Free Silver Wings by H. P. Munro Page A

at the back, Adele rushed forward.
    “Here we go PT Addies' style,” Helen murmured to Lily under her breath watching the small woman rush down the small incline towards her bay mate.
    Adrienne hung limply, trying to muster up the energy for one last assault on the bar. She could feel the lactic acid build up burning her muscles making her arms feel impossibly heavy, her fingers starting to lose grip on the metal bar. She was about to let go when she felt arms circling beneath her knees, gripping her tightly. Suddenly she was propelled upwards. “Oh my giddy aunt, seriously Adrienne it's been weeks Honey. We need to build those skinny arms of yours up.”
     Adrienne smiled as she recognized Adele's voice beneath her.
    “I promise press-ups tonight,” Adrienne grinned as her chin finally edged over the bar.
    Adele released her legs and the red-haired woman dropped down to the ground.
    “I promise,” she huffed as she landed.
    Adele narrowed her eyes, “Good now help me up onto the damn bar.”
    Adrienne boosted the smaller woman up, releasing her when she gripped the bar. Adele drew her legs together, immediately, and effortlessly she started to pull herself up. Adrienne looked on enviously before turning and continuing her way around the course. Lily and Helen skidded down the incline and launched themselves at their bars using their momentum to assist their first pull up. Completing the repetition, they dropped down and sprinted off to their next station.
    It had been three weeks since those first confusing days of their arrival, and in those three weeks the women had done nothing but eat, sleep and talk about flying, Lucy had even woken the majority of the bay up one night by yelling out her pre-flight checklist. Their brains hurt from the navigation and Math classes they had during Ground School in the morning. They physically hurt from the afternoon drill, calisthenics, and exercise that they undertook to increase their strength and stamina. In some instances, their egos had taken a bashing as their flight instructors pounded on them. Flying the ‘Army way’ proved to be vastly different from their civilian flight procedures. They were learning to fly planes that were different and more complicated than the planes they were used to. They had engine dust under their fingernails from learning the basics of engine design in Ground School, the searing sun had browned their skin, makeup was a forgotten luxury, and they were lucky if they had the time or the inclination to pull a hairbrush through their hair in the morning. A week had passed before Adrienne realized that she had not even washed her hair, she was in such a tired fug. However, with all of the discomfort, tiredness, and regimen in their lives, not one of them would swap it for their life before Avenger Field.
    They had settled into the rhythm of WASP life; as Helen had predicted privacy was not something that any of the girls had anymore. Their initial embarrassment about changing in front of each other had been replaced with easy camaraderie and it wasn't unusual to see one of them mopping the floor before breakfast while still in their bra and drawers. They had learned the hard way after the first Saturday morning inspection that civilian clean and Army clean were poles apart and were now used to washing the bedsprings under their beds, arranging their clothes in the correct order and ensuring that their ice buckets were emptied and polished.
    Each morning as soon as the bugle played the women would rise, apart from Lily who still would sleep through the morning call.
    However, the bay had developed a plan to ensure she was up; the first one to put their feet down onto the cool floor was responsible for using the 'Rosecroft Method' to wake Lily up. Lily had become accustomed to the morning ritual of being rudely woken up with a smack to the head; so much so that she could now tell who wielded the pillow just from the blow.
    They had taken great