Sparky Ames of the Ferry Command

After a hasty breakfast she begged a ride out to the airfield. It was a fairly large airdrome. The runways were neither long nor numerous but back among the trees cement had bee...

As she left the cool shade of that porch, Mary was thinking of just two things, her reunion with the men of the big bomber flight and their plans for the immediate future.

“It certainly is! And by our own people. This is one ship our enemies will never take apart piece by piece, nor its cargo either. In case of a crash, it will be torn to ribbons.”

Working together like the well-trained team that they were, they threw on a switch here to release it, then snapped on another there, only to reach for one more switch. Mary nod...

Oddly enough, as Mary set the big plane climbing she recalled Sparky’s words, “You are with me to the journey’s end.” Was this to be the journey’s end? One thing was sure. Durin...

“You didn’t think it was I? I don’t wonder at that. I would have told you I was to be in it, but I was afraid it would make you nervous.”

“This is a small plane alongside yours,” he said. “We had to break up some of the boxes of quinine and store the goods in the wings, but it’s all there.

“Will you stop interrupting me?” he stormed. “How do I know what it is? That’s a military secret. All I know is that China needs all the help we can bring her, every bit! And th...

At that he jumped from the log on which he had been sitting to kick at their half-burned-out campfire until the coals glowed red again. Then, gathering up an armful of dry-as-ti...

“Papyrus,” he said softly, “like our paper of today, has caused a lot of trouble in the world. Today a printing press rattles and bangs for an hour or two and not many weeks lat...

In the meantime, with a borrowed co-pilot, Sparky had made his way to a hidden airbase at the foot of the mountains. Since the co-pilot had made the flight several times before...

That night, lying on a cot in a tent shared with three Red Cross nurses, Mary did not fall asleep at once. The day had been a tremendous one. Much that war means had come crashi...

“I tried to tell him, sir, that it was not right that he should come in,” the polite waiter apologized to the Colonel, Mary’s father. “I said it is not convenient, it is not all...

The air above the Brazilian jungles along the dark waters of the Rio Branco in northern Brazil was full of sound. The roar and thunder of many motors beat down upon the sea of w...

“Not necessarily. Motors have caught fire many times without tampering. Your motor is set on springs. That’s to prevent vibration. Because of this your fuel and oil must come th...

Reluctantly she obeyed. Having wrapped herself in the eiderdown robe, she fell fast asleep. But not for long. She awoke with a start from a disturbing dream to find an eerie lig...

“Right again. That may seem like using your plane as a decoy. Perhaps it is, in a way. But we’re guarding the airways and we must get those flying rats. Two of our finest boys,...

“If there are mountains about it’s always best to climb.” Sparky set his plane to reach higher altitudes. When at last he felt the push of strong winds behind him he said:

It was true. Warnings of an approaching storm had sent the big bomber squadron roaring on its way over the mountains. But Mary and Sparky landed a moment later with plenty of ro...

For a full half hour after that they wound in and out, from one gorgeous scene to another in a world’s paradise. Beautiful residences set back among tropical trees, little garde...