American Airpower Comes of Age

CAIRO, TEHRAN, PALESTINE, CAIRO, ITALY
Eisenhower and Tedder. Discussed: organization and command;
Spaatz’ Strategic Air Force, and later Ike’s American Air
Force Commander; Eaker to Mediterranean to replace Tedder
as Commander, Allied Air Forces; Doolittle to 8th, Cannon to
12th, Twining to 15th, Royce to Deputy to Administrative
Executive. No other changes in personnel. 154
Lunch with Tedder and Mrs. Tedder, Dr. Zuckerman, 155
Larry Norstad. Decided to go on through to Marrakesh and by
pass Algiers. Pete showed up with plane, got out of mud at
Naples with bulldozer. Tunis, sunshine, no clouds, warm
weather. Met Kuter and turned Wildman over to him. Took off
at 2:20 P.M., head winds all the way, intermittent clouds,
landed Marrakesh, 9:00 P.M. Billeted in same villa that I stayed
in last February. 156
Sunday, December 13, 1943 [Marrakesh, Morocco to Dakar,
Senegal en route to Belem, Brazil]
Took off Marrakesh 9:30. Wanted to return via Azores but
weather was against me. Landing at Azores is at present a
gamble. There is but one runway and the weather sometimes
is atrocious; the wind whips up, goes across the strip, makes
landing impossible. Bryan in the President’s aerial yacht flew
there and made two passes, almost wrecked his plane and
returned here, eventually returned via Belem. That storm has
been there now for 3 days, the weather man says it will be
there for at least 2 more. Perhaps I would save time by waiting
for a change in weather, perhaps not. In any event, we
must build up a landing field and do it quickly that will permit
of all direction landing. 157
Hence on to Dakar. It was very pleasant stopping off at the
Taylor villa, now taken over by the ATC and to date is none the
worse for wear. French much more in appearance now than during
my last visit. Of course the flying school we opened for them
helped. 158 French cavalry on Arabian horses, beautiful horses of
all colors, French Moroccans, Arabs, camels, delightful climate.
On to Dakar, arrived 4:10 P.M. Dakar, a French colony. Natives
in rags, thin, scrawny, infected with many kinds of disease,
natives who will always live in poverty. Dakar still showing signs
of the fear of invasion. Barbed wire, trenches, pillboxes all set up
101