Summary

Aug. 2, 1944 – The novel begins with Rose attempting to write an accident report for Celia, a fellow Air Transport Auxiliary pilot stationed in Southampton. Rose’s friend Maddie, also an ATA pilot in Southampton, gave her the notebook she is writing in to help her draft the report. Rose feels guilty for Celia’s death, because both she and Celia were delivering Tempests, and unlike Rose, Celia had no experience flying these planes, and she refused to accept the pilot’s notes Rose offered her.

Rose reflects in her notebook on Celia’s funeral. She and Maddie were the only ATA female pilots in attendance. Rose expresses her tiredness of the war, of planes constantly needing to be delivered, and of flying bombs, otherwise called “doodlebugs,” “buzz bombs” and “pilotless planes,” which are planes with no pilots that transforms into bombs. Rose finds...