tanks."

The pilots who were to be long-range fighters grinned happily; the
others looked their disappointment. The colonel went on giving the
details.

"The long-range ships will deploy and go in under the leadership of
Lieutenant Wilson. He will have detailed evasion orders."

The boys listened to the rest of the briefing impatiently. Stan stayed
after the others left. Colonel Holt went over the 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