Page 12 of The Spitfire Girls
‘Sounds like just the job for me then,’ Lizzie said with a wink, stifling a laugh when May’s face turned to stone. ‘If you’re not earmarking the position for yourself, that is?’
‘We’ll see about that,’ May muttered. ‘But no, it won’t be me. I’m too busy with administration to be in the running, but it’ll be quite the honour for the chosen pilot.’
‘Well, regardless of the aircraft, it must be amazing, flitting around in a warplane all day.’
‘Flitting?’ May asked, now openly scowling. ‘My girls are hardlyflitting. With intense flying schedules, multiple planes to deliver daily and weather concerns, my pilots are in life or death situations every time they report for duty. Not to mention that we’re doing this because we’re a nation at war!’
Lizzie held her hands up. ‘Bad choice of words. I was only meaning ...’
‘You were only meaning what? That my ladies are out there having fun? Because they’re not, Miss Dunlop – they’re out there working hard to make sure we actually have a damn chance of winning this war and bringing our boys home safe.’
Her words were low, snapped almost, and Lizzie knew she’d probably gone too far. But if the English rose couldn’t handle some teasing, then she shouldn’t be running a squadron.
‘So have you lost any pilots yet?’ Lizzie asked, sitting back and crossing her legs at the ankle. ‘In theselife and deathsituations?’
‘No,’ May said, her eyes narrowing. ‘We’ve had some close calls, but our fatality rate is zero and I’m extremely proud of that fact. And trust me, there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t pray to keep it that way.’
Ruby touched May’s arm then, a gesture that took Lizzie by surprise.
‘Tell her,’ Ruby said softly.
Lizzie gazed back at them. ‘Tell me what?’
‘We fly with no instruments and no radios, so when I say that my girls are the best? I mean it. It takes more than good skills to fly that way,Elizabeth, it takes guts and a good dollop of determination.’
‘No radios?’ Lizzie asked. ‘Is this a joke?’
‘It’s no joke that our superiors don’t want our movements or whereabouts to be detected, and we’re not trained to fly with instruments. We’re atwar, Elizabeth, in case you’ve missed that very important fact.’ May’s smile started slowly, like a match to a wick, spreading down the line. ‘If that sounds too hard, you’re more than welcome to board a ship and head home.’
Lizzie smiled straight back, clenching her toes, not about to let May see that she’d thrown her off balance. ‘Radios, instruments, bad weather? Honestly, I don’t know what you’re making such a fuss about. I’m sure it’s all in a day’s work for you lot now, and the same will be true for us.’
Lizzie shook out her hair, tipping her head back as the waiter arrived with their drinks. She reached for hers gratefully and took a big gulp. What kind of fools would be expected to fly without radios? It was ridiculous! But she simmered silently, for now; once she was on base, then she’d start to make a fuss.
‘I have a feeling you’re newer to this whole thing,’ she said eventually, to Ruby. She’d noticed how perfectly starched her uniform was, as if it were almost brand new. ‘Am I right?’
Ruby’s cheeks coloured slightly, but Lizzie pretended not to notice as she took another sip. The younger of the two women was tiny – so petite and short, in fact, that Lizzie wondered how she’d even passed the minimum height requirements.
‘You’re right,’ Ruby replied. ‘I haven’t been with the ATA for long. Only months, actually.’
‘So you’re the commander’s little sidekick then? Or are you her office girl?’
‘Office girl?’ Ruby spluttered. ‘No, I’m a pilot, I mean I ...’
‘Ruby is no sidekick, nor is she relegated to office duties,’ May interrupted. ‘She might look like a doll – in fact I was told by our doctor that a gust of wind might blow her over – but put her up in the cockpit and she’s got the heart of a lion and the bravery of a team of men. Not to mention she’s highly experienced as a pilot.’
Now Ruby’s cheeks were positively scarlet.
Lizzie laughed, and winked at her. ‘I was wondering how she’d snuck in past regulation height. I’d have sent her home the moment I laid eyes on her, experienced or not.’
‘We’re not exactly drowning in women pilots with more than three hundred hours’ flying experience, so when an application like Ruby’s passes by my desk, I don’t give a damn about height restrictions,’ May said. ‘Women were required to have more than five hundred hours’ flying experience in the beginning, but the rules have eased somewhat. Now that we’ve proven we can be trusted not to break their planes, of course.’
Lizzie chuckled then, finally seeing something about the Brit to like. ‘If a man had to demonstrate three perfect landings, a woman would be asked to do six just to prove herself, am I right?’
‘Precisely.’ May held up her glass, nodding. ‘Lizzie, it must be frustrating not to have your own national women’s squadron established yet.’
‘After Pearl Harbor I expected to hear news immediately, but so far all they want is their best women pilots flying with you Brits. No offence, but I’d rather be flying American planes in American airspace instead of being sent on some glorified work experience mission on the other side of the world.’
May shrugged. ‘No offence taken. I’d feel exactly the same.’
