This is a mysterious story. The writer was flying his Dakota aeroplane. Suddenly, he was caught in a big cloud and his compass, radio and other instruments failed. There was not much fuel in his plane. Suddenly he saw a black aeroplane near him. The pilot in that plane guided him. As a result he was able to land safely. But he was greatly surprised when the woman at the control centre told him that there had been no other plane except the writer’s Dakota on the sky that night.
Summary
The author says that he was flying an aeroplane at 1 o’clock at night. The moon was coming up in the east behind him. Stars were shining in the clear sky above him. He was flying his old Dakota aeroplane over France, back to England. He was dreaming of his holiday. He was looking forward to being with his family.
He decided to call Paris control. He then radioed to it. He told it that he was on his way to England. He duly turned to that direction. Paris control duly acknowledged. It advised him to turn twelve degrees west.
He duly turned to that direction. Everything was going well. Paris was about 150 kilometres behind him. Then he saw the storm clouds. They looked like black mountains in front of him. He knew he could not fly up and over them.
He decided to go back to Paris. But he also wanted to get home. So, he took the risk and flew into the storm. He could see nothing outside his aeroplane. Everything was black. The old aeroplane jumped and twisted in the air. He looked at the compass. It was gone. He tried to contact Paris control. He was lost in the storm.
Then in the black clouds, he saw another aeroplane. It had no lights on its wings. He could see it flying next to him in the storm. He was glad to see another person. He was signaling to follow him. The author thought he was trying to help him. So, he followed him. He flew for half an hour. He had fuel to last for five or ten minutes. He began to feel frightened. Then he started to go down.
Suddenly he was on the runway. He looked for his friend in the black aeroplane. He wanted to thank him. But the sky was empty. He went into the control tower. He asked a woman where he was. She looked at him strangely and then she laughed. She told that there was no other aeroplane except that of his.
The author was wonderstruck. He wondered who had helped him to arrive there. He was without a compass or a radio and without any more fuel in his tanks, who was the pilot on the strange black aeroplane, flying in the storm without lights.