Mission to Britain

by J Eugene Porter

  “Arnold, tell the admiral that the base commander has set on full honors for him.”

  Copilot Miller walked back to the passenger area and pointed out the window to one of the admiral’s aides. Tower had his senior aide, Commander Powers, inform Lieutenant Brand and his Marines not to deplane until he had arranged their transportation. He wanted to move the welcoming committee away from the plane so that Brand could get off the plane without a lot of public scrutiny. Gunnery Sergeant Jones had informed the admiral the fewer people who knew about Brand, the better. The admiral had agreed.

  Admiral Tower, four aides, and two petty officers were welcomed with a lot of handshaking and introductions. They all walked into the base operations building, and the color guard left as well. About five minutes later, one of the admiral’s junior aides, his flag lieutenant, returned to the plane and spoke to the gunny, saying two cars would arrive in another five minutes. They would take them to a small house used by Washington dignitaries. The transportation arrived right on schedule. Gunny walked off the plane followed by Brand, Corporals Williams and Pride, and Chief Petty Officer Schmidt. The men pulled off their large green duffel bags, two large boxes belonging to Schmidt, and drove off to the house.

  The small house was a modern three-bedroom bungalow with a kitchen, two bathrooms, a nice sitting area, and a dining room. The house had a telephone connected to the navy switchboard, which Schmidt quickly tested using a prioritization code that was quickly approved and placed a call to Washington.

  “Seven-eight-seven-nine, Avery speaking,” came a disjointed voice on the other end.

  Schmidt quickly responded, “Nine-eight-four-five here. Landed at the destination, over.”

  “Nine-eight-four-five, I will notify interested parties. Enjoy your time. Out.” Then a dial tone came back on the phone.

  Schmidt hung up and looked at the gunny. “Everyone knows we are here that needs to know. Anything else, for now, Gunny?”

  “No, Sparks, we’re just fine and dandy. Just need to find where we can get some food and maybe a beer. Remember, we’re not here to be seen or heard so be on your best behavior.” He turned around to Pride and Williams and said, “And that means, no time at the NCO club. We’ll take four-hour watches except when the lieutenant is out of the house. Then we’ll have two on him and one down. Any questions?”

  The men all knew what to expect. They were well trained and needed little direction. Every one of the team members had become very guarded in their manner since they were in Britain. They knew this team was doing something special and important. Their job was to make sure Brand was safe and not in danger, which was very hard to do in a war zone like England.

  An hour had passed when the quiet was interrupted by the ringing phone. Schmidt picked it up with the agreed-to format. “Base house one, Chief Schmidt speaking.” Schmidt was the one who would handle all calls unless something more sinister occurred. “Yes sir. The car will be here in five minutes. The Lieutenant is requested to meet with the admiral. Yes sir, I will let him know. Thank you.”

  The line went dead. Schmidt looked at the gunny and said, “Five minutes from now a Ford staff car will be at our door to take the lieutenant to a meeting with the admiral and base commander. Do you want me to tell Mr. Brand?”

  “No, Chief, I’ll tell him and get Pride set to ride.” The gunny informed Brand of his meeting with the admiral and Captain Read.

  The base commander’s office was very nice since the naval air station had been built in the ’20s and was not some temporary building in some remote village. It reminded Brand of the Recruit Base in San Diego with a similar Spanish Colonial architecture theme to it. When he entered the office, he walked straight to the base commander’s desk and stood at attention with a near perfect recruit salute.

  “At ease, Lieutenant.” Admiral Tower said, “Meet my old friend from the NC days, Captain Read.”

  “A great honor to meet you, Captain. Your flight in the NC-4 was a great turning point in aviation history.” Brand looked at the captain who wasn’t in the mood for a soft approach to the challenge placed in front of him by this upstart kid from Washington.

  Tower had told Captain Read about the mission, and he was none too happy with the request from Admiral King. He had told Tower early in their conversation, “What do you mean request? It sounds like some damn order to me to slide this kid through the program. It offends every man who wears the golden wings, and it should offend the hell out of you too, Admiral.”

