INGRID DOWS - AN ALTERNATE STORY PART 2 - THE JET AGE by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

Cambridge Massachusetts

‘’So, Joe, can you now tell me what was exciting you so much when you called me?’ asked Doctor Richard Goodale as he faced the engineer in charge of the main test wind tunnel of the department. Joseph Bicknell answered him in a low voice while pointing at the test model chamber of the wind tunnel, in which a female student was visible, modifying the attack angle of an aircraft model.

‘’It’s the experimental project of that young Ingrid Dows, Doctor. When she showed me the blueprint for her project, I thought then that she was going to hit a technological impasse, even if her chosen subject seemed interesting. Now that she has completed the first wind tunnel tests of her experimental model, the results she obtained are truly stunning and may signal a real breakthrough in terms of aerodynamics.’

‘’Oh? And what is precisely the subject of her experimental project, Joe?’’

Bicknell answered him by giving him a document, which Goodale then started reading.

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‘’The diamond wing, an ideal wing for supersonic and high subsonic planes.’’

Goodale said, reading out loud the title of the thesis, which was signed by Ingrid Dows.

Now frankly intrigued, he read quickly the main points of the document, concentrating in particular on the drawings and mathematical formulas. What he saw made him nod his head slowly with appreciation.

‘’I must say that this concept looks fascinating…and theoretically sound. That second concept about a so-called ‘Adaptive Wing Profile System’ also sounds damn interesting. And the first wind tunnel tests are backing her theories up, you say?’’

‘’They more than back them up, Doctor! Compared to a classic rear-swept wing of the same surface, her diamond wing offers a nearly fifteen percent weight saving, while aerodynamic drag at close to Mach one is reduced by a whopping 36 percent. Her adaptive wing profile system, by offering a smoother profile while configured for landing speeds, in turn gives a nine percent extra in lift and a reduction of twelve percent in drag compared to classic flaps. Her diamond wing also is proving to be more stable and resistant to spins than a classic wing.’

‘’Hell, these are very interesting results indeed.’’ exclaimed Goodale. ‘’Let’s go see her.’

The two engineers got closer to the model test chamber of the wind tunnel, entering it as Ingrid was finishing her last adjustments. Goodale felt excitement grow in him when he saw from up close the reduced scale aircraft model fixed to the test stand. Two swept wings, one swept towards the rear and the other swept towards the front, were joined at their tips by vertical rudder surfaces which extended far to the rear of the wing tips. With the rear-swept forward pair of wings fixed to the top of the fuselage and the forward-swept rear pair of wings fixed to the bottom of the fuselage, the whole thing formed a sort of closed loop lozenge lying on its side. Seeing Goodale and Bicknell inside the test chamber, Ingrid hurried down from the test stand once her adjustments were completed.

‘’Good day, Doctor Goodale! What do you think of my experimental model?’’

‘’That it has an intriguing shape, Miss Dows. Mister Bicknel just showed me your experimental thesis and told me about your preliminary wind tunnel results. How did you get the idea for such a wing form?’’

‘’To be honest, Doctor, I didn’t invent that wing form. Do you remember Nancy Laplante, the Canadian time traveler who died in 1941?’’

‘’Yes! What about her?’’

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‘’She was my adoptive mother, Doctor.’ said Ingrid in a sober tone. ‘’She educated me during many months before her death and told me about many things, including the future of planes. The concept of the diamond wing comes from the future but, even then, was never actually applied in practice to a production aircraft. The concept fascinated me and I wanted badly to study it, along with other aeronautical concepts Nancy told me about. I thus decided to center my thesis on the diamond wing concept and on the adaptive wing profile concept, two ideas which nicely complement each other in my opinion. If the results of my wind tunnel tests prove positive, I will then request that they be patented under my name. That is if you approve such a demand of course, Doctor.’

‘’Hum! To hear about a concept is one thing. If you would have simply put a request for a patent without doing any theoretical calculations or wind testing to verify your claims, I would be the first to scream plagiarism. However, with the concrete performance test results you are getting and with your mathematical studies of the variables for such a wing form and adaptive profile, you would then have the perfect right to ask for a patent and I will then gladly support your request, Ingrid.’

‘’Thank you very much, Doctor Goodale.’’ replied a happy Ingrid. Goodale had another look at the scale model, his mind boiling.

‘’Do you have more such theoretical concepts from the future that you would like to develop and test during your studies here at the M.I.T., Miss Dows?’’

‘’Many in fact, Doctor, plus a few ideas for concepts which are strictly from my own mind, including what I call the ‘Verti-Wing’. Unfortunately, most of them would necessitate a supersonic wind tunnel to test them. My dream is to see our air force become equipped one day soon with supersonic jet fighters. Unfortunately, from what I can hear, it seems that we are presently developing a collection of flying lemons, with old generals without true vision in charge of our military aircraft projects. I must say that this is frustrating me to no small degree.’

‘’And I understand you, Miss Dows. Well, I will let you finish your wind tunnel tests in peace. Be assured that I will read with great interest your final experimental thesis paper.’

‘’Thank you, Doctor Goodale.’’

As Goodale walked away with Bicknell, he spoke to him in a low voice once out of earshot of Ingrid.

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‘’Damn! I should discuss more with this girl about what Nancy Laplante told her about the future of planes. It could be fascinating.’’

‘’Other students could take that as favoritism on your part towards Dows, Doctor.’ warned Bicknell, making Goodale think for a few seconds.

‘’Hum, maybe. Some could certainly claim that those revelations from the future are giving her an unfair advantage over the other students of our program.’

‘’But she was very open about the source of her inspiration.’’ added Bicknell.

‘’I know, Joe, but there are jealous people everywhere. For the moment, keep the origin of her experimental concepts confidential. By the way, if she tells you that she wishes to test another experimental concept during the Summer period, then warn me at once.’’

‘’Understood, Doctor.’

16:26 (Boston Time)

Friday, May 24, 1946 ‘C’

Office of the Dean of the Aeronautical Engineering Department Building # 33, campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts

Doctor Richard Goodale couldn’t help smile on seeing that Ingrid Dows was visibly nervous as she entered his office at his request.

‘’Relax, Ingrid: I have good news for you...only good news.’

Ingrid blew air out in relief on hearing those words.

‘’Thank you, sir: I was afraid that you were calling me in because I possibly failed my second year’s exams.’

‘’Actual y, you passed your exams brilliantly, with an A+ grade, Ingrid. The reason I called you in is that I got a letter from the U.S. Patent Office concerning the two patent requests you submitted about your diamond wing concept and your adaptive wing profile concept: both patents have been accepted and registered in your name. The patent certificates for your two concepts were included with the letter I received.

Congratulations: you are now a recognized patent holder, Ingrid.’’

Ingrid, overjoyed, couldn’t help yell her happiness at that news, watched by an amused Goodale. She then calmed down partly and sat down in a chair facing Goodale’s desk.

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‘’May I ask a question or two about what these official patents now means for me, sir? I am thinking in terms of financial outcomes. How do I get to monetize those two patents?’’

‘’Well, there are two basic ways to make money with a patent, Ingrid. You can sell your patent outright to a company or commercial entity, in which case you get either a single lump sum for selling your patent, or you can get regular payments based on the quantity of items using your patent that are produced and sold by that company. As an example, if you sold the rights of your diamond wing to, say, Boeing, then you could either get a single payment or get a given patent royalty fee for each aircraft using your diamond wing that Boeing would produce and sell. If another company, like Douglas Aircraft, wants to also use your patent in one of its new planes, then Douglas would have to negotiate with Boeing for a fee per aircraft produced by Douglas. So, if you sell your patent outright, you may get lots of money for it but you also lose control of your patent...for life.’

