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No.4370

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OMBS, BULLETS, CRASH LANDINGS...ROYAL AIR FORCE B SQUADRON LEADER GILES GALBRAITH, DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS, HAD SURVIVED THEM ALL AND THEN SOME. HE WOULD HAVE STILL BEEN FLYING HAD HE NOT BADLY BROKEN A LEG PARACHUTING FROM A DOOMED PLANE, BRINGING A WOUNDED CREWMAN WITH HIM.

STORY MAC MACDONALD ART CARLOS PINO COVER CARLOS PINO

THE TASK THAT REALLY MADE HIS BLOOD RUN COLD AND HIS PALMS SWEAT, THOUGH, WAS THE ONE FACING HIM NOW. HE HAD TO WRITE LETTERS OF CONDOLENCE TO THE RELATIVES OF THE FIVE-MAN CREW OF A LOST AIRCRAFT.

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4 THE SOUND OF A NORTH B25 AMERICAN MITCHELL RETURNING LATE FROM A MISSION BROKE INTO HIS THOUGHTS BUT THE ENGINES WERE BEATING STRONGLY AND HE KNEW THE BOMBER WOULD LAND SAFELY. HE RETURNED TO THE GRIM TASK HE HAD SET HIMSELF.

THEY WERE ALL UNIQUE. THEY CAME FROM SO MANY DIFFERENT PLACES, AND THEIR TALE WAS FAR FROM THE ORDINARY, EVEN IN THESE MAD TIMES...

HE CLEARLY REMEMBERED THE DAY THE CREW HAD ARRIVED FROM THE RAILWAY STATION IN THE DUTY LORRY THAT HAD PICKED THEM UP. THEY HAD JUST MET AND WERE SILENT WHEN GILES FIRST CLAPPED EYES ON THEM.

I HOPE THEY GET ON...THEY’LL HAVE TO DEPEND ON EACH OTHER WHEN THEY FLY TOGETHER. NOW, LET’S SEE IF I CAN GET THE NAMES RIGHT.

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5 THE PILOT WAS FLYING OFFICER JAMES MORGAN, A QUIET PRODUCT OF A FAMOUS ENGLISH PUBLIC SCHOOL WHO SPOKE ONLY WHEN NECESSARY.

TAIL GUNNER NEIL CARGILL, SERGEANT, ROYAL NEW ZEALAND AIR FORCE, WAS THE CONFIDENT SON OF A SHEEP FARMER. HE HAD ALSO WORKED AS A TRAPPER IN THE HIGH MOUNTAINS OF HIS HOMELAND.

SERGEANT RYAN CARRUTHERS, FLIGHT ENGINEER AND MID-UPPER GUNNER, AUSTRALIAN AND OUT-SPOKEN, HAD NO TIME FOR AIRS OR GRACES.

FRENCH-CANADIAN SERGEANT PIERRE LEMOND, WAIST GUNNER, HAD GROWN UP SPEAKING FRENCH. THE OTHERS ALREADY KNEW THAT HE WAS A BIT OF A BROODER.

THE NAVIGATOR/BOMB-AIMER, PILOT OFFICER JAN VAN HAK, WAS FROM SOUTH AFRICA. HE WAS BLUNT AND TO THE POINT.

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6 AFTER INTRODUCTIONS WERE MADE AND GILES HAD WELCOMED THEM, THE ARRIVALS SETTLED IN TO THEIR NEW BILLETS. NEXT WAS A TEST FLIGHT IN ONE OF THE SQUADRON’S TAMERICAN-BUILT B25 MITCHELL BOMBERS. FLIGHT LIEUTENANT GARETH JONES, THE ADJUTANT, WATCHED WITH THE C.O.

THEY SEEM A QUIET BUNCH, AND THE TAKE-OFF WAS SMOOTH. THEY ‘LL SOON LEARN TO WORK WELL TOGETHER, I HOPE.

THEY’LL HAVE TO IF THEY WANT TO SEE OUT THIS WRETCHED WAR. THE MITCHELL, WITH A RANGE OF OVER THIRTEEN HUNDRED MILES, WAS A TOUGH, WELL-BUILT AIRCRAFT LIKED BY ITS CREWS. JAMES HAD ALREADY FLOWN ONE ON A CONVERSION COURSE AND THE OTHERS AT THEIR BATTLE STATIONS FELT AT ONCE THAT THEIR PILOT HAD A DEFT TOUCH.

