Post by Diarist on Jun 24, 2016 4:20:23 GMT 1
COL Thomson joined me at lunch. He'd actually missed me this week. I explained that we have been busy putting the finishing touches on our FTX preparations.
"Officially it starts next Thursday but we have to marshall our forces beforehand. You probably won't see me at all next week."
"So General Gort has placed you and LTC Patton in command of Blue forces?"
"Just for the planning. The forward commander is COL van Voorhis."
"Never heard of him."
"He's a U.S. Armour officer. We have people from many potential allies in TRADOC. In fact, very few people appear to understand what TRADOC does and maybe that's good."
"In which way?" He asked.
"Ignorance never wins in the long run," I replied with a smile on my face.
Louis was at the entrance beckoning me. "Thanks for the company, Colonel but I have to go."
"Can I tag along? You are going to ask about naval aircraft if I'm not mistaken," Louis asked.
"Of course you can. Gloster and Short are part of Vickers in addition to Supermarine. All are naval aircraft companies."
At the bank there was a huge surprise for me. I finally met my third half-brother, Edward III who works at Morgan Mitchell in New York.
"We can have a long talk after the meeting," I promised.
First there was a summary of the expansion plans. It pretty much confirmed what I wrote in my report last week. When the conversation turned to Rolls-Royce I got involved.
"We've been receiving a lot of questions concerning the Merlin engine. Many prototypes are waiting for this engine and if these are recommended for production the demand will far outweigh your production capacity. We need a second source, gentlemen or at least a better plan. I know you are against others producing the engine under licence so I'm not suggesting that. I'm suggesting that you assemble all the engines but vou sub-contract many of the parts. Correct me if I am wrong, please. There are many parts which won't change even if there is a Merlin D, E, F and G in the near future."
"That is true. The two you recently ordered are Merlin E's and that is the design which will be used for the first production version."
"Any reason why many of these parts can't enter production now? Can you at least look into it?"
"We can do that."
"Next year there will be orders for hundreds of aircraft and three of them are twin-engined. That's a lot of Merlin engines and you need to be ready. Since de Havilland will probably be receiving orders they could manufacture their own engines." To my father. "I presume John has told you that I own 50% of de Havilland." He nodded. "In that case they are family. You could concentrate on providing engines for the Supermarine and Hawker designs while de Havilland can take care of their own needs. What do you think, John?"
"That's acceptable."
"Good. I'll talk to Geoffrey. These two colleagues of mine want to talk about carrier-aircraft, and not that biplane stuff that our cousins at Gloster produce. I need a telephone."
"Officially it starts next Thursday but we have to marshall our forces beforehand. You probably won't see me at all next week."
"So General Gort has placed you and LTC Patton in command of Blue forces?"
"Just for the planning. The forward commander is COL van Voorhis."
"Never heard of him."
"He's a U.S. Armour officer. We have people from many potential allies in TRADOC. In fact, very few people appear to understand what TRADOC does and maybe that's good."
"In which way?" He asked.
"Ignorance never wins in the long run," I replied with a smile on my face.
Louis was at the entrance beckoning me. "Thanks for the company, Colonel but I have to go."
"Can I tag along? You are going to ask about naval aircraft if I'm not mistaken," Louis asked.
"Of course you can. Gloster and Short are part of Vickers in addition to Supermarine. All are naval aircraft companies."
At the bank there was a huge surprise for me. I finally met my third half-brother, Edward III who works at Morgan Mitchell in New York.
"We can have a long talk after the meeting," I promised.
First there was a summary of the expansion plans. It pretty much confirmed what I wrote in my report last week. When the conversation turned to Rolls-Royce I got involved.
"We've been receiving a lot of questions concerning the Merlin engine. Many prototypes are waiting for this engine and if these are recommended for production the demand will far outweigh your production capacity. We need a second source, gentlemen or at least a better plan. I know you are against others producing the engine under licence so I'm not suggesting that. I'm suggesting that you assemble all the engines but vou sub-contract many of the parts. Correct me if I am wrong, please. There are many parts which won't change even if there is a Merlin D, E, F and G in the near future."
"That is true. The two you recently ordered are Merlin E's and that is the design which will be used for the first production version."
"Any reason why many of these parts can't enter production now? Can you at least look into it?"
"We can do that."
"Next year there will be orders for hundreds of aircraft and three of them are twin-engined. That's a lot of Merlin engines and you need to be ready. Since de Havilland will probably be receiving orders they could manufacture their own engines." To my father. "I presume John has told you that I own 50% of de Havilland." He nodded. "In that case they are family. You could concentrate on providing engines for the Supermarine and Hawker designs while de Havilland can take care of their own needs. What do you think, John?"
"That's acceptable."
"Good. I'll talk to Geoffrey. These two colleagues of mine want to talk about carrier-aircraft, and not that biplane stuff that our cousins at Gloster produce. I need a telephone."