MEMORIES & ECHOES: REMEMBERING WORLD WAR 2
“90 SECONDS”
written by Thommy Melanson
*ARTIST NOTE: Please make all the borders and alleys between the panels black.
PAGE ONE
**LETTERER NOTE: Running along the top of the page should be a very simple Title and Credits, along with:
The following story is based upon a true event.
PANEL 1 - BIG PANEL - EXT. - GREY SKIES - Two Royal Air Force Hawker Typhoon IBs flying in formation, one a bit higher than the other.
1 CAPTION: 18,000 feet above a world at war.
2 PILOT 2 (the higher aircraft):'ear the reports? We're just north of a blizzard!
3 PILOT 1 (lower aircraft): I'll take a little snow any day compared to what was raining down on me last week, I'll tell you what!
PANEL 2 - INT. - PILOT 2'S COCKPIT - Big bushy eyebrows over light eyes is all that can be made out from underneath his helmet and flight mask.
4 PILOT 2: Good show over Lübeck, now that you mention it.
5 PILOT 2: Never had the privilege, but I imagine trying to stay on target while dodging flak in those awkward Stirlings must have been a frightful ordeal.
PANEL 3 - INT. PILOT 1'S COCKPIT - Thin eyebrows and dark eyes with Pilot 2's plane visible over his shoulder.
6 PILOT 1: HA! These Typhoons fly like bloody kites compared to those cumbersome buggers!
7 PILOT 2 (transmission): Still, you blokes were quite lucky!
PANEL 4 - Pilot 1 holds a locket on a chain around his neck.
8 PILOT 1:It's all due to my sweet Mary. She sends me luck every day by kissing the wind as she awaits me back in Coventry.
9 PILOT 1: At least that's what she writes during breaks from shagging our milkman.
10 PILOT 2 (transmission): WHAT?!
PANEL 5 - TIGHT on the open locket in his hand - a B&W oval photo of Mary, a rather pretty brunette in her 20's.
11 PILOT 1: Ohhh, she must be. I know she fancied him a bit. I've been gone over a year and we're only human, after all.
12 PILOT 2 (transmission): ... so you've cheated, then?
13 PILOT 1: No, no. I love the girl too much. At least she's nice enough to keep up the illusion of steadfast faithfulness.
14 PILOT 2 (transmission): Sounds like you need some fai--
PAGE TWO
PANEL 1 - BIG PANEL - PILOT 1 whips his head around, his eyes wide as he witnesses the MASSIVE EXPLOSION that once was his friend's plane!
PANEL 2 - TIGHT on him - Panicked, freaking out.
1 PILOT 1: ABERCROMBIE! NO!
2 PILOT 1: Oh God -- Fighter Command, do you read?! DO YOU READ?!
3 PILOT 1: W-w-why didn't F.C. warn us?! 'ELLO?!
PANEL 3 - He sobers quickly as he witnesses something horrific before him.
4 PILOT 1 (lowercase): dear god.
PANEL 4 - HIS P.O.V. - Though his cockpit window, directly in front of him, are 3 German Stukas! Flashes of light on their wings - they're firing at him!
5 SFX (machine guns): RATATATAT-RRATATAT-RRATATATAT!
PANEL 5 - His cockpit is riddled with bullets! Miraculously, none seem to hit him, however. Not too conspicuous, but a bullet severs his neck chain, sending that lucky locket toward the floorboard!
6 SFX (all over): ting! ting! ting! pting-ting! ting!
PAGE THREE
PANEL 1 - EXT. SKIES - The RAF Typhoon - trailing smoke from its fuselage swerves onto its side, narrowly missing 2 of the Stukas that have zoomed past him on both sides!
PANEL 2 - TIGHT on the third Stuka's cockpit, the German
pilot inside raises his hand in frustration.
1 GERMAN PILOT: Sind Sie betrunken?!*
2 GERMAN PILOT (cont'd): Töten Sie sie, Sie Idioten!**
* Are you drunk?!
** Kill them, you idiots!
PANEL 3 - The smoking RAF Typhoon has circled around, and now those 2 Stukas are in his line of fire.
3 PILOT #1: I have a special delivery for you Krauts...
PANEL 4 - TIGHT in the RAF cockpit, as Pilot #1 pushes
forcefully on a button on his control stick.
4 PILOT #1: ... courtesy of the Queen Mum!
5 SFX: klik.
PANEL 5 - EXT. The RAF Typhoon, guns jammed, as that sneaky third Stuka swoops in behind it.
6 SFX: klik.klik.klik.klik.
7 PILOT #1 (electric): MISFIRE?! Not bloody now!
PANEL 6 - INT. GERMAN COCKPIT - A look of glee on the German's face.
