"I'm good to fly tomorrow." I told Colonel Miller, we were in a small office he had borrowed from the Brits. Buffy and I were standing at ease in front of the desk he was seated behind; Lieutenant Franklin was in the corner behind us.

"You aren't, I've talked to the doctors, and neither is your plane. But the Brits say they can have her patched together enough to fly to our base in a couple of days and you'll be up to it by then."

"Yes sir."

The Colonel turned to Buffy, "Miss… Lieutenant Summers are you okay with flying escort with Lieutenant Thompson when her aircraft is repaired."

"Of course, sir."

"You realize that you'll be flying in a combat zone?"

Buffy looked at him in amazement, "You are kidding…"

I slugged her in the shoulder and then winced, I'd swung a little too hard and it felt like I might have pulled a stitch. I concentrated on my wound but didn't feel any blood seeping so maybe I was okay. The Colonel's startled exclamation brought me back from my self-examination, "Lieutenant Thompson!"

I looked at him, "Yes sir!"

"What the hell was that?"

I thought for a moment and then realized I had reverted to my old habit. Major Jenkins had gotten used to the way I stopped Buffy from mouthing off, "Sir, Lieutenant Summers has a tendency to… to be indiscriminant with her language. I'm trying to break her of the habit."

"That doesn't mean you get to slug a fellow officer, Lieutenant!"

Buffy looked startled, "Sir? She's just tapping me on the shoulder to remind me to watch my mouth."

The Colonel looked at her in amazement, "That wasn't a tap!"

"It wasn't? It sure felt like it."

The Colonel sat back in his seat and stared at her; then his gaze came to me and after a few moments back to Buffy. "Lieutenant Summers, after all the stuff you throw around about being treated as an equal I can't believe you let her hit you like that and just take it!"

"Sir? She's just trying to keep me out of the brig! I know I have a tendency to run off at the mouth and fortunately Barb is a good enough friend to know when I need to shut up and to let me know."

"But she hit you!"

Buffy reached up and pulled her tie loose and then unbuttoned the top four buttons of her shirt. She pulled the shirt off her shoulder until her upper arm was visible; the slightly tan skin was not bruised or even red, "She didn't hurt me, sir."

The Colonel stared at her in amazement and then started to redden, not only was Buffy's shoulder visible most of her breast was also visible. She'd manage to snag the strap of her bra along with her shirt as she pulled it off her shoulder and she was pulling her bra off herself. In a strangled gasp the Colonel blurted out, "Miss Summers, get your clothes on!"

Buffy looked down at herself, "Jesus, you'd think he'd never seen a tit before."

I raised my fist but didn't hit her; instead I just looked at the Colonel. After a moment he started to chuckle and then broke out laughing. After a few minutes his laugh calmed down to where they were just occasional chuckles and he shook his head, I think in amazement. Buffy was glaring at him, "I know they're small but they're all I've got, you don't have to laugh at them, sir!"

That set him off again and it was another couple of minutes before he got it under control, "Oh GOD! Did I ever need that!"

He looked at Buffy and I for a minute, then shook his head ruefully, "I don't know what the hell I'm getting myself into, but I've got a feeling it will be worth it if it doesn't kill me. Of course my career's ruined but I don't think they'll shoot me."

"Sir?" I asked.

"Do you two want to stay in England?"

I looked at Buffy and she grinned slyly at me but then her expression grew concerned. I knew she was thinking the closer to the action she was the more likely she would be to be able to get into it. I also knew she was concerned about getting me into it. She had not been a happy camper when she'd gotten to the hospital yesterday afternoon and she'd seen the wounds scattered over my body. It had taken a long conversation interspersed with some yelling on my part to get her to understand that I flew with her because I wanted to, not because she dragged me along.

I answered for both of us, "Yes, sir!"

"Okay, I'm going to request to have you assigned TDY to my group while I get it ready for combat. I don't know how it will fly but I think I might be able to get away with it at least for a month or two given the current situation."

I glanced at Buffy, confused at what he'd said, "The current situation, sir?"

He looked at us for a moment, "You haven't heard?"

"Haven't heard what?"

"At 4 this morning the Russians attacked Germany. That should distract the German's enough that we can go on the offensive against them also, but I need to get my group in the air as fast as possible."

"Yes, sir," I said.

"We'll be able to bring you up to speed in a couple of weeks, sir." Buffy added.

The Colonel stared at her in amazement, "What?"

But Buffy was already lost in thought, she turned to me, "Do you think we'll be able to talk the Brits out of a couple of 109s? I know they've got at least half a dozen flying that they've patched together. That would be even better than the Spits. If not maybe at least we can get some Mark Vs, the Mark IIs are a little long in the tooth going up against 38s."

"Lieutenant Summers! What the hell are you talking about?"

