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More from fwbrown61-work
Betty Heavy
PAGE 2 OF 2
.
.
© 2002 Fred Brown
.
.
.
............................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................
❱❱❱❱ NOTA BENE: This copy is in an improved, better-readable font, and can only be read on
DARK background screens.
The Enhanced text copy that's readable on cyan screens is here: BETTY HEAVY -- Enhanced text
............................................................................................................................................
Well, whatever it was it were round and with knobbly bits underneath, and it all
glowed this fierce blue.
I suppose these days you'd call it a UFO. We didn't know what to call it, being
pretty much in shock at it.
And fear. One second it weren't there and the next it was. We'd heard the
Germans had come up with some new stuff, V weapons they was supposed to be called.
But a flying saucer?
But it wasn't shooting at us. So whoever it was, it weren't German. We'd have
been gone if it was.
A weird blue light wrapped around Betty and filled the cockpit. It expanded to
the 262. O'Malley shrieked that it was the Rapture. I won't insult his memory, but he
was pretty much a basket case by that point. Wonder why.
And all three of us slowed down right to a stop in mid-air. The scream of the
wind through all the bullet holes died down.
15,000 feet over Germany and we just... stopped dead.
We hung there for a few minutes. Betty's two good Merlins were still running,
the props still turning, but we weren't moving.
Then the engines shut down. The 262's remaining engine stopped howling.
Total silence.
Gordie pounced on the engine controls and swore by every saint in the book. He
might as well have been spitting at the board. Betty refused to turn over. Out the
canopy could see the 262 pilot pounding on his controls having the same problem.
Whoever was in that saucer, they didn't want us going anywhere. Except down,
that is, because that's what started happening. I didn't need our altimeter to see the
cloud tops getting closer and closer.
Closer and closer, then we were in the clouds. Rain and wind started pelting us,
and even some hail, but we just rode steadily and smoothly down, elevator like.
The blue glow was eerie as hell in those clouds. A blast of lightning struck the
saucer, deafening us with the thunderclap.
The saucer didn't even notice it. Down and down we went.
We came out of the clouds about a thousand feet over some farmland. The
saucer seemed to hesitate for a second, then drifted us over a field of potatoes.
And then it hit me: That saucer had saved all our lives. Surely we all would have
died, lost and heading out over the North Sea, then ditched in the drink and
drowned.
Maybe the 262 pilot might have made it, but I wouldn't have placed bets. Not
that badly shot up.
No boy, that wouldn't have worked. You parachute out of a plane at night, you
might as well write your will on the way down. Not much else to do until you land on
God-knows-what and smash every bone in your body.
Speaking of landing, I hollered to everybody to hang on. We were almost to the
ground and didn't seem to be slowing down. Off to our left, I could see the 262 pilot
panicking and trying to get out of his cockpit.
Shouldna' worried so. If the saucer went to the trouble to get us through the
storm, I should have known it wasn't just to smash us into a German potato field.
We stopped about three feet off the ground. Then the saucer lowered us all
down as softly as any momma putting her babies to bed and licking their noses good
night. All that was missing was the bedtime story.
We was all too stunned to move for a moment, but the 262 pilot wasn't. He
scrambled out, fell off a wing, and started running.
Good thing too, because the 262 was leaking fuel. As I watched, something
sparked and a curl of flame rose up from under the blasted engine.
That was enough to snap me out of it. Betty still had almost half a load of
aviation gasoline in her tanks, and if she caught fire we could all still be toast,
saucer or no.
But then a funny red ray lanced down from the saucer, which was still in the air
over us. It cut through the blue glow that was still around us, hit the 262, and
played over it for a second.
And the fire went out. Just like that. I saw the 262 pilot look over his shoulder
and stumble to a stop in amazement.
Had to admit, that was a right handy trick, that red ray. So at least we weren't
going to burn to death. We was still stuck in a potato field in the middle of Germany.
And you better believe that German civilians weren't fond of us RAF types. Our
only safety lay in getting picked up by a military patrol or somebody.
We all clambered out of Betty and just about kissed the dirt. Gordie and I got
Carter out and laid him on the ground. He was still alive, but wouldn't be for long.
O'Malley and Thompson helped Kenny out, then Gordie and I went back in for
Brendan in the tail.
I'm not going to talk about that, son. Just... don't ask me to, that's all.
I said no!! Brendan was dead, a ruined, shot-up mess that used to be alive!!
Wasn't some damned slasher movie scene, you little ghoul, this was my friend!!
...Sorry.
I'm sorry, boy, didn't mean to shout at you. Here, have some tissue, didn't mean
to make you cry. You didn't let me get to the miracle that happened next.
The 262 pilot came back. He took off his helmet and we got a big surprise as 'he'
shook out his long blonde hair. Weren't a he after all but a she!
And a pretty one too, a beautiful wolfess. Couldn't have been any older than any
of us. The Luftwaffe didn't have many pilots left by that point in the war, so the few
women pilots they had got a chance to fight.
