her as much as they were frightening him.

“UP! UP! UP!” ordered Sid, and they piloted the truck higher and higher into the sky.

Still the shells exploded all around them.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Suddenly inside the truck the three felt a searing heat.

Sid looked out of the window at the barrage balloon above. One of the shells must have exploded right next to it, because flames were now licking the side of the balloon.

WHOOF!

“What now?” asked the boy, his arms wrapped round Gertrude, who in turn had her arms wrapped round him.

“Any moment now that balloon is going to explode!”

“Oh no!”

“Oh yes. We have to make an emergency landing!”

Just then there was a mighty howl of engines over their heads.

ROAR!

Eric looked out of the truck.

The sky above them had been divided up like a jigsaw by hundreds of planes powering along in formation. There was a sea of swastikas on the tailfins. Sid, Eric and Gertrude had flown SLAP BANG right into the middle of one of the biggest bombing raids of the war so far.

“This can’t be happening!” exclaimed Eric.

“It is!” snapped Sid.

The Nazi fighter planes began firing their guns to shoot the barrage balloon out of the sky to clear the way for the bombers.

RAT-TAT-TAT!

The three were now being attacked not just from below but from above too.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

RAT-TAT-TAT!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

In no time, the balloon was hit!

It exploded!

The scorching heat and blinding light of a massive fireball exploded into the sky. This was followed by the truck tumbling through the air.

WHOOSH!

“We’re doomed!” shouted Sid, still clinging on to the steering wheel as they plummeted.

“CODE NAME BANANAS isn’t over yet!” replied the boy. “We’ve still got the parachutes!”

Eric reached into the back of the truck for the three backpacks they’d taken from the downed Nazi bomber.

“Have you ever parachuted before?” asked Sid.

The boy shook his head. Then Gertrude shook hers too, perfectly reasonably. It is not every day you see a gorilla doing a parachute jump, now is it?

“Nor me,” said the old man.

“But I’ve seen it at the Saturday morning pictures!” said the boy, fastening the backpack to Gertrude, before securing his own.

“You just have to pull this cord!” he said, pointing to a strap dangling from the pack.

As the ground below thundered into view, Eric opened the door to the cab. Air blasted in.

“We have to go now!” he implored.

Being a gorilla, Gertrude did not want to go. It seemed even more dangerous out there than it was in here.

She held on to the seat with her gigantic hands.

“GERTRUDE! GO! GO! GO!” shouted the boy.

But the creature just held on even tighter.

There was nothing for it! Eric would have to push her!

“I am sorry, Gertrude, but you give me no choice!”

With that, the boy shoved the gorilla out of the truck.

“WOO! WOO!” she whooped as she lost her grip and fell forward.

The gorilla hurtled towards the earth.

“The cord!” shouted the boy, just remembering. “She won’t know how to pull the cord!”

With that, Eric leaped out of the truck head first, flying through the air as fast as he could.

Above him, Sid leaped out and yanked his cord.

The parachute billowed open, and he began floating down to the ground.

Below him Eric could see Gertrude with her arms stretched out, flapping them like a bird.

Needless to say that wasn’t going to help. If Eric didn’t reach Gertrude soon, she would be nothing more than a splatter of hairy jelly on the ground.

Keeping his arms tucked into his sides so he could fly through the air as quickly as possible, Eric fell faster than the gorilla.

WHOOSH!

In moments, he’d caught up with her.

Seeing her friend falling through the sky next to her, Gertrude grabbed on to him.

“WOO!” she exclaimed, a look of terror on her face. She held Eric so tightly that he couldn’t move his arms.

“GERTRUDE!” he bellowed. “I need to pull your parachute cord!”

He looked down. If neither cord was pulled this instant, they were both jam, hairy or not. Just then he had an idea. The cord to open Gertrude’s parachute was flapping in his face. Eric stretched out his neck and bit into it, before yanking his head back.

RIP!

WHOOSH!

The parachute opened and a huge smile spread across Gertrude’s face.

“WHEE!” she cried as she floated gently downwards through the air.

Eric looked beneath him. The ground was heart-stoppingly close now.

In all the excitement, he had neglected to pull his own cord.

He did so…

YANK!

…but, DISASTER of DISASTERS, the cord came off in his hand.

RIP!

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” yelled Eric.