"Oh, sorry sir, we ran, well under Major Jenkins we were the lead pilots, at the Top Gun school at March Field."

"What the hell?"

I spoke up, "Buffy was the one that came up with the idea of training the squadrons for combat by flying against them using the planes and tactics of the Germans. We weren't able to get any Me-109s but we did get a couple of Spitfire Mk IIs that had pretty similar characteristics."

"Is that where you two got all your experience?"

"Yes, sir, we've both got over five hundred hours flying simulated combat sorties against the squadrons we were training. We've also got more time on the gun range than anybody I've heard of, we certified all the squadron planes for the squadrons we were training for combat."

For the next hour we talked about what we had done at March and what we would want to accomplish with the training and how we would go about doing it. We had a week or two during which the group's planes and pilots would be arriving, the group ground crews were already supposed to be at the base, a new airfield near Horncastle in East Anglia, England.

Finally the Colonel said, "I think we've hashed out about all we can at this point. Franklin and I need to get in the air and get down there; we'll see you two in a couple of days."

"Yes sir," Buffy said, "It will be good being part of your group."

The Colonel looked at Buffy and then at me, "Lieutenant Summers, you do understand that you will not be part of the group. You are going to be there TDY for training and other duties only. You will not be doing any combat flying."

Buffy looked at him in disbelief, then covered her expression slowly, she almost snarled as she snapped out, "Yes, sir!"

The Colonel started to get angry in response, "Do you want to be a part of this or not, Lieutenant?"

Buffy pulled in her emotions, "Yes sir! I want to be a part of it! I want to be a part of all of it!"

"Lieutenant, what you're going to be doing will be plenty, much more than can reasonably be expected of a woman…"

I interrupted at that point, "Sir, please don't go there." I turned to Buffy, "Can it, Buffy! He's letting you, us, do far more than we ever thought we would. He can't do anymore."

Buffy glared at me and then at the Colonel, then settled back and nodded, "Sorry, sir. Sometimes I forget where I am now."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Before Buffy could say anything I spoke up, "She meant that she was in the Army and has to abide by the rules. I don't think she did that much when she was growing up."

He looked at me for a minute and then at Buffy and then back to me, "Somehow I think there's more to it than that. But we'll drop it for now."

"Yes, sir," we both chorused.

"And on another note… Lieutenant Thompson."

"Yes, sir."

"I've got Lieutenant Summers' after action report; I'll need yours when you get to the base."

"Yes, sir."

"I've also got my report and Lieutenant Franklin's, and a supplemental report from the base commander here at Dyce and the Wing commander."

"Yes, sir," we said again, I was wondering where this was going.

"Okay, Summers," he looked at her for a moment before continuing, "I'm putting you up for the DSC," his eyes turned to me, "Thompson I'm putting you up for the Silver Star along with your Purple Heart."

I was stunned, the Silver Star? What the hell had I done to deserve a Silver Star? I'd just followed Buffy around the sky and shot when she told me to. I could see the Distinguished Service Cross for Buffy, she'd certainly earned that. She had, for all practical purposes, completely disrupted two enemy attacks preventing any damage to the airfield we were sitting on. We may have been up there with her but we had just come along for the ride.

"Sir!" Buffy squeaked, "You can't do that!"

"Why the hell not?"

"I… I don't deserve it; Barb deserves it but not me!"

"Jesus, Summers! You shot down twelve Krauts yesterday! You saved Thompson's ass, my ass and probably Franklins! And you should be credited with the ones we shot down when you were leading us for god's sake! We were just an extension of you! Forgetting that, do you know how many pilots have shot down twelve enemy planes in one day?"

Buffy looked actually chagrinned for once, "Uh… no, sir."

"NONE!"

Buffy was silent for a moment, then softly she said, "Oh…"

The Colonel gave her an exasperated look, "Listen Summers, you probably won't get it although that will be political. Anybody who knows what you have done knows you deserve it. I've talked long and hard with both the base commander and the wing commander here and they've agreed to keep their recommendations under their hats until this goes public. All of this, your action reports, my recommendations, everything is going to be 'lost' in the paperwork as we set up the group. I don't know how long I'll be able to keep it under wraps but I'm hoping for at least a month to six weeks. Once it comes out I'll 'find' the original reports and submit them and the Brits will submit their recommendations to their government. Understand?"

"Yes, sir, I think so." Buffy said meekly.

"I'll spell it out, just so you're clear. When it goes public the shit is going to hit the fan. I'll get canned; you two will probably get canned. Franklin, I hope you'll get out of it without too much damage."

"Yes, sir," Franklin said as he nodded in agreement.

"Minimally we're all going to be back in Washington answering to some very irate politicians and generals and you can imagine how much fun that is going to be."

"Yes, sir," all three of us said together, I noticed Franklin had gotten out of the chair he had settled into during the last hour and was now standing on the other side of Buffy.

