Two days later Thea’s thoughts, inevitably, drifted to Fitz and Jack as she stood in front of the large blackboard in the Instrument Section. Elsewhere in the maintenance hangar – so huge that the Instrument Section occupied only a fraction of its space, at the rear – was a cacophony of clanging metal, drilling, several shouted conversations and the ear-splitting din of at least five fitters whistling conflicting tunes. Thea was used to the noise, though. All her attention was on the board.
The board displayed a chalked alphabetical list of all the aircraft at Fenthorpe, indicating which aircraft would be flying ops that night. The fog had finally cleared, and they were clearly gearing up for a major operation; all of the serviceable Lancasters were marked, including C-Charlie. The sight gave her a sinking feeling, and she hoped C-Charlie’s crew would make it through unscathed. Of course, she wanted all the aircrews to return safely, but C-Charlie was one of two Lancasters she was assigned to, and she naturally knew ‘her’ crews better than others. And there was Fitz, of course. He had been on her mind a lot since their meeting in Lincoln; she had been impressed by his concern for Jack. Aircrews tended to react in one of two ways when a member of their team showed signs of buckling under the stress: either they would try to get rid of a man they considered a liability or they would support and encourage him. Thea had been pleased to see Fitz was in the latter group.
‘Get your head out of the clouds, Cooper!’
Thea jumped. Somehow Flight Sergeant George Sedman, the NCO in charge of the Instrument Section, had managed to approach without her hearing. She shot him a cheeky grin. ‘I was concentrating on the board until you rudely interrupted me, Sarge.’ Thankfully, her fellow ‘instrument bashers’, as the instrument repairers were called, had also refused to believe Thea was a thief. Consequently, she usually found relief from the malicious whispers while at work, and enjoyed bantering with her team.
‘It doesn’t take that long to read the board. Have you replaced C-Charlie’s artificial horizon?’
‘Just finished.’
‘Good. Now stop daydreaming, refit C-Charlie’s blind flying panel and get cracking on your DIs.’
‘I bet I know who she’s been dreaming about,’ said Ted Dean, another instrument repairer, who had joined them at the board. He waggled his eyebrows at Thea. ‘She’s been spending time with Jack Knight. You going to the dance with him tomorrow?’
‘What dance?’
‘The one at Fenthorpe Village Hall.’
‘Didn’t even know there was a dance.’ Her social isolation must have prevented her from learning about it. ‘Anyway, even if I was going, I’m not interested in Jack that way.’
‘Not what it looked like to me. I saw you with him in the NAAFI yesterday.’
‘Because he’s my friend. And sometimes friends enjoy civilised conversation. You should try it some time instead of spouting innuendoes.’ She had seen Jack in the NAAFI the day before, and he had made a show of inviting her over to his table, staring down all who looked askance at him and loudly proclaiming how glad he was to have bumped into her. She had been grateful to have company instead of having to face down disapproving stares all alone, but she wasn’t about to let anyone link her romantically with Jack. Fitz on the other hand… She was startled by a totally unexpected thought popping into her head: she wouldn’t mind a slow dance with him.
Ted threw up his hands in a gesture of surrender. ‘Fine. I get it. You’re just friends.’
‘Good thing too,’ Sergeant Sedman said. ‘If I were you, I’d stick to seeing the ground crew. If you’re not careful, you’ll get yourself a reputation as a chop girl.’
‘Chop girl?’ Thea had been on her way back to her workbench, but now she swung round to face Sedman, hands on her hips. ‘You take that back.’ Chop girl was a term for a girl who had had the misfortune to have more than one sweetheart killed in action. ‘Anyway, I haven’t been out with any aircrew who have died.’
‘What about Max last year?’
‘As I made it clear at the time, he was just a friend. And a good friend at that. It’s cruel to suggest his death was anything but a tragedy. That I had anything to do with it.’ This was no longer banter, and she knew she could get into trouble for taking her sergeant to task in this way, but she didn’t care. She hated hearing WAAFs labelled as ‘chop girls’. Wasn’t it bad enough to lose someone close to them, without the suggestion that they were somehow unlucky?
‘I know, I know.’ Sedman held out his hands in apology. ‘I was only teasing.’
‘Well, it wasn’t very funny.’
‘Anyway, if you’re going to call anyone a chop girl it would be that Blanche from admin,’ Ted put in.
