“Lieutenant Jones, who had given me the order, also advised me that I should keep secret any orders he gave me, that I should speak to no one, especially the Captain. I was also ordered to arm the ship. Arming her meant reinstalling the guns which had been taken out and loading belts of machine gun cartridges. I was to load a full complement of bombs. He told me that these bombs were for a special test. He said that the Captain wouldn’t let him fly the ship and that taking it out on his own permission was the only way he could prove how good a pilot he was. Well, I had known officers who were set in their ways, and I could understand where the young Lieutenant was coming from. He also said that I would be well rewarded for following his orders. I was new on the base myself and I didn’t owe the Captain nothing. The Lieutenant talked to me as we put the bombs on the wing supports. He said he was going to fly out to the target range and turn in a good score to prove that he was a top pilot. He said that his pilot rating was important to getting a good job when he got out of the Navy. He said he just wanted to show that he could fly her as well as the Captain.
“Then the Captain stole the ship and blew up the lab.”
“The next day, the Lieutenant came to me and told me that communists were watching everything that happened on the base. He said that I had to be careful and keep shut. He said the Navy would think I loaded the bombs for the Captain, that I might be arrested, that no one would believe me, and that I would be considered an accomplice of the Captain. He said he was going to keep quiet too and not mention that he ever had any plans to fly the plane.
“I did what I was told and when the Navy investigators came around, I didn’t say anything about the ship having bombs on it. Then in a few days the papers reported that the Navy considered the Captain a spy. I did not think that Captain Lawson was any spy. Him being a spy did not fit with what I knew of his personality. On top of that I couldn’t figure out why he would have taken off with all those bombs on board. Knowing him, he would have ordered me to come over and take all those guns and bombs back off again. I remember that he told me once he didn’t like any weapons on the ship when he was testing it. Besides, if the Navy was right about him being a spy, why did he take all them bombs out to that Russian ship?
“I called the Lieutenant and told him that I thought we should clear the Captain’s name, that we should admit we had put them bombs on the plane. I said maybe the Captain was upset after he found out somebody had been touching his plane, got angry and flew it off. Maybe, I said, he just went off his rocker, you know, went crazy.
“The Lieutenant said not to worry about it, that it would all get straightened out and that I should keep my mouth shut. So I did.
“Pretty soon a letter came to my house from the Aviatrice Corporation. It was an offer of a very nice job with a real big salary. My wife saw the letter, and she had an expression on her face like she was already spending the money. I took the job. It wasn’t a long time that went by, before I began to realize that I could never talk about those bombs. I came to realize that by taking this job, I had been bribed in a way. I had accepted the equivalent of money to keep quiet. I realized that it was too late and that I would be in jail if I ever opened up.
“I got so that I knew people were watching me at Aviatrice. Hiram made sure that I shut up tight. I worried about my family and what might happen. I saw the lieutenant a few more times. He went to work at Aviatrice too. I guess he was bribed to keep quiet too about Captain Lawson’ s seaplane, but I don’t know why. During the times I saw him at Aviatrice, though, he made it plain to me that if I looked out for Lieutenant Hiram Jones, then Hiram would look out for me.
“That’s all I know. I don’t to this day know whether I did anything wrong. I do know that Aviatrice took care of me pretty good, and the Lieutenant too. If it ever turns out that I did something wrong, well, you tell the authorities what I wrote in this letter and see if that helps them figure out about Captain Lawson and his seaplane.
“Signed, your Dad”
Robin asked, “Where is the little metal box with the papers?”
Mike replied, “Vallery arranged for a good law firm to take them last night. He gave them what he had and Jesse and I provided them with everything else in the box.”
“I made sure they got only copies. The originals are in my vault at my New York bank,” said Jesse.
“I don’t think we have to worry,” said Mike. “Vallery said the law firm is trustworthy enough, that its members have defended Presidents and have a tradition of remaining loyal to their clients.”
“I hope they’re better than Drexel,” said Jesse.
Mike added, “The law firm is one of the biggest and oldest in New York. They were in on the formation of the United Nations too. That’s why they agreed to take the case when Vallery called on them.”
Mike went on, “Tim telephoned me this morning. He and Jeremy’s friend, Jenni, are going to be part of an employee group at Aviatrice working on correcting the image of the company. I guess the company has some pretty good people. Wall and his friends were the bad ones there, not the other employees.”
He smiled, “Also, Tim says he’s sure my little museum will get its funding back.”
“You’ll get some of my money in that museum, too,” said Jesse. “Things have really changed. I called my mother this morning. I asked her if she would consider coming home, or at least visiting again, her and Riley.”
“She’s going to?” asked Robin.
Jesse nodded. “My mother wants to fix the gravestones.”
“Move your grandfather’s grave from the Tabernacle?”
