The cast of characters in "Cold War" would not be complete without Gordon MacDonald. His role is perhaps minor in the series as a whole, but as a man in a wheelchair given a chance to be useful again, he personifies how the Airlift gave people hope and purpose again.
Gordon will be more familiar to many readers as "Daddy" MacDonald, the flight engineer on Kit Moran's crew. Gordon came up through the ranks, starting his RAF career as a Halton apprentice at 15. He trained as an aircraft mechanic or fitter and worked his way up the ranks. He married and had two daughters. By the time the war came, he was already a sergeant and soon a crew chief as well.
But he didn't like sending other men off to die and when the chance came, he volunteered for aircrew. It was late 1943 and he'd been in the RAF 18 years, but he had never flown in an aircraft. He was half the way through his flight engineer training course when he went up for the first time, and discovered it terrified him. To admit that and not complete the course, however, might have exposed him to accusations of "lacking moral fibre." So rather than risk being called a coward, he swallowed down his fear and completed the course.
At the Operational Training Unit crews were formed, and most of the young pilots looked a little askance on an "old man" of 33 as MacDonald now was. Or his fear of flying affected the way he interacted with pilots while in the air and had put most of the skippers off. By the end of the second week, MacDonald was without a crew and Kit Moran was without a flight engineer, so "the powers that be" assigned MacDonald to Moran's aircraft. The two men became friends almost instantly.
When on his last operational flight over Germany, Kit recognizes that the Lancaster is too badly damaged to fly back to Allied controlled territory he orders the crew to bale out. Daddy, however, returns to the cockpit to assist Kit. When he realizes there is not time left for them to bale out, he straps Kit in and stays with him. On impact, Gordon's back is broken and he returns to the UK paralyzed from the waist down. Although he receives extensive rehabilitation and physical therapy after repatriation, he is discharged from the RAF as an invalid.
Gordan doesn't blame Moran for his disability. He knows he made the choice to return to the cockpit and he believes firmly that he saved Kit's life by strapping him in. He is proud to have saved Kit's life. His problem is that he hates being idle and 'worthless.' And then Kit brings him a new proposal.
An excerpt with Gordon MacDonald:
Gordon MacDonald deftly folded up the ironing board and shoved it back in its stowage space beside the refrigerator. He’d learned how to open it at a height that enabled him to iron from his wheelchair. Although he still made a hash of tricky items like shirts, he could manage dish towels, napkins and the like. With three of the latter on his lap, he wheeled himself to the cramped dining room and put the freshly ironed and neatly folded napkins on the three place settings he’d laid. He paused to survey the little room, looking for something he’d forgotten. He’d polished the silver tea service, and he’d dusted everything he could reach. Seeing nothing more he could do, he rolled himself back to the parlour and looked it over critically.
Gordon remembered how pleased he and Maisy had been to move into this house when they married eighteen years ago. Maisy had gone to a lot of effort to find the right furniture and had been proud to inherit the china service and a proper cabinet to store it in. His parents had given them the etchings on the back wall, and his sister had stitched the cushion covers. The photographs on the mantlepiece recorded the milestones of his life: a big-eared kid grinning at the camera in the uniform of a Halton apprentice, a proud corporal on the arm of Maisy in a white wedding dress, the Christening of both daughters, the wedding photo of the eldest, a formal picture of him with sergeant’s stripes and his aircrew brevet, and finally, a crew picture in front of the Lancaster Z-Zebra. Everything in the room had a memory attached to it; most of them good. It wasn’t the past that hurt, but the future, so he dwelt on the past.
... No sooner had he arranged everything on the coffee table than the doorbell rang. Punctual to the minute, Gordon thought with an inner smile; that was the Skipper all right. If they were even 30 seconds late over the target, he was unhappy about it. Calling to Maisy that he’d get it, he rolled himself to the entryway and opened the door. Kit Moran stood on the doorstep with a large bouquet.
“For the Mrs,” Kit explained with an almost apologetic smile.
“That was thoughtful of you, Skip. Come in,” Gordon pushed himself backwards.
Kit entered, his eyes sweeping his surroundings, and Gordon found himself mumbling apologies about not being able to keep it up as he should. “But it’s wonderfully cosy!” Kit assured him, and his tone made Gordon start to relax a little. If only he knew why his former pilot had invited himself to dinner.
Leaving Kit in the parlour, Gordon went to fetch a vase and water for the flowers. Together Gordon and Kit together found a place for them and then Kit sat down — only to spring to his feet again when Maisy arrived. She was still flushed from the heat in the kitchen but without her apron or scarf. Tall and slender for a woman her age, the strength of her Highland upbringing was reflected in her sharp features and upright bearing.
“We’re so pleased to have you here, Flight Lieutenant Moran,” she welcomed him as she shook his hand vigorously. “I only wish I could have made you a better meal. Who would have thought that three years after the Germans surrendered, we’d still be clipping ration coupons! And now they’ve even put bread and potatoes on ration as well — like they never were in the war. But meat is the worst, you know, I can’t seem to get — why am I babbling on like this? I’m sorry, Flight Lieutenant. Please sit down. We’ve got the cheddar at least.” She indicated the platter.
“Thank you, Mrs MacDonald, and I’m the one who ought to apologise for inviting myself like this, but —”
“Oh, let me get you something to drink, first. What would you like?” Mrs MacDonald broke in to ask, and Gordon could tell she was nervous because she didn’t usually chatter or interrupt.
Kit took it in his stride and with a glance at Gordon asked, “What are you drinking, Gordon?”
“Guinness.”
“Then I’ll have one as well.”
Maisy disappeared and returned with two glasses and two bottles of beer; she didn’t drink herself. ...
