The Black Aeroplane

A night flight. The narrator, a pilot whose name we never learn, flies his old Dakota over France at 1.30 a.m., heading home to England. He is dreaming of 'a good big English breakfast' with his family. Paris Control tells him to turn twelve degrees west. He switches to his second and last fuel tank.

'I'll take the risk.' About 150 km past Paris he sees huge storm clouds, 'like black mountains'. He cannot fly over them, and he does not have the fuel to go round. He should go back to Paris, but he wants to get home, so he flies straight into the storm.

Lost. Inside the cloud everything is black. The plane jumps and twists. The compass spins round and round. The other instruments die, and so does the radio. He has no idea where he is.

The black aeroplane. Close by he sees another aeroplane, with no lights. Its pilot lifts a hand: 'Follow me.' He follows 'like an obedient child' for half an hour, until his fuel is almost gone. Then the black plane goes down, and he comes out of the clouds above two long lines of runway lights.