The E.106a was almost ready for taxiing track and initial flights, and Mike and Daker spent most of their time in the great hangar where the prototype was having its , last vital check-ups before being moved to Merecombe, the remote airfield in the West Country where most “secret-list” machines were tested. Mike would be in Merecombe on and off for weeks, for test flights of this magnitude could not be hurried. He said no more about the new play, and Jan wondered if he had forgotten all about it. It would not be surprising if he had. The culmination of months of close experimental work was very near, and with it one of the most critical flights he had ever undertaken. When he took the E.106a into the air, aviation history would be made ... or marred. Though every possible contingency had been considered, every innovation subjected to the most stringent ground tests, the ultimate test remained. It was not possible to be a hundred per cent certain how the E.106a would behave when airborne.
