11th December 1941

"I already know this sir!"

"Read on you idiot!"

The Lancaster uses four, Rolls Royce Merlin engines two hundred and eighty two miles per hour carry a pay load of sixty three thousand pounds she can travel a distance of two thousand miles. Robin replaced the piece of paper into the folder and back into the envelope finally passing it back to the Squadron Leader, Robin simply asked,

"When do I get them?"

The boss took the envelope and stored it back into his desk,

"Your's is downstairs now, the rest will be here within the week... happy?"

The expression on Robin face lit up, this was enough, it made the boss smile, he then looked seriously at the commander and asked,

"Well does that alleviate any problems, Commander?"

"Sorry sir, but no it doesn't!"

"What does that bloody vampire want Robin... an armed guard all the way there for Christ's sake?"

Robin squirmed a little, but then said,

"No easy way to say this sir... so I'm just gonna say it out aloud... he want's picking up after the job has been completed sir!!!"

Robin prepared himself for a blast from the Squadron Leader, but he was neither relieved nor disappointed when there wasn't even any bad language. The boss sat there looking into nothing, he then finally asked,

"Alright Robin, what did you say as a response?"

Now Robin braced himself,

"I told him the truth Squadron Leader... I haven't any idea where two planes could safely stop and wait for his return, but I also explained to him that I'd address the subject with you when I got back!!!"

Then came a single word, the boss just said,

"Fuck!!!"

Robin then prepared himself once again,

"I've arranged got the lead vampire to come here tomorrow evening sir, he wants to see the plane!!!"

"Fuck"

Was all the Squadron Leader said, but his not shouting it kinda effect Robin more,

"Do you have a raid tomorrow night Robin?"

"No sir, I'm on a week's leave!"

The boss raised an eyebrow then he said,

"We'll come back tomorrow and have a look over the new craft and then afterwards, you and I will see if the impossible can be made possible!"

A little unsure about the Squadron Leader's remark, Robin stood and simply said,

"Yes sir, can I bring my team?"

"Well, they're gonna be flying it so yes."

Robin saluted the Squadron Leader, he then turned sharply and left the office shutting the door behind.

Once out of the meeting Robin walked to the flight officers mess where Tommy was sitting, beer in hand waiting for Robin's arrival. First thing Robin did when he arrived was walk up to the bar, he said hello and had brief chats with fellow airmen, but once he had his two pints Robin walked up and sat opposite Tommy,

"Here your go, I did say first round was on me!!!"

"Well, I wasn't gonna sit in here without a drink commander... thanks all the same!"

"Okay... sorry..."

Robin paused to take a breath and work out what to say next, but after swallowing a mouthful of beer he said rather quietly,

"We're going after this one..."

Tommy started to pull a face, but before he could verbalise his protest Robin cut him short,

"We need to get the team here by zero nine hundred hours..."

"What on earth for?"

Robin chuckled to himself, but then he held his hand up and said,

"We're getting a new kite, it's in the hanger at the moment, the Squadron Leader wants us to look her over in the morning, all of us!!!"

This sudden announcement sparked Tommy's interest,

"Okay what's it like?"

"I've just said the Squadron Leader wants to look her over together in the morning Tom, that I think means I've not seen her yet, don't you think?"

Tommy reluctantly nodded his head and said,

"Sorry boss, I just got a little excited then... I pray it's more dependable than the Manchester?"

Robin smiled and said,

"Don't worry I am too, all I know is it's four instead of two, and instead of Rolls Royce Vulture's, their Rolls Royce Merlin's".

"Will we fly her tomorrow?"

"Yeah, hahaha better had... okay let's drink up,

call the others and let them know!"

Luckily, the crew shared quarters so it was simply a matter of telling each that they'd to be at the airfield by zero eight hundred hours in order to make sure everyone was kitted up and ready for the Squadron Leader at nine.

Robin did have to make a single call, to Jane and apologise for his not going over to her place for when the pub closed its doors, Jane ever used to the let down just informed Robin he'd have to make it up to her sometime. This made Robin smile because he realised that most partners would have lost it, being let down with no warning and with no excuse, Robin realised it was the war, but at the same time Jane was a very special lady who he should never let go.

