Page 30

‘Did you know one pilot broke his neck?’

The man shook his head. ‘Sorry. Did you know him?’

Peter rubbed his chin. ‘He was a friend. A fearless airman.’

The man squeezed his shoulder as he walked on. Peter knew there really was nothing to say. Commiserations sounded hollow, but the silent touch was powerful in conveying a message that everyone understood what he was going through.

A senior officer arrived, accompanied by a gentleman in civvies. Peter stood, apologising for not being able to salute.

‘All quiet at the moment?’ his senior enquired.

‘Yes, sir, though I never trust it.’

The officer smiled without amusement, in agreement. ‘We have an official visitor, Fox. Mind showing him how it all works?’ He turned and beckoned politely to the man standing a few metres away, who now walked over.

‘Mr Brown, this is Flight Lieutenant Peter Fox, one of our top pilots. He’s working here while he’s recovering from a dogfight where he came off second best, I’m afraid, as you can see. But don’t be fooled, he has downed more Axis craft than his modesty will permit us to say. Fox, this is Nigel Brown, a friend from America.’

Peter grinned at the visitor to welcome him.

‘Pretty impressive what you’re all achieving out of these underground caves. Thought I’d take a look,’ the visitor said, smiling broadly. ‘So, Lieutenant,’ he began.

‘Er, just Peter is fine, sir.’

‘Great.’ Brown slapped him on the back. ‘I like a modest guy. I’ll let you explain what you’re up to. For example, why are we on this stage here?’

Peter nodded. ‘We call this the dais, sir,’ he said, gesturing around at the raised platform they stood on. ‘Um, it gives us this bird’s eye view over Malta,’ he said, now pointing to a huge map spread out below them, where a few women clustered around, adjusting coloured blocks that showed enemy numbers and positions. ‘And we can have a much better perspective of which direction the enemy aircraft are approaching from.’

‘Are those more women under the table? What the hell?’

Peter gave an embarrassed burst of a laugh. ‘Er, yes, sir. Space is at a premium, so our brilliant plotters crowd underneath while the others position where the fighters are.’

He realised it must all look quite comical, and yet it was deadly serious. These women played a vital role.

‘Er, so information comes in from the Radar Room and of course from the watchers at surface level,’ he continued. ‘That is all raw information, which passes through to the Filter Room next door. There they clear a lot of the noise and irrelevant information and then the best, most reliable sightings are passed to us in this room, which we call Sector Eight. It’s often intense in here, sir. The Wing Commander is making fast, powerful decisions to scramble aircraft. Our role is to brief him on what to expect in terms of numbers, direction, flying height and so on.’

‘You’d know all about that, I’m assuming.’ Brown punched Peter’s good arm playfully.

‘Er yes, indeed.’

‘Squadron?’

‘Two forty-nine.’

‘Oh, the famed two forty-nine.’

Peter looked down modestly, but he felt a swell of pride at the praise. ‘We get on with it, sir. Originally we flew over France, mainly, but the squadron was transferred here in May last year, moving into Spitfires this year, in February. We’d get the call and be racing to our cockpits within seconds. If we were on shift, then most of us stayed outside, sitting in deck chairs, just waiting for the scramble. Have you been to the airfield at Takali?’

‘Going there next.’

‘Good, you’ll see how it all works. Each pilot has a team to ready his plane and get it in the air once we get the nod.’

‘And the nod, as you say, comes from this desk up here on this staging.’ Brown seemed genuinely interested, and Peter wondered what his role was. ‘Friend’ didn’t tell him much. He was likely a friendly spy just taking account of the work underground by the Allies.

‘The dais, yes, sir. Our Wing Commander gives the instructions.’

‘And these colours?’ Brown waved his hand at the blocks on the table below.

‘Each represents a squadron of twelve, and there are three in each section.’