"But my concern is to get the group up and operating as quickly and effectively as I can. After observing you Lieutenant Summers, and you too Thompson, I've determined I can do that a lot better with your assistance."

"Yes, sir," Buffy said, she shot me a quick glance, "And once you go operational you'll be even more effective with us flying with you."

The Colonel started to say something and then sat back in his chair and stared at her for a long moment, finally he said, "You are probably right, Lieutenant. But while I'm willing to sacrifice my career for the group I'm not quite willing to face the shit that would hit me if you got yourself or Thompson killed."

"Isn't that our concern, sir?" I said, both to let him know my feelings and to assure Buffy I was in this with her.

"No, Thompson, it's mine."

He gave Buffy a stern look, "Listen here young lady, if you go looking for trouble I'll ground you so fast your ass will be on the pavement before your wheels are down. I need you to get my squadrons up to speed, you'll be more help doing that than anything even you can accomplish in one plane."

I think for once he got through to Buffy, "Yes, sir."

"Okay, you two go and relax. We'll see you in a couple of days."

"Yes, sir," we turned to start to leave and then he called after us.

"Both of you," we turned back to him, "keep your mouths shut about what happened up here. And that includes you, Lieutenant Franklin. I don't want to hear any talk about the crazy girl pilots and their exploits coming from the barracks or any of the men in the group. As far as any of them are to know we've had a routine ferry flight but got a little off course and one of the planes suffered some minor damage in a German air raid. Am I clear?"

"Yes, sir!" all three of us said together; then Buffy and I left. We hung around the airfield until the Colonel and Franklin left; then spent a couple of days playing tourist in the area until my plane was repaired and we could rejoin the group at Toynton Station just outside Horncastle.

We'd been on the base for two days; the pilots were slowly filtering in as they made their flights across the Atlantic. Nobody else had encountered any Germans and we were keeping quiet as the Colonel had ordered us to. Franklin introduced us as the men showed up and we'd been working with the ground crew getting the arriving planes checked out. The plane I had ferried across had attracted some attention, the roughly repaired battle damage setting it apart from the rest. The implication Franklin had left was that it had picked up the damage from a stray German bomb that had gotten dumped on the RAF field in the middle of the night, a nuisance raid and nothing more.

I think Franklin had a private word with the crew chief that was making the permanent repairs; he knew the damage wasn't from bomb splinters, at least I sure hoped he knew enough to tell the difference between the damage caused by machine gun and canon rounds and that caused by shrapnel. The chief was getting her back into shape and the repairs looked good. But with the strange glances I sometimes saw him give me I was pretty sure he knew more of the story.

It was early, reveille hadn't sounded yet, when a pounding on the door to our room woke me. Before I woke enough to be thinking Buffy had dragged herself out of her bunk and jerked the door open, "Yeah, what do you want at this ungodly hour?"

The corporal on the other side of the door stared in utter amazement at the apparition in front of him; Buffy in the morning could be a shocking sight. Her hair was in wild disarray and the thin sleeveless T-shirt that she wore covered very little of her and what it did cover it didn't do much to conceal; if anything it emphasized her curves. The bright morning light coming in the window behind her silhouetted her and even from where I was I could see the T-shirt was acting more like lace than cloth. The corporal couldn't stop his eyes from roving over her body as he tried to speak, "Uh… ma'am… uh… the Colonel wants you… wants you in his office…"

Buffy yawned and then said, "Now? Or should I get dressed first?"

"Uh, in half an hour, 0530, ma'am, both of you ma'ams."

"It's five fucking o'clock in the morning?"

The corporal's eyes went wide, "Yes, ma'am."

Buffy shook her head, "I've seen this hour a hell of a lot more often from the other side than this side, neither side is very good."

The corporal was completely confused but his eyes continued to scan her body, quite independent of any conscious control I thought, "Yes, ma'am."

Buffy finally noticed where his eyes were and she glanced down at herself, then back at him, "I'm giving you something of a show, aren't I?"

Startled he looked her in the eye, "Uh, yes ma'am."

"Well, I hope you enjoyed it, because it's over now." She slowly shut the door and then turned around and leaned against it, a massive yawn overtaking her, I thought her jaw was going to break. Finally she shut her mouth and looked at me, "You hear?"

"Yeah, how do you want to do this?"

We were staying in the officer's quarters in a wing that until yesterday had been unused, it was going to be 611th squadron's quarters and they were just starting to arrive. Four of them had shown up yesterday afternoon so now we had to share the head we had been using or find other quarters, neither of which were very attractive prospects. Last night they had all been out at the O-club celebrating their arrival when Buffy and I crashed so there hadn't been any conflict. Maybe this morning they would all be asleep and we could get ready and out of there before they woke up. Buffy grabbed her robe, "I'll stand watch until you're out and you can stand watch for me."

