American Airpower Comes of Age

PARIS AND GERMANY
has any trouble with NCOs. Inspected Rescue unit, 6 dog
teams, 9 dogs per team, special tractors for snow. Also modified
“duck” that can move equally well over swamps, snow,
water or dry land. 104 Took off at 11:10 A.M., SWT [Stephenville
War Time], 9:10 WWT [Washington War Time], distance 1,140
miles, ETA 14:50 WWT.
Trip from Berlin [Distance] [Flying Time]
Berlin to Paris 547 miles 3hrs 10min
Paris to Santa Maria 1631 7hrs 51
Santa Maria to Stephenville 1855 9hrs 30
Stephenville to Washington 1140 5hrs 40
5173 26hrs 11
195 miles per hour
[All below in Arnold’s hand]
Washington to Mingan 1026 4hrs 30
Mingan to Paris 2500 14hrs 15
Paris to Salzburg 498 3hrs 25
Salzburg to Berlin 500 2hrs 53
[Subtotal for immediately above] 4524 25hrs 03
[Subtotal for Trip from Berlin] 5173 26hrs 11
[Final total] 9697 51hrs 14
Postscript
The “Terminal Conference” at Potsdam saw Truman,
Churchill, Stalin, and their advisors grappling with a variety of
issues necessitated by what seemed at long last to be the closing
days of the war. During the 13 days Arnold was there, the
civilian leaders assessed issues ranging from Germany,
Poland, and much of Europe to the Mediterranean and the Far
East. Most of the political problems were not referred to the
military chiefs. The primary concern of the uniformed leaders
remained ending the war with Japan, major facets of which
were, to Arnold, the continuing aerial campaign and the
atomic bomb.
As his diary reflects, Hap met with the secretary of war,
members of his civilian staff, and General Marshall only hours
after Arnold’s arrival on 15 July, engaging in a “long talk . . .
mostly re [regarding] ultra-scientific developments,” the term
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