Ingrid made a grimace on hearing that.

‘’Yuk! And what is the other way to go for me, Doctor?’’

‘’You can keep control of your patent by asking for an individual royalty per aircraft produced with your patent by a company or companies which would get your prior approval to use your patent. This means that you could allow both Boeing and Douglas, and possibly more companies, to use your patent, with a set payment to you for each aircraft produced which would incorporate your design patent. While you would get much less money at first, you would however get regular payments for the duration of your patent validity, which is normally set at fifty years. The more successful and popular the planes using your patent are, the more money you would get along many years. Personally, I would prefer the second solution, Ingrid.’

‘’I also prefer it, Doctor. The idea of keeping control of my patents is particularly attractive to me. What if I want to negotiate different fees for each different user authorized by me to use my patent? I am asking that because I would like to offer the use of my patents to the U.S. Army Air Force for a nominal one dollar for each aircraft produced as part of the U.S. military, while making civilian companies and other countries pay regular, substantial royalties. Also, if the U.S. Air Force builds a plane and then sell it to another country, could I then ask that country to pay me in return a regular fee per aircraft?’’

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‘’That is all acceptable and feasible, Ingrid. In fact, many such arrangements have been made in the past. How much money you could make this way would basically depend on your level of greed and of bargaining skil s.’

Those last words made Ingrid chuckle briefly for a second before she asked another question to her Dean.

‘’And would I need to wait until I complete my engineering degree’s studies before I could monetize my patents?’’

‘’Ingrid, you are the official patent holder as of yesterday, the date when the U.S.

Patent Office signed your certificates of patent: you can now start filling your pockets with cash right away.’’

‘’And how greedy should I be when offering my patents to various companies on a per aircraft sold fee basis, Doctor?’’

Goodale had to think that over before he answered Ingrid.

‘’If talking about your diamond wing concept, which would be central to any aircraft design using it, you could easily ask for a few thousand dollars per aircraft produced in the case of large aircraft, like a transport aircraft or a bomber. You would of course ask for a lot less in the case of light aircraft, like a small Piper or Cessna type.

As for your adaptive wing profile system, since it could be retrofitted to many different aircraft after their initial designs, you could ask for maybe a few hundreds of dollars per aircraft equipped with your A.W.P.S. In my opinion, both of your patent designs should prove very popular and bring you lots of money...if you don’t let corporate wolves eat the wool off your hide.’

‘’You know what, Doctor? I think that I wil go the route of asking for regular royalties per aircraft produced. I like the idea of being able to keep control of who uses my patent and to what degree. By the way, I would like to have your opinion about another idea for a patent I have been playing with lately. I call it the ‘Verti-Wing’

concept. Here is a working outline of what I intend to develop and test in the M.I.T.’s wind tunnel.’

His interest immediately raised, Richard Goodale took the document presented to him by Ingrid and started reading it as she spoke to him, describing her basic idea.

‘’My Verti-Wing would be used to produce vertical or short takeoff-capable aircraft, either subsonic or supersonic, with very low drag and high lift capacity. Such an aircraft could be either propeller or jet-driven, depending on the role it would be designed for. Basically, my Verti-Wing aircraft is a lifting body profiled like an aircraft wing section,

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with four engines mounted on pivot points along the sides of the aircraft. If it is going to be propeller-driven, then drive shafts would connect together the four engines, so that the failure of one or even two engines would not doom the aircraft. Sharing the thrust from four jet engines would of course be a lot more complicated, so I would first concentrate on a design for a propeller-driven STOVL6 cargo or airliner aircraft. Such an aircraft would be able to carry very significant payloads while using only small airports with short runways or, if only moderately loaded, a simple paved parking lot surface or even a flat field.’’

Goodale finished reading the outline paper before looking at Ingrid with what was close to adoration.

‘’Ingrid, your idea is simply brilliant! If anything, it could prove even more popular than your diamond wing concept and A.W.P.S. concept. When would you be ready to test a first model of your Verti-Wing in our wind tunnel?’’

‘’I stil need a couple of months to complete preliminary calculations for its design while continuing my studies, then will need another month or so to build a small-scale model of it. I should be ready to conduct its preliminary wind tunnel tests around next September, sir.’

‘’That’s good! Keep me up to date on your progress with your Verti-Wing concept and don’t hesitate to ask for my help if you hit some snag.’

‘’I wil , sir. Thank you for your offer of help.’’

Ingrid was about to get up from her chair when Goodale quickly asked her a question.

‘’General Dows, may I ask you a question about the war with Japan?’’

Ingrid, her expression now most serious, sat down before looking Goodale in the eyes.

‘’Doctor, I know from my regular classified briefings I get from Washington that you hold a Top-Secret clearance, due to the collaborative technological projects conducted for our military at the M.I.T. I can thus answer your question but you will have to keep that information strictly to yourself.’

‘’You have my word on that, General.’

‘’Excellent! What do you wish to know about our continuing war with Japan?’’

‘’Basically, I want to know what is going on right now. Published official reports and news about it have become rarer and rarer during the past months and the only thing said lately is that Japan is still under tight blockade, with its army in China and 6 STOVL: Short Takeoff and Vertical Landing.

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Southeast Asia progressively running out of ammunition and fuel. What gives, General?

When could we expect the Japanese to final y surrender and put an end to this war?’’

Ingrid sat back in her chair and thought her response over for a couple of seconds.

‘’I guess that this situation could be said to be partly to blame on me, Doctor.

When I planned and then led a precision bombing raid on Tokyo over a year ago, it resulted in the sudden death of nearly the whole Japanese senior high commands of their Army and Navy. Then, Emperor Hirohito was assassinated by militarist fanatics who refused to contemplate surrender. That basically left Japan leaderless, with surviving senior Japanese officers left mostly to themselves about how to continue the war. The British destruction of Tokyo only made matters worse in that aspect. Since then, with their reserves of oil and ammunition drying out and with most of their military production capacity destroyed from the air, Japan has been progressively regressing back to what I would describe as an early industrial age society, with the only available source of energy left to it being coal, of which Japan has a fair but not unlimited amount of supplies. As for the Japanese Army units still fighting in China, units which constituted the bulk of the pre-war strength of the Japanese Army, they have been out of any air support for over a year now and their stocks of ammunition, spare parts and fuel are now down to close to zero. With our air force continuing to pound them from the air in China, the Japanese Army units there are close to total collapse, while their command structure is a complete shamble. In fact, you could say that Japan and its army are now nearly back to a feudal state of anarchy. Because of all this, we don’t expect to get any time soon from the Japanese any collective offer of surrender. Once their sources of coal will run out, the Japanese will then downgrade further from an early industrial age society to that of a medieval society run by warlords.’’

‘’My God! Could they be truly this fanatical in their refusal to surrender, General?’’

‘’Their army officers are, not their civilian population, Doctor. It is sad to say but the whole of Japan is now suffering because of the misplaced sense of honor and refusal to look reality in the face by their senior military officers. Unfortunately, there is little that the United States could do now, apart from simply watching and waiting.’

What Ingrid didn’t talk about was the effect of the radiations from the two British nuclear warheads which had destroyed Tokyo and Osaka. Periodic low-level aircraft runs taking air samplings over Japan had shown that the radiations now covering a good portion of Japan’s Honshu Island, which constituted the major part of the country, were still at

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lethal levels and must be causing untold misery and deaths among the surviving Japanese population, on top of having contaminated the fishing grounds around Japan.