  Tower had expected this from his old flying buddy but knew all the yelling and screaming wouldn’t solve the problem, so he gave him another option. “Read, you can do this one of two ways. Either you get one of your best pilots to run Lieutenant Brand through an abbreviated course, or Admiral King will find someone to replace you and that person will do it.”

  Tower knew that Read wouldn’t want anyone else running his program of teaching navy pilots how to fly. He was very proud of what he had accomplished over the years. So, he smiled and accepted the reality of the situation. He still wasn’t happy and would be a pain in the ass if this kid failed to meet expectations.

  “Lieutenant Brand meet Lieutenant Commander Overstreet. He will be your check pilot for your training He is authorized by the admiral and me to throw you out of here if you mess up. Do you understand the meaning of this, Lieutenant Brand?”

  “Yes sir. I would not consider any other conditions to my winning navy wings. I look forward to the challenge. If I fail to make the grade, I will not challenge your decision.”

  Overstreet had been informed of this strange situation and was equally pissed off by the order to hand train this kid, regardless of assurances of Brand’s hundreds of hours of stick time. He was not impressed. He had over four thousand hours in his navy career and had flown every plane in the inventory since graduating from the academy in 1933. Overstreet was equally upset at being in Pensacola instead of leading a squadron of Wildcats or at least a group of PBYs on anti-submarine duty. Now he had to babysit a kid who was incredibly well connected and had been told not to ask about the boy lieutenant’s other duties. He was to see if the young lieutenant could fly a plane and if he could fly, to teach him to fly the navy way. Captain Read and the admiral held out an olive branch to him. The two senior flyers might see fit to get him out of the training command but there was only a hint of that possibility and he knew not to put much hope in the musings of senior officers.

  *****

  Earlier that same day far to the north in Boston, Captain Jameson was coming to agreement with Captain Baker and his team at ASWORG. Baker’s team of mathematicians, scientists, and actuaries had reviewed all the science team’s notes, plus the information Baker had brought back from his earlier trip to Great Britain in March. Everyone agreed in principle to the priorities of getting the navy on the correct path in combating the U-boat menace. Baker was preparing a separate draft to go up the channels about the need to quickly expand the convoy system for all vessels in U.S. coastal waters and the Caribbean, plus a plan to unify the command of all aviation assets to improve and expand the coverage of the American coastline.

  Jameson had also included his views based on Admiral Noble’s work in England on establishing escort colleges to train anti-submarine officers in how best to defend against the U-boat. Baker had shown Jameson an outline which was in lock-step with what Brand had developed on how to attack a submarine from both the sea and the air. Detailed explanations and schematics were also developed to enrich training manuals for both the operations personnel and for the leadership of the navy.

  Jameson knew Admiral King wanted to continue letting local commanders exercise their best initiative. Yet, he had seen firsthand in Britain that without some baseline approach to both defense and attack, the learning curve would be too steep for a new escort commander. Doctrines would have to be established to make all levels of leadership understand not only the basic principles of anti-submarine strategy but also how to measure its
effectiveness. Captain Baker had his team working hard to come up with the assessments and tools for these attack measurements. Jameson knew that King would balk at any kind of second-guessing by senior commanders unless it could be validated in the field and he asked Baker and his team to build such a plan.

  Late in the day, Baker asked Jameson for a private talk, away from his civilian team members. “Captain Jameson, may I call you Frederick?” This was the first of many questions on Baker’s mind, not knowing Jameson before the war as he had many of his counterparts.

  “Call me Fred, if I can call you Wilder?” Both men smiled and knew they were on the same page in efforts to build a sound anti-submarine program for the navy.

  Jameson looked at his new friend and said, “I think you and your team have accomplished a great deal and your initial work with Professor Blackett has made a difference. I wish I could have spent more time with him in Britain, but your efforts here have shown me that we have all learned a great deal.”

