Sherman G. Rogers was born and raised in Islington, London. His mother was an accountant and a waitress, and his father was conscripted right after his birth on 4 December 1916 and died in World War I. He had two older brothers, Sean and Spencer. Although his family was not wealthy, he had a great childhood filled with heroic tales of his father.

The three boys looked up to their father and wanted to serve in the military, but their mother was scared of losing her boys after her brothers and husband died in World War I. She could no longer control Sean and Spencer by brute force, so she wanted to send Sherman to a good school so he could live a peaceful life - and even in the worst-case scenario, she would not lose all her precious sons. She worked two jobs and asked Sean and Spencer to pay rent to live in her house to afford the fees of Riverdale College for Christian Boys, one of London's most prestigious private schools.

Sherman was not allowed to talk about his family to anyone in the school, as his mother was afraid of the prejudice of both the children and the teachers. Despite many restrictions on what could and could not be said, Sherman always found a way around it. He had a large friend group filled with laughter, but he was also a tryhard at academics - as the only hope in his family to cross the boundary between social classes, he had immense pressure to perform better than all of his peers. However, he gave the impression that he did not care about any of the grown-up things.

Sherman was too small to be a bully, but he loved to annoy others. One afternoon in 1930, he approached Louis Mist, a boy two years his senior, reading by the swing, starting a friendship that lasted until Louis’ graduation. He had a schoolboy crush on Louis and would invite Louis to stay with him during the school breaks. His crush only got stronger as he grew taller and bigger than Louis. Not knowing whether they could meet again on Louis’ graduation day, he gave Louis a silver brooch shaped like a treble clef.

He was also a rebellious teenager - despite his mother’s discouragement, his desire to serve in the Royal Air Force never faded. After Louis graduated, he began dreaming about his own future - he did not see himself on a university campus writing essays, but steering bombers in the clear sky. He planned to join the RAF after he finished high school, so that his mother’s efforts were not wasted.

Sherman volunteered to join the RAF after graduating from secondary school, in 1935. The RAF Bomber Command was formed in 1936, and he was among the first who served in the Command. Also, his knowledge of aerodynamics and mechanical engineering was not wasted. It started when he provided some suggestions during a fault check when the engineer could not find the faulty unit, and these instances only became more frequent as he realised he was right most of the time. His dutiful performances gained him a lot of respect from his superiors.

As new recruits flooded in in the pre-war years and the RAF College Cranwell was redesigned RAF College Flying Training School, Plt Off Sherman Rogers was in charge of training a group of air cadets, especially in engineering. He was often frustrated because the cadets were all his age or even a bit older, yet he dutifully took responsibility. He was transferred to the newly reformed No. 44 Squadron in March 1937.

Sherman was transferred in between squadrons a lot during World War II. After the reformation of the No. 44 Squadron in March 1937, Sherman was under the command of Squadron Leader Vincent O’Nelson. The two knew each other from Sherman’s cadet years. They were in a brief romantic relationship before O’Nelson was transferred to No. 76 Squadron.

He believed that his relationship with O’Nelson was a mistake. On the night of O’Nelson’s transfer, he thought of no one but Louis from boarding school. He found himself complaining to a Flight Engineer, Ronald Parkinson, and they became best friends in the Squadron.

No. 44 Squadron was one of the only two squadrons to operate continuously throughout the War. However, Sherman was transferred to the No. 37 Squadron when they prepared for their first operational mission in September 1939. In November 1940, when No. 37 Squadron was moving to Egypt via Malta, Sherman shot down an Italian seaplane; and he continued this outstanding performance in Operation Compass. He was promoted to Flight Lieutenant following the Operation.

Sherman returned to No. 44 Squadron in late 1941, when the Squadron was equipped with Avro Lancasters - it was the first squadron to convert to Lancasters fully in early 1942. He sometimes flew as a Flight Engineer and sometimes as a Pilot, although he enjoyed flying as a Pilot much more - because Parkinson could be his Flight Engineer on the same bomber.