Shaking hands with Goodale and thanking him for his information about her patents’

rights, Ingrid took the Patent Office letter and two certificates offered by Goodale, then left his office to return to her dorm room and prepare for supper.

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CHAPTER 8 – PADDING ONE’S BANK ACCOUNT

09:43 (California Time)

Friday, November 29, 1946 ‘C’

Howard Hughes’ mansion, Hollywood

Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Knowing Howard Hughes’ phobia about germs, Ingrid did not insist in trying to shake hands with him when he received her in the big private study of his Hollywood mansion. Hughes did however pat her in the back while welcoming her.

‘’Ingrid, it is nice to see you again! You should visit me more often.’

‘’I wish I could, Howard, but my studies at the M.I.T. are quite involved and leave me little free time to myself. Add to that the flying I do during weekends with the 33rd Air Wing at Logan Airport, in order to keep my pilot qualifications current, and you end up with a very busy girl indeed.’’

‘’I fully understand, Ingrid. One of my friends who studied at the M.I.T. compared the studying there with trying to drink from a firehose.’

‘’An apt analogy, I must say. Have you had recent news from Katharine and from Hedy?’’

‘’I did receive a few letters from them during the last few weeks. They are well and are kept busy watching and striking at the remnants of the Japanese Army in the Philippines, in the Dutch East Indies and in China. Thankfully, with the Japanese aircraft having all but disappeared from the skies of Asia and the Pacific, the risks to them and to the other girls of the Fifinellas are greatly diminished compared to four years ago.

The biggest threat Katharine and Hedy now face is from the Hollywood agents chasing them and trying to convince them to return to their acting careers.’

‘’HA! Good luck to these agents, at least until the war is fully over. With the fame our two friends gained during this war, they will be able to ask for whatever they want in order to get convinced to return to Hollywood.’’

‘’That’s my thought as well, Ingrid. So, why did you come visit me today?’’

‘’Believe it or not but I am here for business.’

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‘’You, here for business? That would be a first, Ingrid.’

‘’There is a first for everything, Howard. While studying aeronautical engineering at the M.I.T., I used the opportunity to do some tinkering about a number of aircraft-related ideas that I had in my head for the last few years and took advantage of the wind tunnel available there to test my ideas, using small scale models. Three main concepts came out of those ideas, concepts which I then had registered in my name through the U.S. Patent Office.’

‘’You? A patent holder?’’ said Howard, feigning extreme surprise and shock.

‘’Hedy will become jealous of you.’

‘’Not likely, Howard: she is the original genius in our group. Stil , I now have three patents in my name that I would like to show you and see if you would be interested in using them to produce new aircraft that could make you even richer than you are already.’

‘’You are definitely interesting me now, Ingrid, especially if you want to show me some of yourself.’

‘’The good old casting couch, hey?’’ replied Ingrid in a playful way while gluing herself to Howard Hughes. In truth, she had always considered the adventurous billionaire to be a handsome man with a very interesting personality. ‘’What if I reverse that practice for a change?’’

‘’You got me at the word ‘reverse’, Ingrid. Shal we discuss business before or after getting into serious things?’’

‘’I would say before, Howard. That way, I wil measure how much reward or punishment I should met out to you after we get to a deal.’

‘’Now, that’s the way I like to do business...with female partners, or course.’

‘’Of course! Let me get a bit more comfortable first before starting our business discussion.’

Howard, licking his lips, watched on, fascinated, as Ingrid took off her blouse and bra, ending up topless and then sitting down on a sofa of the study and patting the cushion next to her to invite the billionaire to come sit next to her. Howard did not have to be told twice and he hurried to sit very near her, gaining a plunging view on her small but firm breasts. Smiling all the while, Ingrid opened her briefcase and took out four files, each containing a multi-page document. She then presented the first of the files to Howard.

‘’This is the file on my diamond wing concept. You wil find in it a copy of the related official patent for the concept, along with pictures I took of the model I used in the

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M.I.T. wind test tunnel. Read it and tell me if it of interest to you. And try to concentrate on the report instead of on my tits.’

‘’Hey, you’re the one to blame if I get distracted, Ingrid.’ protested Howard before starting to read. However, his professional passion for aviation quickly made him turn serious as he absorbed the concept invented by Ingrid. After a few minutes of reading through the file, Hughes looked at Ingrid in a brand new way.

‘’This concept is positively brilliant, Ingrid. It is hard to believe that you haven’t even completed your undergraduate studies yet. I can’t see any obvious defect or mistake in your concept and it certainly could revolutionize the world of aviation.’’

‘’Thank you for the compliment, Howard. I wil now let you read the files on my two other patents before seeing if you would be interested in using them. Here is the file on my Adaptive Wing Profile System, or A.W.P.S. As you will see, it could be adapted to existing aircraft, so I consider it as a secondary concept, unlike my diamond wing and my Verti-Wing, which I consider as primary design concepts worth more in terms of patent royalties than my A.W.P.S.’’

Taking the new file handed to him by Ingrid, Howard read through it in a minute before nodding his head.

‘’Another very interesting concept, Ingrid. The increase in lift and decrease in drag it provides over classic slotted flaps could be very important to commercial airline companies in terms of fuel savings. I could see it being used on my A-11 fast bomber and its variants. Now, let’s see your third concept.’

Ingrid passed to him the file on her Verti-Wing concept and braced herself for his reaction to it as Howard started reading it. With Hughes Aircraft presently producing helicopters for the U.S. Army Air Force, her Verti-Wing design was bound to interest the billionaire to the highest degree. She however emphasized one point as he was reading through the file.

‘’Howard, while my Verti-Wing concept could prove attractive to our military, my opinion is that its biggest potential impact would be on the future of commercial aviation in the United States. A Verti-Wing-based short-to-medium haul airliner or cargo aircraft, able to carry upwards of a hundred or more passengers at cruising speeds above 500

miles per hour and able to take off and land vertically, would open air travel to Americans everywhere in our country, including where there are no existing airports.

The market for such a STOVL airliner would be huge.’

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‘’Indeed! The first aircraft manufacturer able to produce such an aircraft would hit the proverbial Klondike gold mine. This definitely is interesting me to the highest degree, Ingrid. However, the trick will be to have engines powerful enough to make it lift off vertically when loaded, while not burning too much fuel. I would agree with your file when it says that a propeller variant would be more economical than a jet variant. Jet engines are said to drink fuel like thirsty camels.’

‘’Maybe, maybe not, Howard.’ replied Ingrid, making the billionaire look at her as she continued speaking. ‘’Before I started my studies at the M.I.T., me and General Kenney, the present boss of the Army Air Force, took a few decisions meant to advance our aeronautical industry into the jet age. One of those decisions was to collate all the information from the future obtained from Nancy Laplante concerning future aircraft engines, as known to Nancy, and to regroup them according to the engine manufacturers who were going to be the proprietary owners of the engine designs described in detail in Nancy’s ‘Hourglass Files’. Thus, the data concerning the various engines produced in the future by Pratt & Whitney was passed on in confidentiality to Pratt & Whitney, which was then encouraged to start trying to produce some really modern jet engines designs that the Army Air Force could then use to propel its future aircraft. The same was done with the data on future engine designs from General Electric, Allison and AVCO-Lycoming, with those companies then also encouraged to try to reproduce their best future designs. As a result of this, both Allison and Pratt & Whitney are presently working on turboshaft engine7 designs with powers of at least 5,000 horsepower, while Pratt & Whitney and General Electric are working as well on a range of turbofan engines, both in low-bypass and high-bypass variants.’’

‘’Uh, you haven’t mentioned either the Wright-Continental or Westinghouse companies, Ingrid. Why?’’

