“Yes,” agreed Dad, “and these old folk are working up quite an appetite. Come on, son.”
“Go on ahead,” replied the boy. “I just want to stay here a moment longer on my own.”
“Oh yes, I understand,” said Mum.
“Right you are, son,” said Dad. He took his wife’s hand and together they made their way out of the church.
Now it was completely empty of people, save for Jack and Raj. The newsagent put his hand on the boy’s shoulder.
“What an adventure you have had, young Master Bumting.”
“I know, but I couldn’t have done it without Grandpa.”
The newsagent smiled, before saying, “And he couldn’t have done it without you. I’ll leave you alone with him now. I imagine you want to say your final farewell.”
“Thank you. I do.”
True to his word, Raj left the boy alone in the church with his grandfather’s empty coffin.
Jack looked at the wooden box and flag, and saluted one last time.
“Goodbye, Wing Comm—” he began, before correcting himself. “I mean, goodbye, Grandpa.”
Epilogue
That night Jack lay in bed, in the place just between awake and asleep. The room was beginning to disappear to make way for the world of dreams.
Then outside his window the boy heard a far-off sound. The hum of an aircraft high in the sky. Jack opened his eyes, and slid down from the top bunk. So as not to wake his parents asleep in the next room, he tiptoed over to the window and silently pulled back the curtains. Framed by a silvery moon was the unmistakeable silhouette of a Spitfire. She swooped and twirled. She rolled. She danced in the air. There could only be one man behind the controls.
“Grandpa?!” exclaimed Jack.
The aeroplane began a thrilling descent and zoomed past the boy’s window. There in the cockpit sat Wing Commander Bunting. As the gleaming fighter plane rocketed past, Jack noticed the strangest thing of all. His grandfather looked exactly as he did in the photograph above the boy’s bed. The one taken in 1940 when Grandpa was a young pilot, fighting in the Battle of Britain. He was young again. The WHOOSH of the Spitfire made Jack’s model aeroplanes wobble. He looked on as the Spitfire climbed high into the night sky. Eventually, she disappeared out of sight.
The boy told no one. Who would believe him anyway?
The next night as Jack climbed into bed, he was breathless with excitement. Would he see his grandfather again? He closed his eyes and concentrated as hard as he could. Once again, in that place just between awake and asleep, the boy heard the roar of the Spitfire’s engine. Once again she sped past his window.
And the next night. And the next. Every night it was the same story.
It was just as the old man had said. As long as Jack loved him, Grandpa could never die.
*
Today Jack is all grown up and has a young son too. As soon as the boy was old enough, Jack told him all about his amazing adventures with his grandfather. At bedtime the boy would ask again and again for the stories of the daring escape from Twilight Towers, or the theft of the fighter plane, or the parachute drop into the garden of Buckingham Palace. And now when the boy drifts off to sleep, he too can see the Spitfire in the sky. Every night she zooms past his window before shooting off towards the stars.
Up, up and away.
Glossary
The 1940s
The 1940s were dominated by World War II and its aftermath. It was a decade of great change and upheaval for the British public as millions of soldiers joined the Armed Forces to fight, while those who stayed at home had to adjust to new rules and ways of life to help the war effort. Everyone was called upon to ‘do their bit’ to help the nation and people were encouraged to ‘make do and mend’, which meant reusing and repairing clothes and furniture instead of throwing them away. After the war ended in 1945, life didn’t return to normal right away. Clothes rationing lasted until 1949 and the country was nearly bankrupted by debts that had accumulated during the war so living conditions were poor.
World War II
World War II began in 1939 and ended in 1945. The war was fought between the Axis powers (including Germany, Italy and Japan) and the Allies (including Britain, France, the USA, Canada, India, China and the Soviet Union). Interestingly, the Soviet Union – largely made up of Russia – began the war on the Axis side. War was declared in 1939 when German forces illegally invaded Poland, which Britain and France had promised to protect. The war brought dramatic changes to ordinary people’s lives in Britain, where over two million children were evacuated from the cities to the countryside so that they would be safe from German air raids, in which many homes were destroyed. Food and other goods were greatly limited as people left their jobs to join the war effort. The countries that were invaded by the Axis powers suffered even greater devastation.
On June 6th 1944, known as D-Day, Allied forces landed in Normandy to free France from German control. After that, the soldiers fought their way into Germany and the war in Europe came to an end in May 1945. The Allies continued to fight the Japanese in the Pacific until August. An Allied victory was officially declared on September 2nd 1945 and World War II was over.
Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill is probably the most celebrated political leader in British history. He served as Prime Minister during World War II. After leaving school with poor exam results he became a soldier and part-time journalist before moving into politics. His military leadership was decisive in the eventual Allied Victory, and the stirring speeches he gave to the British people, broadcast on the radio, were incredibly important in keeping up the morale of the nation. He died in 1965, aged 90, and was awarded the huge honour of a state funeral by the Queen.
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was the head of the National Socialist, or Nazi, Party and seized power as Chancellor of Germany in 1933. Immediately he made changes to give himself total control and remove anyone who might oppose him. Hitler believed in the absolute supremacy of the German people and this belief ultimately led to him ordering the mass murder of millions of Jews, Gypsies and other minority groups. Known as the Holocaust, this remains one of the darkest events in the history of the human race. Trapped in his bunker as Russian soldiers entered Berlin in 1945, Hitler shot himself.
