Wings (21 page)

Liddy folded the letter and the gals sat back and imagined life out in civilization and listened to the whip of the fan blades. Joy Lynn noticed the uninterrupted run of tan skin that started from Marina’s hair line and disappeared under her bra and panties. “Uptown, will you explain to me how you have avoided the wonderful sun rings the rest of us are sporting?”

Cross Country flights in open cockpits tanned the women’s skin but only where the sun could shine, so they were patched up like cream and brown quilts, except for Marina.

Louise’s eyes widened and she dropped her jaw in a gaping smile and chuckled. “You’re not?” She looked at Marina.

“Not what?” asked Bet.

“I can’t believe you.” Louise tossed a magazine at Marina.

“What? What?” Bet begged to know.

“The cockpit striptease,” Louise answered.

“Hey, take it off.” Marina taunted. “Well, not everything.” She picked up her bra strap to show the white strip that was hidden underneath. “It’s cooler, and you might as well get some benefit out of those long rides.” Marina snapped the strap to her shoulder.

“Girl, you coulda said somethin’ sooner. Next time I hit the beach I’m gonna look like an Easter egg,” said Joy Lynn.

“Striptease in the cockpit?” Bet still didn’t get it.

The women got to choose
their squadron for their next cross country drill. So, the baymates went out together. Once they were up, they stripped off their shirts and the wind dried the sweat on their skin before it had a chance to drip.

Formation flying and instruments were the skills to hone on these runs. Most of the trainees had little to no experience in either. But the real appeal of these flights was that they refueled at another base before they returned to Avenger. The change of scenery was welcome, especially since the scenery wasn’t crawling with women but with men. It was also an opportunity to leave their zoot suits in their lockers. Flight jackets, general’s pants and white shirts were the required dress for these trips, which made them feel almost feminine in the pit.

Liddy found that formation flying brought out cautiousness in her that she’d never known when she flew. Some gals would get squirrely and she didn’t always trust their skills. So, she tended to be the party pooper in the pack. She liked being up with Louise on these trips, since she was reasonable and a faithful back-up. Louise spotted a group of planes flying toward them and called over the radio to the others, “Company, HPs. Suit up!”

“Who is it?” Liddy asked.

“Looks like a Navy Squadron. Hoping for a peak no doubt,” answered Louise.

Bet saw the planes getting closer and panicked as she wrestled with her shirt that was flying free in the wind. The wind flapped it from her grasp and into the sky. She called frantically to Liddy, “Liddy, I lost my shirt.”

“What?” said Liddy.

“My shirt flew out of the cockpit, it’s gone,” whimpered Bet.

The gals all heard the dilemma over the radio and were laughing.

“Hey, you guys, it’s not funny. What am I going to do?”

“Do you have your flight jacket?” asked Liddy.

“No it’s in the back. What am I going to do?”

“Calm down. It’s okay. When we fly in we’ll get your jacket for you,” Liddy assured Bet.

“What about the Navy boys?” Bet asked.

“You move to the middle and I’ll peel off and play a little follow the leader. Louie, go on ahead and I’ll catch up. Louise will land first and get your jacket for you.”

Liddy fell out of formation and waited for the Navy planes to pull alongside, then peeled off leading the flyboys away from her squad. She picked them up on the radio and called out, “Hello, boys, I’m here to instruct you in dog fighting 101.”

“We’re not here for a lesson.”

“Well you’re gonna get one.”

Liddy dropped down and rolled away from the squad. The Navy boys accepted the challenge and rolled out after her. She was flying topside of one of the flyers and he tried to roll over her. She rolled the other way and gained the upper position.

“So, you like to be on top, hey, Army?”

“Much better view,” Liddy said.

She gave those boys a wild ride that day. The planes tumbled and rolled until Liddy pulled up alongside their commander and called out, “Hate to leave you all alone out here, but I gotta get back on course.”

“Nice flying, Army.” The pilot snapped a salute and peeled away.

Liddy was correcting her course when she grabbed her radio and dialed in her squad, “Avenger 77, I’m headed your way—” Sparks snapped like the fourth of July from underneath the panel. “Dammit.”

Liddy dropped the receiver and it bounced around the floor of the cockpit. When the sparks died down, she reeled the mike in by the cord and then clicked in over and over, but the radio was gone. When she tossed it into the panel out of frustration, she noticed that her instruments were not registering. She tapped and then pounded the dials, but the tags bounced lifeless at the rims.

The sun was sinking
on the horizon, and the wind whipped a screech around the base. Major Trent stood in front of the day’s flight boards, which were cleared off except for Liddy’s name.

Kyle Dixon jogged to the boards and asked, “Hall still isn’t in yet?”

“No. Did you check Hobs?” Trent asked.

“No, not yet.”

“Well, do it now!” commanded Trent.

The mess filled and emptied,
and the buildings darkened as curfew grew near. Trent stood in the doorway of his quarters and watched the lights of the planes up for night training. He searched in between to see one that was flying dark. The plane Liddy was in didn’t have night-fly equipment. If she came in before morning, the other pilots wouldn’t see her, and it would be a scramble in the tower to clear a spot for her.

A trainee had never gone missing since he reported to Avenger. But what was racking him now was more than concern for someone under his command. A weight filled his chest and everything went gray. He spent the night in a chair with a view out the window, and he waited for the phone to ring and feared the moment that it would.

Liddy’s baymates had all been called in to report on their missing squad member. Surely, Liddy would be booted if they told why she had left formation, so they agreed that they would all say that she was gone before any of them had noticed. But they were pretty sure that Major Trent and Captain Charles didn’t believe them. If they did, their story made them all look like a bunch of idiots, but they didn’t care. No one slept; instead, the women lay in their beds worrying. In the dark they listened to the planes buzzing overhead, hoping one of them was Liddy.

