N 1940 BRITISH FORCES ON THE GROUND WERE FALLING BACK BEFORE THE GERMAN INVASION OF FRANCE. THE STRUGGLE IN THE AIR WAS NOT GOING WELL EITHER. A FLIGHT OF FAIREY BATTLE LIGHT BOMBERS HAD BEEN SET UPON BY MORE AGILE MESSERSCHMITT 109s — FIGHTERS WHICH COULD FLY A HUNDRED MILES AN HOUR FASTER AND PACKED A SUPERIOR PUNCH.
I
AAGH!
THESE AIRCRAFT ARE NO MATCH FOR US.
STORY MAC MACDONALD ART CARLOS PINO COVER CARLOS PINO
4 AS A NAZI FIGHTER TARGETED THEM, PILOT OFFICER DREW GRANGER, AT THE CONTROLS OF THE UNDERPOWERED BATTLE, KNEW HE WAS FIGHTING NOT JUST FOR HIS OWN SURVIVAL. THE LIVES OF HIS OBSERVER, SERGEANT SIMON LOWDEN, AND SERGEANT JOE BLACK, HIS REAR GUNNER, WERE ALSO ON THE LINE.
KEEP FIRING, JOE!
NO WORRIES THERE, SIR, IT’S JUST LIKE BLASTING AWAY ON THE RANGE AT A FUNFAIR!
SIMON WAS AS SOUND AS THEY CAME WHILE JOE HAD AN OPTIMISTIC, HAVE-A-GO ATTITUDE AND AN UNRELENTING WILL TO LET NOTHING WEIGH HIM DOWN.
GOT CLOSE THERE, SIR!
THEY FIGHT BACK HARD BUT HAVE LITTLE CHANCE.
GOOD MAN. GIVE THE BLIGHTER ANOTHER SQUIRT.
5 JOE WAS STILL BLAZING AWAY WHEN 7.92 mm BULLETS ENDED HIS AND SIMON’S LIVES.
BEFORE JOE COULD FIRE AGAIN, THE ONE-OH-NINE LOOPED OUT OF DANGER AND BEGAN TO SWOOP.
AAGH!
IT IS TIME TO END THIS.
YE GODS, THEY GOT THE LADS! THE ENEMY FLYER WASN’T FINISHED, HOWEVER. HIS NEXT ATTACK SAW DREW STRUCK IN THE SHOULDER AND ARM. AAGH!
ANOTHER PASS SHOULD DO IT.
6 AS WELL AS THE NUMBING PAIN IN HIS ARM, FEAR AND DESPERATION WORMED ITS WAY INTO DREW’S MIND. HE KNEW HE NOW HAD LITTLE CHANCE.
I CAN’T OUTFLY AN EMIL WITH ONE ARM. AND WITHOUT A GUNNER I’M SUNK…
BUT FORTUNE SMILED ON DREW JUST THEN. THE LUFTWAFFE PILOT HAD BEEN IN THE AIR FOR LONGER THAN HIS TARGET AND HIS FUEL WAS NOW VERY LOW. TOO LOW TO CONTINUE THE ATTACK.
ACH, I WILL HAVE TO LET THE ENGLANDER SLIP AWAY, BUT HE WON’T GET FAR.
7 THE FRENCH AIRFIELD DREW’S SQUADRON WERE OPERATING FROM HAD JUST BEEN CAPTURED AND ORDERS TO PROCEED TO ENGLAND CRACKLED IN HIS EARPHONES. BADLY SHAKEN AT HIS CREWMEN’S DEATHS, HE DID NOT HAVE MUCH HOPE OF STAYING AIRBORNE.
I WON’T MAKE IT, I JUST KNOW I WON’T… ALL THE ODDS ARE AGAINST ME…
HE WAS STILL OVER THE SEA WHEN THE ENGINE FAILED AND ENDED THE FLIGHT. THE WATER HIT THE UNDERSIDE OF THE BATTLE LIKE A SLEDGEHAMMER, BUT AT LEAST THE AIRCRAFT DID NOT TURN TURTLE. THE OTHERS ARE PAST ALL HELP BUT I’VE GOT TO GET OUT FAST.
8 DREW ONLY HAD TIME TO SAVE HIMSELF AND RELEASE THE DINGHY…
…BEFORE THE BATTLE SLID BENEATH THE WAVES, TAKING JOE AND SIMON WITH IT. WEAK FROM LOSS OF BLOOD, HIS SPIRITS AT THE LOWEST EBB EVER, HE DRIFTED THROUGH THE NIGHT…
HIS WOUND WAS DEEP AND NEEDED SURGERY YET THERE SEEMED NO REASON WHY DREW WOULD NOT BE FIT FOR DUTY WHEN IT WAS HEALED. HE TRIED TO BELIEVE THAT BUT DOUBT NAGGED AT HIM.
HOW CAN I FLY AGAIN WHEN I CAN’T GRIP ANYTHING FULLY WITH MY LEFT HAND? AND CAN I FACE IT ANYWAY? THAT NIGHTMARE OF LOSING THE LADS HAUNTS ME… EVERY NIGHT. …AND WAS SPOTTED ONLY BY CHANCE BY THE CREW OF A BRITISH ARMED TRAWLER.
9 WHEN THEY CAME HIS FRESH ORDERS WERE QUITE A SHOCK.
DREW’S FEARS HELD HIM BACK AND THERE WAS ENOUGH MEDICAL EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT HIS LACK OF PROGRESS.
‘NOT FIT FOR ACTIVE SERVICE YET BUT HE CAN PERFORM LESS STRENUOUS DUTIES IN THE MEANTIME.’
RUSSIA? THEY’RE SENDING ME TO RUSSIA? WHAT THE DEVIL IS THIS ALL ABOUT?
SINCE HITLER HAD TORN UP THEIR NON-AGGRESSION PACT AND UNLEASHED HIS LEGIONS IN A SURPRISE INVASION OF THE THE U.S.S.R., THAT COUNTRY TOO WAS BLIGHTED BY WAR.
DANCE OUT OF THAT, IVAN!
CURSE THE GERMANSKI!
HEAVY GROUND AND AIR LOSSES HAD PROMPTED HELP TO BE SENT BY THE ALLIES, AND THAT INCLUDED ADVICE ON HOW TO MEET AND BEAT THE INVADERS IN THE AIR. DREW WAS TO PROVIDE THAT.
10 BEFORE LONG HE WAS HALF WAY TO MURMANSK WITH A CONVOY OF MERCHANT SHIPS AND THEIR ESCORTS — DESPONDENT AND IN THE GRIP OF A GRIMMER DESPAIR.
LIFE CAN’T GET MUCH WORSE, IT SEEMS. GOODNESS KNOWS WHAT LIES AHEAD.
A LETTER FROM HOME HAD DRAGGED HIM DOWN, NOT LIFTED HIM. HE LET IT FLUTTER TOWARDS THE WAVES BELOW. HE HAD REALISED THAT HIS ONE YEAR AT UNIVERSITY JUST BEFORE THE WAR STUDYING LANGUAGES, RUSSIAN INCLUDED, WAS WHY HE HAD BEEN CHOSEN FOR THIS TASK. BUT ALL WAS NOT WHAT IT SEEMED.
I WAS TOO BUSY LEARNING HOW TO FLY TO BE READY WHEN THIS WAR CAME TO PAY MUCH ATTENTION TO MY COURSE. THE BRASS HATS WOULDN’T LISTEN TO THAT, THOUGH…