Arise Beloved is a work of fiction. Except as described below, the
characters, places and incidents (except those of general historical
significance and record) are the product of my imagination. Any
resemblance to actual persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
The character Becky Bright is portrayed as a Woman Airforce
Service Pilot, in the World War II organization known by the acronym
“WASP.” The adventure in which she flies outside the continental United
States in violation of WASP regulations is fiction. No WASP ever did so.
Many WASPs did lose their lives or were injured serving an ungrateful
country however; one lost a leg to a shark because the U.S. Navy was
slow in picking her up out of the water after they shot her down while
towing a target. The fact that a WASP was forbidden to fly outside the
continental United States did not mean she did not often face danger with
courage and commitment, which is the definition of a hero--or heroine if
you prefer. The fictional event in the book is meant to reflect the daring
and resolve of the women who flew with the WASPs–and perhaps it
looks forward with prescience to the fact that women do nowadays fly in
war zones and even in space, often with serious consequences. God bless
them.
Becky’s flight to the Yucatan with Gunther Hammer is also pure
fiction. Although, if such a flight had actually taken place, it would
never have been reported because such a private prisoner of war exchange
during wartime would have been treason.
The following non-fiction works were helpful sources of information
about the WASPs.
Adams, Jean & Margaret Kimball. Heroines of the sky . Garden City,
N.J.: Doran & Company, c1942.
King, Alison. Golden Wings: The Story of some of the Women Ferry Pilots
of the Air Transport Auxiliary . London:
Arthur Pearson, c1956.
Wood, Winifred. We were WASP . Coral Gables, Fla.: Glade House,
c1945.
I am not an aviator and my personal experience with piloting a
PBY Catalina flying boat consists of two brief occasions. The first was
during an indoctrination flight when as a midshipman at the U.S. Naval
Academy I was fortunate enough to take the controls for a few minutes
under the watchful supervision of an actual PBY pilot. The second time
was when my submarine officer’s gold dolphins were mistaken for the
wings of a navy pilot during a flight as the passenger on another PBY
Catalina and I was invited by the aircraft commander to fly the airplane.
I was not wise enough to decline the offer and did indeed fly the airplane
following a radio direction signal while the pilot napped. Because of the
sufferance of a kind Providence and the trustworthiness of the PBY, its
crew and I survived my foolishness.
I am indebted for my descriptions of the aircraft itself, its handling
and other characteristics for the most part on information included in
a very excellent book PBY/The Catalina Flying Boat by Roscoe Creed
copyrighted and published in 1985 by the Naval Institute Press, Annapolis
Maryland.
I have also made use of information on the PBY and its operations
included in War in the Outposts (World War II, volume 24) by Simon Rigge
and the Editors of Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia copyrighted in
1980 by Time-Life Books, Inc.
The red Stearman bi-plane on the cover illustration is used by
permission of the owner, Eric Baldwin, with thanks to René L. Minjares,
President, Barnstormers Aero Services, Inc. for her help in acquiring
rights to use the photograph.
Lt. (j.g.) Troy “Wingnut” McNutt’s squadrons, VP-4 and VP -16,
and Fleet Air Wing 58 to which the latter belonged are fictitious. I chose
the numbers as a nod of affection for my company (16) battalion (4)
and class (1958) at the United States Naval Academy. The South Pacific
seaplane base on the island of Saint Anna in the story is also fictitious
and named for the parish where I served as rector in New Orleans. The
fictitious seaplane tender USS Montalban revisits the name of a fictitious
English peerage in my first novel A Perfect Peace.
The story also includes bits and pieces of information gleaned over
many years from reading and being exposed to various sources, the
specifics of which I can no longer recall, but which remained buried in
my memory and surfaced, perhaps inaccurately or distorted when writing
Arise Beloved.
I am indebted to George R. Allender, Captain, USN (Ret.) a Naval
Academy Classmate from the 16th Company who served in Navy Patrol
Aircraft and as a patrol wing commander. He was generous enough to
read and comment on my depictions of the B-17 bombing runs and PBY
missions. His suggestions and advice were invaluable.
I am also indebted to WASP Betty Jane Williams, Lt. Col USAFR
(Retired) for her invaluable help and to WASP “Joy” who first inspired
me to write about the WASPs. All errors relating to aviation and to the
WASPs are my own of course. In some cases they are due to ignorance,
in some cases accidental, and in others intentional as seemed necessary
in telling the story of WWII aircraft and the men and women who flew
and frequently died in them.
I am also indebted to my good friend and a very talented writer
Brian S. Matthews for his advice in proofing and editing the manuscript
of Arise Beloved. His help was invaluable in sorting out the complexities of
ellipses, commas, semi-colons, em dashes and other considerations of style
that make the difference between literate prose and a clumsy facsimile.