Handle the wheel....

“Dutertre!”

“... t’n?”

“Something’s wrong with the inter-com. I can’t hear you. Check your contacts.”

“I can ... you ... ctly.”

“Shake it up! Can you still hear me?”

Dutertre’s voice came through clearly.

“Hear you perfectly, Captain.”

“Good! Dutertre, the confounded controls are frozen again. The wheel is stiff and the rudder is stuck fast.”

“That’s great! What altitude?”

“Thirty-two thousand.”

“Temperature?”

“Fifty-five below zero. How’s your oxygen?”

“Coming fine.”

“Gunner! How’s your oxygen?”

No answer.

“Hi! Gunner!”

No answer.

“Do you hear the gunner, Dutertre?”

“No.”

“Call him.”

“Gunner! Gunner!”

No answer.

“He must have passed out, Captain. We shall have to dive.”

I didn’t want to dive unless I had to. The gunner might have dropped off to sleep. I shook up the plane as roughly as I could.

“Captain, sir?”

“That you, gunner?”

“I ... er ... yes, sir.”

“Not sure it’s you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Why the devil didn’t you answer before?”

“I had pulled the plug, sir. I was testing the radio.”

“You’re a bloody fool! Do you think you’re alone in this plane? I was just about to dive. I thought you were dead.”

“Er ... no, sir.”

“I’ll take your word for it. But don’t play that trick on me again. Damn it! Let me know before you cut.”

“Sorry, sir. I will. I’ll let you know, sir.”

Had his oxygen flow stopped working, he wouldn’t have known it. The human body receives no warning. A vague swooning comes over you. In a few seconds you have fainted. In a few minutes you are dead. The flow has constantly to be tested—particularly by the pilot. I pinched my tube lightly a few times and felt the warm life-bringing puffs blow round my nose.

 

It came to this, that I was working at my trade. All that I felt was the physical pleasure of going through gestures that meant something and were sufficient unto themselves. I was conscious neither of great danger (it had been different while I was dressing) nor of performing a great duty. At this moment the battle between the Nazi and the Occident was reduced to the scale of my job, of my manipulation of certain switches, levers, taps. This was as it should be.