American Airpower Comes of Age

AMERICAN AIRPOWER COMES OF AGE
“Drone” has speed of about 340 miles per hour. “Drones” are
picked up by radar and plotted on takeoff. Most come from
Calais area. Our planes have down 12: 4 last night—8 during
the day, all exploded in air when hit.
Went to Spaatz’ house at 2:00, talked to Lovett and all of his
[Spaatz’] senior officers until 3:15, then went into conference
with Spaatz and Lovett. Said goodbye at 3:45. Back to Gibsons.
Had to repack all my bags; my striker had best intentions
in world but did not make provisions for the trip as we
make it. 102 Rested, what a change, until 5:30. Went out at 6:00
and saw the Gibson’s 2 bulls, 1 Frisian, 1 Jersey, both fine
animals. Incidentally, Gibson insists upon sending me a bull
for the farm. 103 Goodbye to all the officers and the Gibsons.
Marshall talked to enlisted men, so did I.
[Admiral] King left at 12:00 for Plymouth and then Oran;
Marshall and I then started for Chequers at 6:45, arrived at
7:30, met by Prime Minister’s brother. 104 Churchill made
appearance at 7:50, Mrs. Churchill at 8:00. Fine dinner and
very pleasant talk, left Chequers at 9:30.
Mrs. Churchill, upon hearing of Bee and Hap riding in
oxcart to Agana when we landed at Guam when we might have
used Ford said: “Tell Mrs. Arnold when Winnie and I were on
honeymoon, visited Venice. I wanted to ride in gondola, he
insisted on a motor launch. Said it was far more healthy, the
fumes killed the germs, etc. and etc. We rode in a gasoline
launch. Not much romance in Winnie.” 105
Prime Minister said 15 minutes to Bovingdon airport; he
meant 15 miles. Arrived there 10:15, took off 10:25; Marshall,
Handy, Kuter, McCarthy, Lindsay, Munson, Arnold and the
same crew that brought us out.
Saturday, June 17, 1944 [England to Algiers, Algeria to
Naples, Italy]
No unusual incidents during night, smooth flying, good
sleeping, not a cloud in the sky. Our course, due west from
Lands End, S[outh] 300 miles W[west] of W[west] tip of France,
SE [southeast] to Port Lyautey, Africa, which we hit at 6:30
A.M.; 106 almost due east to Algiers, passed Oran to our left. Due
in Algiers at 9:30 GMT [Greenwich Mean Time], actually
160