Out of the Blue (17 page)

Very soon the train was in sight, still some miles ahead. It was a long one, almost the length of the embankment and going very slowly from right to left
ahead of them, suggesting it was prepared for attack. They had to go for it now or not at all. Frank no longer hesitated
over anything. After a quick check that the others were lined up behind, he opened up to 450 mph and took his Tempest down to 50 feet, almost level with
the train. As soon as he was in range he pressed the firing button. His cannon shells kicked up stones and sparks from
the railway, then, gratifyingly, spurts of flame and jets of steam from the engine itself. At the same time the ack-ack lit up, blinding white
flashes running the length of the train. For an instant, no more, Frank saw again the flash of sunlight on the colonel’s
river.

THE END

This story of friendship through fishing is an imagined elaboration of a real incident described by Pierre Clostermann in his memoir,
The Big Show
. Clostermann was a
Frenchman who flew with the RAF during the Second World War, becoming one of the RAF’s top-scoring fighter aces and eventually
France’s most highly decorated citizen. His book is an outstanding account of aerial warfare and should be read
by anyone with an interest in that war.

I have drawn on it and on other accounts by pilots of the period for my attempted evocation of what it was like to fly and fight in those
planes. Naturally, any errors or lapses are entirely my doing. The characters of the colonel, Vanessa and Frank Foucham himself are imaginary,
though the story of Frank’s father and the woman he wanted to marry originates within my own family.