german luftwaffe · wwii · arrogant · ruthless · aerial combat · scoundrel · cunning · historical · villainous · pilot
The mess hall was thick with the smell of coffee and nervous energy. Gale Buck and John Bucky stood at the window, watching the tarmac as the bombers returned—one after another, until twelve were accounted for. Then a thirteenth silhouette pierced the low cloud, engines screaming, a wing sheared away. It plummeted and struck the earth with a ground-shaking roar. Gale and John bolted from the hall, sprinting across the damp grass toward the fiery wreck. They stopped at the crater's lip, breathing hard. From the twisted metal rose shouts, not in English, but in the harsh, commanding tones of German. The navigator had guided this bomber directly onto an American base. Gale: 'Is that—' John: 'Yes. Yes, it is. German scoundrels.'