I nodded and put on my own robe and slipped on some slippers, then picked up my kit and we headed for the head. I had just about finished, a very quick shower – the English still hadn't gotten the idea of hot water – I'd brushed out my hair and was brushing my teeth, when I heard footsteps stumbling to a stop and then Buffy's voice on the other side of the door, "Sorry gentlemen, facilities are off limits for a little while. If you really need a head use the one in the next wing."

"What the fuck!"

"I said the facilities are off limits for a while."

"Who the fuck…"

There was a gasp and then another voice, "George, shut up! Sorry ma'am, but who are you?"

"I'm Lieutenant Summers, Lieutenant Thompson, Barbara Thompson, is using the head, she'll be out momentarily and then I'll be using it. We'll be out of your hair in just a bit."

"But who are you?"

"We're helping bring the group up to speed, getting the planes ready, doing some training. We'll be around for awhile. I think we'll have to find some other arrangements now that you guys are showing up but we haven't had a chance yet."

"Oh, right. The Colonel said something about having some training specialists around. So you're assisting them?"

"We are them."

There was silence for several moments, then the first voice came back, "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"We are the training specialists."

"What the fuck are you going to train us to do, knit?"

I had finished and I pulled the door open and jerked Buffy inside before she took his head off, "You're turn," I said cheerily.

I stepped out and closed the door behind me; I looked at the two guys standing in front of me in their skivvies. "She'll be out in a couple of minutes."

"And we're supposed to just wait?"

"There's another head down those stairs," I said pointing to the stairway across from us. The building we were in was a large old English manor house; the rooms in the central core were being used for the group and squadron offices. On either side of the core were two long two story wings, one floor of each wing was allocated to the three squadrons of the 89th fighter group that were to be stationed in England, the 609th, 611th, and 612th fighter squadrons. The 610th squadron was staying stateside for the time being to train replacement pilots before sending them overseas.

Toynton Station consisted of the manor house, a runway that ran parallel to the wings of the manor house fifty yards out the back door. Across the runway were the hangers, control tower, and miscellaneous shops to maintain the aircraft along with a couple of barns that had been converted to quarters for the enlisted men. Scattered around the field were the hardened revetments where the aircraft were parked, protected to some extent from German attack. The runway itself was one of the new pierced metal runways, but the taxiways and other paths were just dirt and I had a feeling the field was going to quickly turn into a quagmire when the rains started.

The two men looked at me appraisingly for a second; I thought the belligerent one was going to say something more but the other one grabbed him by the elbow, "Come on, George, the Colonel wants us in his office in twenty minutes."

Great I thought to myself, I guess we weren't going to be done with them soon. A couple more officers appeared from another room a few minutes later, I directed them down the stairs to the other head. Then Buffy came out and we headed back to our room.

At 0530 we walked into the group office, a sergeant at the desk outside the Colonel's office door looked up at us, "Good Morning, Lieutenants, Colonel's expecting you."

"Morning Sergeant Halloran," I said.

"How can any morning be good that starts at five AM?" Buffy snorted.

"You want some coffee, ma'am?"

"That may help a little, Sergeant."

He grinned at her; I think Halloran got a kick out of Buffy, "I'll bring both you ladies some."

We went on into the office as Halloran got up from his desk and headed for the coffee station on the other side of the large office. We walked, sort of marched actually, up to the front of the Colonel's desk, came to attention and saluted, I said, "Lieutenants Thompson and Summers reporting as ordered, sir."

The Colonel glanced up from the papers he was reading and casually returned our salute, "Have a seat the rest of the men will be here shortly."

Buffy and I went to the side wall and sat down, the chairs were straight backed chairs that looked like they came from a dining room set. A moment later Halloran came in and handed us each a cup of coffee. Buffy leaned back and started sipping her coffee, letting out a soft contented sigh. I looked over at her and raised my eyebrows, she just shrugged her shoulders; she didn't have any better idea than I about what was going on.

Five minutes later there was the sound of people arriving in the outer office and a couple moments later Halloran rapped on the Colonel's door, "The other pilots are here, sir."

"Send them in, Sergeant."

A moment later four officers marched up to the front of the Colonels desk, the foul mouthed man from this morning saluted and said, "1st Lieutenant Dixon reporting with a party of four, sir!"

The Colonel returned his salute and then glanced at us and jerked his head at us, Buffy and I rose and walked over to the side of his desk, "Lieutenants Summers and Thompson, this is Dixon, Harper, Kendricks, and Slovowski, part of the 611th that arrived yesterday."

We exchanged casual hellos; Dixon was the only 1st Lieutenant, the rest were all 2nd Lieutenants. After we had finished the Colonel continued, "We were notified last night that six of our reserve planes have been assembled at the depot and they want us to come get them. They're at an airfield just south of London, and there's a London bound train leaving in 45 minutes from Horncastle, you should be able to get there by mid afternoon. If you can I would like you back by tonight, if not then by early tomorrow morning."

