The Way to the Stars Page #3

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of married bliss be swift and controlled.

May his navigation be sure, his air speed steady

and may all his engine troubles be little ones.

To the bride, l would merely say this.

That man again. Better get down the shelter.

Come on. Slide along, Corporal. Slide along.

Up a wee bit. That's it.

Thank you so much.

More ruddy craters!

Halfpenny Field.

Halfpenny?

That's a funny kind of a name.

Well, it seems in 1066,

the owner used to pay a"halfpenny" rent for it.

That was our biggest crater.

Over there. By that Boston.

That damn port engine's

still not giving me anything like the right boost.

- Why wasn't it fixed?

- l thought it was. We worked on it all morning.

lf you want to break our ruddy necks,

you're going the right way about it.

See it's fixed by 1430 this afternoon, eh?

Yes, sir. Shall l put it"US", then, sir?

l said,"Fix it", didn't l?

Yes, sir.

What's the matter, Dad?

lf you ask me, son, l think it's about time

that young chap had a bit of a rest.

Yeah.

This way, sir. This is the officers' mess

and this is the anteroom.

What a honey!

- What a ship!

- That's supposed to be American ?

Yeah gentlemen the B 17

""The Flying Fortress"" as we cal her is surely

the greatest bombing ship God ever made

Why, it cruises at 650.

Well, let's say 645.

We mustn't exaggerate, must me, gentlemen ?

This bombing ship is the only ship

that will fly in ever-decreasing circles,

until finally it shoots itself down.

Or conversely,

it disappears up its own...

Gosh.

The B17 is a mighty fast machine, son,

but l don't think it's quite as fast as all that.

l mean, yes, sir.

- l mean...

- l think l understand what you mean.

- Would you have a beer, sir?

- Thank you.

Gentlemen, Colonel Page.

- How do you do, sir?

- Thank you.

ls it true, sir, l mean, about the rumour?

What rumour?

Well, as you'll all get to hear about it,

sooner or later, yes, it's perfectly true.

That Halfpenny Field is being taken over

by the Yan... by the American Air Corps, sir?

- By the Eight Air Force.

- What sort of aircraft? A20s?

No, B17s.

"The Flying Fortress",

as we call her.

You "ve had it again Prune

Right. Well, tell her l'll be right down.

Oh, hello, Peter. ls that engine all right?

- No. Working on it now.

- ls it going to be US for this afternoon ?

Better not be or l'll murder that ground crew.

What's the gen, sir, still the Middle East?

- How would that appeal to you, Prune?

- What do you think of that, Peter?

Soft, languorous nights,

a canopy of stars, the magic of the Orient.

l'm going to be a sheikhess's plaything.

l've left my lighter at home.

Will you come with me, Peter?

You wouldn't say no to a sheikhess, would you?

Oh, yes, of course, l forgot. You would.

Little Miss Thingumabob at The Lion.

- What do you mean ?

- Nothing at all.

Well, then for Pete's sake, shut up.

l was having an argument with a bloke.

How many trips have you done? He said 41.

43. Why?

That's what l said. Not bad for one tour.

What do you mean,"one tour"?

After this afternoon's trip, you'll have finished

your first tour of ops. Congratulations, Peter.

l'm not being taken off flying, am l?

Yes, for a bit.

Your posting came through this morning.

- Controllers' course.

- Oh, my...

Whose idea was all this?

Now, listen, David,

l came into the RAF to fly,

not to sit on the ground

using a lot of brains l haven't got.

lf you applied for me to be taken off flying, you

damn well better apply for me to be put back.

l don't blame you for putting up a moan.

That's why l didn't tell you before.

How could you have done,

if my posting only came through this morning?

So you did apply.

All right. Yes, l did.

- Darling! Where are you?

- Don't make such a noise. You'll wake Peter.

- Hello, Peter.

- Hello, Toddy.

- She's in there.

- Alone?

- She was.

- Good.

- How's our Peter?

- Come and have a look.

- ls it all right?

- Yes. Why?

Well, it looks sort of screwed up.

Well, of course it looks screwed up.

So did you at his age.

Not as screwed up as all that, surely?

- Are you sure it's not in pain ?

- Of course not.

Can l pick it up?

No, David, please don't. You'll ruin my morning

if you wake him - and it's"him", not"it", please.

lt'll always be"it" to me,

till it begins to look a little more human.

That's the way to hold a baby.

Our MO showed me.

Darling!

Did naughty Daddy wake him?

Naughty Daddy's got to get the hell out of here.

- l left my lighter in our room. Did you see it?

- No, it wasn't with your things.

Oh. l'll just dash up and have a look.

- ls there something on ?

- Yes.

l know l shouldn't ask, but...

ls it anything important?

Just the usual stooge around.

But, surely, we could have dinner alone

somewhere?

Auntie would never agree to it.

Well, l'll ask her tonight.

As a matter of fact,

l'll have something to ask you, too.

Anything very important?

lt depends which way you look at it.

l can't find it. lt must be at the station, after all.

- You will find it, won't you?

- Oh, yes, l'll find it, all right.

Yes, l think l know where it is.

Give me a ring when you get down.

Have l ever forgotten ?

No. Not yet.

Well, darling.

Ah, there you are, Miss Todd.

l suppose l shoul say ""Mrs Archdale ""

but l can never get used to it

There's something l want to see you about.

lf you'll go down to my office,

l'll be with you in five minutes.

Now l'm up the stairs,

l think l'd better stay up them, don't you?

They're so bad for my heart, you know.

It"s about my bottle of Worcester sauce

- Bye, darling.

- Goodbye.

David!

Yes, darling?

lt doesn't matter.

See you tonight.

Now, l noticed this morning at breakfast,

when we had fish cakes, remember?

Of course l always like Worcester sauce

with fish cakes

especially when they're the least little bit

tasteless,

l noticed that someone had been tampering

with my bottle.

- Peter!

- OK

- Goodbye, David.

- Bye!

Well...

See you tonight, eh?

- Promise?

- Promise.

Don't talk to any strange men, will you?

Everything all right?

lf you have any trouble with it now,

you can knock my head off.

l will. lf l'm still here to do it.

- Keep in fairly close going over.

- Right.

- How are you feeling, all right?

- Of course l'm feeling all right.

- l've got Prune standing by, if...

- l'm not a controller yet, you know.

Look, Pete... you're not still

sulking with me, are you?

l'm sorry, David. lt was a bit of a shock,

you know, hearing it like that.

know

l suppose

43 trips is quite a lot, isn't it?

A heck of a lot.

Coming down to The Lion tonight?

You bet.

Don't forget, keep in close.

R Roger airborne. 1100.

Bang on the dot.

Hold it.

Come in.

- Oh hello Tiny

- Hello, old man.

l've just heard.

l'm terribly sorry.

Bad show, isn't it?

How did it happen ?

Light flak emplacement

on the roof of the power station.

l suppose there's no

chance that he might...

He went straight in from about 500 feet.

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