Ingrid made a smirk at that question before answering Hughes.

‘’For the simple reason that the engines produced in the late 1940s and 1950s by those companies proved to be crap. In particular, the turbojet engines designed by Westinghouse and used in early Navy jet aircraft never achieved the performances expected of them, on top of proving unreliable and unsafe. One test pilot was quoted as saying that ‘the Westinghouse jet engines produced less heat than their toasters’. The 7 Turboshaft engine: A type of jet engine where the burning of fuel is used to power propellers rather than to produce direct jet thrust. Turboshaft engines are inherently much lighter, more powerful and more reliable than piston engines.

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poor performance by the engines made by Westinghouse actually sank a number of jet aircraft projects sponsored by the Navy, resulting eventually in the rejection of that company as an engine manufacturer and its bankruptcy. On the other hand, both Pratt

& Whitney and General Electric took the relay and produced nearly all the engines for our military, while Allison and AVCO-Lycoming went on to produce tens of thousands of turboshaft engines for our future helicopters and transport aircraft. If propelled by four such 5,000-plus horsepower turboshaft engines, my Verti-Wing transport would have truly nice top performances and lift capability.’

‘’Hell, maybe I should start a project right away to design and produce such an aircraft.’ said Howard while continuing to read through the file on Ingrid’s Verti-Wing concept. That was when Ingrid presented to him a fourth file.

‘’Then, you may want to look at this file, Howard. Once I had obtained the official patent for my Verti-Wing concept, I started working on my spare time on what such a type of transport aircraft would be like in terms of an actual commercial transport aircraft.

I concentrated on a design able to lift at the vertical a minimum of ten tons of cargo and passengers and to fly them across the continental United States at a cruising speed of at least 500 miles per hour. The key with it will of course be to find the appropriate engines for it but my Verti-Wing design is basically a modular one, with its engines attached to its sides and being able to be changed without any difficulty or delay. If you decide to embrace my Verti-Wing concept, then this preliminary design study should help you save a lot of time and money.’

Howard again looked at her as if she was some sort of technological witch, then started looking at her fourth file. After a good five minutes of reading, the billionaire sat back in his sofa, a dreamy look on his face.

‘’God, I really want to make this aircraft. How much would you want for me to buy your concept design for this ‘Verti-Wing 100’ on an exclusive basis?’’

Ingrid, happy about his decision, answered him with an indirect offer.

‘’Well, as you know, I may be a top pilot and an aspiring engineer but I am no commercial or financial shark, while you certainly know how to build up a successful company. So, I will rely on your friendship and honesty and am ready to accept whatever offer you wil make to me.’

Howard Hughes couldn’t help look at her with some disbelief at first. He then nodded his head and spoke in a soft tone.

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‘’Ingrid, sometimes I believe that you are too nice for your own good. Any ambitious engineer would try his best to fleece me out of the maximum amount he could if presenting this project to me. But, as you said yourself, we are good friends and I will not exploit your commercial lack of experience in order to pay the minimum of money possible for acquiring the rights to your Verti-Wing 100 concept aircraft. What I will offer you now will be the same as I would offer to any other design engineer. How about an initial payment of 25,000 dollars for gaining the exclusive use of your Verti-Wing patent for the next five years, plus an additional thousand dollars per aircraft produced by me and sold to an airline company or to the government? While you will still keep basic ownership of your patent while I turn it into a reality, that thousand-dollar royalty per aircraft sold by me would continue on as long as I will be producing that model or variants of it. How’s that, Ingrid?’

Ingrid was stunned at first by those numbers, not having expected that much from Howard. That initial 25,000 dollars represented more than three years of her military pay as a major general, or close to ten times the average annual salary in the United States, while any sizeable future commercial success of her Verti-Wing 100 aircraft could translate into hundreds of thousands of dollars in patent royalties for her. She thus nodded her head to that proposal.

‘’I accept your offer, with one condition: that I wil not take that one-thousand-dollar patent royalty per aircraft sold if it is from a sale to the U.S. military and that you in turn do not charge that additional fee to the Army Air Force as part of the aircraft sales price. I am due to direct our Army Air Force future aircraft programs once I graduate from the M.I.T. and any patent royalty collected by me from an aircraft I may have selected for service could very well be viewed as a blatant case of conflict of interest and possible corruption.’

Thankfully, Howard seemed to understand and accept that clause to his offer and he gently patted her hand while answering her.

‘’Ingrid, you are made of gold, truly. You have proved yourself to be brave, intelligent, a skillful pilot and an inspired military leader. Now, you just proved that you are also scrupulously honest. How could I reward you for such qualities?’

Ingrid smiled to that and got on her feet, then started to slip out of her skirt.

‘’How about by sealing this deal between friends the right way, Howard?’’

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CHAPTER 9 – GO AIR FORCE!

12:02 (Boston Time)

Thursday, September 18, 1947 ‘C’

Students’ food court, Stratton Center, M.I.T. campus Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

Ingrid had chosen to eat a light lunch of soup and salad today, as she was going to have a physical education class in the afternoon, and had sat down at a table of the students’ food court with her two best friends on campus, Betty Woods and Peter Simpson. She had been intimate with both Betty and Peter for a good three years now but the latter knew nothing about Ingrid’s sexual relationship with Betty, something Ingrid was resolved to keep very discreet about. As they were eating and conversing, they were also half-listening to the mix of music and news from a local radio station’s broadcast piped in via the overhead speakers of the dining hal . Ingrid’s attention was then caught when a radio newscaster came on the air.

‘’...and President Truman today declared, as part of his National Security Act, which became effective today, the creation of a new military service, named the United States Air Force, which will replace the old Army Air Force and will be a fully independent armed service, on the same level as the United States Army and the United States Navy...’

That was when Ingrid, transported with joy, shot out of her chair and shouted out loud while throwing both of her hands up.

‘’YAY! GO AIR FORCE!’

09:07 (Washington Time)

Friday, September 26, 1947 ‘C’

Office of the newly established Secretary of the Air Force The Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia

Despite this being in theory an exciting time for the mix of six military officers and civilian administrators called in by the first ever Secretary of the Air Force, Stuart

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Symington, they couldn’t help notice the preoccupied look on Symington’s face as they sat down around his low coffee table. General George Kenney, now the first Air Force military Chief of Staff, was also preoccupied, having a good idea about what was troubling his civilian boss. Symington looked around the coffee table before speaking in a rather subdued tone.

‘’Gentlemen, I know that we already are facing a herculean task in organizing our new Department of the Air Force out of the old Army Air Force, which was part of the now defunct Department of War, but the directives I and the Secretaries for Defense, the Army and the Navy got from President Truman are going to make our task even more difficult. Basically, the President wants more units to be demobilized more quickly and also intends to make drastic cuts to our defense budgets, in order to pay for his social programs.’’

There were a few frustrated sighs around the coffee table at those last words: President Harry Truman had been championing new (and expensive) social programs while arguing that the winding down of the war effort had to continue, since Japan was no longer a credible threat to the United States and since Germany seemed to live by the terms of the armistice they had signed in 1944. Nobody in the Pentagon had any illusions about where Truman would find the money for his precious social programs.

Symington then went on.

‘’Yesterday, me, Secretary of Defense Forrestal, Secretary of the Army Royall and Secretary of the Navy Sullivan were called to the White House, where we were told by the President that he wants all of the military units which were mobilized during the war and which employ conscripted members to be demobilized as quickly as possible, and for our departments to be trimmed back to peacetime levels, with corresponding cuts to our next budgets. When we objected collectively by mentioning the emerging threat from the Soviet Union and from Communist China, the President basically dismissed our fears by saying that our atomic arsenal would be enough to deter Communist aggression.’

