“They also make us look dashing and set us apart from everyone else,” he added with a wink.
She laughed. “So they do.”
“How is Fred Durton? Are they flying patrols now as well?”
“Yes. He’s just like a schoolboy, all giddy with excitement.” She tilted her head and looked at him. “I can’t imagine you like that, but I suppose you must be happy to be doing something other than fly training sorties.”
“I am,” he admitted. “I think we’re all glad that the waiting seems to be almost over. But I’m also a bit more pragmatic than some of the others. I don’t think it will be quite what we’re all expecting. How can it be? The Luftwaffe pilots are much more experienced than we are. They’ve already seen battle in Spain and Poland. All we’ve done is hours of formation flying.”
“Not all the Luftwaffe pilots have seen battle,” she said. “I’m sure there are just as many who haven’t yet.”
Miles shrugged and let out a noise suspiciously like a grunt. “Perhaps.”
“Do you believe in luck?” she asked suddenly. “I mean, like lucky charms and that sort of thing?”
He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “You mean like a lucky rabbits foot?”
“Yes. Fred does. He wears a chain round his neck when he flies with a medal on it. St. Christopher, I think. Says it was his fathers. He won’t go up without it, apparently.”
“I never have before,” he said slowly, “but I don’t suppose I ever gave it much thought. Slippy, one of the other pilots in my flight, has a lucky sharks tooth that he takes up with him.”
“And you don’t have anything?”
Miles winked. “I don’t need luck, m’dear. I’m a fantastic flier.”
Evelyn laughed. “Of course you are.”
“What do you think about the situation in France?” he asked after a moment.
“You mean with the prime minister?” When he nodded, she shrugged. “I think people were fed up with Daladier. My uncle says that more should have been done to help Finland, but that Daladier didn’t have the courage to do it.”
“And Reynaud does?”
Evelyn couldn’t help but think of Reynaud’s immediate push to maneuver into Norway before Hitler did and her lips tightened imperceptibly.
“I think so,” she said slowly. “I think he’s more in line with what people like my uncle want in a leader. He’s keeping Daladier on in his cabinet, so he’s being sure to appease everyone.”
“I can’t help but wonder if the same thing will happen here,” Miles said unexpectedly. “There is a very large portion of the House that doesn’t think Chamberlain’s the man to lead us in this war. After all, he did everything in his power to prevent it, and now he hasn’t done anything really to show that we’re serious.”
“I know you don’t like him,” she said with a quick smile. “I don’t much, either, but Lord Halifax would replace him and I don’t know that that’s any better. At least we know what we have with Chamberlain.”
“Yes. We have our bombers flying over Poland dropping pamphlets instead of bombs.” He reached for his whiskey and soda. “It’s ridiculous. We’re at war and we’re bombing them with paper! I can guarantee that any fighters that come across our bombers won’t be shooting spitballs. The crews are risking their lives, and for what?”
“To not incite Hitler’s wrath.”
“Exactly. And at what cost? I heard that there was a bombing raid over Poland and the pilots had to fly back over Germany. Can you imagine? Not one bomb on the plane and they were flying over the Fatherland as bold as you please.” He sipped his drink. “Do you know what happened? One of them thought they had crossed back into France and landed. Turns out he wasn’t in France at all. He was still in Germany!”
“No!” she gasped. “What happened?”
“The poor sod had to take off again, didn’t he?” Miles shook his head and a reluctant smile came to his lips. “Can’t imagine what the farmers thought. Supposedly there were a lot of astonished peasants watching.”
“Thank God he was able to take off again before anyone got there!”
“Yes, bloody lucky. I wonder if he had a good luck charm on him? He ended up landing safely in France, at any rate.”
“I see your point, though,” she said after a moment of thought. “All that could have ended much differently and all his mission had accomplished was to drop tons of propaganda over Poland.”
“Precisely.”
“But we did have at least one bombing run with bombs. Freddie told me about it. He said we bombed Hörnum.”
“Yes, and do you know what we did?”
“I believe his phrase was that we ‘showed them what for,’ ” she murmured humorously.
“Oh, we showed them all right. We showed them that some of our navigators are idiots. One of the planes bombed the wrong island! In fact, they went to the wrong bloody country!”
Evelyn’s mouth dropped open. “What?”
“Somehow the navigator managed to guide his pilot to Bornholm.”
“Isn’t that a Danish island?” she asked, her brows knitted together.
He raised an eyebrow, impressed. “Very good. Yes. Most people don’t know that. You remember your geography.”
She grinned. “I’m good at some things,” she replied. “But...Bornholm isn’t even in the North Sea! It’s in the Baltic!”
“I know! That’s what makes it even worse! They went to the wrong island, in the wrong country, and in the wrong sea!”
“Denmark must have been furious!”
“I don’t think any damage was done, not really. They probably hit an empty field somewhere. It’s bloody embarrassing, though.”
Evelyn was silent for a moment, then her lips trembled. He saw it and gave her a mock stern look.
“Are you laughing, ASO Ainsworth?” he demanded.
“You must admit, it is rather funny,” she said, the trembling turning into a chuckle. “They’re finally allowed to drop something other than paper and someone goes and mucks it all up.”
“I suppose we should be grateful it wasn’t the Soviet Union they hit,” he said thoughtfully, his own lips curving. “I don’t imagine that would