Which you'll never read about in the history books, for some reason, but then
like all of us Helga's pleased to let the past stay in the past.
Should have seen Mackie blush like he was on fire when he saw who he'd been
shooting at. Furs can't really blush but you can usually tell.
We all stared at each other for a few moments. Then, as one, we looked up at
the saucer.
That's when this sound started, a low humming, throbbing drone. A green ray
came out of one of the knobbly bits and landed on Brendan's body. It grew stronger
and brighter, and the sound got louder, and then it was so bright we couldn't see
Brendan at all.
It shut off.
Brendan coughed once and sat up straight.
The green ray switched on again, this time on Carter, but not as bright. I could
see his head wound disappear. The ray moved over to Kenny for a moment, then
switched off.
Carter stirred, groaning. And he sat up too. Kenny looked down at his whole leg
and fainted dead away. O'Malley hit the ground promptly after that for about the
same reason.
The saucer had healed them all.
And with that, the saucer just started rising up into the air, the blue glow of it's
engines fading away into the night.
It entered the clouds.
And then it were gone like it had never been. I've wondered a lot if they were
military too.
The rest of the story don't matter much. The German 262 pilot helped us find
some friendly farmers, then decided to come with us as we made our way to France.
The Underground got us back to Britain a few months later.
We all just lied through our teeth or fangs and said how we'd made it down
safe. Pretty Helga weren't a pilot but just a farm girl who wanted out of
Germany. The war ended soon enough after that.
That's the story, m'boy. Believe it or not, you choose. But I'm telling you there's
somebody else out there, and maybe they care a little bit about us. At least they
cared enough that night, anyway.
Ah, an' now here's your lovely Grandma with some milk and cookies for you and
another Guinness for me. Thirsty work, storytelling.
Bitte, Helga. Have I told you today how much I love you?
I did? Ah, well then.
Sept 11/2014
>>>> End Note:
Biggest liberty is simply that Lancasters didn't have copilots. The flight
engineer sat beside the pilot, and his controls couldn't fly the plane.
That said, this story invented itself with a copilot main character, so a
copilot is what we've got.
It's also a honking stretch that a female German pilot would get
anywhere near a combat role (or any military flying), much less night
fighting in a ME-262 (which those planes never did, I think). That said,
the ME-262 is one of the coolest planes ever made. It insisted on
being in the story.
Notice also that despite all this being a glaring error, it pays for itself by
adding a little Woof! to the ending. No pun intended. :- )
<<< PAGE 1 OF 2
PAGE 2 OF 2
.
.
© 2002 Fred Brown
.
.
.
............................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................
❱❱❱❱ NOTA BENE: This copy is in an improved, better-readable font, and can only be read on
DARK background screens.
The Enhanced text copy that's readable on cyan screens is here: BETTY HEAVY -- Enhanced text
............................................................................................................................................
Well, whatever it was it were round and with knobbly bits underneath, and it all
glowed this fierce blue.
I suppose these days you'd call it a UFO. We didn't know what to call it, being
pretty much in shock at it.
And fear. One second it weren't there and the next it was. We'd heard the
Germans had come up with some new stuff, V weapons they was supposed to be called.
But a flying saucer?
But it wasn't shooting at us. So whoever it was, it weren't German. We'd have
been gone if it was.
A weird blue light wrapped around Betty and filled the cockpit. It expanded to
the 262. O'Malley shrieked that it was the Rapture. I won't insult his memory, but he
was pretty much a basket case by that point. Wonder why.
And all three of us slowed down right to a stop in mid-air. The scream of the
wind through all the bullet holes died down.
15,000 feet over Germany and we just... stopped dead.
We hung there for a few minutes. Betty's two good Merlins were still running,
the props still turning, but we weren't moving.
Then the engines shut down. The 262's remaining engine stopped howling.
Total silence.
Gordie pounced on the engine controls and swore by every saint in the book. He
might as well have been spitting at the board. Betty refused to turn over. Out the
canopy could see the 262 pilot pounding on his controls having the same problem.
Whoever was in that saucer, they didn't want us going anywhere. Except down,
that is, because that's what started happening. I didn't need our altimeter to see the
cloud tops getting closer and closer.
Closer and closer, then we were in the clouds. Rain and wind started pelting us,
and even some hail, but we just rode steadily and smoothly down, elevator like.
The blue glow was eerie as hell in those clouds. A blast of lightning struck the
saucer, deafening us with the thunderclap.
The saucer didn't even notice it. Down and down we went.
We came out of the clouds about a thousand feet over some farmland. The
saucer seemed to hesitate for a second, then drifted us over a field of potatoes.
And then it hit me: That saucer had saved all our lives. Surely we all would have
died, lost and heading out over the North Sea, then ditched in the drink and
drowned.
Maybe the 262 pilot might have made it, but I wouldn't have placed bets. Not
that badly shot up.
No boy, that wouldn't have worked. You parachute out of a plane at night, you
might as well write your will on the way down. Not much else to do until you land on
God-knows-what and smash every bone in your body.