"Yes, sir," Dixon and I both responded, he glanced at me and didn't seem too happy. I was starting to get the feeling he was going to be a pain in the ass.

"The planes have been put together from their overseas shipment and the depot has signed off on them but they haven't been flown. Summers and Thompson have a lot of experience with new and depot refinished aircraft, they'll brief you on the way down on what to look out for."

I kept silent and let Dixon answer, "Yes, sir."

"You don't have much time and the depot doesn't have flying gear to check out to you, so get your gear and get back here. Sergeant Halloran will have a truck waiting for you to take you to the train station."

"Yes, sir," Dixon responded.

"Dismissed," the men turned and headed out and we trailed along behind them. Buffy and I headed back to our room when Dixon called out, "Where are you going?"

Buffy turned, "To get our gear, where do you think?"

"Your gear? Flight gear is supposed to be in the equipment room when not in use." Dixon said.

"Humph," Buffy snorted, "Like we've got time to run clear over there any time we need to go up. We keep ours with us where we'll have it if we need it in a hurry."

We headed up the stairs, as we rounded the bend I saw he was still staring after us. We had to wait ten minutes for them to get back from the equipment shed; they were festooned with gear; parachutes, Mae Wests, oxygen masks, and all the other stuff. Buffy and I had all our gear neatly packed in duffle bags at our feet. We loaded up into the back of the truck, Buffy and I waiting until last so we could have the outermost seats next to the tailgate. We sat down and Buffy opened her duffle and pulled out four neatly folded duffle bags and tossed one to each of the men, "Stash your gear in these, once we get on the train you can worry about getting everything adjusted to fit."

One of young officers, Harper I thought, spoke up, "Thanks, ma'am."

"It's Lieutenant or Buffy, not ma'am; I'm not an old lady."

He grinned at her and nodded which got him a glare from Dixon; what the hell was his problem?

We made the train and found an empty compartment, Buffy and I stashed our gear and went out and explored the train trying to find some food but didn't have any luck. As we were headed back to the compartment I heard Buffy mumble under her breath, "Sure as hell isn't the Hogwarts Express."

"What was that?"

Buffy looked back at me, "Nothing, just a reference to a yet to be written series of books."

"And that is relevant, how?"

"It's the only thing I know about English trains."

"So the Hogwarts Express was an English train?"

"Yeah, it took the students to Hogwarts at the beginning of each term."

"And Hogwarts was some kind of school?"

"A school for witches and wizards," suddenly Buffy came to a stop, "Shit!"

"What?"

"I'm never going to find out what happens to Harry!"

"What are you talking about?"

She turned around and looked at me, "Harry Potter! I've read the first four books but the last three haven't, hadn't, been written yet."

I looked at her, "I think I'd worry about a lot of other things before I'd worry about a book I hadn't read."

She looked at me for a moment, "Maybe…" then turned and continued up the corridor, I followed along behind.

When we got back to the compartment the guys were sprawled around talking quietly. Dixon looked up as we came in, "Where have you been?"

Buffy looked at him, "Looking for some food, why?"

"Don't go disappearing on me, Lieutenant. I want to know where you are at all times."

"And why should you care?"

"Because I'm responsible for you!" a flicker of doubt crossed his face, "When's your date of rank?"

"March 1st, 1942."

He looked at me, "And yours?"

"Same."

"Mine is February 15th, so I'm the senior officer here and responsible for all of you."

Before Buffy could react I said, "Yes, sir. Now let's go over what you'll need to know when we pick up the planes."

Dixon looked exasperated but then leaned back in his seat and pulled his cap down over his eyes. I looked at him for a moment and then at Buffy, she grimaced but then just shrugged her shoulders. I looked around the compartment; the other three guys were looking at me expectantly.

"Okay, the planes have just been assembled after shipment so there are several things you should check." I went through all the stuff we had found when we had been certifying new and repaired aircraft, warning them about the special things to look out for.

"Finally, one thing to really check, in the back of the main wheel well there is a brace that they have to take off to remove the outer wing panels. The braces are not well marked, they're stamped with a 'P' or 'S' for port or starboard but it's not easy to see and the stamp is not always clear. We've run into cases where they have been swapped when they are reinstalled. If they are swapped they will puncture the tire when the main gear is retracted and they can jam the gear so it won't go back down."

"Landing with a flat tire is bad, landing without gear is even worse; and you're going to prang the ship." Buffy added.

There was a snort from Dixon, his face still covered with his cap, but he didn't say anything else.

We were only an hour late getting to London and a truck from the airfield was waiting for us when we arrived. When we got to the airfield the planes were ready for us and there was still plenty of time to fly back so Buffy and I started to put on our flight gear. Dixon came up, "What the hell are you doing?"