8 GERMAN PILOT: Halt mir einen Platz in Hölle frei, du britisches Stück Scheiße!***
*** See you in hell, you British piece of shit!
PANEL 7 - SMALL PANEL - TIGHT on his gloved thumb as it hits a big button marked Flugkörper on his control stick.
PAGE FOUR
PANEL 1 - The Stuka hard left, the RAF Typhoon hard right, as the Stuka fires a missile at the rear of the Typhoon!
PANEL 2 - 3/4 PAGE SPLASH - SLIGHT WORM'S EYE VIEW - KABOOM! The Typhoon explodes! The Pilot's ejected clear and is falling toward us, flight mask ripped to the side - revealing a facial expression that can best be described as...
1 PILOT #1 (lowercase): bloody hell.
PAGE FIVE
PANEL 1 - As the Stukas fly off far in the background,
our hapless RAF pilot yanks at the ripcord on his parachute harness.
1 GERMAN PILOT (off panel): Sobald wir zum Flugplatz zurückkommen, werden Sie beide Ihre Augen überprüfen lassen!*
2 GERMAN PILOT (cont'd): Es gibt keinen Platz für Blinde in meiner Luftwaffe!**
* As soon as we return to the airfield, you two will get your eyes checked!
** There is no place for blind people in my Luftwaffe!
PANEL 2 - SMALL PANEL - TIGHT on the cord handle, which has come off in his hand!
3 PILOT #1 (lowercase): oh... bugger...
PANEL 3 - BIRDS EYE VIEW - As if "our camera" is falling ten feet above him - a rear view of The Pilot flailing his limbs and freaking right the @#$% out! Don't forget to add "speed lines" to denote fast free falling!
4 PILOT #1 (electric): MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
PANEL 4 - MEDIUM SHOT - Falling through the air.
PANEL 5 - ZOOM OUT - Still falling.
PANEL 6 - ZOOM OUT FARTHER STILL - Falling, though about to go through a thick cloud bank below.
PAGE SIX
PANEL 1 - He's fallen past those clouds, coming out the other side into a snowstorm!
PANEL 2 - Falling...falling...pretty snowflakes, though.
PANEL 3 - You guessed it, more falling and snow!
PANEL 4 - Yep, still falling. Still snowing.
PANEL 5 - And falling, though now rapidly toward a dense snow-blanketed pine forest.
PANEL 6 - HIS P.O.V. - A scenic Bavarian winter as seen from above - snow covered canopies and tops of alpine trees. Don't forget those "speed lines"!
1 PILOT #1 (off panel; electric): NO NO NO NO!!!
PAGE SEVEN
PANEL 1 - He falls through a pine tree - literally! His side snaps branches!
1 SFX: KRAK!
PANEL 2 - More falling through trees and breaking branches! Some spooked birds dart away!
2 SFX: KRAK! KRRNCH! KRAK!
PANEL 3 - Yep, his velocity slowing, but he's still falling and snapping wood!
3 SFX: KRAK!KRAK!KRAK!
PANEL 4 - MEDIUM SHOT - We see he's about to fall from the trees into high, high snow drifts below.
PANEL 5 - BIRDS EYE - A deep, DEEP chasm has appeared in those immense snow drifts. Broken branches and pine needles litter.
PANEL 6 - EXACT SAME SHOT. Hold still.
PAGE EIGHT
PANEL 1 - THAT EXACT SAME SHOT. Still holding still.
PANEL 2 - EXACT SAME SHOT - Only The Pilot's hand appears! He's clutching wildly at the snow.
PANEL 3 - MEDIUM SHOT - Covered in snow like a Yeti, he has clawed his way out of the chasm!
PANEL 4 - He collapses on to the snowy ground, flat on his back.
PANEL 5 - EXACT SAME SHOT - Only he's laughing from relief!
1 PILOT #1: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
PANEL 6 - He sits up, face and clothes shredded all to hell, beaming with jubilation! He's reaching for his boot...
2 PILOT #1: She MUST love me after all!
3 PILOT #1: Thankyouthankyouthankyou Mary! I'll never doubt you again!
PANEL 7 - TIGHT on his scratched fingers as they're about to remove that now battered LUCKY LOCKET on a broken necklace - open to Mary's lovely photo - which had wrapped itself around the metal hooks of his lace-up boots!
**LETTERER NOTE: Along the bottom of the page, in a simple font, reads:
According to official reports, a RAF pilot fell 18,000 feet without a parachute. It took him 90 seconds to reach the ground. He was treated for minor cuts and scrapes and released from the hospital that same day. He continued to serve in the Royal Air Force for three more years until the end of conflict in 1945.
He and his beloved were married in Coventry a month after his return home, and remained so for the rest of their lives.
Some guys have all the luck.
END
copyright 2005 Thommy Melanson ; all rights reserved.