‘’Sir,’ said at once George Kenney, ‘’Nancy Laplante clearly warned us about the false illusions of security given by the atomic bomb, basically telling us that atomic weapons are good only for one thing: to deter their own use. That same warning was recently repeated to us by Laplante’s adopted daughter, Major General Dows.’

‘’You forget that the President, who was then a simple senator, was not present at that strategic meeting in June of 1944 and that, when he became Roosevelt’s vice-

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president, he was not told about our atomic bomb project until President Roosevelt died.

The prospect of supposedly being able to make big savings in defense expenditures by building up an atomic arsenal has apparently gone to his head in a big way and none of our arguments changed his mind about operating cuts to our defense budgets. We unfortunately have no choice but to implement such cuts in as responsible a way as possible, unless we are ready to resign our present positions. So, here we are, in need of deciding who and what is to be cut and who and what is to be preserved while keeping our Air Force effective.’’

George Kenney was the first to speak after Symington fell silent.

‘’Irrespective of what cuts are effected, sir, we are stil responsible for defending the United States, its allies and its interests around the World. We should thus concentrate on cutting the fat rather than the meat in the Air Force. Combatant units should be preserved as much as possible, while we should seriously review the plethora of support and administrative commands and units we presently have. I believe that many of those support departments could be amalgamated in order to cut on the number of senior officers and staff in charge of them. The one place I wouldn’t cut or eliminate but would rather reorganize is in the process by which we develop, select and put in service new aircraft. We are now at the start of a new age of aviation, the Jet Age, and we certainly don’t want to miss our entrance in it.’

‘’Agreed!’’ said Symington. ‘’Let’s thus look this morning at the organizational chart of the defunct Army Air Force and see what fat we can possibly cut in its administrative and support divisions. We will look at our combatant components this afternoon.’’

Stuart Symington, having been the CEO of the giant Sears Company before being recruited by President Truman for his cabinet, showed himself to be quite ruthless when it came to select branches and departments of the old Army Air Force for either culling or outright elimination, putting together under a single command or department subjects which had been part of two or more different departments before, while eliminating redundancies in the command and administrative structures. In that task, he was helped significantly by his senior military commanders, who had to deal for years with the often Byzantine administration and command system of the old Army Air Force and who were more than ready to see some serious changes applied. One suggestion, from General George Kenney, did surprise him.

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‘’You want to move the development, selection and testing of our new aircraft and air ordnance programs from the Materiel Command to the Operations and Plans Division? Why?’’

‘’For the simple reason that our Materiel Command in the Army Air Force has become a bureaucratic monster stuck in red tape and with next to zero real vision about the future, sir. There are also a lot of pernicious outside influences from companies vying for contracts and cultivating supporters within the higher spheres of the Materiel Command. As an example, look at the story of the B-36 heavy bomber program, which was initiated after we entered the war in 1941. Its design and development went on in complete insulation of what our experience in combat against the Germans taught us and now, about a year before it is due to enter service, we have ended up with a huge air behemoth which is too slow to escape even piston-driven fighters and too heavy to operate from all but two of our present airfields. Our Operations and Plans Division, in contrast, is a much smaller organization than the Materiel Command and, due to its primary task of developing operational plans, is much more in touch with the reality of modern warfare. By having a specialized office in charge of directing the design, development and testing of our future aircraft and air ordnance, like rockets and missiles, an office unencumbered by contacts and influences from our present civilian contractors and suppliers, we would then be able to get what our Air Force truly needs in this new jet age, sir.’

‘’Hum, I must say that your argument makes a lot of sense, General Kenney.

Then, why didn’t you implement that change once you became the head of the Army Air Force?’

‘’Because I was blocked by the opposition from many generals of both the Army Air Force and of the Army, who insisted on us getting a super-heavy bomber.

Unfortunately, Secretary of War Stimson sided with those dissenting generals and got the B-36 project to continue. Also, there was a lot of opposition to the person I wanted to put in charge of our new Future Acquisitions Office: Major General Dows, who was then in command of the 99th Air Wing in England. Apparently, most of our senior commanders and generals don’t want a woman to be put in charge of our future aircraft projects. So, I had to use a bit of a subterfuge and discretely asked for the advice of Major General Dows while she is studying for an aeronautical engineering degree at the M.I.T. in Boston. President Roosevelt was also keenly interested in getting her advice on a number of subjects and had tasked me to act as a discrete liaison point between

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him and Dows. Unfortunately, when President Truman came into office, he showed no interest in seeking Dows’ advice on anything and ordered me to cut my links with Dows.’’

‘’And when is Major General Dows due to graduate from the M.I.T., General?’’

‘’Next Summer, in end of May of 1948, sir. Up to now, she is doing very well at the M.I.T. and has obtained top notes to date. With her being a very experienced and successful combat pilot and air unit commander during World War 2, and with her well-known ability to think outside of the box, she would be the perfect person to direct our future aircraft projects, sir.’

‘’I fully agree with General Kenney about his assessment of Major General Dows, sir.’ then cut in Major General Curtiss LeMay, the boss of the brand-new Strategic Air Command. ‘’Major General Dows is a true fighting officer and a great pilot who proved as well to be a near genius in terms of air tactics and strategies. She saved the bacon of many of my bomber crews when we were being decimated by German jet fighters and surface-to-air missiles, by first countering and jamming the German V4-A5 missile, then by eliminating the whole German High Command in December of 1943 in a series of audacious air raids on Germany’s command centers. She was also the one who decapitated the whole Japanese Army and Navy High Commands by bombing the hell out of their headquarters in Tokyo. I would follow this young woman in Hell if need be.

As for the B-36 program, I agree with General Kenney’s opinion of it. If the B-36 would have attempted to bomb Berlin in 1944, it would have then been shot down before it could drop its bombs. Right now, my Strategic Air Command is stuck with a collection of B-17s, B-24s and B-29s that are too slow to evade enemy fighters and have insufficient range to get to their objectives in the Soviet Union or China from the United States.

Right now, my bombers have to fly out of airfields in Poland, Romania or the Philippines if they want to hit the Soviets or the Communist Chinese. However, General Kenney recently proposed a short-term solution to that problem, a solution suggested to him by Major General Dows: to use modified Hughes A-11 fast medium bombers as strategic bombers. With its top speed of 490 miles per hour and its operational range of up to 6,000 miles, the A-11 would constitute a good interim solution for my SAC, sir.’

‘’There are also other suggestions and initiatives from Major General Dows in the works, sir.’ added quickly Kenney. ‘’Before she left to start her studies at the M.I.T., she collated the pertinent data about future aircraft engines contained in the ‘Hourglass Files’

brought from the future by her adoptive mother, Nancy Laplante, then passed in confidence that data to the engine manufacturers who had developed those engines in

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the future. As a result, Pratt & Whitney, General Electric, AVCO-Lycoming and Allison are all well advanced in designing new, high-performance jet engines which should soon be ready to power our future aircraft.’

‘’Wow! I can now see why you want that woman to be put in charge of our future aircraft projects, General Kenney. Very well: I intend to fully support those suggestions and initiatives from Major General Dows. Get on with a modification program of A-11

bombers as strategic bombers for the S.A.C. and continue encouraging our engine manufacturers into pushing their new engine designs to completion.’’

Symington then looked at his watch and smiled to the men assembled around the table.

‘’Well, it is lunch time already, gentlemen. Let’s go eat, then we will continue our discussions on the reorganization of our new Air Force.’’

