Two hours later they were all standing as close to the runway as safety considerations allowed at the Berlin airport of Templehof. Thirty minutes later their senses were pounded as eighteen jet fighters passed in formation less than one hundred metres overhead. They wheeled in a great circle around the airfield before doing another low level pass. After this they split into six flights of three aircraft, each of which performed various manoeuvers, before finally landing and coming to rest in a precise line facing their audience.
All the pilots descended from their aircraft at the same time. The lead pilot, and new squadron commander, Adolf Galland, walked down the line shaking hands, welcoming the pilots to their new home. Together, they headed towards the waiting dignitaries.
Now a lone ME262 appeared in the sky. It came over the airfield at a height of about one hundred metres before completing a tight three hundred and sixty degree turn and descending to fifty metres for a blast above the gathered officials and pilots. It landed and taxied to a stop at the head of the parked aircraft. It was only then that the uninitiated noticed it was a two seater trainer version of the ME262. The occupants climbed out and made their way to the small crowd.
Von Brauchitsch was the first to recognise them. The passenger was their absent Aviation Minister, General Kesselring. The pilot was Luftwaffe General Woltram von Richtofen, cousin of the legendary Manfred von Richtofen, ‘the Red Baron’ of Great War fame.
Woltram von Richtofen, even though he was now forty nine years old, had been allowed to train on the ME262 for this single flight, to honour his fallen relative, the greatest air ace of all time with eighty victories to his credit.
It was a fitting start to the new squadron’s history book.
LONDON - APRIL
The inaugural flights of the first two Starflights to enter service were arranged to take place simultaneously. The Lufthansa flight would lift off from Berlin, bound for London, at the same time as the BOAC aircraft left London for Berlin.
Standing among the invited guests on a specially erected terrace at Gatwick Airport to see the new airliner, were James and Fiona. His wife had been persuaded to be separated from their son for the day. She looked bored. James could not help noticing she was putting on a little weight. The difference in the ages no longer looked quite so obvious.
An RAF band played close by. A stall served light refreshments courtesy of BOAC.
The Starflight was parked directly in front of them. It looked absolutely magnificent and appealing in its sparkling new BOAC livery. James thought that on looks alone it was a winner! It also seemed to represent a break from the pre-war years and the war itself. It belonged to a new, more exciting, era.
Boarding the aircraft were eighty persons, most of whom had offered all sorts of blandishment to be on this flight. There were lords and ladies - including a Duke, several actors and actresses, socialites, wealthy industrialists and a couple of Members of Parliament, including the British Minister of Aviation.
Once they were all safely on board no time was lost. The rumble of the aircraft’s engines drowned out all conversation. It slowly moved to the end of the runway. Its engines revved up to a crescendo. The brakes were released and it lumbered forward gathering speed. As it left the ground and retracted its undercarriage, there was spontaneous clapping among the guests. Now they could finish the refreshments!
Alone among the guests, James watched the Starflight as it disappeared into the distance.
THE HAGUE
Von Altendorf’s meeting with the Dutch Foreign Minister, Eelco van Kleffens, had been a cordial one. Relations between their two countries could only be described as excellent.
Since the European War the Dutch had prospered and their country had actually increased in size when the Flemish speaking northern part of Belgium had voted to become part of Holland. In 1941, a year after the end of the war, Germany had given its then vassal state, the option of regaining their independence, or becoming an autonomous state within the German Union. A referendum was to have been held in 1942 to determine their future course. All citizens over the age of twenty one could vote, and, similar to the newly introduced Norwegian and Danish voting system, those citizens with higher education or who paid higher taxes, had extra votes.
Unexpectedly, as the referendum date drew near, there had been calls from different sides of the political spectrum to delay the issue for a further year. It appeared that the vote was considered to be finely balanced, and both sides wanted more time to see if any possible future change in the economy or society would influence the vote. Up to now, April 1944, no new date for the referendum had been finalised.
Legally Holland still remained, in theory, a vassal state of Germany. In practice, the Dutch government controlled every aspect of running their country, including defence and foreign affairs. The German Governor-General was purely a nominal post with no actual powers other than ceremonial. Holland was in a similar situation to the dominions of Australia or Canada in the British Empire.
Von Altendorf now briefed his opposite number on his discussions with the French and British about their colonial empires. He cautioned van Kleffens on complacency. The Dutch East Indies was for the moment peaceful, stable and made no demands on the Dutch economy. However, German intelligence had ascertained that the opinion of the majority of Indonesians would probably change in favour of independence in the not too distance future.
This would be caused primarily by some French and British colonies being given their independence, as a result of which, nationalist feelings could be stirred up in other subject territories, resulting in insurgency movements becoming active.
