plan with him, then Stan hurried out to get his group together. Sim Jones met him as he entered the flight room. He gave Stan a cold look.

"Did you engineer this, Wilson?" he asked.

"I did not ask to be put in command, if that's what you mean," Stan answered.

"You act like you thought you had to take over here," Sim said and his eyes blazed.

"Wilson has forgotten more about flyin' than you'll ever know," O'Malley cut in. "And ye better remember that."

"Easy, now. This is a teamwork job," Stan said. "Your orders are to cover our long-range ships. They'll be heavy and gas logged. My planes have to get to use all of that extra gas, Sim. What we're doing is trying to break the jinx on the fighters."

"Yeah? It smells bad to me. I think you're trying to get yourself an extra bar on your shoulder."

Stan's lips pulled into a straight line. "I don't care what you think of me, personally, but you better cover my flight, and cover it right."

The other fliers were staring at the two officers. They had worked under Sim Jones a long time. Stan was a newcomer the same as Colonel Holt; both had seen much service in other theaters of war. Stan sensed that they were siding with Sim. He turned away and began getting into his outfit. O'Malley was beside him.

"That bird may try something," O'Malley said out of the side of his mouth.

"We sure slipped up when we didn't let him tell this plan to the colonel," Stan said sourly.

The boys sloshed out on the field. Stan looked over the dim outlines of the planes. He would have six ships in his penetration flight. His boys had been carefully instructed. They were to break away and appear to leave with the other fighters, then loop up and over and come in on the enemy from out of the sun when he dived down after the bombers.

One by one the Thunderbolts slipped into the raw morning darkness. Stan eased his ship off the ground and up into the sky. He dropped into place in Sim's flight along with O'Malley. They were separated by one ship. The Thunderbolts carrying extra weight were spotted so they could be covered by the others.

Soon they picked up the Forts and Libs and were headed across the channel toward 

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