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CHAPTER 10 – GRADUATION

10:52 (Boston Time)

Friday, May 28, 1948 ‘C’

Killian Court, M.I.T. campus

Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

Like the other graduating students assembled in Killian Court, facing the Great Dome of the MacLaurin Building, Ingrid shouted with joy while throwing high in the air her graduation hat, then warmly hugged in turn Betty Wood and Peter Simpson.

‘’What a moment in our lives, my friends! The future is now wide open to us.’’

‘’And we may now contribute fully to that future, Ingrid, especially in your case.’

added Betty. That made Ingrid shake her head in denial.

‘’No more than you or Peter, Betty. Who knows what your work will bring to biology? Whatever happens to us, I promise to both of you to stay in regular contact with you via letters. Unfortunately, I stil don’t know exactly where I will be posted once back in active service but, as soon as I will know, I will inform you of my new address via letter.’

‘’And we wil do the same with you, Ingrid.’ added Peter, who was immediately seconded by Betty. The trio then walked to the bleachers which had been temporarily put around Killian Court, where they met with the happy parents and siblings of Betty and Peter. Their joyful family reunion brought a bit of sadness and regret to Ingrid, who had no living direct family left to her to attend her graduation. The Crawfords, while sending a congratulary letter from Montana, had been too busy with their Summer season farming, while Ken Dows’ parents, who lived in Boston, had never been in good terms with her, having opposed their marriage in 1941 because she was a declared Jew, even though she was in reality a non-practicing Jew.

After a few minutes spent with Betty, Peter and their families, Ingrid made a final goodbye to them before walking to Bexley Hall, intent on packing up her things before leaving in her car for Washington, where a letter from General Kenney had instructed her to report to him at the Pentagon on next Monday morning. Once her things were

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packed and in the big trunk of her 1940 Dodge Deluxe Convertible, she went to have a last meal at the nearby students’ food court, then ended her stay at the M.I.T. by returning the keys to her dorm room and her meal card to the Registrar’s Office before returning to her car and getting behind the driver’s wheel. Since it was a nice, warm and sunny day, she drove off the M.I.T. campus with her car top folded down and soon joined with U.S. Route 1 Highway, which roughly ran north-south parallel to the Atlantic Coast all the way from Maine to Florida, passing by Boston, New York City and Washington, her intended destination, before continuing all the way to Key West in Florida. With some 510 miles by road between Boston and Washington D.C., Ingrid expected her trip to take some ten hours...if she stayed under the speed limit and if she made her trip all in one shot. She however quickly decided to cut her trip into two segments, with a night stop once past New York City, so that she wouldn’t become unduly tired. Besides, she had the whole weekend for her before she would need to show up at the Pentagon Monday morning.

As she drove down the four-lane highway towards Providence and New Haven, Ingrid thought over what she could expect from her return to active military duty.

Contrary to her personal future career as a newly minted aeronautical engineer, a number of things worried her on the military, political and geo-political aspects. Her biggest worry right now was about the damning negligence in terms of budgetary support of the American armed forces shown by President Harry Truman, who seemed to ignore or reject most of the requests and recommendations he got from his military chiefs, instead relying on the advice of his own personal supporters inside his cabinet and entourage, including that of Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson, a man who had just replaced James Forrestal in that position and who understood little about defense or the military and who was too happy to gut the American armed forces on behalf of Truman. As a result, if she could rely on the latest communications she had with General Kenney, morale at the Pentagon and around the military was at an all-time low, while the degree of readiness of the various services had gone down precipitously to what Ingrid thought to be unacceptably low levels. In his latest letter, George Kenney had even talked of resigning his post, so disgusted he had become of the situation in Washington. On the geo-political front, a number of alarms were starting to sound, particularly around China, the Pacific, the Middle-East and Eastern Europe, yet the Truman administration was doing little to nothing about those alarm signals, continuing

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its merry rounds of military budget cuts while thinking that having the atomic bomb would be enough to deter Communist aggression, and this despite the warnings Ingrid had served on this subject to President Roosevelt in 1944. Ingrid then thought about what her own response to all this would or could be. One thing was certain in her mind: she would keep telling things as they were to her superiors, be they civilian or military, as she always did in the past. She was also resolved to continue to abide by her personal and professional rules of ethics and morality, whatever the cost to herself.

After driving for close to five hours, Ingrid stopped in a suburb of Newark, in New Jersey, where she refilled her gas tank and took a room at a modest local hotel before going to have supper at an adjacent dinner. Once she had transferred her belongings from her car’s trunk to her hotel room, in order to prevent their possible theft, she took a shower to refresh and relax herself. As she got out of her bathroom, still fully naked, she took a decision and placed a long-distance telephone call to California to speak with Howard Hughes, in Hollywood. To her surprise, a female voice which she knew well answered the phone at Hughes’ mansion.

‘’Hello?’

‘’Hedy, is that you? This is Ingrid! Are you presently on leave?’

While Hedy Lamarr’s voice showed her happiness at hearing Ingrid, her words were less than enthusiastic.

‘’Hardly, Ingrid: I resigned from the Air Force a week ago, along with many of our Fifinel a girls. I arrived back in Hollywood two days ago and am now living in Howard’s mansion.’

‘’You resigned? Why? You loved your flying job.’

‘’I stil do, Ingrid, but I was pushed out by the irresponsible cuts to our operating budgets and personnel ordered by the asshole who is calling himself the Secretary of Defense. Basically, our air wing was ordered to thin down to the size of an air group.

Since we stil can’t serve in male units, most of us at the 99th Air Wing had no choice but to leave the military.’

Ingrid had to control her anger and fury then on hearing such news and needed a few seconds before she could calm down and answer Hedy back.

‘’That fucking Johnson again! Are you going to return to acting, Hedy?’’

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‘’To be abused and exploited again by a bunch of misogynists? No thank you! I am now helping Howard run his company. Maybe you could join us here: we would make a perfect ‘ménage à trois’. By the way, did you graduate from the M.I.T. yet?’’

‘’I just did this morning and am now on my way to Washington, where I am due to present myself to General Kenney on Monday morning.’

‘’Well, first let me congratulate you for your new diploma. Next, I would say that the Hughes Aircraft Company could use a top pilot and qualified engineer like you, Ingrid.’’

‘’Uh, I wil see first how things will go at the Pentagon next week. Is Howard around?’’

‘’He is presently at his aircraft plant in Glendale, checking a few things concerning his Hughes Verti-Wing 100 prototype, which is being built right now.’

‘’It is? Yes! I can’t wait to see it. Then, tell Howard that I wil call him back on Monday night.’

‘’I wil , Ingrid. Good luck with your meeting at the Pentagon on Monday: you may need it, viewing the way things are souring up all over the Air Force. We will talk again Monday evening. Have a good night, Ingrid.’

‘’You too, Hedy.’ replied Ingrid before hanging up. She stayed a long moment immobile, sitting naked on her hotel bed while rehashing what Hedy had told her. She had personally formed the Fifinellas in 1942 and had led it in combat in both the Pacific and European theaters before returning to the United States in 1944 in order to start her studies at the M.I.T., thus the partial demise of her old unit was coming as a very painful blow to her and was further worrying her about what to expect in Washington on Monday.

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CHAPTER 11 – A BITTER OUTCOME

08:03 (Washington Time)

Monday, May 31, 1948 ‘C’

Office of the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force The Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia, U.S.A.

Taking a few steps towards General Kenney’s desk, Ingrid then stopped and saluted him at rigid attention.

‘’Major General Ingrid Dows, reporting as ordered, sir!’