NOT BAD FOR A POMMIE WHO SPEAKS LIKE A TOFF.

ALMOST AS SMOOTH AS SOME SOUTH AFRICANS I’VE FLOWN WITH.

HE FLIES AS HE SPEAKS...PRECISELY. I CAN UNDERSTAND HIM BETTER THAN THE OTHERS, BUT I‘LL HAVE TO LEARN TO THINK IN ENGLISH AS WELL AS SPEAK IT.

I COULD BE OVER NEW ZEALAND FOR ALL I CAN SEE BELOW.

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7 AS THE BOMBER CAME BACK IN TO LAND, GILES WAS AT HIS DESK, READING OVER THE FILES OF THE NEW ARRIVALS. WHAT HE DISCOVERED TOOK HIM BY SURPRISE AND HE SENT FOR GARETH AT ONCE.

IT’S UNCANNY...

EVERY ONE OF THEM HAS LOST A BROTHER IN ACTION ALREADY.

SIMON, OLDER BROTHER OF JAMES, HAD BEEN A BRAVE AND DECORATED COMMANDO OFFICER WHO HAD SACRIFICED HIS LIFE WHEN A RAID IN NAZI OCCUPIED FRANCE HAD GONE WRONG. HE HAD COVERED HIS MEN’S RETREAT BUT WAS CUT DOWN BEFORE HE TOO COULD GET AWAY.

AAGH!

AND, PURELY BY CHANCE, THEY HAVE ENDED UP TOGETHER SERVING IN THE SAME CREW. IT’S ALMOST UNBELIEVABLE...

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8 THE ISLAND OF CRETE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN HAD BEEN INVADED BY GERMAN PARATROOPERS IN 1941. NEW ZEALAND TROOPS HAD BEEN AMONGST THOSE WHO RESISTED FIERCELY...

ARRGH!

...AND LIEUTENANT DREW CARGILL HAD DIED RALLYING HIS MEN.

LOUSY STUKA...AAGH!

THE SIEGE OF THE ALLIED OUTPOST OF TOBRUK IN THE NORTH AFRICAN DESERT HAD BEEN WHERE RYAN’S BROTHER JACK, AN AUSSIE INFANTRYMAN, HAD MET HIS DEATH — DURING AN ATTACK FROM A CRANK-WINGED JUNKERS Ju87 DIVE-BOMBER.

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9 PRIVATE JACQUES LEMOND OF THE CANADIAN ARMY HAD TAKEN PART IN THE DISASTROUS ALLIED RAID ON THE FRENCH PORT OF DIEPPE IN 1941, AND IT HAD COST HIM HIS LIFE.

THEY FOUGHT LIKE LIONS.

THEY LOST TODAY, BUT I FEAR THEY WILL BE BACK...

AND BETTER PREPARED.

PIET VAN HAK, JAN’S TWIN BROTHER, HAD BEEN A SERGEANT IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARMY IN COMMAND OF A MARMON HERRINGTON ARMOURED CAR IN THE DESERT BATTLES AGAINST THE AFRIKA KORPS. A PANZER IV HAD ENDED HIS LIFE.

AAGH!

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10 GILES HAD HEARD SOME HORROR STORIES ABOUT CASUALTIES, BUT THIS MACABRE TWIST OF FATE SHOOK EVEN HIM. GARETH WAS JUST AS CONCERNED. CAN WE LET THEM SERVE TOGETHER? IF ALL WERE LOST...

WORD WILL GET AROUND. THE OTHERS MIGHT THINK THEY WERE JINXES IF WE TRIED TO MIX THEM WITH OTHER CREWS. AND WOULD IT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE? SURVIVAL IS DOWN TO LUCK.

AS THE TWO SENIOR OFFICERS WATCHED THE CREW CHECKING OVER THEIR B25, A TELEPHONE CALL FROM THEIR WING COMMANDER AT H.Q. INTERRUPTED THE CONVERSATION. GILES LIFTED THE RECEIVER.

NASEBY-MARSTON HERE. THAT NEW CREW YOU HAVE…WE HAVE A SPECIAL JOB FOR THEM. I WILL SEND FULL DETAILS LATER, BUT THE BONES OF IT ARE...

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They were a mongrel crew

all right. Half-a-dozen men lumped together in a Mitchell bomber for the wrong reason — a propaganda stunt. Though each had a score to settle with the enemy, they were not really expected to fight.

But, when push came to shove, the mongrels would show they had a bite to match any pedigree hound.

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