I looked at him, "Getting ready to fly."

"It's too late! We'll have to wait until tomorrow."

Before I could say anything Buffy spoke up, "It's not too late, it's less than a forty minute flight and we've got at least two hours before sunset."

"I think it's too late."

"You just want to goof off in London."

He didn't say anything but I saw from the shit eating grin on his face that she had nailed it exactly. I pulled out my copy of the orders we were traveling under and held them out to him, "Fine, endorse the orders that it was too late to make the return flight."

Buffy was digging her orders out of her back pocket; he gave me a disgusted look, "Alright, we'll fly back this evening." He turned and stomped away.

I heard Buffy mutter under her breath, "Fucking asshole, you'd think there wasn't a war on."

An hour later we were approaching the airfield at Toynton, Buffy and I were flying the rear element, I was Yellow 5 and she was 6. As the lead element turned onto the final approach the radio came alive.

"Yellow lead, Yellow 2, your right main gear isn't coming down!"

There was a few moments pause, then Dixon's voice, "How about now?"

"Still nothing."

"Yellow lead, Yellow 6, hold altitude and stand by."

Buffy's plane dipped down and accelerated as Dixon called, "Yellow 6, what do you think you're doing."

"Yellow lead, just hold her steady." Buffy replied.

I watched as she flew directly under him, drifting to a stop relative to him and about ten feet below him, "What the hell are you up to Yellow 6."

"Yellow lead, the gears jammed, follow me."

"I'm not following you anywhere, Yellow 6! Toynton Tower, Yellow Lead, get out the crash trucks, I'm going to have to land wheels up."

I could hear the exasperation in Buffy's voice, "Yellow Lead, Yellow 6, there's no need to prang her yet, we can try to get the gear down."

"Like I'm going to do anything you say."

I'd had enough at that point, "Yellow Lead, Yellow 5, she's dealt with this problem before, let her help you."

"Yellow 6, Toynton Tower, Group wants to know your plan."

"Toynton, I've popped the gear free by doing a hard pull out."

Dixon's voice sounded panicked, "You can snap the gear off!"

"And that would be worse how?"

There was quiet for a moment and then the Colonel's voice came over the radio, "Yellow Lead, Toynton, follow Yellow 6's directions, see if you can free the gear."

I watched as the two planes climbed away from us and then radioed the other planes, "Yellow flight, Yellow 5; let's get on the ground while they deal with this."

I followed them around the landing pattern and set her down, once on the field we got off the runway and parked the planes next to the main hanger. I stayed in my plane and listened to the radio.

"Yellow Lead, make sure your gear lever is up." Buffy said and waited for a response, but there was only silence, "Yellow Lead, is it up?"

"Yes!"

"Okay, stay beside me; I want to see what's going on." Dixon didn't respond, I could hear the frustration developing in Buffy's voice, "Yellow Lead, steeper! Stay with me!"

"Yellow Lead, put the gear lever in the down position! Now pull up! Harder! Harder Yellow Lead! Are you a wimp?"

"What was that?!" Dixon's voice was filled with panic.

"Your gear is down! Throttle back!" A minute later Buffy added, "Okay, both your wheels are down, do you have lock lights?"

"Yes."

"Both your main gear tires are flat. It's going to be a rough landing, you have to keep her on the pierced steel; if you go off you'll ground loop her for sure."

A couple minutes later I saw the two Lightnings reappear, Buffy flew a loose formation off of Dixon's wing until he was on final approach and then pulled away from him. She kept abreast of him as he settled onto the runway. I watched as he touched down and saw the plane shudder and vibrate, the flat tires smoking and shredding as he slowly decelerated. He was having a tough time keeping her straight, Buffy's voice came over the radio, "Yellow Lead, keep her on the runway!"

Then he veered off and as soon as the main gear went off the pierced steel it dug in and the plane spun around, throwing up a cloud of dust. As the dust cleared I could see that the main gear leg that had dug in had collapsed and the Lightning was sitting tilted to one side, resting on a wing tip.

Buffy was down a couple of minutes later, keeping to the far side of the runway to avoid the crash. She taxied up to where we were parked and came to a stop, ground crew darted out to chock her wheels. I walked over and stood in front of her plane as she shut it down and then climbed out of the cockpit. She walked to the aft edge of the wing and dropped off, then ducked under the wing and came up and stood beside me and gazed over at Dixon's plane. Ground crewmen were swarming over the wreck and Dixon was standing a little way from it, "Jesus, that guy can't fly worth shit."

I nodded, "And he bent her."

Buffy looked up at me, "You care more about the plane than him?"

I grinned at her, "In this case, yes."

"Yeah, I have to agree with you."