While Kenney smiled on seeing her enter his office and got on his feet to first salute her back before coming to shake her hand, Ingrid detected at once stress and bitterness in his general appearance.

‘’First, congratulations for your engineering diploma, Ingrid. You did honor to the Air Force with your academic performance.’

‘’Thank you, sir! I am hoping to start applying soon my new qualifications to our new aircraft programs, sir.’

Ingrid became genuinely alarmed when the smile on Kenney’s face faded then.

‘’Er, a number of new developments came last week, Ingrid. Let’s sit, so that I could brief you about them.’

Keeping in the dozens of questions she now had in her mind, Ingrid sat down on one of the sofas in Kenney’s office, while the latter sat on a sofa opposite a low coffee table.

Kenney took some time to think over what he was going to tell her before starting to speak in a subdued tone.

‘’Unfortunately, all of our new aircraft development projects were put on hold last week, on orders from Secretary of Defense Johnson. The Navy was similarly struck by an order to freeze warship construction until further notice. All this was caused by President Truman’s newest requests for further cuts to our military budget, requests that this Johnson asshole was too happy to pass on to us.’

‘’By how much did those budget cut requests were for, sir?’’

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‘’Basically, our operations and training budgets were cut by 23 percent for the rest of this fiscal year, while all new acquisition and development programs were frozen until the next fiscal defense budget will be announced.’

‘’But, without conducting training and flying at least some hours a week, our aircrews will lose their flight proficiencies, sir. Secretary Johnson should be able to understand that.’

‘’He understands that but he doesn’t care, never did in my opinion.’’

‘’And what are you planning to do to convince him to do otherwise, sir?’’

‘’Nothing, Ingrid!’ replied Kenney, shocking Ingrid. ‘’I am done fighting just to keep being ignored by Truman and his bunch of ass-lickers. I intend to officially resign and leave the Air Force by the end of this week. If I stay longer, the stress is liable to sink my health in short order.’

It was the turn of Ingrid to be silent for a moment, as she digested those words from Kenney. She then got up on her feet and stood at attention.

‘’Sir, I learned on Friday evening that my 99th Air Wing was ordered to be cut down to air group size and that most of the girls I personally enrolled into the Fifinellas have been forced to leave the service. If we are to be treated with such contempt and neglect, then I prefer to redirect my talents where they will be appreciated and valued, sir: in civilian life. I thus am presenting my immediate resignation from the Air Force and would appreciate if you would both accept and process my request, sir.’

Kenney appeared to suddenly age on hearing her formal request. He heavily got up on his feet and looked into her eyes for seconds before shaking her hand.

‘’Then, I can only wish you success in civilian life, Ingrid. The Air Force will lose the best combat pilot and air commander it ever had. I will now accompany you to our personnel administration section, so that you can start your official resignation procedure.’

‘’Thank you, sir. Be assured that this decision is a most painful one for me.’’

‘’I fully believe you on that, Ingrid. Please follow me.’’

Ingrid nearly felt like an automaton as she followed Kenney out of his office and down the hallway leading to the Air Force administration offices. Once there, Kenney had the chief-clerk make Ingrid fill an official resignation and retirement form, which Kenney countersigned, telling the chief-clerk to prepare the other forms and steps needed before he led Ingrid to the office of the Secretary of the Air Force. If anything,

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Stuart Symington appeared about as demoralized and stressed as Kenney had been, even before he was told about Ingrid’s decision to leave the service. He however had little choice but to accept her decision as graciously as he could, which he did. He then made a smirk as he was shaking her hand.

‘’Usual y, I would have to present to the Secretary of Defense any Air Force general officer about to be released from service, for whatever reason, but I suppose that, in this case, it could turn ugly fast.’

‘’You supposed right, sir. Let that asshole learn about my resignation from reading the newspapers, sir.’

‘’Well said, General. Do you have something lined up for yourself in civilian life?’

‘’I have already a few possible jobs in mind, sir.’ replied at once Ingrid.

20:15 (Washington Time) / 17:15 (California Time) Transient officers’ quarters, Fort Myer, Arlington, Virginia When Ingrid called Howard Hughes’ mansion in Hollywood, she got the billionaire to answer her call at once.

‘’Howard Hughes here!’

‘’Hello, Howard: this is Ingrid, calling from Fort Myer, near the Pentagon.’

‘’Ingrid, it is nice to hear you again. How did your meeting with General Kenney go this morning?’’

‘’About as well as Hedy had predicted, Howard: I offered my resignation from the Air Force and it was accepted by Kenney, who is himself leaving the Air Force by the end of this week. I should complete my out clearances by Thursday at the latest. Would you be interested in the services of a test pilot and qualified aeronautical engineer, by chance?’’

‘’Are you kidding? Of course I am interested in you, Ingrid.’’

‘’Hmmm... interested in me. Do I detect some personal interest towards my body in your offer?’’

‘’A sane man could not possibly not show a personal interest towards you, Ingrid.

Get your ass here in Hol ywood as soon as you can!’

‘’Your desires are my orders, oh Grand Poopa!’

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CHAPTER 12 – CIVILIAN PILOT

15:50 (California Time)

Saturday, June 05, 1948 ‘C’

Howard Hughes’ mansion, 211 South Muirfield Road Hancock Park, Hollywood, Los Angeles

California, U.S.A.

Hedy Lamarr, who had run to answer the front door, flashed a big grin on seeing Ingrid, wearing a pair of shorts and a short-sleeves blouse, standing outside the door.

Before saying a word, she hugged her at once.

‘’It is so nice to see you after those four years, Ingrid. You look as young and fit as the last time I saw you.’

‘’And you are still as beautiful as before, Hedy.’

‘’Thank you, Ingrid. Please, come in! Me and Howard have a surprise for you.’

‘’Oh? A gold-plated personal plane, maybe?’’

‘’I am the surprise, you young girl!’ then said another female voice. Katharine Hepburn then emerged from the nearby living room, walking towards Ingrid and Hedy.

‘’Katharine? What are you doing here? Don’t tel me that you also quit the Air Force?’

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‘’They didn’t leave me much choice when they cut my helicopter group by two-thirds.’’ replied the ex-actress in a bitter tone. ‘’Many of our girls had to leave the Air Force after the latest rounds of stupid cuts ordered by President Truman. I always voted for the Democrats before but I swear that this Truman idiot will not get my vote in November.’

‘’The same here, Katharine. So, you are returning to acting now?’’

‘’Hell no! Howard made me an offer I couldn’t refuse: he hired me as a helicopter test pilot.’

‘’So, where is the famous Howard Hughes?’’ asked Ingrid with a smile. ‘’Is he hiding from me?’

‘’Not at all: you simply caught him with his pants down.’’ answered Katharine.

‘’Uh, didn’t you have a car while studying at the M.I.T.? I don’t see a car in the driveway.’

‘’I sold it in Washington, before flying to Los Angeles. I took a taxi from the airport.’

‘’Then, let us help you carry your stuff inside. I see that you stil have your Springfield 1903 rifle and your war trophy Katana sword but not much else.’

‘’Well, my military uniforms and service issued gear constituted a big part of my past belongings, Katharine. Now, I make do with two suitcases, one civilian backpack and one rifle case.’

Howard Hughes then showed up at that moment, coming down a staircase.

‘’Aah, here is our intrepid fighter pilot! I never thought that the Air Force would be stupid enough to force you out.’

‘’Well, it was my personal choice, Howard, but the stupidity of Truman and Johnson didn’t leave me much choice but to quit.’

‘’But I do end up getting you: a nice exchange for me. Welcome to Los Angeles, Ingrid.’’

