The Battle of Britain Five Months That Changed History, May—October 1940 by James Holland (z-lib.org).epub

enjoyed spending considerable time, and whose enormous drive, drama,
knowledge and vitality matched his own. Thus it was Beaverbrook with
whom Churchill lunched and dined on 10 May; on the 11th they lunched
alone together. On the 12th, Beaverbrook spent the afternoon with Churchill
and stayed for dinner. Max was Churchill’s intimate adviser, friend, righthand
man; unpopular with most within the Government but, now that
Churchill was PM, one of the most powerful men in the country whether
they liked it or not.
The political divisions of the past had been swept away. Now Churchill
and Beaverbrook were as one on the fundamentals: saving Britain and
helping to bring the United States into the war materially, at the very least.
In fact, following the outbreak of war, Beaverbrook had given himself a
self-appointed mission to travel to America, ostensibly to find out what the
President really thought about the war. He learned little new, but did
manage to charm Roosevelt, winning his confidence and establishing a firm
relationship; Beaverbrook could speak for Britain but, as a Canadian, in the
language of an American. Just as Churchill, since the beginning of the war,
had opened a dialogue with the President, so too had Beaverbrook. With his
understanding of business and finance, this access to Washington was
invaluable.
Yet while Beaverbrook was to play a critical role as Churchill’s man
behind the scenes, the Prime Minister believed his friend could fulfil an
even more important task. Before the war, Churchill had been one of those
repeatedly demanding that production of aircraft could and should be
speeded up. As in Germany, production was, in early May, still slow. What
was needed, he felt, was a new ministry, separate from the Air Ministry.
The Ministry of Munitions had been carved out of the War Office in the last
war to resolve the shell shortage and had achieved miracles. With Max in
charge of aircraft production, he saw no reason why the same could not
occur.
He put this proposal to Beaverbrook on 10 May, but his friend did not
agree immediately. He was over sixty, and his asthma was bad; he wasn’t
sure how much he could take on. Nonetheless, he wasted no time sounding
out key personnel. On the 11th, he had a long discussion with Sinclair, the
new Secretary of State for Air, and on the 12th spent most of the day
interviewing men within the Air Ministry and businessmen whom he might
recruit to the new ministry. Later that day, he told Churchill he would