Thea pricked up her ears. ‘Blanche? Why – was one of her sweethearts killed?’ She felt bad for taking an interest, but she was keen to get any information she could on Blanche, considering she was the one who had spread the false rumours about Thea. Not that she would wish for even her worst enemy to have a boyfriend killed in action.
‘Oh yes,’ Ted said. ‘By all accounts, she fell for a gunner a couple of years ago when she was based in Suffolk, and he was killed. Then when she arrived here she got engaged to a wireless operator from RAF Scampton, but he went for a Burton in February last year, not long before you arrived.’
‘How awful,’ Thea said.
‘I know. It’s a wonder any of the aircrews will so much as say hello to her now.’
Even though Thea wasn’t Blanche’s greatest fan, she wasn’t going to stand by while one of her fellow WAAFs was being insulted. ‘It’s hardly her fault if the man she’s stepping out with gets killed, is it? Are you really suggesting that a bomber gets hit by flak or shot down by a night fighter because of a girl one of the crewmen was seeing?’
‘You’re right, Cooper. We’ll have less of this kind of talk, Dean.’ The sergeant turned his gaze to Thea. ‘Now get a move on. We need those DIs completed as soon as possible.’
‘Right you are, Sergeant.’
She went to collect C-Charlie’s blind flying panel, complete with its new artificial horizon, and soon she was cycling over to the dispersal bay where C-Charlie stood, cradling the awkward instrument panel under one arm. Not for the first time, Thea cursed the long distances between the hangar and dispersal bays. The aircraft being grounded with the fog for the last few days had given the team time to complete all the outstanding repairs. Even so, she would still be pressed for time if she was going to fix the blind flying panel in place and then carry out the daily inspections, or DIs as they were commonly known, and get them signed off. The aircrews still needed to take their Lancasters up for their night flying tests and so time was short. All in all, today was going to be a busy day, because there would be more last-minute jobs to do once her Lancasters returned. She would most likely be working until the crews came to board their Lancs, and then she was also rostered to be on duty in the early hours to meet the aircrews on their return. She would be required to make note of any damage or faults that had developed on the flight, and the day’s work would start all over again.
And now there was a new worry, quite besides her anxiety on Jack’s behalf, for she couldn’t get the news about Blanche out of her head. Was Blanche’s nastiness a reaction to her misfortune?
C-Charlie’s dispersal bay was a hive of activity. Erks were swarming all over the Lancaster, and the air rang with the sound of shouts, hammering and drills. Elsewhere came the ear-splitting roar from other Lancasters having their engines tested.
Although the men in the Instrument Section all treated Thea as a friend, the rest of the ground crew didn’t know her so well and had tended to go along with the gossip. While they didn’t get in her way – for that would have impeded her work on C-Charlie – nor did they actively help her. Thea did her best to ignore the atmosphere and get on with her work. First of all she had to deal with the instrument panel, and so she climbed up the steps and hauled herself inside the fuselage. The blind flying panel belonged with the pilot’s instruments in the cockpit, meaning she had to squeeze forward, avoiding various obstacles on the way.
She never ceased to marvel how the crew made it around the inside of the Lancaster, because the interior was extremely cramped, and the men were much larger than Thea. Often when people heard about planes being shot down, they would wonder why the crew hadn’t bailed out. But Thea could tell that, once the crewmen had retrieved and strapped on their parachutes, possibly with their plane in a spin, getting to the escape hatch would be nigh-on impossible. She tried to push all thoughts of crashes and conflict out of her mind and sincerely hoped that Fitz and Jack would have an easy mission tonight. Maybe it would put Jack’s mind at ease.
Pulling herself over the main spar, she squeezed into the cockpit and eased herself onto the floor beside the instrument panel. When Thea had first made the transition from WAAF driver to instrument repairer, many of the male erks had commented that a woman couldn’t possibly handle such technical tasks. Yet Thea soon proved them wrong, excelling at her tasks, and the men had soon come to see that she had one big advantage over them, which was that her hands and arms were much more slender than theirs and so she was able to reach into the awkward corners when working on an instrument or fixing it into the panel. It was still a tight squeeze, but she knew none of the men could have fitted the instruments as fast as she did.