The Gestapo
Formed in 1933, the Gestapo was the name given to the feared German secret police. Its purpose was to find and arrest enemies of Hitler’s government, and its members were given special powers to imprison people at their own will, and make them talk. Because of this they earned a reputation for being utterly ruthless.
Rationing
Food rationing was introduced in Britain in January 1940 as a way of making sure there was enough to go round for everyone during the war. To buy particular foods ration coupons were used alongside money so that no one could buy more than their share. In 1940, rationed foods included sugar, meat, tea, butter, bacon and cheese – but many more were rationed later. While fruit and vegetables were never rationed they were often hard to obtain and the government encouraged people to grow them in their gardens. Other rationed goods included petrol, soap and even clothes.
Colditz Castle
Colditz Castle in Germany was used by the Nazis as a prisoner-of-war camp during World War II. It was thought of as an ‘inescapable fortress’. However, many people did try to escape from Colditz, hatching clever plans involving copied keys, escaping into the sewers, forging identity papers and even sewing prisoners into mattresses. Most attempts failed, but around thirty escapees were successful.
Operation Sea Lion
After Germany’s successful invasion of France in June 1940, Hitler ordered his armed forces to prepare to invade England via ships. This plan was codenamed Operation Sea Lion. To give it the best chance of succeeding, the Germans knew they first had to take control of the skies above England and remove the threat posed by the RAF. This led to the Battle of Britain.
The B
attle of Britain and The Blitz
The Battle of Britain began in the summer of 1940. The German Air Force, called the Luftwaffe, launched a series of attacks on England, bombing coastal targets and airfields in an attempt to destroy defences and leave the country open to invasion. The battle was an epic test of strength between the Luftwaffe and the RAF. While the Germans had more aircraft and pilots, the British had a very good communication system, which gave the RAF a crucial advantage.
In late August the Luftwaffe wrongly believed that the RAF was near breaking point and turned its attention to bombing London and other British cities. This period was known as The Blitz. For fifty-seven nights in a row German bombs were dropped on British cities and thousands of people had to seek shelter in Underground stations and air-raid shelters. While this caused terrible damage, it also gave the British time to recover their air defences.
On September 15th the Luftwaffe suffered major losses at the hands of the RAF. They had failed in their mission and Operation Sea Lion was abandoned soon after. Britain had won its first major victory of the war. The pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain are still celebrated as heroes. If they had lost, it is likely the Nazis would have invaded Britain.
RAF
The Royal Air Force was established in 1918. It played a vital role in helping the Allies win World War II and its most famous campaign was the Battle of Britain. In 1940 the average age of an RAF pilot was just 20 years old.
Luftwaffe
The Luftwaffe was the name of the German air force. By the summer of 1940 it had become the biggest air force in the world. Going into the Battle of Britain the German pilots were very experienced and confident that they would defeat the British. The Luftwaffe was disbanded in 1946 after the Germans had lost World War II.
WAAF
WAAF stands for the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force – this was formed during World War II as a part of the RAF, but peopled entirely by women. At its peak strength there were over 180,000 members. A member of the WAAF was also called a WAAF. WAAFs did not take part in active combat but they were involved in other crucial roles such as monitoring aircraft radar, crewing the barrage balloons and working with codes. WAAFs were vital in planning operations, including during the Battle of Britain.
Char Wallah
This was the term used by the British Army stationed in India for the local people who served them tea. In the Hindi language the word ‘wallah’ means someone who performs a certain task; the word ‘chai’ means tea. However, in English this word has often been heard and understood as ‘char’, hence the phrase ‘Char Wallah’.
The Hurricane
The Hurricane was a fighter plane that played a key role in achieving victory over Germany during World War II. They were incredibly strong and had the most endurance – or staying power – of all the fighter planes, although they weren’t as quick or manoeuvrable as the Spitfire. After the war Hurricanes were retired from military service.
Messerschmitt
The Messerschmitt was the main plane used by the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain. The Messerschmitt was able to dive much faster than the British aircraft. However, it had a much shorter flying time (just thirty minutes) before needing more fuel: a huge disadvantage in battle.
The Spitfire
The Spitfire was designed in the 1930s. The fighter plane was very advanced and could be easily upgraded to deal with new threats. Its adaptability, along with its speed and firepower, made it so successful. The Spitfire was a one-seater monoplane (meaning it had just one set of wings) with a very large nose, or front portion. The RAF used Spitfires for military action right up until 1954. It remains the most legendary British fighter plane ever to take to the skies.
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Copyright
GRANDPA’S GREAT ESCAPE. Text © David Walliams 2015. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
First published in hardback in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books 2015
HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd,
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Illustrations © Tony Ross 2015
Cover lettering of author’s name © Quentin Blake 2015
HB ISBN 978-0-00-749401-9
TPB ISBN 978-0-00-813519-5
Ebook Edition © September 2015 ISBN 9780008140359
Version: 2015-09-18
David Walliams and Tony Ross assert the moral right to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work.
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