“No. Not that. He belongs there. She wants to set up a monument near the grave of my grandmother. Something for her and my father.”
Robin said, “We owe a visit to Rebecca, Mike.”
“Yeah. Without her we never would have found the plane.”
“The Fourth of July will never be the same,” said Jesse. “Some of the reporters are talking of a fly in to New York next year made up of vintage aircraft. It’s to honor the flight of the Magnolia Whispers.”
Robin said, “On television they’re calling it a warplane on a mission of peace.”
“What are they saying about Captain Lawson?” asked Mike.
“The sad thing,” said Jesse, “is that a lot of people in this country still side with Wall. Wall had counted on the support of the communist haters back in 1946. A lot of the same people or their descendants are still vocal today. We’ll hear from them. Also, Wall and his lawyers have made sure that not many records exist to corroborate the documents we found.”
“What a snake,” said Robin. “He even got his daughter to do his dirty work so he could keep his own hands clean.”
Mike stirred his coffee. “People believed your grandfather was guilty and they believed it for fifty years without questions. Now they are asked to believe that it was a hoax, that the real traitor was this industrial giant. It will make them think about themselves. I’m not sure how it will come out. You may find resentment just because people don’t like to be wrong. Besides that, Wall is an old man. He will probably die before he has to go to prison.”
“What about the damage to Hobble’s village?” asked Robin.
Jesse spoke up. “Regal said they don’t want any help.”
“How will they rebuild?” asked Robin.
“Same way they built,” said Jesse. “Of course, I’ll be there to help, if Hobble will let me. I’m afraid the locals around that farm are not going to fear the village now that this story has broken. The fear is gone. People know that the village is just regular people like themselves. Like the old Nanticokes, the village will need protection. I’ll help with that.”
Jeremy opened one of the sliding glass doors and bounded out on the terrace. He was all smiles. “A man from the Lake Success Chamber of Commerce talked to me out in the Club lobby,” he said, very excited. “He said that the tourist effect of the seaplane coming here is terrific. The Chamber of Commerce w
ants to build a museum. The idea would be to put some kind of tribute here at Lake Success along with the other monuments to the beginning of the United Nations. Like a museum to peacemakers rather than warriors.”
“It’s a good idea,” said Mike, “A museum of peace. Captain Lawson would have appreciated that.”
“What about the US Government?” asked Robin. “Will they allow the plane to remain here?”
Jeremy sat down at the table and said, “The Defense Department is examining that valve system and the controls. They want to make sure they document any breakthroughs and that, if there is any threat to the defense of the United States, that it is taken care of, that the parts are removed. Most likely though after that, some form of negotiation will be conducted to formally give the plane to the United Nations. I’ve even heard talk of developing this steam power for the airplanes your grandfather wanted, the Giant Boat, big seaplanes that carry cargo.”
“Maybe Magnolia Whispers can be flown some more,” said Jesse. “Maybe she can be used for goodwill tours for the United Nations.”
“Let’s hope that she continues flying in some way,” said Mike.
“Yeah, Lindbergh’s plane did those kinds of tours,” said Robin. “Maybe they’ll need a pilot like me.”
“You might have something to say about it, Mike,” said Jeremy. “The man said they’d be looking for a consultant to put this new museum together.” He looked at Mike with a grin. “I told them to ask you about the job.”
“Looks like you won’t have to go looking for foundation money for a while, Mike,” said Jesse. “You’re going to be a busy man.”
Mike looked out over the lake where the blue seaplane was riding. Through the trees he watched a stream of uniformed men climbing in and out of Magnolia Whispers. He wondered if the power of this seaplane and its technology would go to good as Captain Lawson had desired. The concern that had caused Lawson to steal the seaplane would always be in the minds of good persons. On the other hand, others, many of them also good, would continue to dream of a weapon that would cower all enemies of the United States.
He felt good. He wanted to help build this new museum so it could be different. The museum would be for machines that had accomplished peace or peaceful pursuits. The cargo planes and the spacecraft would be the heroes. His museum in Wilmington could remain for the machines of war.
Robin interrupted his thoughts, “Strange how it all comes down to fathers.”
“What do you mean?” asked Mike.
“Jessica and her father, me and my father, young Jim and Hobble, you and your father,” she said.
“Can’t live with them, and can’t live without them,” said Mike.
They stood side by side and looked out over the water at the Magnolia Whispers.
“She’s been through a tough flight,” Robin said.
Then she pointed, “Look, Mike, look at her name on the starboard bow.”
He looked and saw that a letter was gone from the name.
Jeremy had come up beside them. “Someone sneaked in there early this morning and peeled off the paint of the letter A.”
“How do you peel off paint?” asked Mike.
“The old paint was like rubber on the aluminum,” said Jeremy. “We can paint it back on,” he said, yawning. “Not a big deal in restoration. We’ll make it look just like the original.”