Once that task was done, she set about the daily inspection. She started by inspecting the remaining instruments on the panel, polishing the glass and ensuring that the needles didn’t stick, and also checking that there were no loose connections. Then she collected all the portable oxygen bottles from each crew position and set about the laborious task of carrying them back to the Instrument Section, getting them refilled, and then returning them to the aircraft. That done, she had to check the airspeed indicator. This was a task that required two people, so, calling to one of the erks who had just finished repairs to the airframe, she asked him to keep an eye on the indicator. Then she went outside and, after borrowing a scaffold trolley, climbed up to where the pitot tube was located. This served as the air intake for the airspeed indicator. It was a simple test that required her to blow into the tube to simulate the Lancaster moving through the air. Before the rumours had started, this had always provoked a fair amount of ribald comment from the other men. Now there was total silence.
It wasn’t that she particularly enjoyed being the butt of a joke, and she had always had to brace herself for the laughter. But on the other hand, everyone had laughed at the men carrying out the same test, so she had known it wasn’t just because she was a woman. It was just that the total lack of comment emphasised her social isolation.
However, she tried not to dwell on it too much. She had a job to do, and it was important that she carried it out to a high standard because the aircrew’s lives depended upon her. She also knew she could never look Pearl in the eye again if Greg was killed because of a faulty instrument.
After she had finished testing the airspeed indicator – it passed with flying colours – she soon completed the daily inspection. This meant she could sign off the Form 700, clearing C-Charlie for its night flying test.
Part of her wished she could loiter to exchange a few comments with the crew when they arrived, because at least they would speak to her, but her other Lancaster also needed inspecting and time was not on her side. Picking up her bicycle, she rode off to the next dispersal bay.
Later that night she stood outside C-Charlie, watching the crew scramble off the bus. Before Fitz climbed aboard, she grabbed his arm.
‘Look after Jack, won’t you?’ she said, shooting a glance at Jack, who loitered beside C-Charlie to smoke a last cigarette before taking his place on board.
‘Of course.’
He turned to go, but Thea grabbed his arm again to stop him. ‘Take care of yourself as well.’
For a moment a soft smile eased the lines of worry on Fitz’s face. ‘I’ll do my best.’
For the briefest of moments Thea was overcome with an urge to kiss him. She had no idea where that desire had come from; maybe it was because he looked so worried. She refrained, released his arm and watched him climb aboard, praying that she would see him emerge on his own two feet when they returned. If they returned.
Against all common sense, which told Thea she should get what sleep she could and leave now, she felt rooted to the spot. She watched while each of C-Charlie’s engines was fired up one by one. The noise of just one engine was deafening; four was an ear-splitting din. The ground shook, and she felt the rumble through her feet and even in her chest. Added to the engines of the other sixteen Lancasters making their way to the runway, she knew, it was a noise that would be keeping the nearby villages awake.
A lump rose in her throat as C-Charlie taxied out of its dispersal point and made its way to the runway. She watched as a green light flashed at the far end of the field, and Lancaster after Lancaster took to the air. She would never fail to be moved by this sight, and her thoughts would be with the crews, Fitz and Jack especially, throughout the long hours before their return.
It was only once the din had faded to a distant rumble that she finally went to collect her bike to cycle back to the Waafery.
A recent and welcome addition to the Waafery was a small hut that had been set aside as a recreation room. As many of the WAAFs worked shifts, it had no set opening hours. It housed a simple room containing a variety of chairs of all shapes and sizes, a coke stove, and several mismatched mugs that the WAAFs had supplied from nearby junk shops. Knowing it would be some time before she could settle to sleep, and not wanting to disturb her hut-mates and give them even more reason to dislike her, Thea crept into her hut on silent feet. She only stayed long enough to pick up her mail, which she had left in her top drawer earlier, not having had time to open it. She took it into the recreation room, or the ‘rec’ as it was known, and put a kettle of water on the stove. She would make some Horlicks, read her letters, and hopefully by the time she had finished she would be calm enough to sleep.
‘Is C-Charlie flying tonight?’ Thea, who had just picked up a mug to spoon Horlicks into it, nearly dropped it. She had thought she was alone. Spinning round, she saw a figure in a shadowy corner. Her sister, curled up in one of the few comfortable armchairs.
‘How long have you been here?’ she asked.
Pearl shrugged. ‘I’m not sure. I got back at seven and heard that ops were on, but I couldn’t find out who was flying. I thought I’d wait here.’
‘C-Charlie is flying. I’ve just seen her off.’ Abandoning her drink, Thea went to sit beside her sister.
‘How was Greg? Did he seem all right?’
