SA Laybourn’s A Kestrel Rising Blog Tour
It’s All About The Planes
SA Laybourn
One of the reasons I loved writing A Kestrel Rising was being able to indulge my passion for planes—most notably Spitfires. I’m not a person who gets excited about mechanical things, although if someone was to give me a pit lane pass for the British Grand Prix I might just hyperventilate a little. But there’s something more than a little special about the Supermarine Spitfire. It’s a heady combination of elegant design and the chill-inducing roar of the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. I never tire of watching them, whether it’s flying in sedate formation or engaged in a breath-taking aerobatic display. They’re incredibly graceful and it’s hard to believe that they’re not living things. I know that’s a bit fanciful but I’d be willing to bet I’m not the only one who feels this way.
Although the Hawker Hurricane outnumbered Spitfires during the Battle of Britain, it is the Spitfire that people associate most with that crucial air war. Spitfire squadrons certainly flew more sorties and, after that battle the plane became the main fighter for the RAF. It’s a small nimble plane and one former pilot I met years ago told me that, because of his lofty height, he didn’t so much fly a Spitfire as wear it. If you ever get a chance to sneak a peek at the plane’s cockpit, you’ll understand why. It is a plane remembered with fondness.
Not every squadron got to keep the same planes through the war. In ‘A Kestrel Rising’, Francis is eventually transferred from a regular fighter squadron to one of the Eagle Squadrons which comprised American pilots. Initially, the Eagle Squadrons used Spitfires. It was a sad day when, after a briefing at the squadrons’ base at RAF Debden from the ‘top brass’ the pilots were introduced to their new plane—the P47 Thunderbolt, aka the ‘Jug’. It was parked next to one of the Spitfire and dwarfed it. One wag, after observing the roomy cockpit of the replacement plane remarked that at least, if the plane was under enemy fire, the pilot could run around the cockpit to dodge the bullets. It was a big, ugly bugger of a plane
Eventually, the USAAF replaced the Jug with the vastly superior P-51 Mustang. Again, the skies above Debden would’ve echoed to the roar of Merlin engines, this time housed in a plane designed for long-range escort missions. It had a longer range than the Spitfire and, arguably, is the fighter that won the war for the Allies. German Reichmarshal Herman Goering famously said, “When I saw Mustangs flying over Berlin, I knew the jig was up.” I was once lucky enough to see one of the surviving Mustangs up close, shortly after finishing the first draft of Kestrel. To touch the wing, to hear the engine, to watch it fly, was a great thrill but like an unnamed American pilot quoted below, my heart will always remain with the graceful little Spitfire.
“The change to the Thunderbolt might have been necessary militarily, but my heart remained with the Spitfire. Even now, thirty years after I flew them on operations, the mere sound or sight of a Spitfire brings me a deep feeling of nostalgia and many pleasant memories. She was such a gentle little airplane, without a trace of viciousness. She was a dream to handle in the air. I feel genuinely sorry for the modern fighter pilot who has never had the chance to get his hands on a Spitfire—he will never know what real flying was like.”
Blurb for A Kestrel Rising :
War puts courage and love to the test.
It’s 1939, a lone Spitfire roars over her family home, and Ilona Lowe, entranced by its grace and power, finally knows her place in the fight against Hitler. She joins the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, is stationed at RAF Catterick and embarks on an all-too-brief love affair with a Bleinheim bomber pilot who is killed during the Battle of Britain.
Heartbroken, but determined to carry on, Ilona returns to active duty where she encounters Francis Robson. He’s arrogant—some would even say reckless—and another pilot. Yet he’s worth the risk.
Their love isn’t easy. Francis harbors jealousy about her former lover while Ilona’s posting at an RAF bomber base feeds her nightmares about Francis’ safety. She can see the escalation of stakes as his missions grow ever more dangerous, the enemy more desperate. Ilona must put her courage to the test because she knows that loving Francis means letting him let him fight on, regardless of the terrible price they both may pay.
General Release Date: 13th October 2015
Excerpt from A Kestrel Rising :
Dear Ilke,
It’s been a rough couple of weeks, coming to grips with ‘The Jug’. The RAF chaps have been having a laugh at our expense, saying that, at least if we were attacked by Germans, we could unstrap ourselves from the seat and run around the fuselage dodging their bullets. That’s one of the lighter moments. We’ve been having mock dogfights and have discovered, the hard way, the shortcomings of our new plane. We’ve lost four pilots in the fourth group because the Jug is just not all that nimble below eight thousand feet. It just can’t match the Spitfire when it comes to turns. HQ finally banned mock dogfights below that altitude, thank God. I couldn’t help but envy those guys in the Spitfires. I’m sorry to sound so unpatriotic about an American-made plane, but the Spitfire will always be my first love. I can still remember that day at your house when that plane flew over. I wanted to be that pilot. I wanted that plane and I guess I’m very lucky that I got to fly them for as long as I did. I think I will always pine for them. The Jug is a bugger when taxiing too. It’s difficult to see over the nose. I had to have a member of the ground crew sit on one of the wings and give me hand signals to let me know if I was heading the right way up the runway or not—or even if I was on the runway. That’s another shortcoming. The plane is heavy and we need a long run at take-off. Mind you, it’s heavy for a good reason. It has a larger fuel load, so should go farther than just across the channel for a couple of spats with the krauts, and it’s well armored, so hopefully, none of us will end up like Swiss cheese. Still, yours truly has finally figured it out and found the good things about flying them, such that they are. It’s very fast in the dive, so they reckon, the best thing, in a fight, would be to pounce on them from above, make one quick pass and climb like buggery. That should work pretty well, so my bosses are pleased with my progress and, I’m happy to say, that I will get my leave before we go fully operational with this beast. I will come and collect you on Saturday the twentieth. I should be there for 10.00 and we have the cottage until Wednesday. Don’t worry about food. I’ll take care of that. Just bring yourself.
I hope can concentrate on my flying in the meantime.
Regards, etc.
Francis
Buy link for A Kestrel Rising: https://www.totallybound.com/book/a-kestrel-rising
About SA Laybourn :
S A Laybourn lives in Wiltshire and loves it. She’s partial to gin and tonic, loves to cook and watches cookery programmes when she’s not working, writing or reading. She writes m/m erotic romance as S A Meade.
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