Von Altendorf did not think the Dutch Caribbean possessions were a problem, but Suriname on the South American mainland, may become a source of unrest.
He had given the Dutch Minister something to think about.
AFRICA & INDOCHINA
The fifteen sub-Saharan French African colonies, which now included the former Belgian colonies of Congo and Ruanda-Burundi, took de Gaulle fourteen weeks of endless rambling discussions, cajoling, patient explanations, and hot and dusty travel, to complete. Transport in and between these countries had proved time consuming and exhausting due to primitive roads and transport systems. The food and water along the way played hell with de Gaulle’s digestive system and internal plumbing. He hoped he would never have to visit Africa again. He was physically and mentally exhausted.
The only major difference between agreements with these particular countries and the North Africa territories was that the transitional period would be four to five years instead of three. The present administrations of the African territories were, to say the least, somewhat inefficient and relaxed. They would require a great deal of work to effect any meaningful improvement.
De Gaulle privately prophesied much unrest and civil strife in future years for these countries. It was a deeply unsettled region and tribalism was rife. After two visits in two years his view was that France would definitely be better off out of it.
The British had agreed to merge French Somaliland with their own territory there. While they were not enthusiastic about acquiring new land, they saw the merits of one entity incorporating the adjoining British, French and Italian Somaliland territories.
Indochina was the next French area to be visited. But first de Gaulle holidayed in France for two weeks. He needed it after more than three months of frustrating and needlessly protracted discussions with African leaders and their tribal elders.
While holidaying in France, he came to realise the depth of feeling against him within the country. He was often the subject of abuse in the more right wing publications, and by some broadcasters on national radio. The haughty ex-General didn’t like it but dismissed it all as irrelevant. History would judge him, and conclude his actions were in the best interests of France!
Learning from his experiences over the past few months, de Gaulle had sent ahead several trusted assistants to lay the groundwork for ag
reements with Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
In Indochina, Vietnam presented the most difficult challenge. The official Head of State was Bao-Dai, the current Emperor of Vietnam, who had reigned since 1926. He had no real powers in government and possessed no perceived significant abilities. However, using him as a central unifying figure, and with the assistance of the French colonial officials in the country, de Gaulle cobbled together a government of national unity in the space of two weeks.
A slight worrying factor was the activities of the Vietminh, the communist forces previously active in the countryside, under their able leader, Ho Chi Minh. With the elimination of communism in China, support for the Vietminh had withered, but they still lingered on as the only potential threat to a future government. De Gaulle promised the Vietnamese significantly increased military aid to eliminate this movement once and for all.
The new state of Viet Nam accepted France’s offer of independence.
It took a further two weeks each for Cambodia, and then Laos, to adopt the new policy with France. An exhausted de Gaulle could not wait to leave Indochina. He was under no illusion that the region would maintain stable governments over the longer term. This is not Europe!
In Paris he advised the President that the question of the much smaller and insignificant colonies in the Americas, Caribbean and Polynesia should be left in abeyance for a while. Perhaps until next year. France had enough on its plate at the moment.
Darlan concurred. Although he had never liked de Gaulle’s manner in the past, he conceded that the man had done an excellent job so far. Now it only remained for him to complete the process successfully.
BERLIN - JUNE
The Chairman of Lufthansa’s board of directors had great pleasure in announcing that the airline’s fleet of Starflights now totalled ten, and a further ten would be delivered over the next three months. The aircraft had proved to be very popular with passengers and they were flying at an average occupancy of ninety one percent. The British built Rolls-Royce engines gave the airliner a faster cruising speed than any of its competitors, and at the same time they were more fuel efficient.
The airliner was an undoubted winner for Lufthansa, and would help them to achieve their ambition of becoming the world’s biggest airline before the end of next year.
BREMEN - JULY
The Starlight airliners were rolling off the production line at the rate of five to seven every week. Focke-wulf’s production was pre-sold for the next year. The aircraft was the most advanced civil airliner in the world. Throughout the factory there was a tremendous sense of achievement. Worker morale was ‘sky high’.
Germany was currently the largest aircraft producer in the world now that the British had scaled back on their military programmes. It was a position they intended to keep.
General Kesselring was well satisfied with the results of his work.
TOKYO - JULY
James felt absolutely shagged out. It had been a tight schedule. Tonight he needed to sleep. Tomorrow Magda and he would take the day off, and go sight-seeing around Tokyo. The day after tomorrow they would be completing an around the world journey by flying to Seattle in the United States, at the request of Junkers.
The German aircraft manufacturer had asked him to do this for them as a favour. One of their star salesmen had been in an aircraft accident – ‘Bloody hell’, thought James – and another was sick. They were short-staffed. It would take James much the same time returning to Europe via the USA, as it would via Asia and the Middle East. The potential buyer in the United States was unsure what type of aircraft he wanted, or how many.