Thea hesitated, unwilling to admit the truth, which was that she hadn’t even noticed him. She had been so concerned with Fitz and Jack’s state of mind to look out for any of the others, but she didn’t want to admit that to Pearl. ‘He’ll be fine,’ she said. ‘Greg is one of our most experienced pilots. I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about.’ It was what she had told herself, after all, whenever she had thought of Fitz or Jack.
‘I know. But I also know I won’t be able to sleep a wink until I know he’s safe.’ Pearl crossed to the stove, picked up a new mug and shovelled Horlicks inside. ‘Are you on duty when they come back?’
Thea nodded. ‘What about you? Are you going to help out with the tea?’ Many off-duty WAAFs would volunteer to make tea for the returning crews.
‘I think so, but I’ll tell you one thing.’ Pearl gave Thea a weak smile. ‘If Greg doesn’t come back in one piece, I’ll kill him.’
Pearl took her drink back to her seat, and, seeing she didn’t seem to be in the mood for a conversation, Thea sat nearby and sifted through her mail, immediately seizing upon a bulky package addressed in Deedee’s handwriting. It must contain the latest copies of the Shrewsbury Mirror. When she had first joined the WAAF, Thea had been much more homesick than expected and had written to Deedee, asking her to send copies of the local newspaper so she could keep up with the news from home. Of course, as Pearl had worked at the Shrewsbury Mirror at the time, it would have been simpler to ask Pearl to send her the newspapers. But for various reasons she had wanted to limit her contact with her sister. When the first copies had arrived, she had devoured them from beginning to end, even reading through the classified advertisements, smiling to herself when she saw a familiar name or street she knew well.
She tore open the package and three issues fell out, together with a long letter from Deedee. Thea put the letter aside to read when she knew she could be undisturbed, but seized the papers eagerly. Although she no longer felt homesick, she still enjoyed reading the news from Shropshire, and it meant that, on the rare occasions when she returned home, she wasn’t completely out of touch.
After a glance at the dates, she selected the oldest edition and started to read. She quickly skimmed the front page and, seeing it was mainly concerned with national news and news from the war, all of which she already knew. turned over. She spent more time on the next page, which was more concerned with local news. Seeing the name Phillip Meadows on the main article on the next page made her wrinkle her nose as she remembered what Pearl had said about her rival on the paper – the man who had been given the job that should have been Pearl’s.
She read it with satisfaction, knowing Pearl would have made a much better job of the article. The news editor must have been away when the article had been published, because the headline was uninspiring and the article took too long to make its point. ‘Should Blackout Be Eased?’ the headline asked, making Thea roll her eyes. Of course not. Not unless the people of Shrewsbury wanted to invite all the enemy bombers in Europe to drop their bombs on its streets. The opening paragraphs were clumsy, with needlessly long words and convoluted sentences. Thea’s lips curled as she read on, looking forward to telling her sister about her erstwhile rival’s less-than-spectacular impact upon the paper. It was only when she reached the third paragraph that she clutched the paper, creasing the pages, rereading it to be sure she hadn’t misread it.
Unfortunately, blackout restrictions have caused more than one life to be cut off before its time. Only two nights ago, a man was killed when he was hit by a car while crossing Abbey Foregate. The man was later identified as Corporal John Haywood, 29, of Longner Street, Frankwell.
Thea had to read it three times before she could be sure her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her. John Haywood was Billy Haywood’s brother. What were the odds of reading this only two days after thinking she had seen Billy in Lincoln?
Or had she simply noticed the article because she had felt a lingering sense of dread ever since that day? Yes, that had to be it. She read on. And her blood froze.
Aircraftman William Haywood, the deceased’s brother, told the Shrewsbury Mirror…
Thea couldn’t read any more. She felt sick. Aircraftman William Haywood. So Billy was out of prison and in the RAF. Perhaps he really had been in the Bishop’s Pal.
Pearl’s voice cut across her horrified thoughts. ‘I see Deedee is still sending you the Shrewsbury Mirror. Anything interesting?’
Thea cleared her throat and did her best to appear nonchalant. ‘Nothing much. The usual. You know the sort of thing.’
Evidently her attempt to mask her reaction wasn’t working, for Pearl was studying her curiously. ‘Are you sure? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’
She forced a smile. ‘Nothing like that. If you must know, I was wincing on your behalf because I was reading a poorly written article by your best friend, Phillip Meadows.’
Pearl pulled a face and snatched the paper from Thea’s hands. ‘Let me see.’
