Today we welcome Helena P. Schrader to The Writer's Life e-Magazine! Helena is the author of the historical fiction, Moral Fibre: A Bomber Pilot's Story. This interview is part of her Moral Fibre Blog Tour by Pump Up Your Book. Enjoy!

Helena P. Schrader is an established aviation author and expert on the Second World War. She earned a PhD in History (cum Laude) from the University of Hamburg with a ground-breaking dissertation on a leading member of the German Resistance to Hitler. Her non-fiction publications include “Sisters in Arms: The Women who Flew in WWII,” “The Blockade Breakers: The Berlin Airlift,” and “Codename Valkyrie: General Friederich Olbricht and the Plot against Hitler.”

In addition, Helena has published eighteen historical novels and won numerous literary awards. Her novel on the Battle of Britain, “Where Eagles Never Flew,” won the Hemingway Award for 20th Century Wartime Fiction and a Maincrest Media Award for Historical Fiction. RAF Battle of Britain ace Wing Commander Bob Doe called it “the best book” he had ever seen about the battle. “Traitors for the Sake of Humanity” is a finalist for the Foreword INDIES awards. “Grounded Eagles” and “Moral Fibre” have both garnered excellent reviews from acclaimed review sites such as Kirkus, Blue Ink, Foreword Clarion, Feathered Quill, and Chantileer Books.

Her latest book is the historical/military fiction, Moral Fibre: A Bomber Pilot’s Story.

Visit her website at http://helenapschrader.com or connect with her on Facebook. You can also visit her blogs:

https://schradershistoricalfiction.blogspot.com

https://europeanaviationhistory.blogspot.com

TWL: Welcome to The Writer's Life! How did you come up with the idea to write your book?

Helena: That’s a good question. I can only answer it by describing what happened.

Early last year I was preparing to release two novellas in a single volume. The novels shared a WWII setting. One focused on a ground crew chief, who was also a widower with teenage children and falls in love in middle-age, and the other was about a young pilot who had been burned beyond recognition and was undergoing plastic surgery — and an identity crisis. I thought they fit together nicely under the umbrella title Grounded Eagles. But one evening as I was sitting before the fire having a glass of wine with my husband, I suddenly realized that something was missing. I abruptly understood that I had to write a third novella, one focused on a flight engineer who was labelled “Lacking in Moral Fibre” (LMF), i.e. a coward, for refusing to fly a combat mission against Germany.

The next day I started researching the topic, turned up a great deal of fascinating information, and wrote the novella (Lack of Moral Fibre) in roughly two months. Yet no sooner was the novella finished, than I recognized that the story had only started. The novella was nothing more than the teaser. It explained in flashbacks why the hero, Kit Moran, had refused to take part in an operation against Berlin on a certain night in November 1943. The more important book was about what happened next. And so Moral Fibre was born.

TWL: Can you give us a short excerpt?

Helena: Of course. As requested the opening gambit.

RAF Psychiatric Diagnostic Center, Torquay,

15 December 1943

Wing Commander Dr Grace opened the therapy session pleasantly as he usually did. “Pilot Officer Moran, you’ve been with us almost three weeks now, isn’t that right?”

“Yes, sir.”

Grace nodded, drew a deep breath and then parted his elegant hands in a gesture of vague helplessness. “We have a bit of a problem. You see, I can’t find the slightest evidence of mental illness. In fact, I would venture to say that you are one of the sanest young men I’ve talked to in a long time.”

“Well, sir, you are working at a mental institution, so you may not be seeing a representative sample of the population,” Moran pointed out.

Dr Grace laughed shortly but sobered rapidly. “The point, I’m afraid, is that in the absence of a clear mental disorder, you cannot be admitted to a psychiatric hospital.”

“That’s just as well,” Moran nodding his understanding. “I’d probably go mad there.”

Dr Grace leaned back in his chair with an amused smile playing tentatively upon his features. “I have to admit I’m somewhat surprised — but glad — to see you can face the future with this degree of levity.”

“I think it’s called ‘gallows humour’, sir.”

“Hm.” Dr Grace thought a moment and then admitted, “Moran, I can’t make a recommendation about your case unless you are more candid with me about why you refused to fly on November 23. I know you don’t want to talk about it, but unfortunately I must insist on you telling me what happened.”

Moran drew a deep breath and sat up straighter. He’d come to respect and trust Dr Grace and decided that, despite his earlier reticence, it wasn’t that hard to explain after all. “There’s not that much to it.” He ignored Dr Grace’s suddenly raised eyebrows. “On an operational sortie to Berlin on November 22, the bomb aimer was injured by flak and three other crew members, including the pilot, were severely wounded in a night fighter attack. We made an emergency landing at Hawkinge, pancaking at roughly 2:30 am on the morning of November 23. While still on the tarmac, I was informed that the skipper — my best friend — Flight Lieutenant Selkirk was dead. Apparently, he had died immediately after landing. By flying the Lancaster back to England and making a perfect landing he had saved the lives of the rest of us on board.

“The three of us who were not injured were told to take trains back to our operational station at RAF Elsham Wolds in Lincolnshire. We spent the rest of the night and most of the next morning in railway stations, sleeping as best we could on platform benches in our flying gear, or standing up in overcrowded trains. Apparently, no one in this country thinks bombing Berlin is important enough to give up their seats to tired aircrew returning from an op there!”

Dr Grace grimaced and shook his head in sympathy.