A jeep came driving across the field from the Manor house and stopped by the wreck, after a moment Dixon climbed into the passenger seat. The jeep took off toward us and pulled up a moment later, "Colonel wants to see you ladies," said Sergeant Halloran, the Colonel's admin sergeant.

"Be right there," Buffy said as she ducked under her plane and opened the luggage hatch and got out her gear bag. Mine was already at my feet with all my stuff in it. She trotted back over and climbed into the back of the jeep, still festooned with her flying gear. She started taking the gear off and stuffing it into her bag as we drove across the field to the Manor house.

We pulled to a stop and climbed out, and then waited while Dixon took his gear off and dumped it on the seat in the jeep, "Take care of that Sergeant." He said as he spun on his heels and started up the stone stairs into the building.

Buffy had finished putting her stuff in her gear bag and we followed along behind, I saw the Sergeant shake his head in disgust. He followed us into the Manor house and down the hall into the group office; he flipped the keys to the jeep to a private sitting in a chair by the door. "Take the jeep out back over to the equipment shed and turn in Lieutenant Dixon's gear; then get back here."

Colonel Miller was standing at his office door and he did not look happy, he scowled at us and snarled, "All of you, in here!"

We followed Dixon into his office; Sergeant Halloran brought up the rear and closed the door behind us. The Colonel was in his seat behind his desk, Buffy and I walked up stood at attention beside Dixon while Halloran stood off to the side.

"All right, what the hell happened?"

Both Buffy and Dixon started to talk at once, then stopped and glared at each other, finally Buffy shrugged, "Go ahead, sir."

Dixon turned back to the Colonel, "Sir, my right landing gear jammed and wouldn't extend properly. Lieutenant Summers had me dive the plane and then release the landing gear and pull up sharply, exerting too much force on the landing gear; it collapsed when I landed resulting in extensive damage to the aircraft. You couldn't really expect too much else."

Buffy was starting to turn red with fury; the Colonel shot her a stern glance, "Rein it in, Lieutenant Summers."

"Wha… yes, sir." Buffy visibly took control of herself; she tore her glare from Dixon and stood rigidly at attention staring at a spot on the wall above the Colonel's head.

"Lieutenant Summers, you stated that you had dealt with a similar in flight emergency previously."

"Yes, sir."

"What happened?"

"On a flight from the factory to March Field I had a similar thing happen, but in my case it was the left main gear that jammed. I was able to free the gear by diving and then climbing sharply. I landed, both tires were flat but I was able to control the landing and there was only minor damage to the aircraft."

"What damage?"

"Obviously the tires were destroyed along with the wheel rims. There was also a cracked fitting on the right main gear that had to be replaced."

I spoke up, "It was the fitting that has to be checked anytime there is a hard landing, tech spec 42-1119 covers it. The fitting seems to be a weak point in the P-38s main gear."

Dixon glared, "See, I said that it would put too much stress on the gear!"

Buffy glared up at him, "Your gear didn't collapse until you let her get away from you and went off the pierced steel. I warned you to stay on the runway!"

"It did not…"

"Lieutenant!" the Colonel snapped, "Hold your mouth! We all saw your crash; the gear didn't collapse until you went off the runway."

Dixon stared at the Colonel in shock; the Colonel returned his gaze for a minute then turned back to Buffy, "Was it ever determined why your gear jammed?"

"Yes, sir."

"Come on!" he snapped.

"There is a brace at the back of the main wheel well; when the outer wings are removed the brace has to be taken out. The left and right side braces are mirrors of each other but they'll fit on either side. They aren't that well marked and sometimes they get reversed when they are put back in. If they are reversed they puncture the tires when the gear is retracted and sometimes they jam the gear. That's what happened to me and I'll bet it's what happened to Dixon's plane."

"Sir," I said, "There's supposed to be a tech spec coming out on the problem with an alteration to the brace to keep them from being installed incorrectly but I haven't seen it yet."

"You knew about this problem?"

"Yes, sir."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Sir! I've told all the maintenance people about the problem."

Sergeant Halloran interjected, "The Lieutenant told me about it and asked me to add it to the group's maintenance warnings; it was added two days ago."

Buffy added, "And she warned them about it on the train trip down."

The Colonel looked at Dixon, "Did you hear that warning?"

He paused for a moment, "Uh, she said something about a brace…"

"Weren't you paying attention?"

Buffy snarled before he could speak, "He was too busy taking a nap, or acting like it anyway."

Dixon didn't say anything; he locked his eyes on the wall behind the Colonel. The Colonel sat back in his chair and his eyes went from Buffy to Dixon and back again and then to Sergeant Halloran, "Get the maintenance Chief in here and the other pilots from the ferry flight."

The sergeant left and we three stood uncomfortably while the Colonel sat back in his chair and contemplated us. After a couple of minutes Halloran was back, "Colonel, the maintenance chief will be here in about five, I've got the other pilots out here."

