PROVIDENCE

~ Iain Kelly

He was taken aback, seeing it suspended from the ceiling among the other examples of World War II fighters.

The aeroplane had been dredged up from the English Channel, where it had sat undisturbed on the sea bed for forty years. The bullet holes that had ripped open the fuselage and destroyed the engine had been repaired, the bodywork had been restored and gleaming yellow and blue livery had been freshly applied.

He remembered watching this aeroplane ditching into the water as he had floated down. It had not disintegrated on impact, but skipped across the surface before gradually sinking.

He had seen the burning Messerschmidt hit the water too. The pilot had not been so lucky. His machine somersaulted, capitulating in a ball of flame. There had been no ejection or tell-tale parachute.

He had survived, his enemy had not. Such were the vagaries of war.

As their daughter and grandchildren walked away, he silently thanked the aluminium and steel that had held together just long enough all those years ago.

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Copyright Yinglan

Written as part of Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers. The challenge is to write a flash fiction story or poem in around 150 – 175 words, based on the weekly photo prompt. Thanks as always to the challenge host Priceless Joy. For more information visit HERE.

To read other stories based on this week’s prompt, visit HERE.

Published by Iain Kelly

39 year old writer, avid film viewer and book reader, employed in the media industry as a television editor.

38 thoughts on “PROVIDENCE”

    1. I wonder, I suspect they knew something but often those that returned from the war didn’t go into details about what had happened over there, so maybe they didn’t know the full story.

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  8. He wasn’t the first to thank a plane in suh a manner. Once a P-47 got shot up bad, but still flew. The controls were out and he could only fly level. An FW190 discovered him and began blasting away. He fired and fired but the P-47 still flew. Eventually the German ran out of ammo. The pilot survived to thank his plane, just like your MC. Great story!

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      1. It is real life. It actually happened. The plane landed safely but had hundreds of holes in it. It had to be scrapped after that. The P-47 Thunderbolt enjoyed a great reputation for being tough.

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  14. Amazing read! I’ve heard that pilots usually have a strong connection with their planes. During World War, they always used to try to land it somehow. The plane crashing in sea was very painful for them to watch. Glad he got to see his plane again.

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  18. I like the history behind this one. It would be very shocking to see your sunken plane, restored from the water’s you almost drowned it; where your enemy, another young man, died. The realities of war are so far reaching.

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