  Baker smiled at the solicitous words from Jameson who he now knew as a friend and colleague, quite a departure from a traditional navy officer. Jameson’s academic and business experience were incredibly valuable to Baker. The science team were the well-connected people who could cut through the red tape that stifled creativity and innovation in the navy.

  “Fred, I know you have read Blackett’s work, Scientists at the Operations Level. I think you would agree with his concepts of building up a statistical base to prove how to use what we presently have and then develop things we don’t.”

  Jameson nodded his head in agreement and wondered where this conversation was going. It didn’t take long.

  Baker saw the look of agreement from his new friend so he continued. “Blackett emphasized doing those things which can be made to pay off in a shorter time frame and eliminating our traditional methods of doing things. But the question I have for you—since you have access to the Chief of Naval Operations—is he open to this kind of approach?”

  Jameson had expected this line of questioning since being introduced to Baker and his team, which he now called the Baker’s Dozen. All of them were extremely energized by what they were working on, and the worst thing to happen to them was to have their work pigeon-holed by some old-time navy officer who disagreed with the approach. He had seen evidence of this problem since he began his tutelage of Brand. This led to his impatience with getting people to accept his team’s ideas, even though he had been proven correct on almost every idea.

  “Wilder, I think we need to do this two ways. First, you have the manual for ASW ready to go. I think you should send it through channels up to Admiral Andrews and the Eastern Sea Frontier Staff.” He held up his hand to stop Wilder from interrupting. “I will take an abridged copy with me which I will review with Admiral Willson for his comments. I know he’ll buy in completely. Then we’ll give a preliminary report to Admiral King. This way he’ll have commentary from someone he trusts completely, that being Admiral Willson, which should make him more open to your team’s recommendations.”

  Jameson looked up for a moment and then focused his attention to the copy of the report sitting in front of him. He picked it up saying, “I think we can sell most if not all of this program. He’ll have a hard time agreeing to the escort schools because independent action drives him. King does not like having people from headquarters telling ship captains and flotilla commanders how to do their jobs.”

  Wilder nodded his head in agreement and then Jameson recalled something to help move the program along. “Did you see King’s first letter to the fleet? If not, look up CINCLANT SERIAL (053) of January 21, 1942, Subject: Exercise of Command—Excess of Detail in Orders and Instruction. If we start by using his philosophy, we can arrange to get your program established so the trained officers, which he mentioned in the report, know how to do something and they have the authority to act as they see fit. He wants his officers to execute their duty, but he also knows they must understand what that duty is and how to do it properly. I think this is the way we get him to accept your work.”

  “Fred, thank God you’re working at the level you are because I was afraid this program would sit on someone’s shelf for months before it got to where the decisions are made. Otherwise, the Battle of the Atlantic, as Mr. Churchill calls it, can still be lost.”

  Baker looked at Jameson and then said in a whisper, “If we don’t get our act together, we may still lose the war.”

  Jameson saw the man seated in front of him and knew he possessed great intellectual curiosity. He also surmised Baker was not afraid to break a few plates if necessary, and if this damaged his career, it probably wouldn’t matter at all. Here was the kind of man the navy needed now; not a careerist, but a man of principle and intellect.

  “Wilder, why don’t we go buy some drinks for your team. We can do some editing tomorrow on this report, so I can have my ‘secret abridged’ copy to take back to Washington.”

  The two captains, now close friends who had just entered into a pact to sidetrack the navy establishment, smiled as they exited the office and announced to one and all, drinks were on them.