“Would you work with me if we build a new museum up here for these people?” asked Mike.
“As long as we have plenty of old metal to restore,” Jeremy grinned.
Robin turned to Mike and put her arm in his. “You can count on me too, if you want me.”
“I want you,” said Mike, his face close to hers.
She held back slightly, her eyes twinkling. “Tell me, Mike, if Captain Lawson was a hero, who was the greater hero, your father or Lawson?”
Mike thought for a moment, “My father was a hero of the past. Jesse’s grandfather was a hero of the future.”
“You’ve changed, Mike,” she said.
“I have?”
“You stood up to your father and won. He never would have gone after Lawson’s plane. You had the courage,” she said.
“He still wouldn’t respect me for it,” Mike said.
“Oh, I think he would, in spite of himself. He was a fair man,” she said. She paused and then added, “Let’s put it this way, Mike. If he was still alive, he’d never dare call you ‘boy’ again.”
He pressed his hand against her arm.
“What about teaching me to fly an airplane barefoot?” he said.
She smiled and said, “I know where we can rent an Aeronca cheap.”
Thank you so much for reading Magnolia Gods! Please take a moment to leave feedback on Amazon, Goodreads, and any other review sites that you use.
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Acknowledgements
In 1994 the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, 2812 Fawkes Drive, Wilmington, Delaware, a non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting responsible aviation archeology and historic preservation, discovered and preserved a section of the remains of the wings and fuselage of a crashed World War Two Republic P47 fighter bomber in a swamp near Wilmington.
Flying information for Catalina amphibians was drawn from “Pilot’s Flight Operating Instructions for Navy Model PBY-5A Airplanes,”5 June 1944, AN AA–10-1.
Technical information for steam planes was drawn from an article “A Steam Power Plant for Aircraft, translated and annotated by Alberto Collina, Aviation Engineering, December 1932.
The author quoted sections of “Steam Power for Aircraft,” Discovery, July 1933, 220-221, and “Steam Engines for German Warplanes?” Dr. Leo Handel, Aviation Engineering, May 1941, 107.
Lyrics for “Little Brown Jug” are from Historical American Sheet Music, Rare Book, Manuscript and Special Collections Library, Duke University, Words and Music by Joseph Eastburn Winner, Philadephia, c. 1869.
“Chattanooga ChooChoo” words by Mack Gordon, “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree,” written by Lew Brown, Charles Tobias and Sam H. Stept, “Moonlight Serenade” by Kim Gannon and Lucky Roberts, and “Little Brown Jug,” (J.E. Winner) are all taken from the CD Glenn Miller, A Memorial, BMG Music, New York, NY, 1992.
Wings of the Navy, a History of the Naval Aircraft Factory, by William E. Trimble, Annapolis, Maryland, United States Naval Institute, 1990, provided valuable insights into the technical development of long range seaplanes for the Navy at the installation in Philadelphia.
Much know-how on flying seaplanes was gleaned from “Flying the Clipper,” by M.D.Klaas, Air Classics, August 1995, 19-33, 70-71.
Allen L. James of the PBY Catalina Foundation, PO Box 6224, Santa Rosa, CA 95406, kindly worked out for me the take off distance required for a PBY 5 to become airborne.
About the Author
Thomas Hollyday brings to life strong Chesapeake characters showcased in their stunning, unique Eastern seaboard landscapes. Reviewers praise his rich sense of place and his respect for the great machines that made our era possible. His stories resonate with a deep awareness of history and legend. The humor in life shines through as Tom draws on a comedic sense honed sharp from an accomplished cartooning background.
In his River Sunday Romance Mysteries series, Tom honors the battles for love of land that have recurred over and over in the Chesapeake Bay. Past victories and defeats created mists of legend and history which shroud the present landscapes. Throughout Tom's stories, he incorporates both the machines that have left lasting imprints and the wildlife that enriches the captivating natural landscape. His modern and timely novels feature memorable characters from the small town of River Sunday, Maryland, and reveal their compelling
stories as they search for answers to achieving love, unveiling mystery, and vanquishing evil.
Tom grew up in the Chesapeake Bay, and his love for his native land shines through in every word.
Part of the proceeds from the sale of Thomas Hollyday fiction and non-fiction goes to support drinking water resources for wildlife.
The River Sunday Romance Mystery series of books:
Slave Graves
Magnolia Gods
Gold
Powerboat Racer
Terror Flower
China Jewel
These books can be found in paperback and ebook format from most major online retailers including Amazon, iTunes, and Nook.
For more information, and to talk with Tom, visit:
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Table of Contents
Copyright
Author's Notes
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Magnolia Gods (River Sunday Romance Mysteries Book 2) Page 29