When he departed from England, he had been directed first to Shanghai in China, by Junkers. A Sino-French consortium wanted to buy six Ju52s cargo carriers, and needed the finance. The initial assessment looked good and James had wrapped this one up quickly. Then he was off to Tokyo where a Japanese industrial conglomerate wanted eight Ju52s, two of them being executive passenger versions, again requiring finance. This one also looked good, and James had finalised the matter with little time wasted.
When his Japanese clients discovered that he and Magda would be touring Tokyo the following day, they insisted on providing a taxi and tour guide for them, courtesy of the Japanese tax man!
They had a marvellous leisurely day. They spent an hour at the Meiji Jingu Shrine, probably Japan’s most famous Shinto shrine. Another hour flew by as they strolled hand in hand around the stunning gardens of the Imperial Palace. Later, the traditional Japanese dance, kabuki, was less interesting for James, but Magda was transfixed. He studied her as she watched the performance. He had tried to be strong but he could not help it. He was hopelessly in love with her!
After an interesting – that was the only way to describe it – lunch, they went nautical. They had a one hour boat tour of Tokyo Bay, arranged by their taxi driver. They had now done enough touring for one day. It was time to return to their hotel and relax.
They had been back at the hotel only thirty minutes. James and Magda were luxuriating in a large hot soapy bath when the telephone rang. James chose to ignore it, but Magda wouldn’t. She hastily wrapped a towel around herself and ran to answer. It was the Japanese industrialist. So sorry, but his partners had decided they no longer needed eight of the German aircraft. She relayed the message to James, who swore loudly, it was a good thing Magda had the mouthpiece covered with her hand. He continued to moan, “All this bloody way for nothing. Damn”.
Magda continued to listen to the speaker at the other end of the phone. When he finished she said she understood and thanked the Japanese for the call. She replaced the receiver.
“Bloody time waster” James continued with his moaning.
Magda said nothing. She just threw off her towel, revealing her magnificent body, and climbed into the bath again. She looked at James. “So do you want to hear what he said, or not?”
“Okay, tell me” James replied disinterestedly.
“Mister Yashita sincerely apologises for inconveniencing you. His partners were unanimous about the aircraft”. She paused, trying to keep a straight face. “Eight is no good for them, they want sixteen”.
Two days later James presented himself at the headquarters of Western & Pacific Airlines, (Wespac), in Seattle.
Before they had left their hotel in Tokyo, a letter had duly been delivered to him, confirming the Japanese purchase of sixteen JU52s, subject to finance being provided. James was very content with his visit to the Far East.
Now that he was at Wespac, he was feeling a little apprehensive about his ability to actually sell aircraft. It turned out that he had no need to worry. During the course of many, many discussions with the people at Junkers and their customers, he had picked up far more technical information than he realised. To his surprise he handled the negotiations to the complete satisfaction of the buyers. Minor details that he was unable to answer could be dealt with through correspondence later.
Wespac was a small regional airline currently using Douglas DC3s, the sturdy and ubiquitous Dakota. Seven Junkers JU52 were required by them for some shorter routes, including mail carrying. They signed an order subject to finance.
Wespac was not yet finished with James. The President of the airline, Frank O’Donnell, invited James and Magda to dinner that evening at his golf club. Over a pleasant and relaxed meal they spoke at length on many and varied subjects. James thought the dinner invitation was just the American’s way of showing his appreciation of James’ assistance.
Once coffee and cognac was served, O’Donnell became more business-like. He commenced to outline his vision for Wespac. This included the introduction of scheduled flights to Canada, Mexico, China and Japan in the near future. Everything he said seemed to make sense. He questioned James about his bank and its ties with the Germans. He knew a lot about the Starflight. And the future jet powered airliner.
O’Donnell now arrived at the real reason for dinner. He had been assessing James during their talks earlie
r in the day, as well for the past two hours over dinner. He was ready to talk further business.
He was ready to place an initial order for ten Focke-Wulf Starflights. In return, he required preferential treatment with deliveries of these, from the German manufacturer. He wanted Wespac to be the first operator of the Starflight on the US west coast. He anticipated placing further orders as he phased the DC3s out of service, and again he needed preference over other US airlines.
This preference must be extended to cover the future jet airliner, if and when it went into production. In return, Bradlington Thornberry Bank would become Wespac’s lead bank for all of their financial requirements, both aircraft and other.
Although he did not show it, James was impressed with what he had heard. And excited! Wespac was a well-funded and financially sound organisation. Nigel Thornberry will love this. Our first major breakthrough into the US banking market!
The German Peace Page 26
