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needed tomorrow.  Certainly I could do with another couple of days to find the mettle of these new pilots.”
    He stuck his finger in the water and nodded his approval.  “They are school boys, sir. They are like the boys in the first fifteen at my school.  They were all told by everyone that they were the brightest and the best and they believed it.  They bullied those not in the team and they were insufferable when they were successful.”
    “You hated them then?” I stepped into the bath which was just the right temperature.
    “At the time I did but then I felt sorry for them.  There is no way that they can live up to the dream they all hold.  I saw the same men at Loos and Ypres. They came back shivering wrecks or didn’t come back at all.  I found myself admiring those who fought back against the nerves and became damned good officers. Beg pardon, sir.”
    “No, Bates I understand.  So you are saying that I should go easy on them?”
    “Oh no sir.  I am saying that they can handle it.  Their egos will be bruised but better a bruised ego than a shattered body. The ones who fail to live up to your standards, well that is life isn’t it sir?  But mark my words sir, more of them will end up like Mr Holt and Mr Carrick and that, in the long run, is a good thing.”
    My philosopher servant left.  I had only ever been to a village school and I had learned what I knew in the cavalry but Bates was right. I could not spare the rod.  It might cost men their lives.
    I was on my way to dinner when Senior Flight Sergeant Lowery button holed me. “Have you got a moment, sir?”
    The Senior Mechanic never bothered me at dinner time and I knew that it was important. “Of course, Raymond.”
    He led me towards the aeroplanes.  They were all neatly parked although there was plenty of space between them in case of air attack. He waved the sentry away and took me to a workbench.
    “When I spoke to the lads they told me about problems with the engines. They all said the same thing.  Engines were misfiring.  So far, it has been irritating rather than dangerous.  I looked at your bus sir, because I know the lads take the best care of that one. The engine seemed fine. I thought it might be the fuel, you know, dirt in it or something like that and then I recalled that we filter it all before we put it in.” He pointed to a metal tank.  “That is your fuel tank sir.  I had it taken out.”
    “A little extreme eh Flight?”
    “I wanted to be sure.  Now you didn’t have much fuel left. You could have only lasted five more minutes in the air so we drained your fuel and then washed it out.” He held up a metal dish. “This is what we found in your tank.”
    There were tiny pieces of metal in the bottom. “Isn’t this normal?”
    “For an old engine and tank?  Probably but yours is brand new.  Mr Carrick has a brand new aeroplane, only been up twice and we found the same in his.”
    “I may be being thick here Flight but explain it to me so that I know exactly what you are saying.”
    “I am saying sir, that we have a saboteur on the base.  Someone is putting pieces of metal in with the fuel.  The further you fly the more chance you have of the metal getting into the engine and making you crash. Today was just such a day.”
    “So Lieutenant Harvey could have crashed because his engine was sabotaged, rather than being shot down.”
    “I think so sir.”
    “Who else knows about this?”
    “No-one sir.  I sent the lads to dinner while I checked it myself.”
    “Keep it that way. I will make sure we have no operations tomorrow. I want every fuel tank taking out and cleaning before we fly again.”
    “With respect sir if you do that you will tip our hand and the saboteur will know we are on to him. We need to find him or them first.”
    “You are quite right.  Then I will see the Colonel and we will devise some way to solve this problem. Thank you Flight.”
    “Sir, this is my squadron too and I will