"Watch now as both pilots attempt the same maneuver at the very same time!" George shouted into a Rudy Vallee megaphone held close to the microphone. "They will fly Cuban eights... loops linked by descending half-rolls!"
"I can't watch, Hubert!" a housewife declared within Edna's earshot. "Why aren't you as brave as those two men up there?"
Edna wished Buck had heard that, but he was in his own world, staring into the sky. It was far from the one Barbara and Leila were flying in.
The Jenny and Cub flew as close together as George had ever seen two planes perform a Cuban eight. Even he held his breath until both planes expertly executed the maneuver he had taught the women only two days before.
"And now for their thrilling finale," George announced with some relief as the spectacle was about to come to an end. "Our pilots will both perform the most daring of all aerobatic maneuvers... the Lomcevak. It is a series of very dangerous inverted flick rolls that end with each airplane tumbling end-over-end. Watch now, and pray that our two brave pilots come out of their spins alive and safely land their planes!"
George then upped the volume on "The Stars and Stripes Forever" until Barbara and Leila climbed their planes to the highest degree of elevation for the stunt. Both the Jenny and the Cub were then lost in billowy white clouds that had gathered overhead. For anxious moments the crowd fell silent, wondering where the planes had gone.
Barbara motioned to Leila to fly above the clouds. When their planes broke through them, they headed into sunlight so bright, they had to look away.
After several minutes of flying toward the sun, Barbara said a silent hello to Paul, then waved to Leila. Together, they started their final maneuver. They took their planes into a mock air battle, zooming at each other several times, then flying out over the airfield and buzzing the crowd to delirium.
When the pilots landed and taxied their planes onto the flying field, crowds in the stands and those watching on the field ran out to greet the heroic flyers. Barbara and Leila brought their planes to a stop and were surrounded by cheering well-wishers astounded by the barnstorming thrills they had just witnessed.
"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls," George announced over the microphone. "Meet the two daredevils who risked their lives to give you the thrills of a lifetime..."
George turned off the march music and the airfield fell silent as all eyes were fixed on the two cockpits. Still disguised in their leather flying caps and goggles, Barbara and Leila looked at each other. Leila held up a thumb, a signal to Barbara, and she held hers up.