The Shepherd

A De Havilland Vampire pilot departs RAF Celle on Christmas Eve 1957, aiming for RAF Lakenheath. The long, fog-bound flight sets a tense tone as he heads home into worsening winter conditions.

The Vampire suffers a complete electrical failure, leaving the cockpit in darkness and stripping him of compass and radio. He is left to navigate by memory and instinct while the North Sea looms below.

With dwindling fuel and dense fog, he begins flying in small triangles to remain radar-detectable and to signal for help. The maneuver becomes the story's central motif as he tries to shepherd himself toward safety.

A WWII De Havilland Mosquito fighter-bomber appears in the distance and its pilot begins directing the Vampire with hand signals. The two crews establish a silent, almost telepathic exchange in the fog.

The Vampire notices the Mosquito’s nose bears the letters JK, a clue that hints at a shared history. The visual marker deepens the mystery of the other pilot’s identity.

Following hand signals, the Vampire lines up for an oncoming runway as his fuel finally runs dry. Runway lights flick on through the fog, allowing a desperate, exhausted landing on a usable strip.

Instead of an active airfield, the plane touches down at RAF Minton, a long-unused storage depot. Only the on-duty flight lieutenant and a 70-year-old civilian mess steward are present. The pilot realizes no emergency response would be expected at such a facility.

A late-night call reveals that no local pilots were authorized to fly that foggy evening and the air traffic control tower was unstaffed. The shepherding protocol that might have saved him never existed that night. The pilot confronts the unnerving possibility that salvation came from elsewhere.

A call to the meteorological squadron at Gloucester reveals the Mosquito used for weather forecasting had been scrapped three months earlier. The source of the mysterious guiding aircraft is suddenly questioned.

The pilot speculates that someone bought one of the old Mosquitoes and flew it on Christmas Eve to shepherd him to the storage depot. The idea blends memory, myth, and a hint of haunting coincidence.

The flight lieutenant directs the pilot to a room prepared by Joe, the mess steward. Joe reveals he has worked at Minton for twenty years and remembers the station’s wartime days.

Joe lights a fireplace, brings food, and stays to talk with the pilot. The quiet hospitality provides a temporary shelter from the mystery surrounding the night’s events.

Joe reveals that during the war, John Kavanaugh would refuel his Mosquito and go out alone to guide crippled bombers home. A framed photo shows a young pilot beside a Mosquito with JK painted on its nose.

Joe discloses that John Kavanaugh died on Christmas Eve, 1943, when his Mosquito went down in the North Sea. The revelation casts a shadow over the present night’s rescue and ties the two events across time.

The pilot contemplates that the old Mosquito’s legend lives on in a memory that saves him, hinting that the shepherding he experiences is a spectral echo of Kavanaugh’s wartime deeds. The night ends with a quiet sense of connection across generations.