Moran continued bleakly, “We reached Elsham Wolds roughly twelve hours after we’d landed. I had only been in bed about two hours, when I was told I was slated to fly as engineer with a sprog crew that same evening. I was not amused, but I didn’t balk until they opened the curtains at the briefing and it was yet another run to Berlin.”

Dr Grace did not have to urge him to explain himself. Moran suddenly wanted someone to understand. “It was as if bloody Butcher Harris was punishing us for not hitting the target in a tight pattern the night before — as if we were to blame for the 100 mph winds, for Met getting the forecast wrong, for being scattered and ravaged by the Luftwaffe’s wild boars! We’re not people to Harris — just tools to prove that bombing alone can force Germany into surrender.

“He could have given us a night off to recover. Or he could have sent us against a different target — something closer and less hotly defended like Bielefeld or Muenster or Brest. Sending us back to Berlin the very next night was too bloody much to ask!”

Dr Grace didn’t answer for several minutes, during which time Kit started to become uncomfortable. All the rumours about what happened to men like him who “lacked moral fibre” crowded his brain — court martial, demotion to aircraftman, assignment to humiliating duties such as cleaning latrines or working in the morgue, or a dishonorable discharge and industrial conscription to the coal mines or a munitions factory. Whatever they did to him, the blot on his record would be forever.

TWL: What part of the book was the most fun to write?

Helena: That’s a tough question. I fell in love with Kit very early on and I liked being with him, whatever he was doing, whether in the air with his crew or on the ground with the woman he loved, Georgina. I suppose, the scenes I loved best were those where Kit mastered his own doubts and triumphed in some way, often surprising himself in the process. Possibly the one I like most was his first encounter with the CO of 617 Squadron, the famous Dambusters Squadron, which famously had no tolerance for anything that even hinted of “LMF.”

TWL: What’s one fact about your book that would surprise people?

Helena: It’s a very spiritual book. Yes, it’s a war story. Yes, it’s a love story. But it is also about faith and finding our moral compass and moral courage as well as physical courage.

TWL: What other books are you working on and when will they be published?

Helena: I’m working on a three-part series set in the Berlin Airlift. It’s a very different kind of book with a large cast, many of whom had major or minor roles in earlier novels. Kit will be there, but also Robin from Where Eagles Never Flew, “Banks” from Grounded Eagles and Christian Freiherr von Feldburg from Traitors for the Sake of Humanity.

The first book depicts the dramatic economic crisis Germany faced before the introduction of the Deutsche Mark and Marshal Plan. It traces the rising tensions between the Western Allies and the Soviets. It is tentatively titled Cold Peace, and I hope it will be ready for release in May or June of next year. The second book, Cold War, will describe the airlift itself, and the final book Cold Truce look at the longer-term consequences of this first clash in the cold war.

Title: Moral Fibre: A Bomber Pilot’s Story
Author: Helena P. Schrader
Publisher: Cross Seas Press
Pages: 436
Genre: Historical Fiction / Military Fiction

Book Blurb

Riding the icy, moonlit sky—

They took the war to Hitler.

Their chances of survival were less than fifty percent.

Their average age was 21.

This is the story of just one Lancaster skipper, his crew,

and the woman he loved.

It is intended as a tribute to them all.

Flying Officer Kit Moran has earned his pilot’s wings, but the greatest challenges still lie ahead: crewing up and returning to operations. Things aren’t made easier by the fact that while still a flight engineer, he was posted LMF (Lacking in Moral Fibre) for refusing to fly after a raid on Berlin that killed his best friend and skipper. Nor does it help that he is in love with his dead friend’s fiancé, who is not yet ready to become romantically involved again.

“[The hero’s] struggles, his life, and the romance he is continuously hoping and striving to have with the woman he loves hits you directly in the soul, but the addition of adventure and excitement makes you want to read cover-to-cover without ever having to put the book down…. The intriguing dialogue, the settings, the clear descriptions of such harsh situations – this author has hit on all cylinders once again, and even provides the most exhilarating history lesson I, personally, have ever had the pleasure of reading. “5-Stars!” Feathered Quill

“[Moral Fibre] takes the reader into the English psyche of [WWII], tapping the depths of human emotions, holding them up to the light, and revealing their concomitant beauty and ugliness in times of fear and crises. … Meticulously researched and skillfully written, Schrader’s Moral Fibre steps off the pages and comes to life. Her nuanced characters and authentic dialogue also provide a glimpse of Britain’s stratified class-conscious culture during the WWII era.
…. A riveting read and highly recommended!” – Chanticleer Reviews 5-Stars

“Helena P. Schrader … is a true master at delving into complex psychological dilemmas and emerging with a tantalizing, completely comprehensible tale of human frailty and strengths that blend into a unique experience for her readers. Moral Fibre is brilliantly crafted in its delicate treatment of an evolving relationship … and the clashes with staid tradition and prejudices. How they each evolve is the meat of Schrader’s magic. The relationship and romance scenarios are poignant and human, contrasted with the battle scenes and flying sequences which are accurate and detailed.” – Tom Gauthier for Readers Favorites

Book Information

Release Date: May 16, 2022

Publisher: Cross Seas Press

Soft Cover: ISBN: 978-1735313924; 436 pages; $19.95; E-Book, $9.49

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3zAlbkL

Distributor: https://itascabooks.com/products/moral-fibre-a-bomber-pilots-story?_pos=1&_psq=Moral+Fibre&_ss=e&_v=1.0