This was an intelligent short story about a plane mechanic during WWII Germany who moves beyond hero-worship for one of the pilots he serves. 
 Of course Felix worries when Baldur is in the air--how can he not?--and he's always the first to reach Baldur's plane when he returns, especially when the plane comes in smoking after a mission, just before the end of the war. Baldur needs a couple of days to recover and somehow gets Felix leave to join him at home for his brief recovery. Felix discovers a mutual attraction just before he has to send Baldur off to fight again. Only this time the enemy planes are close enough they can strike at the airfield where Felix and the other crewmen are sitting ducks, and only Baldur can save Felix before the bombs descend. 
 The men are aware of how tenuous their circumstances are. It's a war, and they both know that Baldur could be shot out of the sky every time he flies away. They're exhausted by the hours and the hopelessness of the situation; even though it's treasonous to say it, the Germans knows the war is a lost cause at this point. But to give up before death is dishonourable, and so they do what they do and try not to think about what might be. 
 But there's always that small hope, and that's why we read the story. The author shows us that men are just men, no matter which side of someone else's war they happen to be fighting on. That doesn't make them evil or right or wrong. They fend for themselves as they can, and they connect where they can, even in the middle of the Luftwaffe during WWII.