“We should have told the Major and Captain Charles the truth,” sobbed Bet. “It might have helped them figure out where she is.”

“It wouldn’t make any difference, Bet. We told them where we were when we saw her last, none of the rest is gonna help them find her.” Louise tried to keep the concern from her voice.

“But maybe they could have tracked down the Navy squadron, and they might know something.” Marina wiped her wrist across her nose.

“What? Call out the whole Navy?” asked Joy Lynn, “Ask if they know what happened to the hot fly girl that was junkin’ around with one of their squadrons? I didn’t get any plane IDs. Did any of you?”

A silence hung in the air. Doubt made his rounds to their beds and told them they had made a big mistake.

“Look, if she comes in, it’ll be better for Liddy that we kept quiet,” said Louise.

“If?” Bet and Marina cried out together.

“When, I mean when,” assured Louise, “Look, she’s fine, I can feel it.”

When morning came,
word had spread across the base that Liddy hadn’t come in and the worst was assumed. Bet couldn’t get out of bed to go to calisthenics or the flight line, and her friends said she was sick to keep her from being pink slipped. It was mid-afternoon when a truck drove through the front gates and Liddy climbed out. Marina came and told Bet, who ran across the base in her nightgown.

Major Trent was on the phone when Liddy burst into his office. Tired and dirty, her body and mind wrung out, she held up a pink slip. “Thanks for the homecoming.”

“Excuse me, sir, I’ll need to call you back.” Trent hung up the phone and stood up behind his desk. “You left your squad. And if you emergency land, you call for a pick-up.”

“Your plane is fine. I landed it clean.”

“This is not about the plane.”

“What’s it about then?”

“It’s about following orders.”

“The electrical went haywire. My radio and instruments went dead. I was in the middle of nowhere by the time I tanked out.” Liddy tossed the pink slip on the desk. “Phones were a little scarce.”

“You should have waited with your plane, Hall, that’s procedure.”

“And I’d still be waiting. I saw a ranch before I found a place to land. I walked and was there by dark, but they didn’t have a phone, but I did get a ride.”

“There have been planes up since last night looking for you. Your plane was located two hours ago, plane and no pilot. A crew has already gone out to retrieve it. You should have waited through the night if you had to.”

“I waited... but then I…What if it had been days before I was found?”

“Staying where you land is the safest procedure for the pilot and the plane. Staying with your squadron would have avoided the situation altogether.” Trent clenched his jaw and stared at her. “You could have been out for this. Why did you leave your squad?”

Liddy knew she couldn’t tell the Major the reason she had left formation, and she couldn’t lie to him. The cockpit striptease would get them all pink slipped or worse, most likely worse. Liddy froze.

“Hall?” Trent waited for Liddy to answer. He wanted her to answer, but she didn’t. “You left your squad. You landed and you didn’t stay with the plane.” His voice and his face were so hard. Maybe it was anger, hurt or disappointment. She couldn’t read it. It never occurred to her that it might be fear. “You will not pick and choose the procedures, regulations or orders you will adhere to. Those are not your planes out there. This is not your playground. This is the Army.”

“Yes, sir,” she said it softly, averting her gaze to the window as she fought back tears.

“Maybe this isn’t the place for you.”

Liddy looked up at him. “What did you say?”

“You heard me.”

Her eyes burned and filled with tears. She lifted her chin and looked straight into his eyes. “Maybe it isn’t.” It certainly wasn’t the place she wanted to be at that moment. She wanted to be anywhere other than Avenger Field. Her heart hurt and fired up with anger, frustration and sadness all at once.

“You’re dismissed, Hall.”

Liddy grabbed the pink slip off the desk and left.

When Liddy entered the bay,
the girls sat somberly on the beds, waiting for the news. She was holding the pink slip and all eyes zeroed in on it. She folded it neatly and tossed it in her locker. “Control yourself, HPs, you’re overwhelming me with your excitement.”

“Liddy, I’m sorry, this was all my fault,” said Bet. “What happened?”

“I lost my radio and instruments. I didn’t know how far I’d flown off course with the Navy boys and then my fuel clocked-out. I’m here. Am I the only one who’s happy about this ending?”

“I need you to stay here, Lid.” Bet sniffled through her raw nostrils.

Liddy sat next to Bet on the bed and wrapped her arm around Bet’s shoulders. “I’m not going anywhere. Pink really isn’t my best color you know.”

“That’s too bad, because you almost have enough of it for a nice dress,” said Joy Lynn.

The issuing of pink slips and washing-out seemed to be happening more and more frequently. Increasing difficulty of the training and the level of exhaustion were a combination that didn’t foster success. The baymates moved to the head of the class at the last graduation, but the weeks ahead looked like months to them.

“Sometimes I think washing-out would be a blessing, and then I’d get some rest.” Marina curled up on the bed.

“Give us rain,” Louise called out to the sky and she and Joy Lynn linked arms and did a rain dance up and down the bay.

“A good storm would ground us, wouldn’t it?” asked Bet.

“Maybe the Fifinella can help us out.” Marina rolled onto her back and opened the student newspaper that was lying next to her, “Says here that the ‘foot high, curled horned little Gremlin that sits on top of the archway to the base has been known to be responsible for all kinds of aid and mischief’.”

Joy Lynn grabbed the paper. “Let me see that.” Joy Lynn continued to read, “‘The little Gremlin has been seen dancing on the wing, swinging on the throttle and known to lock the rudder forward’. Goes on to say, ‘All students must carry used postage stamps to pacify the Jinx.’”

“Used postage? What a crock,” Bet scoffed.

“I don’t know, there’s gals who’ve said they’ve seen them,” Louise teased.

“Definitely better to be safe,” Joy Lynn added.

“Did you know about this?” Bet asked Liddy.