In March 1943, Sherman was selected to join the newly formed No. 617 Squadron. He participated in Operation Chastise and was promoted to Squadron Leader. A few months later in September, he took part in Operation Garlic which was an unsuccessful mission - his Lancaster was shot down over Dortmund. He hustled Parkinson out of the aircraft before he did so at the very last moment when the engine exploded right after he jumped out, and a shell fragment cut into his thigh.

He only had a pack of cigarettes on him. He landed safely on top of a commercial building, but returning to England with his injury without help seemed impossible. Like The Little Match Girl, Sherman finished the pack of cigarettes that night and found himself in a smoke-filled office with anti-Nazi posters on the wall.

It was a small resistance headquarters in Dortmund run by the Finn brothers, both teenagers. They took out the shell fragment in Sherman’s thigh, and one planned an escape route for Sherman to return to England through the Low Countries. He also managed to reunite with four other crew members, and three of them returned successfully.

Sherman returned to England in late September. He was no longer fit to fly a bomber likely due to a brain injury when the engine explosion took place, and he would have headaches and nausea when the air pressure changes. He also learned that he was the only surviving crew out of all the aircraft lost, which meant that Parkinson was killed in the mission.

Sherman promised Parkinson he would take care of his daughter Dora, if anything happened to him. During his brief stay in England, he went to Winchester, took Dora out of the nursery, and spent some time with the little girl before sending her to Riverdale Girls in London. Dora did not have relatives willing to care for her, so Sherman did everything he could.

E Minor, an MI6 agent in Nuremberg, was requesting a new wireless operator. Because Sherman could no longer return to his squadron, he was dispatched to Nuremberg to fill this position on 2 October.

Sherman recognised the agent as soon as they met - Louis Mist, the quiet boy from boarding school. His feelings rushed over him, but E Minor’s concern for professionalism kept holding him back. He sometimes called E Minor by his real name, accidentally or intentionally, but he always responded passively and corrected him. However, this dynamic eventually cracked E Minor’s shell, and the two found themselves in a purely physical relationship, despite being romantically attracted to each other.

Sherman installed the “radio station” in the attic of the vacant apartment on the top floor - he rented it under someone else’s name, but no one lived there. The “radio station” is an improved version of the wireless device he was given. He remodelled the entrance to the attic and designed a security system so that existing codes and reports would be destroyed if the attic was opened by brute force. The key to the attic was hidden in his pillowcase, and even E Minor had no knowledge of this secret construction.

Sherman received a radio message from England warning him of the Bombing of Nuremberg that would take place on 2 January 1945. He shared this information with E Minor, but E Minor did not receive the same message. However, he agreed to arrange a route to evacuate them both when Sherman suggested so, in a reassuring and unsuspicious manner.

On the morning of E Minor’s promised arrangement, Sherman found the treble-clef-shaped silver brooch he gave Louis on his graduation day. It was on the gramophone by his bedside table. He felt relieved - as E Minor silently admitted to his real identity - but also panicked because he had no idea why E Minor did this.

His gut feeling was right, and E Minor never planned to get himself out of Germany. Sherman was alone on his way back to London, and he did not get to bid farewell to E Minor.

However, after the downfall of Berlin, he heard about E Minor’s return and subsequent travel to Liverpool. He waited at Waterloo Station on 9 May 1945, hoping to see E Minor on the platform - and he appeared ten minutes before the train’s arrival. Holding the silver brooch tightly, he watched as E Minor boarded the train, and the whistle blew, as it vanished from his sight. Only ten years later, he received E Minor’s ashes from the government.

I created Sherman Rogers to be E Minor’s counterpart and did not base him on any particular historical figure. Or, I could say that I was inspired by the fact that many RAF people worked for intelligence here and there. I like my characters to have contrasting personalities, so the base shape of Sherman was initially an energetic and extroverted man, and the other qualities were added later on.

Most research I did regarding Sherman was on the organisation of the RAF and its campaigns, aircraft and casualties. For example, the exact date of No. 76 Squadron’s formations and reformations, Battle of the Ruhr and the Handley Page Halifax. Sherman’s experiences in the RAF are based on factual information, and he would likely be treated like a real hero after the war compared to E Minor. He is not a complicated character, but I put in a lot of work to make him more realistic rather than one-dimensional.