  27

  18 April 1942

  Naval Air Station

  Pensacola, Florida

  • Vice Adm. W. F. Halsey in Carrier Hornet (CV-8) launches sixteen Army B-25s (Lt. Col. J. H. Doolittle) at a point over 650 miles east of Honshu, Japan; bombers hit Tokyo, Yokosuka, Yokohama, Kobe, and Nagoya, Japan

  • German submarine shells oil installations at Curacao, Netherlands West Indies

  James had flown the previous day in the BT-13A Vultee Valiant, known in the navy as the SNV. The biplane was a garish yellow color which gave it the nickname, “the yellow peril.” This name was also used for the other basic trainer, the Stearman Kaydet, but the Vultee is what James got to fly. The instructor, Commander Overstreet, made it as difficult as possible for the lieutenant but came away not only surprised but very impressed. Late in the day, the commander cut the engine when the plane was upside down to see how Brand would handle the situation. He quickly righted the plane, gained speed in a shallow dive and restarted the engine without even a twitch. There was a mirror in the front seat that allowed the commander in the back seat to see how the trainee was doing. The kid just smiled and never showed any emotion other than being quite happy.

  That evening, the commander threw Brand a copy of the flight manual for the advanced trainer, the SNJ, known to the army as the North American T-6 Texan. Instead of a slow biplane, this all-metal monoplane could get up to two hundred miles per hour with a range of one thousand miles. It was the advanced trainer for all naval aviation cadets, and if the person passed this test, he could get his wings and move on to a regular assignment with the fleet. Most people were sent off to learn how to fly the Wildcat fighter, the Douglass Dauntless dive bomber or the new Grumman Avenger (TBF) torpedo/bomber plane. Others would go to school to learn to fly multi-engine planes such as the R4D or move on to the PBY or PBM mariner seaplanes. Others would be taught to fly the slow observation seaplanes carried on cruisers and battleships—Curtis SOC Seagulls and the newer Kingfishers. But nearly everyone wanted to be a fighter pilot flying the Wildcat and the brand-new Hellcat which would be ready for the fleet in 1943.

  The commander was waiting at the flight operations building at 0730 as planned. Brand received a series of maps showing auxiliary fields going all the way to Louisiana. Overstreet mapped out what he wanted to accomplish, which wasn’t flashy flying, but long-distance flying from point A to point B and back. They would fly north to near Athens, Georgia, then west to near Jackson, Mississippi. After landing and taking on fuel, they would return to Pensacola. This would test James’ ability to navigate over land and to show the commander that yesterday was not a fluke.

  The gunny was there as well, took note of the flight plan, and wrote down the information, including call signs for the plane, ETA for each point, and the ETA for Pensacola. He passed the information to t
he chief who would relay it to Admiral Willson. The admiral wanted to know where James was and who was with him at all times. The gunny had even thought about asking the commander to move over and let him fly in the back of the plane but knew there was not enough room. He had asked Corporal Pride to check out the mechanics for each plane James was flying to make sure they were doing their job correctly.

  Pride had spent two years on the USS Salt Lake City as the backseat observer on a Curtiss Seagull and had learned to pre-check the plane for each flight. He knew what to look for and to be very careful and to fly with only the best pilots. Most of the cruiser pilots were extremely good because of the nature of their lonely job and the need to be able to land in often rough sea conditions. But on occasion, he would encounter a pilot who was reckless and endangered not only himself but the observer and the plane.

  Pride also knew how to talk to the crews who maintained the plane and had learned a lot about engines, airframes, and all the cables that moved control surfaces. He didn’t enjoy airplanes as much as he did when he was younger because he had learned what could and would go wrong. He had already provided the senior crew chief for the training aircraft a special gift of bourbon for which he was grateful and promised Pride that only his best people would work on any plane flown by Commander Overstreet and Lieutenant Brand.

  Overstreet could see by the way Brand studied the charts that he was an experienced pilot. He compared the maps with the various weather charts. He asked for other maps further north of their course, mainly into Kentucky and over to Missouri. The commander said nothing about this but would ask later why the extra charts. The lieutenant did an excellent job checking out the plane, looking at maintenance records, and chatting with the plane’s captain about any unusual characteristics such as slowness of the stick or cable tension to the rudder. Although the young officer was too smart and too well connected for his liking, Overstreet was impressed by what he saw and felt confident this would be a good flight. He had been told very little about Brand, just enough to know he had a lot of pilot hours and was on some sort of scientific team. That’s all the admiral would tell him and that, according to the admiral, was all he needed to know about Mr. Brand.