newly promoted Wing Commander.
‘Looks like you’re off the team Mike. Unless of course you want to save yourself at the last minute? No? Right then, volunteers to take Mike’s place.’
Quick as a flash the arm of Bill Earle shot straight up. It was the only one.
‘Thanks for your support lads – and thank you Bill, you’re on the team – and the rest of you - I don’t forget these things!’
Bill Earle was a hairy old specialist aircrew navigator on his last flying tour and was generally game for anything. If the truth were known he was not happy at being left out from the original flypast team. This opportunity was God sent – he had no family to worry about – so he could do as he pleased.
Todd resumed his brief.
‘Firstly, no-one leaves the squadron till I say so. And , no-one phones home. This plan is confidential until it is released to the Press at lunchtime. Do I make myself clear? Secondly, I want the three navigators, Jesse, Hoppy & Bill to ensure that the plan and brief for the flypast is ready for a rehearsal tomorrow – Sunday – take off at 1100.’
Silence.
‘Right, what are you waiting for – get on with it.’ At which the three navs filed out of the door ahead of Todd.
‘Next, I want all four pilots and Frank Field in my office in one hour – that’s at 0700 – for a brainstorming session. We need to knock any bugs out of this plan. You’ll all be glad to know that all other participating stations are being similarly briefed as I speak. They will all launch this afternoon and land here before 1700 hours. And this is where they’ll stay till we depart on Saturday next. So just think yourselves lucky – you get to see your families until Saturday morning!’
The adjutant, Patsy Jackson, chose that moment to walk into the crewroom. She soon wished she hadn’t.
‘Good afternoon Patsy, nice of you to join us.’ The sarcasm wasn’t lost on her and if looks could kill, Todd would have been stone dead.
She attempted to start an explanation but Todd cut her off.
‘No-time for lame excuses now, we’ve got work to do – and you can start by arranging accommodation for the visiting crews arriving today. All of their personal details are in the Operation Order. Also, I’ll want you to take minutes at the 0700 meeting in my office. Right, off you go.’
Todd then turned to the three other flight commanders, all squadron leaders, and gave them tasks to be getting on with. The Operations Desk needed manning, engineers needed briefing and a thousand other things needed doing. They were all experienced men and didn’t really need to be told twice.
‘Finally,’ Todd reinforced, ‘we’ve got a million things to do and only seven days in which to do them – so it's time for all of you to earn your pay. So no back-sliding or skiving off, I’m relying on you all.’
And with that, he wheeled around and marched out of the door. The crewroom burst into a cacophony of moans, groans and laughter. Most of the aircrew had been through short notice deployments before, so they know roughly what to expect. However, it didn’t make it any easier to know that they were off on an open-ended visit to Italy – although it could have been a much less exotic location! The only person actually looking pleased was Mike Wiggins.
For him the war was over!
***
Todd returned to his office and sat behind his oversized desk. He rubbed his eyes, stretched and started on
‘Looks like you’re off the team Mike. Unless of course you want to save yourself at the last minute? No? Right then, volunteers to take Mike’s place.’
Quick as a flash the arm of Bill Earle shot straight up. It was the only one.
‘Thanks for your support lads – and thank you Bill, you’re on the team – and the rest of you - I don’t forget these things!’
Bill Earle was a hairy old specialist aircrew navigator on his last flying tour and was generally game for anything. If the truth were known he was not happy at being left out from the original flypast team. This opportunity was God sent – he had no family to worry about – so he could do as he pleased.
Todd resumed his brief.
‘Firstly, no-one leaves the squadron till I say so. And , no-one phones home. This plan is confidential until it is released to the Press at lunchtime. Do I make myself clear? Secondly, I want the three navigators, Jesse, Hoppy & Bill to ensure that the plan and brief for the flypast is ready for a rehearsal tomorrow – Sunday – take off at 1100.’
Silence.
‘Right, what are you waiting for – get on with it.’ At which the three navs filed out of the door ahead of Todd.
‘Next, I want all four pilots and Frank Field in my office in one hour – that’s at 0700 – for a brainstorming session. We need to knock any bugs out of this plan. You’ll all be glad to know that all other participating stations are being similarly briefed as I speak. They will all launch this afternoon and land here before 1700 hours. And this is where they’ll stay till we depart on Saturday next. So just think yourselves lucky – you get to see your families until Saturday morning!’
The adjutant, Patsy Jackson, chose that moment to walk into the crewroom. She soon wished she hadn’t.
‘Good afternoon Patsy, nice of you to join us.’ The sarcasm wasn’t lost on her and if looks could kill, Todd would have been stone dead.
She attempted to start an explanation but Todd cut her off.
‘No-time for lame excuses now, we’ve got work to do – and you can start by arranging accommodation for the visiting crews arriving today. All of their personal details are in the Operation Order. Also, I’ll want you to take minutes at the 0700 meeting in my office. Right, off you go.’
Todd then turned to the three other flight commanders, all squadron leaders, and gave them tasks to be getting on with. The Operations Desk needed manning, engineers needed briefing and a thousand other things needed doing. They were all experienced men and didn’t really need to be told twice.
‘Finally,’ Todd reinforced, ‘we’ve got a million things to do and only seven days in which to do them – so it's time for all of you to earn your pay. So no back-sliding or skiving off, I’m relying on you all.’
And with that, he wheeled around and marched out of the door. The crewroom burst into a cacophony of moans, groans and laughter. Most of the aircrew had been through short notice deployments before, so they know roughly what to expect. However, it didn’t make it any easier to know that they were off on an open-ended visit to Italy – although it could have been a much less exotic location! The only person actually looking pleased was Mike Wiggins.
For him the war was over!
***
Todd returned to his office and sat behind his oversized desk. He rubbed his eyes, stretched and started on
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