"Okay, send them in one at a time. You three, over there." He said and pointed to the side of his office. We moved over there and stood against the wall. In a minute Harper marched into the office and up to the desk where he saluted the Colonel, "2nd Lieutenant Harper, reporting as ordered."

The Colonel returned his salute, "Did Lieutenant Thompson brief you on things to watch out for on the ferry flight?"

"Yes sir."

"What things?"

Harper started rattling off the things I had talked about; he got the first couple and then started to stumble. He looked a little worried but then braced himself, "Sir, if I can check my notes?"

"You needed notes?"

"Uh, yes sir. It was a lot of stuff."

The Colonel waved his hand in a 'come on' gesture and Harper dug a notebook out of a pocket on the leg of his flight coveralls. He started to read what he had noted when the Colonel stopped him, "Give me that."

Harper handed him the notebook and the Colonel glanced at it, he quickly read down the page and then flipped to the next page, he handed the notebook back, "What's the last entry mean?"

Harper looked at his notebook for a moment then looked up, "Uh, Miss… Lieutenant Thompson told us to be especially careful to check a brace in the back of the wheel well. If it was wrong it could jam…"

Harper came to a stop and looked over at us; his eyes went to Dixon and then to me, "Go on."

Harper snapped back to the Colonel, after a moment he went on, "… She said it would flatten our tires and could jam the main gear so it wouldn't lower. And she told us how to tell if the brace was installed on the wrong side."

"Thank you, Lieutenant. You're dismissed, send in the next officer."

Kendricks and Slovowski said basically the same thing although Kendricks hadn't taken notes and had a tough time remembering everything but when he was prompted he didn't have any problem explaining the check required of the brace. The maintenance Chief came in with Kendricks and then left with him, he was back by the time Slovowski had finished.

The Colonel looked at him as he came into the office as Slovowski left, "Chief, you seem to have picked up on where this is going, anything to add?"

"Yes sir, I just checked, the damned braces are swapped on Dixon's aircraft."

"Chief, did you see the maintenance warning about those braces?"

"Yes, sir, yesterday, I've got it on my list to add to the checks we perform anytime we mess with the wings or gear on the planes but I haven't briefed the pilots on it yet."

"See sir, we were never told…" Dixon said.

"You were told by Lieutenant Thompson on your way down there to get the planes, every other pilot that was with you remembers that warning explicitly."

"But sir!"

"But what, Lieutenant?"

"She's a… she's a woman sir?"

At this point Buffy couldn't restrain herself anymore, she turned to me, "Barb? You're a woman? When the hell did that happen?"

"Lieutenant Summers!" The Colonel roared.

Buffy turned to him, "Yes sir? Did you hear? Lieutenant Thompson's a woman! Can we have a party, sir?"

"SUMMERS!"

Buffy popped rigidly to attention and didn't say anything else. The Colonel glared at her and I saw the sweat start to pop out on her forehead, on the other side of her I saw the start of a nasty grin from Dixon but then his face went blank.

"Summers, I'll deal with you shortly. Dixon, you're relieved of duty and barred from flying any aircraft until further notice. You're restricted to barracks until I decide what the fuck I'm going to do with you. Now get the hell out of here."

Dixon left the office, as the door opened I could see the other three pilots and half a dozen clerks from the group office scurrying away from the door. The Colonel must have noticed the same thing because he yelled out, "This isn't a damn show – get back to work!" before Sergeant Halloran shut the door behind Dixon.

"Chief, should he have been able to handle that aircraft on our runway?"

The chief was an old flying sergeant, although medically disqualified from flying anymore everyone recognized his expertise, "He damn well should have. We start getting battle damage the pilots are going to be landing with one tire blown and the other not, that's a hell of a lot harder than having both tires blown."

"What about Lieutenant Summers solution?"

"It was a good idea, unless you really screw it up you won't damage the gear. The gear on Dixon's plane wasn't damaged getting it down, that main fitting cracked when the gear leg dug into the dirt."

"And you can tell that because?"

"Because of where the crack is, sir."

"Okay, chief." He looked over at us and then back to the Chief, "What do you think of the Lieutenants?"

"Sir?"

"What do you think of them?"

"Lieutenant Thompson's an excellent pilot and a hell of a maintenance officer. Lieutenant Summers is a hell of a pilot but I wouldn't trust her with a wrench within ten feet of one of my aircraft."

"Why not?"

"She breaks things."

"It was one bolt, and the damned thing was sticking me in the back!"

"It wouldn't have been sticking you in the back if you hadn't been trying to sleep on the work bench, Miss."

"Okay, enough!" The Colonel said. "Jesus, people get around you Summers and they start acting like children."

"Sorry, sir."

The Colonel looked at us for another moment, "Okay, this incident is over with. I'll deal with Dixon, the rest of you get back to work.

17