Once in bed Robin pulled the brown envelope out of his briefcase, the boss had given it to him after putting it away, Robin settled down to read all he could about the new plane, the four Merlin Engines, as he read, he noted that although the crew numbers were the same, some of the jobs varied from the Manchester to the Lancaster, Robin hoped that wouldn't mean any crew changes, the seven Robin was the commander over had been together since this war had kicked off those two years previously and during the time together with the different bombing raids they'd been ordered on they'd grown close together, almost always knew what the team member next to you, would react under any given situation.

After finishing the report Robin returned it to the envelope and pushed it into his briefcase before locking it. Once secured Robin turned his bedside reading lamp off, he smiled remembering some of the very comical anticks members of the team had acted at one time of another, a lot had been to release the built up tension resulting from the frustration caused by the many different let downs by the Rolls Royce vulture engines, they'd only used the Manchester for a little longer than seven months now, but with all the troubles they'd had it seem a whole lot longer. Robin just laid back in his bed and hoped that Avro had conquered the problems finally by changing the engines and connections.

The following morning sharp on zero eight fifty the team stood outside the main hanger, "Robin Mathews, pilot and commander, Tommy Young, Fighting controller then Keith Jones, Navigator, Brian Moore, Bomb aimer, Joseph Davidson, Communications officer and finally Shawn Williams and Peter Small, the two gun operators,

"What time is the boss due Robin?"

Robin smiled he knew that out of all the team Brian would be the one concerned with time keeping,

"He said zero nine hundred hours, and Brian he's got five minutes yet, but remember he is the boss... right?"

"So why are we here today, Commander, what's so special?"

"Well Joseph as soon as I know, your know... alright?"

Joseph was about to come out with some sly remark, when the side door to the hanger opened up, Robin looked and saw who was at the door,

"Attention!!!"

All seven young men moved to attention perfectly together, then Robin turned to the Squadron Leader, jumping to attention himself he gave a crisp clean respectful salute, to which the Squadron Leader returned,

"Stand easy men..."

Seeing all seven relax a little he then continued,

"First off, thank you for being here promptly..."

After the Squadron Leader finished his sentence the main entrance to the hanger creaked and jarred a couple of times and then the main doors were pushed open by the same ground crew who'd been working on Robin's Avro Manchester, Both the Squadron Leader and commander watched the expressions of the crew change as the new Avro Lancaster came into view.

Once the main doors were half open, the Squadron Leader smiling all the time stepped in front of the crew,

"Yes, she's your new kite... before you go in, you'll see she has four instead of two props and this time the vultures has been dumped... now you've Rolls Royce Merlin Engines."

The crew followed the Squadron Leader as he walked them about the outside of the plane,

"Because of the extra two engines she's twelve feet wider than the Manchester, she is also seventeen miles faster... for defence she has instead of two turrets the Lancaster has three, the front and rear hold four three o' three and the central upper has two three o' three machine guns."

The Squadron Leader completed what he'd planned on saying, he then turned towards the head ground grew and asked,

"Is she ready Specialist?"

The head ground engineer jumped and saluted, he then said,

"Yes sir, she just needs being brought out of the hanger!!!"

The Squadron Leader then smiled as he turned towards Robin,

"Time to run her through her passes commander?"

Robin jumped to attention.

"Yes sir... thank you sir!!!"

As Robin finished his answer he gave another crisp salute, the Squadron leader returned promptly, turning towards the main office, the boss said loud enough for all to hear,

"Have fun gentlemen!!!"

Robin looked at his fellow crew members,

"Okay, let's see what she's got inside?"

Robin being the pilot and commander got himself into the front left seat, no co-pilot in a Lancaster, Tommy sat on a folded chair just behind the commander, behind the pilot of flight engineer sat Keith, he was on the left side of the plane, Brian layed beneath the front gun turret, he'd take control of the plane over its target. Peter sat above Keith controlling the front four guns. Joseph took up position facing forwards, next to Keith, the table Keith used to plot the mapped routs, Joseph also used during his radio messaging home, fellow planes or team members, poor old Shawn being the 'tail end gunner' his position was way back in the depths of the plane, this left Peter to climb down into the lower turret, looked like a bubble beneath the main fuselage.

After everybody had taken up their position, they each attached themselves to the internal communication system to let Robin know all was good to go!