Speaking of landing, I hollered to everybody to hang on. We were almost to the
ground and didn't seem to be slowing down. Off to our left, I could see the 262 pilot
panicking and trying to get out of his cockpit.
Shouldna' worried so. If the saucer went to the trouble to get us through the
storm, I should have known it wasn't just to smash us into a German potato field.
We stopped about three feet off the ground. Then the saucer lowered us all
down as softly as any momma putting her babies to bed and licking their noses good
night. All that was missing was the bedtime story.
We was all too stunned to move for a moment, but the 262 pilot wasn't. He
scrambled out, fell off a wing, and started running.
Good thing too, because the 262 was leaking fuel. As I watched, something
sparked and a curl of flame rose up from under the blasted engine.
That was enough to snap me out of it. Betty still had almost half a load of
aviation gasoline in her tanks, and if she caught fire we could all still be toast,
saucer or no.
But then a funny red ray lanced down from the saucer, which was still in the air
over us. It cut through the blue glow that was still around us, hit the 262, and
played over it for a second.
And the fire went out. Just like that. I saw the 262 pilot look over his shoulder
and stumble to a stop in amazement.
Had to admit, that was a right handy trick, that red ray. So at least we weren't
going to burn to death. We was still stuck in a potato field in the middle of Germany.
And you better believe that German civilians weren't fond of us RAF types. Our
only safety lay in getting picked up by a military patrol or somebody.
We all clambered out of Betty and just about kissed the dirt. Gordie and I got
Carter out and laid him on the ground. He was still alive, but wouldn't be for long.
O'Malley and Thompson helped Kenny out, then Gordie and I went back in for
Brendan in the tail.
I'm not going to talk about that, son. Just... don't ask me to, that's all.
I said no!! Brendan was dead, a ruined, shot-up mess that used to be alive!!
Wasn't some damned slasher movie scene, you little ghoul, this was my friend!!
...Sorry.
I'm sorry, boy, didn't mean to shout at you. Here, have some tissue, didn't mean
to make you cry. You didn't let me get to the miracle that happened next.
The 262 pilot came back. He took off his helmet and we got a big surprise as 'he'
shook out his long blonde hair. Weren't a he after all but a she!
And a pretty one too, a beautiful wolfess. Couldn't have been any older than any
of us. The Luftwaffe didn't have many pilots left by that point in the war, so the few
women pilots they had got a chance to fight.
Which you'll never read about in the history books, for some reason, but then
like all of us Helga's pleased to let the past stay in the past.
Should have seen Mackie blush like he was on fire when he saw who he'd been
shooting at. Furs can't really blush but you can usually tell.
We all stared at each other for a few moments. Then, as one, we looked up at
the saucer.
That's when this sound started, a low humming, throbbing drone. A green ray
came out of one of the knobbly bits and landed on Brendan's body. It grew stronger
and brighter, and the sound got louder, and then it was so bright we couldn't see
Brendan at all.
It shut off.
Brendan coughed once and sat up straight.
The green ray switched on again, this time on Carter, but not as bright. I could
see his head wound disappear. The ray moved over to Kenny for a moment, then
switched off.
Carter stirred, groaning. And he sat up too. Kenny looked down at his whole leg
and fainted dead away. O'Malley hit the ground promptly after that for about the
same reason.
The saucer had healed them all.
And with that, the saucer just started rising up into the air, the blue glow of it's
engines fading away into the night.
It entered the clouds.
And then it were gone like it had never been. I've wondered a lot if they were
military too.
The rest of the story don't matter much. The German 262 pilot helped us find
some friendly farmers, then decided to come with us as we made our way to France.
The Underground got us back to Britain a few months later.
We all just lied through our teeth or fangs and said how we'd made it down
safe. Pretty Helga weren't a pilot but just a farm girl who wanted out of
Germany. The war ended soon enough after that.
That's the story, m'boy. Believe it or not, you choose. But I'm telling you there's
somebody else out there, and maybe they care a little bit about us. At least they
cared enough that night, anyway.
Ah, an' now here's your lovely Grandma with some milk and cookies for you and
another Guinness for me. Thirsty work, storytelling.
Bitte, Helga. Have I told you today how much I love you?
I did? Ah, well then.
Sept 11/2014
>>>> End Note:
Biggest liberty is simply that Lancasters didn't have copilots. The flight
engineer sat beside the pilot, and his controls couldn't fly the plane.
That said, this story invented itself with a copilot main character, so a
copilot is what we've got.
It's also a honking stretch that a female German pilot would get
anywhere near a combat role (or any military flying), much less night
fighting in a ME-262 (which those planes never did, I think). That said,
the ME-262 is one of the coolest planes ever made. It insisted on
being in the story.
Notice also that despite all this being a glaring error, it pays for itself by
adding a little Woof! to the ending. No pun intended. :- )
<<< PAGE 1 OF 2
Category All / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 150 x 150px
File Size 1.8 kB
Comments