On his way home from the underground station the following evening after work, Kieran broke into a run. He could hear the telephone ringing in his kitchen.

Stupid, he thought, and impossible too. He was, after all, about six houses away.

He carried on running anyway, and when he put the key in the lock on his front door, he realised that the phone actually was ringing in his kitchen.

He dashed through the door, dropped his bag and ran to pick it up.

'Hello?' he said, breathing hard.

'Hello. Please may I speak with Kieran Whyteleafe?'

'Speaking.'

'Hello, it's Chris from the Imperial War Museum in Duxford.'

'Oh hi, Chris. Hello. Thanks very much for getting back to me.'

'Not at all. I wanted to let you know, I've done a little digging into your grandfather's background here at the base.'

'Did you manage to find anything?'

'As a matter of fact I did. A total of nine planes were flown into Duxford for repairs in July 1940. Three of them came in on the fifteenth. The works order has the names of the pilots, as does the clearance sheet. Ernest Clarke's is listed as one of the pilots, and the manoeuvre was instigated by Squadron Leader Mark Appleby based at Northolt.'

'Is there any mention of Spireclaw?'

'Well, not in any official capacity.'

'What do you mean?'

'Spireclaw was never an official name for the manoeuvre. None of the typed sheets refer to it. But someone has handwritten Spireclaw with a pen, in the corner of one of the sheets. I've checked the handwriting and it looks like Corporal Gittens wrote it. He was in charge at the time.'

'Would you be able to send me copies of those sheets. I would really love to frame them for my grandfather. I think he would love that. I will happily pay.'

'There's no need for that. I think the museum can afford an envelope and a stamp.'

'I'm very grateful. Here's my address...'