The craft had already been pulled out of the hanger and on to the main runway,

"L1 to control, permission to take off please?"

The control tower was silent for a minute, Tommy who was just behind Robin spoke into his mike,

"Commander, the control tower probably hasn't heard the code L1 before?"

Robin sat back in his chair, after a brief moment he nodded then said,

"Control L1 has just been thought up by me, so Squadron 67 asking for permission to join the take-off please?"

Almost straight away, over the radio connection Robin heard,

"Squadron 67, you are clear to run on the main runway!"

Over the planes intercom Robin spoke,

"Okay lads, is everybody fit to take off?"

Over the following few seconds, he received the Go message from everybody on the plane,

"Good... control Squadron 67 igniting the engines to take off!"

The pre-flight checks and routines had already been done as a matter of voluntary compulsion.

Slowly engine one was ignited and Robin watched the far left prop come to life, then steadily the commander repeated his actions igniting all four beats, the power from the pull of both wings amazed Robin, he gently pushed the throttle forward... slowly the plane began to move. To see the plane, one might be amazed that something so big and heavy be actually able to leave the ground of the earth and beat the gravitational pull to enable to fly for as many hours and cover as many miles as the plane did.

Commander Robin Mathews didn't have any doubts once all four propellors were running,

"Squadron 67 to control, permission to take off please?"

"Control to Squadron 67, you have permission to take off... good luck commander!!!"

As soon as Robin heard the permission,

"Ready Flight?"

Tommy smiled to himself, 'even being in control of the plane and everybody within the new lady, he still hadn't lost his humanity,

"Yes boss, let's see what this new girl can do!"

With that the commander pushed the levers forward applying power to all four engines, the take-off was nice and easy going, once Robin reached a height of five thousand feet, he came over the intercom,

"let's see what she's got!!!"

For the following thirty to forty-five minutes, he ran the plane through all manner of manoeuvres to see how it reacted... empty, because with a full bombload things could and would be drastically different.

Once the plane was back home, the crew disembarked, the commander walked into the hanger to locate the main engineer who'd be in charge of his plane.

Once in the hanger Robin spied the group with Stewart Smith chatting together obviously on an unofficial five minute sit down,

"Hey Stu, can I have a word?"

The lead engineer looked up and smiled, jumping to his feet he replied,

"Of course, commander, what do you need?"

"Walk with me, will you?"

"Yes sir!"

As the two men left the hanger and proceeded in the direction of the new plane, Robin began his story,

"Stu this is gonna sound quite fantastic, but honestly it's the truth... on the twelve of December I am flying some people as a bomb load..."

Stu, stopped mid step, he looked at Robin and asked,

"You're doing what in December, and you say the Squadron Leader knows and has agreed to what?"

"I am sorry Stu, but yes, the boss knows and has backed the idea... I am carrying people in the plane from here to Berlin on the twelfth, but I'm afraid I can't tell you anymore!"

"Okayyyyyyy!"

Replied Stu, he understood the need to know basis, but he had to ask,

"So, what do you need to know from me now sir?"

Robin stepped closer to the engineer and asked rather quietly,

"I am going to be carrying up to fifteen adults, do you think I'm gonna need two, or will just the one plane to cope with that many, along with the full plane team, full loads of fuel and ammunition?"

Stewart looked straight at the commander with a blank look, after a moment or three he answered,

"I'll have to work it out, but if you were using the Manchester's I'd say you'd probably need up to three, but looking at the Lancaster... can I get back to you?"

Even though Robin had expected the possible delay, it still was a little orkward so he answered the engineer,

"Okay Stu, but I've got the lead hand of those we're carrying coming for a visit tomorrow night... at least then I'll be able to say how many are you go... as Stewart, once again nobody to know of see anything about this... I realise you're bound to already know that, but I'm just covering all my issues, okay?"

Stewart smiled, instead of replying he simply nodded his head, then as the two continued onto the Lancaster Stewart asked,

"What do you think Robin, is she better than the Manchester?"

Robin smiled and then replied,

"Well after only one flight... hands down she's on a totally different level than the Manchester was even when it was at its best, the Lancaster blew it away!!!"

The two men nodded Robin then said,

"I'll chat again later about this and I'll give you the final number probably in a couple of days!"

