The Spitfire Girls(21)
Lizzie gave her a pleasant smile, but May got the feeling that she was like a lion baring its teeth before going in for the kill.
‘Tell me then, good doctor, why exactly do pilots need to be examined in the buff?’ Lizzie asked, her perfectly arched eyebrows making her face look oh-so-innocent. ‘Would you like me to take my colleagues straight back home and tell the president exactly what perverted English doctors do to female pilots?’
Doc gaped first at Lizzie and then at May, his mouth starting to move but no sound coming out. May should have spoken up; she knew she should have reprimanded Lizzie, but in truth what could she say? There was absolutely no reason for them to be examined naked when he was primarily checking their height, weight, hearing and eyesight, and they’d all been made to feel uncomfortable at their initial medicals. She should have taken a stand herself well before now, but unlike the brash American, she’d been too afraid of women being turned away for being difficult. She lived in constant fear of speaking up in case they were discarded for being – well, for being women. In this case, she was going to let Lizzie get away with her insolence.
‘Pick up your stethoscope and get to work, Doc,’ Lizzie said, impatiently stamping her foot. ‘We’ve got planes to fly and I won’t stand for being grounded because of your utter incompetence.’
If this was a sign of things to come, then May was definitely going to have her hands full when the rest of the Americans arrived. But rocking the boat was one thing; she wasn’t going to let them capsize the whole bloody vessel. Later, when they were alone, she might have to remind Elizabeth that nothing was more important than assisting the war effort – no person and certainly no policy, no matter how much she might not like it personally. Lizzie needed to lead her women and understand how high the stakes were, because May didn’t have time to be a babysitter.
‘Jones?’ Doc spluttered. ‘Are you allowing this?’
‘You heard her, Doc. I’m not impressed with the delivery, but she’s right. Can we please get their examinations over with, and clothes on, please, unless you can give me a specific reason why they need to be naked?’ May said. ‘And the fact that it’s always been done that way frankly isn’t reason enough anymore.’
The door banged open and May looked round. To her surprise Ben stood there, his eyes scanning the room for her.
‘What is it?’ May asked, as he came straight to her.
‘There’s been an accident. You need to come with me,’ Ben whispered, leaning in close. ‘Now.’
Fear gripped May, slicing through her as she fought to nod and smile at the American women watching her.
‘May?’ Ben took her hand and tugged it. ‘Quickly, there’s no time to waste. You’re needed outside.’
She forced herself to walk as her mind ran wild. Had their lucky streak ended? Had she lost her first pilot? The second the door was shut, she came face to face with Ruby and Polly.
‘What is it? What happened?’ May asked, panic rising.
‘Fill her in, Ruby,’ Ben said. ‘I need to see if I can help.’
‘It’s bad. There was a big crash,’ Ruby told her, her voice shaking as they set off.
May’s mind was racing. Who was flying right now? Who could have been injured? Were they dead or . . . She breathed deep as the screeching noise of the ATA fire and crash crew pierced the air.
‘What crashed? What actually happened?’ she demanded, breaking into a run. How had she not heard anything? Then she remembered the big bang, the boom that she’d rolled her eyes at, not thinking it could have been an aircraft landing. ‘Ruby, tell me what’s going on! Was it one of my girls?’
‘A Halifax,’ Ruby said, she and Polly running alongside May. ‘It came in out of nowhere on the wrong approach, and it tried to land but it didn’t go well.’
‘Oh hell! Move the planes, then!’ May yelled. ‘I want every plane parked here taxied away now!’
Why would a four-engine bomber be landing at White Waltham? It must have been an emergency because they didn’t have any bombers, let alone a huge Halifax, at their headquarters. At least she knew it wasn’t one of her pilots at the controls; none of them had been cleared to fly that type of aircraft yet.
‘I’m on it,’ Polly hollered back, sprinting off.
May caught Ruby’s panicked expression and grabbed her arm. ‘Get in the nearest plane and move it. Anyone you pass, scream at them to move one on, too. There could be bombs on board that aircraft!’
May kept running, leaving Ruby behind. Her only priority right now was getting all her planes out of harm’s way in case . . . The flames licked upwards as she watched and she hoped to God the fire crew managed to put it out fast. Where the hell had this plane come from, and who was in it?
‘Get those planes moving!’ she yelled as she passed pilots who’d emerged from a nearby building. ‘Get them out of the way!’
They were near a railway line and the last thing they needed was a stray bomb taking out any transport lines or, heaven forbid, any of the planes that were ready and waiting to be delivered. She rushed to the crash site and watched as crew members were pulled out. One of them, a young man of no more than twenty, was so badly burnt that it was almost a relief to see he was unconscious. But five others were taken safely out and she was impressed by how quickly her team had worked, the entire ferry pool jumping into action to help. The Halifax had a full crew of men and they must have ended up off course, or something had gone wrong with the plane. She took a moment to survey the scene, her head pounding. This could have been Johnny. This could have been him, injured, but with no one around to help, no one to pull him from his burning aircraft and drag him to safety.