Roaring Thunder: A Novel of the Jet Age Read Online Free
Author: Walter J. Boyne
probably become a rich man from this. And Heinkel, too.”
“They will not be the only ones, Gerd. I believe I can think of ways that will let us profit as well.”
“It didn’t look like much to me. Just whoosh, up and down—no guns, no bombs, nothing.”
“Gerd, let me tell you something. Sometimes an avalanche starts with a single rolling snowball. We just saw the snowball.”
• THE PASSING SCENE •
President Roosevelt elected to third term. Germany scores tremendous victories over Poland, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, France, but is defeated in the Battle of Britain; U-boats winning Battle of the Atlantic; Japan takes control of French Indochina; Lend-Lease bill signed; Grand Coulee Dam begins operations; Whirlaway wins racing’s Triple Crown.
CHAPTER TWO
July 19, 1941, Burbank Airport
Amused, Vance Shannon watched the immaculately groomed chairman of the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation stare fixedly out the big double window, watching the work crews disassemble the grandstand in front of the hangar-style doors of Plant A-1. On that spot the day before, Robert Ellsworth Gross had presided over the ceremonies in which Lord and Lady Halifax accepted delivery of the one thousandth Lockheed Hudson bomber to the Royal Air Force. On the seventeenth, Big Bill Knudsen, Chief of the Office of Production Management, had inspected the P-38 assembly line, where the twin-engine, twin-boom Lightnings were beginning to roll off at a satisfactory rate. Employment had reached thirty thousand, profits were up, new aircraft were in the works, and still Gross was not satisfied. He never was, and that’s why Lockheed was doing so well.
Lockheed’s leader bit his lip in his characteristic worry-wartexpression as Shannon contrasted his own rumpled suit, store-bought at Sears, with the Savile Row suits that Gross invariably wore, thinking there might be a lesson there somewhere. Gross’s silence and inattention were unusual. Normally he was the soul of courtesy, making every guest welcome, even consultants like Shannon, who were maintained on costly retainers.
At last Gross turned, smiling, and said, “I’m sorry, Vance. Caught up in some GFE problems.”
GFE—government-furnished equipment—was almost always a problem, and it usually erased any savings the government got by buying in quantity by creating problems that contractors had to solve. Shannon knew about this one—the GFE carburetors for the P-38’s Allison engines were having problems with cold weather. Maybe that’s what Gross wanted to talk about. Probably not—too mundane.
Of middle height, Gross was the Adolph Menjou of the aircraft industry, always dapper, friendly, and invariably courteous, even to such chronic pains in the neck as George Putnam, Amelia Earhart’s widower. Gross had purchased the original bankrupt Lockheed Company in 1932 and turned it from making the wooden single-engine Vegas to building fast, twin-engine all-metal transports for the smaller airlines. Like other aircraft firms, Lockheed had struggled during the depression, but the European War had saved it. An initial order from Great Britain for 250 Hudsons, the military version of their Model 14 airliner, became a money mill. The Hudson quickly proved itself in combat, and Lockheed was tasked to build as many as it could turn out.
“Are you still doing any test flying, Vance?” There was respect in Gross’s voice, for Shannon had been, with Eddie Allen and Bill McAvoy, one of the top civilian test pilots in the country. When a new design was coming along, companies would call Shannon in early to get his ideas, then sign him up to be the test pilot. He had madethe first flights in hundreds of aircraft, military and civilian, all over the country—and commanded a healthy price for doing so. It always bothered him that he had a reputation for daring, for flying anything with wings. It wasn’t so. He calculated the risks on every flight and had refused many
“They will not be the only ones, Gerd. I believe I can think of ways that will let us profit as well.”
“It didn’t look like much to me. Just whoosh, up and down—no guns, no bombs, nothing.”
“Gerd, let me tell you something. Sometimes an avalanche starts with a single rolling snowball. We just saw the snowball.”
• THE PASSING SCENE •
President Roosevelt elected to third term. Germany scores tremendous victories over Poland, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, France, but is defeated in the Battle of Britain; U-boats winning Battle of the Atlantic; Japan takes control of French Indochina; Lend-Lease bill signed; Grand Coulee Dam begins operations; Whirlaway wins racing’s Triple Crown.
CHAPTER TWO
July 19, 1941, Burbank Airport
Amused, Vance Shannon watched the immaculately groomed chairman of the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation stare fixedly out the big double window, watching the work crews disassemble the grandstand in front of the hangar-style doors of Plant A-1. On that spot the day before, Robert Ellsworth Gross had presided over the ceremonies in which Lord and Lady Halifax accepted delivery of the one thousandth Lockheed Hudson bomber to the Royal Air Force. On the seventeenth, Big Bill Knudsen, Chief of the Office of Production Management, had inspected the P-38 assembly line, where the twin-engine, twin-boom Lightnings were beginning to roll off at a satisfactory rate. Employment had reached thirty thousand, profits were up, new aircraft were in the works, and still Gross was not satisfied. He never was, and that’s why Lockheed was doing so well.
Lockheed’s leader bit his lip in his characteristic worry-wartexpression as Shannon contrasted his own rumpled suit, store-bought at Sears, with the Savile Row suits that Gross invariably wore, thinking there might be a lesson there somewhere. Gross’s silence and inattention were unusual. Normally he was the soul of courtesy, making every guest welcome, even consultants like Shannon, who were maintained on costly retainers.
At last Gross turned, smiling, and said, “I’m sorry, Vance. Caught up in some GFE problems.”
GFE—government-furnished equipment—was almost always a problem, and it usually erased any savings the government got by buying in quantity by creating problems that contractors had to solve. Shannon knew about this one—the GFE carburetors for the P-38’s Allison engines were having problems with cold weather. Maybe that’s what Gross wanted to talk about. Probably not—too mundane.
Of middle height, Gross was the Adolph Menjou of the aircraft industry, always dapper, friendly, and invariably courteous, even to such chronic pains in the neck as George Putnam, Amelia Earhart’s widower. Gross had purchased the original bankrupt Lockheed Company in 1932 and turned it from making the wooden single-engine Vegas to building fast, twin-engine all-metal transports for the smaller airlines. Like other aircraft firms, Lockheed had struggled during the depression, but the European War had saved it. An initial order from Great Britain for 250 Hudsons, the military version of their Model 14 airliner, became a money mill. The Hudson quickly proved itself in combat, and Lockheed was tasked to build as many as it could turn out.
“Are you still doing any test flying, Vance?” There was respect in Gross’s voice, for Shannon had been, with Eddie Allen and Bill McAvoy, one of the top civilian test pilots in the country. When a new design was coming along, companies would call Shannon in early to get his ideas, then sign him up to be the test pilot. He had madethe first flights in hundreds of aircraft, military and civilian, all over the country—and commanded a healthy price for doing so. It always bothered him that he had a reputation for daring, for flying anything with wings. It wasn’t so. He calculated the risks on every flight and had refused many
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