"That's great sir, I'll hopefully have worked it out at least by the time you tell me the final number."

With this conversation completed the two men walked back to their placement to continue what each had been doing before the interruption.

That evening Robin and Tommy sat together talking about the lead Vampires visit the following night,

"Will he be coming in his own transport?"

"I haven't a clue."

"Okay, do you think he'll want me to pick him up?"

Again, Robin shook his head with,

"No, but I did say I needed him to come here, I didn't say I'd pick him up..."

Robin took a breath, he then finished his sentence with,

"I imagine he'll arrive as vampire's are expected to arrive."

Tommy nodded his head in reluctant agreement,

"D'you think we should lite a fire on the office roof so he knows where to land?"

"That's a good idea Tom, but it'll have to be a small one because you don't know who else might be flying around the area... I know I'll get the fire going and you Tom can wait at the entrance until he arrives!"

Again, Tommy reluctantly nodded, he then asked,

"Are we still going with the Manchester's or will the Lancaster be available to use?"

Robin smiled,

"Again, I am waiting for conformation on either, but after the flight earlier I'm opting for the Lanc's... but once again I'll get back to you!"

"But, didn't the boss say that plane was ours to use now, replacing the Manchester?"

"Yes, he did, I also asked Stu to work out whether or not if we use the Lancaster if we'll need more than one plane!"

Tommy smiled at this and then added,

"Have you seen that bay, it's huge compared to the Manchester, the guests could fly sitting in armchairs and we'd still have room for all of them!!!"

Suddenly there was a knock on Robin's door,

"Enter please!!!"

The commander sat back to welcome whoever had taken the time to pay him a visit, Tommy moved to the window so as not to interrupt whatever occurred,

"Hello Private... how may I assist you?"

"Em Commander the Squadron Leader has asked me to come and ask you to meet with him in his office sir?"

Robin turned toward Tommy, they exchanged looks,

"Thank you private, but the Squadron Leader does remember my team is presently on leave, doesn't he?"

"I'm sorry sir I haven't any idea about that, he just sent me to ask you to come, sir!!!"

The commander nodded his head,

"Okay private, if you'd please inform the Squadron Leader I'll be there in a few minutes?"

"Sir!"

The private spun about and left his office. Robin looked once again at Tommy,

"Any idea's what he wants Tom?"

"Haven't a clue Rob' but unless you go you won't find out!"

"Ok, catch you in a while!"

Tommy left the office to return to his room and Robin locked the office door and began to walk to see the Squadron Leader,

"Enter!!!"

Robin opened the Squadron leaders office door and walked in,

"You wanted to see me sir?"

The Squadron Leader looked up from his chair, he smiled.

"How are we coming along with the planned visit Robin?"

Although Robin knew the Squadron Leader would have to be appraised of the plans, this sudden request took him by surprise,

"Erm... sorry Sir, I am afraid I don't quite understand the meaning of your question!!!"

"When are your friends due to pay us a visit commander?"

"Oh, sorry sir... tonight, the Flight Sargent will be waiting at the entrance, while I'll be waiting on the roof sir, just in case the lead vampire decides to arrive by air sir!"

The Squadron Leader nodded his head, he then mutted to himself,

"Err what kite would you prefer to use for you journey, do I need to ask this obvious question?"

Robin smiled, this question had just made his answer easier to address,

"The Lancaster sir... I already know that the Manchester can't be trusted sir, I mean, yes, I've performed missions successfully in the Manchester, but I've never been sure I'd even get to my destination, that doesn't cover the possibility of enemy interaction sir, the Manchester is like playing Russian roulette."

The Squadron Leader sat and patiently listened to the commander reasoning against the Manchester, even though he already knew about the many let downs,

"If we go with the Lancaster sir, I hopefully will only need the single kite, the bomb carriage is plenty big enough, it's only drawback for the vampires is I won't be able to land and wait for them... I could climb and fly around Berlin for a time, but we know how difficult that might be, and this includes the spots more than fighters at the moment sir."

After listening to everything the Squadron Leader climbed from his seat, then whilst looking out the window he said,

"Commander Mathews stop... please, I'd already decided on you using the Lancaster, does this lead vampire know about not being able to land?"