As Wing Commander Andy Roe walked down the corridor towards a strategy meeting, he thought back over his flying career.
Commissioned as a Pilot Officer in the mid 1930s, he had been dismissed following a court martial, after being tricked into smuggling an aircraft into Spain during the Civil War, in lieu of gambling debts. Recruited as a fighter pilot for the Republicans, Andy returned to England after the civil war and, following a stint at a flying club, was eventually allowed, after the declaration of WW2, to rejoin the RAF as a Sergeant Pilot, and was assigned to his old friend Paddy Murphy's flight in a Spitfire squadron.
Due to his previous actions, Andy had been declared 'Not Eligible for Commissioned Rank', which led to tension with his C.O., Squadron Leader Charles Bryson, who repeatedly refused to allow Andy to officially share his knowledge and experience with the other pilots. When Andy returned to the squadron, after treatment to burns sustained to his hands towards the end of the Battle of Britain, Bryson arranged for Andy to be posted to a detached Gladiator flight in Sudan.
Having lost his kit in Malta, when the aircraft transporting him was destroyed in a bombing raid, Andy completed the journey to his new posting wearing replacement shirt and shorts, as well as a set of overalls borrowed from the replacement flight commander, Flight Lieutenant Jim Baker. When Andy arrived at his destination alone, after Baker had been shot down and killed en route by Italian fighters, the pilots and ground crew, seeing the rank stripes on the borrowed overalls, immediately assumed Andy was the new flight commander!
By the time Squadron Leader 'Dingbat' Davies visited a few days later, and heard the full story, Andy and the other pilots had destroyed three enemy aircraft and a road convoy, with only minor injuries to one pilot, prompting the local Air Force Commander, Air Commodore 'Gunbus' Gibbs, to promote Andy in the field to the rank of Flying Officer.
Now Andy was back in England, newly promoted to the rank of Wing Commander, and presenting his credentials to a guard, before entering the room where the meeting would take place.
'Someone Arrest that man!'
Forcing himself to suppress the grin that had began to form on his face, Andy slowly turned, signalling the airman at the door to stay back as he did so, before coming face-to-face with his former C.O., and delivering a formal salute.
'Charles Bryson, you haven't changed a bit – you're just as warm and sociable as ever!
'Neither have you, Roe, as clearly demonstrated by your natural flippancy and disregard for regulations!'
'That's a bit rich, coming from a man who fails to return a salute, especially one from a fellow officer.'
'Fellow officer, my foot!' snapped Bryson. 'You know full well you're not eligible for commissioned rank!'
'Well, the Air Ministry obviously disagrees with you.' replied Andy. 'Otherwise they would have blocked Air Commodore Gibbs from promoting me in the field!'
'What are you talking about?'
After Andy explained what had happened, following his enforced departure from the Squadron, Bryson shook his head in disbelief.
'I've never heard anything so ridiculous in my life!'
'It may sound ridiculous to you, Bryson' remarked the grey haired Air Commodore seated at the head of the long table, located in the middle of the room, 'but it's absolutely true!.
'But, Sir…'
'But nothing, Bryson!' boomed the older man. 'I've known Old Gunbus for over 30 years, and in all that time, he has never once made an error of judgement – in fact, he's saved me from a couple! If he believes that young Roe here deserves a commission, that's good enough for me!
As Bryson stormed off, to the mild amusement to the other officers present, the Air Commodore beckoned Andy over to him, before nodding towards Bryson.
'He really doesn't like you, does he?'
Not really, no.' replied Andy 'Whoever coined the phrase "absence make the heart grow fonder" certainly never saw this coming!
'Indeed' said the Air Commodore, before raising his voice. 'Now that we're all here, I suppose we better get this meeting started, so if you could all take your seats?'
NOTES:
This story follws on from the Commando Comic Zig Zag Or Die!
The 'You haven't changed' conversation is based on the one between McCoy and Spock in Star Trek The Motion Picture.
The un-named Air Commodore is based on Air Commodore Hutton, portrayed by Charles Gray in the 1969 film Mosquito Squadron.
The phrase 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder' appeared in Francis Davison's 1602 Poetical Rhapsody, and was later used as a line in the T. Haynes Bayley song 'The Isle of Beauty'.