Blackronin
The Kindness of Strangers - Interlude 2 They Called Them Spitfires
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, 09-15-2014 at 08:55 (2444 Views)
June 4, 1940
"Squadron Leader Barrie was fished alive in the Channel", Kyte told us and everybody applauded. "Bad news is, he's got one broken leg, several broken ribs and a few burnings in his face." And all our cheering went silent. "And the others", asked Joachim. Kyte shook his head. “Apart from James and Nick here, there's no notice of any of them." We all look at the group. Six pilots. Five other were gone. One in the hospital for a long recovery. Dave cleared his throat. "What now?" Kyte made a strange face. "Now everything changes, my boy." He sigh heavily. “We’ll be merged with another squadron that also had appalling losses. We’ll rest and train.” “Train?” Asked Joachim. “Yes Joachim. We'll change mounts in a few days. We’ll start flying Spitfires.” Everybody went silent in awe. “Oh”, said Kyte, “two more things. I’m now Squadron Leader and Joachim was appointed Blue Section’s Leader.” Another cheer erupted and I went forward and shook Kyte’s hand. “Thank you, Eris”, he said.
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June 8, 1940
We were all around the recently arrived Spitfires, when the men from the disbanded squadron arrived. They came in an open top truck and they dismounted slowly. Kyte and Joachim left the mess to meet them. I elbowed Dave. He moved his eyes from the cockpit of one of the spits and looked at the newly arrived. Then Joachim shouted. “Andrzej!!” And he start running to one of the pilots who moved quickly in his direction. As they met they embraced laughing loud. “What now?” Asked Dave. Kyte joined us. “Spain? Poland? France?” I asked softly. “I’d say all of it”, replied Kyte. “We have pilots, we have planes, Mr. Churchill says that the Battle of Britain is about to begin... Let’s go to work.”