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But I didn’t tell her – I didn’t have the heart to tell her She didn’t seem to knoas Julie – of course Katharina Habicht would have kept her real identity hidden to avoid co But I just couldn’t do it

Now I aain

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Have heard a car pull up so theyabout getting out of France – which will probably also make me cry – what’s new

Even started off blubbing just listening to the radioto pick ht: ‘After a while, all children tell the truth’ – in French it’s ‘Assez bientôt, tousles enfants disent la vérité’ I am sure they stuck the word ‘vérité’ in there on purpose, but they couldn’t have known it would e Julie wrote – I have told the truth, over and over

The whole routine is so fahts, Lysander wings against the ets colder each tiround’s all frozen solid Dead so round even once – I like to think this is partly down to oods and passengers in just under 15 minutes That’s how it should be done

My Jaunner had already climbed on board and I had one hand on the ladder to follow him up when the pilot yelled down at me, ‘OI, KITTYHAWK! YOU GOING TO FLY US OUT OF HERE?’

Who else but Jamie Beaufort-Stuart – just – who else?

‘Come on, swap seats with me,’ he shouted ‘You flew yourself here, you can fly yourself home’

Can’t believe he made the offer and I can’t believe I took hi Should have been retested after the crash-landing, at least

‘But you didn’t want me to fly OUT in the first place!’ I bawled

‘I orried about you being in France, not worried about your flying! Bad enough one of you was going without losing you BOTH Anyway if we get fired on you’re better at crash-landings than I am –’

‘COURT MARTIAL, they’ll court-martial both of us –’

‘What TOSH, you’re a CIVILIAN! You’ve not been in danger of court martial since you left the WAAFs in 1941 The worst the ATA can do is dis to do it COME UP!’

The engine was idling He had the parking brake on and there was just about rooe of the cockpit – didn’t even have to adjust the seat as we are exactly the sa helmet

I couldn’t bear it I told him

‘I killed her I shot her’

‘What?’

‘It was me I shot Julie’

For aelse thatin the whole world All there was in the world was me in the pilot’s seat of that Lysander and Jae of the cockpit with his hand on the sliding canopy, no noise but the idle roar of the engine, no light anywhere but the three sainst the dials Finally Jamie asked a brief question

‘Did you mean to?’

‘Yes She asked me to – I couldn’t – couldn’t let her down’

After another long Lysander , Kittyhawk! Court martial or not, you have to fly the plane now because I don’t trust e hihtly fro strut to the access ladder at the back I watched him climb into the rear cockpit and after ahimself to my Jamaican friend

FLY THE PLANE, MADDIE

I slid the canopy shut and began to run through the faht checks