‘It’s on page two.’ Thea tensed as Pearl ran her eyes down the page, even while she told herself not to be an idiot. Pearl had never known of Thea’s relationship with Billy, for Thea had been careful never to let the two meet, knowing how Pearl would disapprove of him. Quite rightly, too, as it turned out.
Pearl’s gaze settled on the article, and her lips curled into a sneer as she read. ‘Good grief. If this is the kind of tosh Meadows is turning out, Mr Kingsley must be regretting choosing him over me. I’m itching to take a pencil to this. The fact that a man was killed should have been the headline, not mentioned in the third paragraph. I always thought Phillip Meadows was a waste of space, and it’s nice to have it confirmed.’ Then her eyes narrowed. ‘Wait a minute. William Haywood? That name rings a bell.’
Thea’s blood ran cold. Maybe Pearl had known more than she had let on at the time?
A moment later, Pearl snapped her fingers. ‘I’ve got it. He was convicted for burglary or something. I remember typing up the article. He was sent to prison for five years. I suppose he must have been released early.’
It was on the tip of Thea’s tongue to give all the details – he had broken into a stationer’s shop, attacked the owner and stolen considerable amounts of cash and valuables. Fortunately for the owner, Billy had been caught leaving the property, thanks to a vigilant member of the public who had seen him breaking in and telephoned the police. If the owner hadn’t been found so soon, it was likely Billy would have been tried for murder as well. However, she didn’t want Pearl to know that she had been involved with Billy, and knowing all the details of a crime that had happened nearly four years ago was suspicious for anyone who hadn’t either known him or been involved in the case in any way. She caught the words in time and merely nodded.
Pearl was still engrossed in the article. ‘His brother is quoted here. Listen.’ She rustled the paper and read, ‘Aircraftman William Haywood, the deceased’s brother, told the Shrewsbury Mirror, “I was looking forward to spending time with him after serving away from home for some years.”’ Pearl snorted. ‘He makes it sound as though he’d been in the forces instead of in prison. If Phillip had an ounce of journalistic sense he’d have remembered William Haywood’s name from the case in 1939. It was big news for Shrewsbury and even got a mention in the national papers. Instead, he just takes what William fed him. Oh, listen to this. He goes on to say: “The people of Shrewsbury are now asking themselves if such stringent blackout regulations are necessary in this part of the country.”’ She rolled her eyes. ‘Honestly, that man is impossible. Phillip Meadows has had a bee in his bonnet about the blackout ever since he twisted his ankle stepping off a kerb. You’d think he would rather avoid having Shrewsbury flattened by bombs, but apparently his minor inconvenience was far more important. And, yes, it’s tragic that people have been killed in road accidents, but you only have to look at places like London, Liverpool and Coventry to be thankful Shrewsbury’s not considered a strategic location.’ Pearl gave a slight shake of the head. ‘Anyway, sorry for the rant but my blood still boils whenever I think of how that idiot got the reporter’s job instead of me.’
Thea, however, was not sorry for the rant at all. It meant she could steer the conversation away from Billy to safer ground. ‘But look what you’ve achieved since you’ve been here. You started up a newspaper that’s going from strength to strength.’ She grinned. ‘You should send a copy to your old editor to show him what he missed.’
Pearl’s eyes sparkled. ‘You and Deedee think alike. She sent Mr Kingsley the first edition that went out to all of 5 Group.’
‘Good for her!’
Pearl placed her empty mug on a table and sat up straighter. ‘I was mortified, to be honest.’
‘Go on. Admit that a bit of you hopes he regrets letting you leave.’
‘Maybe a bit.’
And Pearl went on to tell Thea of the lovely letter of congratulations she’d received from Mr Kingsley’s secretary, who told Pearl she’d taken great delight in pinning her copy of the Bombshell above her desk. Thea listened with half her mind, relieved that Pearl had no inkling of her past involvement with Billy Haywood.
Strange to think she had once been fascinated by him, drawn in by the air of danger that surrounded him. She had never told Pearl of him, knowing her sister would order her not to see him again. Looking back, Thea wondered if half the attraction had been the knowledge of Pearl’s disapproval, because she couldn’t imagine what she had ever seen in him. She hoped with all her heart that it had not been Billy she had seen at the Bishop’s Pal, because the thought of him being nearby filled her with dread.
And what if Pearl met him? Thea shuddered at the thought. She never wanted her sister to learn about one of the darkest times in Thea’s life; the reason she had joined the WAAF and left Shrewsbury behind.