“Now, don’t keep us in suspense any longer, Skip. What is this all about? There’s nothing wrong at home is there?”
“No. Not at all, but I wanted to tell you in person about a job I may have. I owe you my life, and I’ve felt so badly about being unemployed and—”
“Now, don’t go talking like that! You don’t have to be someone important for me to feel it was worth saving you. It’s enough just to see you with Georgina and that bairn of yours.”
Whatever Kit had meant to say, Gordon’s remark threw him off his stride. Briefly, he was visibly distressed, then he pulled himself together. “Gordon, I may have a chance to fly on the Berlin Airlift, delivering food to the civilian population.”
“Congratulations!” Gordon sat up straighter and reached out to clap Moran on the knee in sincere delight. “Well done!”
“It’s not certain, however. First, I have to pull together a complete crew.”
“Why don’t they assign you one or let you crew up like we did?” Gordon asked confused.
“The job’s not with the RAF. It’s with a private company.” ... Kit was looking so earnestly at him that Gordon sensed there was more. “What is it?”
Kit drew a deep breath. “My father-in-law—”
“The reverend?”
“Yes, Reverend Reddings. He claims that coincidences are the hand of God in human affairs.” Gordon grunted to suggest his scepticism but waited for Kit to continue. “The company that I may be flying with wants to hire German aircraft mechanics to do the maintenance work. They need a crew chief who could supervise and train the Germans on Hercules VI engines.”
Gordon was puzzled why Moran would mention this so solemnly — and then the penny dropped. Something hot seemed to slide down his inert spine. “You — You — think — I — could do that?” he asked cautiously.
Kit nodded. “I’m sure of it. The knowledge is all there in your head. You don’t need to do the work, just explain it, and make sure the others do it right. I recommended you.”
“Why did you do a daft thing like that?” Gordon exploded feeling overwhelmed. Already he wanted this job so badly, he was starting to tremble. Yet, he didn’t want false hopes or charity either. “What company would want to hire a cripple and why? What’s in it for them? Where’s the catch?”
Kit looked back steadily, and Gordon sensed the strength and goodwill that had always drawn him to the younger man. “It’s an air ambulance outfit run by one of McIndoe’s Guinea Pigs and a woman pilot formerly with the ATA. They aren’t your usual profit-driven businessmen.”
“You told them I was in a wheelchair?” Gordon just couldn’t believe it.
“Yes, I did.”
“And they were still interested?”
“Yes.”
“But why? There are lots of other men as qualified as me who aren’t cripples.”
“Well, it seems their British ground crew refused to remain in Berlin after the blockade started, which is why they decided to hire Germans. In other words, this job would be in blockaded Berlin, and it will only last as long as the blockade does. It’s a very temporary and somewhat risky proposition, so few qualified crew chiefs are likely to want it.” Kit explained, adding in a gentle voice, “And no one would be surprised or upset if you said no.”
“I’m not saying no!” Daddy snapped back, frowning. “I’d take any legitimate job, let alone one working with aircraft. And I don’t care about the pay, but I don’t want charity, either. As for —” He cut himself off as Maisy reappeared in the doorway.
She looked from one to the other, then handed Kit an opened envelope. “That’s the invitation to the flight engineers’ reunion. It’s going to be held in Warrington a week from tomorrow.”
“Thank you. I was just telling Gordon that the company I hope to work for also needs a crew chief to train Luftwaffe mechanics. They asked me to find out if Gordon might be interested—”
“Oh! That would be splendid! A job with aircraft again!” She looked at her husband.
“The work would only be temporary,” Kit hastened to explain.
“That doesn’t matter, does it, Gordon?” Maisy answered turning to her husband with an expression of almost painful eagerness. Turning back to Kit, she declared. “He’s been doing much better since I started letting him help around the house but working with aircraft and engines — that’s his life. He loves them. It would do him a world of good to get back to them, even if only for a short spell or on an irregular basis. The pay doesn’t matter. Not with the girls earning their own way now, and with my job paying steady. How long would it be for?”
“We don’t know. It depends on how long the Russians keep up the blockade of Berlin. The job, I’m afraid, is in Berlin.”
“Oh!” She was taken aback by that but then turned to look at Gordon. Their eyes met. He didn’t have to say anything. Turning back to Kit she declared. “I think Gordon should go.”
Gordon was too overwhelmed for words. All he could do was reach out and clutch her hand with so much force he saw her wince.
She did not pull away, however. Instead, she declared firmly and steadily. “I want you to do this. It’s what’s meant to be.”
Gordon is a character in all three volumes of the Bridge to Tomorrow Trilogy
The first battle of the Cold War is about to begin....
Berlin 1948. In the ruins of
Hitler’s capital, former RAF officers, a woman pilot, and the victim of Russian
brutality form an air ambulance company. But the West is on a collision course
with Stalin’s aggression and Berlin is about to become a flashpoint. World War
Three is only a misstep away. Buy Now
Berlin is under siege. More than two million civilians must be supplied by air -- or surrender to Stalin's oppression.
USAF Captain J.B. Baronowsky and RAF Flight
Lieutenant Kit Moran once risked their lives to drop high explosives on Berlin.
They are about to deliver milk, flour and children’s shoes instead. Meanwhile,
two women pilots are flying an air ambulance that carries malnourished and
abandoned children to freedom in the West. Until General Winter deploys on the
side of Russia. Buy now!
Based on historical events, award-winning and best-selling novelist Helena P. Schrader delivers an insightful, exciting and moving tale about how former enemies became friends in the face of Russian aggression — and how close the Berlin Airlift came to failing.
Winning a war with milk, coal and candy!
