21 Sep 1935 - Saffron Hotel

[Diarist]

When we arrived I noticed Geoffrey de Havilland at a table in the garden and as I got nearer I noticed he was talking to Winston Churchill and General Gort. They are both here! I introduced my mum and ordered us a couple of drinks. I now had to suffer the barrage of compliments about her remarkable son. She replied that I'd told her I'll be working for two slave drivers so I won't have time to get bored. I changed the conversation by asking if we are eating here because I'm famished. I went inside to grab some menus and that's when John and Robert Mitchell walked in, followed by Mr AND Mrs Edward Mitchell. To my amazement she had been looking forward to finally meeting me after all these years. Edward said that she'd forgiven him years ago. I asked her if she's forgiven my mum, too. She said that my mum's a victim, of course she's forgiven.

I took my dad to one side and told him that his sons and I are here to discuss business with some other guests and asked if he would look after the non-business guests. We were in the garden now and he immediately recognized my mum. Was that a reunion! Geoffrey was a bit confused so I explained that Edward Mitchell is my biological father and we met, as arranged, on Thursday after my 25th birthday. I told them that John and Robert Mitchell are inside and suggested we have our business lunch in a small private room so that we are undisturbed. Inside I introduced my mum to my new half-brothers and last but not least Charlotte Mitchell. There was no eye-scratching but the greetings were a little reserved. Sally and her parents arrived and there were more introductions. Edward, Isaac and the ladies went into garden and we men proceeded to the small dining room.

[Diarist]

During lunch we discussed the global situation that doesn't look at all rosy. It won't exactly be a heyday for the arms industry either. The factories will be bombed, the ships bringing raw materials will be torpedoed, most of the male workforce will join the military and they'll have to train a female workforce. I told them that's why I'm staying in uniform, there will be less headaches at the front line.

We ordered a bottle of Cognac, and a bottle of Champagne for Churchill, and got down to business. I told John and Robert that I won't be leaving the army to join Vickers-Armstrong but I can accept appointments to the Board of Directors. I've also been given the authorization to share internal information with them and others due the seriousness of the threats the Nation and the Empire face. While they were talking to Churchill about the details I took Geoffrey to the bar and asked him how much is de Havilland worth. I told him not to worry because nobody's going to buy his firm but if it were for sale what would be the asking price. The magic number was 3 million. I thought it was a bit steep but then I considered the two aircraft in the starting-blocks. I offered £3 million to be an equal but silent partner. Nothing will change except his bank account which will be a lot fatter. I told him that he'll receive orders for hundreds of aircraft and that means expansion and he needs reserves for that.

We went into the garden and asked the ladies if I could borrow my Dad for a few moments. Back inside the bar I asked him if he has his cheque book with him. When he nodded I asked him to write Geoffrey a cheque for £3 million and bill it to the account being set up for me. He was still just looking at me so I continued. This is not Vickers-Armstrong buying half of his firm, Geoffrey values his independence and I support that. He has two great aircraft on the drawing board which aren't competing with Vickers' designs, they need Rolls-Royce engines and because they'll be receiving orders for hundreds of aircraft they'll need to expand just like Rolls-Royce, Supermarine and Hawker will have to. The RAF will be needing hundreds of aircraft each month and the British aircraft industry has nowhere near that capacity. I finished by asking if he is aware that I have a master's degree in economics. He nodded then pulled out his cheque book. I told Dad that it's a good buy.

Back at the business table I asked if there were any questions about what I can and can't do. There weren't so we proceeded to the next issue. I began by telling how I managed, with Winston Churchill's support, to get a AM Spec. number without disclosing what it's for. In fact, only a handful of people outside of de Havilland know what it's for. Even in de Havilland it is a secret design being designed and built at a secret location. Churchill was smiling again. It has to stay a secret because the last thing we need is to have the Germans build their version of it. No details of the aircraft will be mentioned here but I want to arrange for Winston Churchill and John to see the design on Thursday morning. I asked how many engines do we need for two twin-engine aircraft and eight was suggested. Since Geoffrey has the firm's piggy-bank I asked him to give John a cheque for £20,000 and show him the other cheque so he knows that it won't bounce. John asked why I didn't come to him. I replied that Vickers-Armstrong isn't buying, that's why. So you're setting up a competitive business he quipped, which I denied - just supporting a valuable future Rolls-Royce customer. I told him that Westland also has a twin-engine design for Merlin engines. John said they want Peregrine engines. I shook my head and said again that they need the Merlin. If anybody wants engines smaller than the Merlin send them to Bristol. The Westland aircraft is heavier than ours so it needs Merlin engines. Rolls-Royce needs to concentrate on the Merlin, a larger Merlin and a successor to the Merlin; i.e. a larger engine starting at least 2,000hp.

General Gort got involved and told John that this is TRADOC talking to you now. We need large engines for larger and heavier aircraft and let the smaller firms build anything smaller that may be required. We can use retired, non-front line aircraft for target tugs, liaison or training aircraft until tailor-made designs are available. I asked Churchill if he had spoken to the Air Ministry about the medium bombers discussed yesterday. He had and they've been informed that all three designs are to be rejected. I turned to John and told him that it means the Armstrong Whitworth design, too. We do like the Type 271 from Vickers - it has great potential but it needs the Bristol Taurus engines and your larger version of it needs their Hercules engines.

CPT Wales entered the room and said he'd heard that I'd been looking for him yesterday, he'd been to Westland. We've just been talking about them. The next half-hour was spent bringing Edward up to date. We then went to the garden to introduce him to Mum and Sara as my best man. It was time to depart and go to Raynhams.