The two of them hugged and kissed each other warmly for long seconds before they unglued from each other. Ingrid then surprised all three of her friends by seemingly looking if anyone else was around.

‘’Are there any domestic staff nearby within earshot, Howard?’’

‘’Uh, no: I gave them the weekend off. Why do you ask?’’

‘’Because I need to tell you a secret to all three of you. You know already that I can remember my past incarnations, spread over 7,000 years, right?’’

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‘’You already told us that years ago, Ingrid.’ replied Katharine. ‘’You also told us that your incarnations alternated between both men and women. So, what is your point?’’

‘’My point is that, before I could remember my past incarnations, I was a straight heterosexual girl, and a quite ravenous one at that. However, the souvenirs of my past lives turned me into a bisexual girl. I of course hid that fact from the Army Air Force, as the military did not accept or tolerated members other than heterosexuals. Now that I am out of the military, I can tell you that but still would want that to stay between the four of us.’

Katharine Hepburn, who had often been rumored to be a bisexual woman, exchanged stunned looks with Hedy Lamarr and with Howard Hughes, with the billionaire then shrugging his shoulders.

‘’The more fun around this house, I suppose. You did suggest on your last call that we could form a ‘ménage à trois’. Wel , we now have a ‘ménage à quatre’. Let’s get your things up to your room, Ingrid. Then, we wil have a long chat, the four of us.’

‘’With or without clothes on?’’ asked Ingrid in a sneaky tone, making Howard shake an index at her.

‘’You truly are a perverted young girl, Ingrid. We wil need to talk about a few serious things, so it will be a clothed session. Alright, let’s grab her things, girls, so that she could get installed in her new place.’

With each of them carrying one or two items belonging to Ingrid, the group went upstairs and followed a hallway leading to a large bedroom, where Howard dropped the suitcase he had carried upstairs.

‘’Your new home for as long as you like, Ingrid.’

Even though she had expected something nice, Ingrid was still impressed by the quiet comfort and elegance of the big bedroom, which seemed to have its own private bathroom and a private study.

‘’I suppose that it could do.’ she replied in a sarcastic tone, earning an amused look from the billionaire.

‘’I hope so! If not, I could always chain you to a corner in my garage and feed you bread and water.’’

‘’Oooh, sounds kinky!’ said Ingrid, making Hedy and Katharine giggle. ‘’Well, you wanted us to discuss about some serious things, Howard?’’

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‘’I sure did, Ingrid. Since the Air Force was stupid enough to cause you to quit, then we need to discuss how to best employ you in my company. While Hedy is already helping me and my chief executive officer, Noah Dietrich, manage my business and with Katharine now piloting my helicopters, that leaves you, but you should fit very well in my company as a test pilot and design engineer. We simply need to review together the stage at which my projects and programs are at now.’

‘’Aircraft talk! Just the thing I like the most.’ said Ingrid while rubbing her hands together. Hedy then replied to that by shooting in a sneaky remark.

‘’I thought that you were into sex, Ingrid.’’

To Hedy’s surprise, Ingrid’s expression became very serious at that moment.

‘’What I am most into right now is what is happening to the women I trained and then led into combat. Those political hacks ruining our armed forces should not be allowed to continue as they do and I will do everything possible to stop them and take them to account for their incompetence and irresponsibility.’

09:49 (California Time)

Sunday, June 06, 1948 ‘C’

Hangar and prototype shop of the Hughes Aircraft Company Grand Central Airport, Glendale, Los Angeles

‘’Our first Hughes Verti-Wing 100 prototype, which is now about eighty percent completed.’

Ingrid, accompanied by Hedy Lamarr and Katharine Hepburn, walked slowly towards the prototype aircraft while examining every detail of it as Howard Hughes was watching her reactions to it.

‘’Just as I imagined it, Howard. Did you encounter any problem or difficulty while doing its detailed design?’’

‘’Not real y, Ingrid. The Verti-Wing 100 is actually quite a simple aircraft, being in essence shaped like a wing profile section with four engines attached to its side corners.

By the way, while the engines are not in place yet, Allison is due to send me the first four copies of its new T-700 turboshaft engine, which it has by now thoroughly tested and certified. Each of those T-700 is rated to a maximum continuous shaft power of 7,000

horsepower and will be coupled to contra-rotating, variable pitch propellers. Our Verti-Wing 100 will thus be able to lift off at the vertical with a maximum takeoff mass of about

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56 tons and will be able to do a short takeoff run of at most 900 feet while weighing up to 62 tons. With an operational empty weight of only 22 tons, our plane will be able to carry at least 38 tons of fuel and payload. Since it will be optimized as a short to medium range transport aircraft, it will easily be able to accommodate over a hundred passengers, plus some cargo. Up to now, wind tunnel testing of a reduced scale model has shown it to be quite stable in flight, with a very low wing loading which will make it quite nimble. It should take the commercial aviation market by storm.’

‘’I believe so as well, Howard. What about the production of your AH-4 attack helicopter and of your A-11 fast bomber and of its variants? Have the cuts to Pentagon budgets affected your defense contracts?’’

Howard Hughes sighed, showing some frustration as he answered her.

‘’Very much so, Ingrid. While the Pentagon orders for my A-11 have generally gone down, new orders for the strategic bomber variant, called the B-11 have somewhat compensated the cuts to the other variants and that production line is still active, albeit at a slower rate. As for my AH-4 production line, it is presently at a standstill. The Air Force doesn’t have the budget to buy more of them, while the Army, which is supposed to have its own sizeable helicopter component, is very slow in deciding how many helicopters of what types it wants, plus has its own budget problems. That is starting to worry me a bit for my aircraft company, as it will take at least another year before our Verti-Wing 100 can complete its test flights and obtain its commercial certification.’’

Ingrid, who had stopped near the unfinished prototype, seemed to be in deep thoughts for long seconds as she digested his information. Howard, who had learned that it was best to let Ingrid time to think on such occasions, stayed quiet, imitated by Hedy and Katharine. After some twenty seconds, Ingrid turned to look at Howard.

‘’Howard, what would you say about something that could well relaunch your helicopter production line and bring in some serious revenues, while at the same time helping my Fifinella girls to find new aviation employment?’’

‘’Uh, and how would you propose to produce such a miracle, Ingrid?’’ asked Hughes while scratching his head. Seeing a desk with some design paperwork on it some twenty paces away, Ingrid quickly walked to it and, grabbing a pen and a sheet of virgin paper, drew a pair of rough sketches on it while explaining herself.

‘’Howard, our main goal with building our Verti-Wing 100 is to help kickstart the commercial air travel industry in the United States, which is still limited to mostly serving well-to-do passengers because of the lack of adequate civilian airliners with enough

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speed, range and capacity which could render large-scale air travel economical. While we would work to complete our Verti-Wing 100 project, I believe that we could at least fill the short-haul niche by creating a network of fast helicopter air transportation services which could operate directly from cities and towns, without the need to build big, expensive airports. In fact, such a fast helicopter network could easily operate from places like unused parking lots or industrial grounds.’

‘’But, my AH-4 is an attack helicopter, not a transport helicopter, Ingrid. I would need to acquire a sizeable fleet of helicopters from either Sikorsky or Bell to start such a project.’

‘’No need for you to buy helicopters from another company, Howard: you simply need to produce a transport variant of your AH-4 by replacing its heavily armored, narrow central fuselage by a wider and much lighter fuselage designed for carrying passengers and cargo on distances of less than a thousand miles. We wouldn’t need to change hardly anything about its propulsion system and layout. I just drew two sketches of your AH-4: one as it is as an attack helicopter; the other as a transport variant with a wider fuselage under its engines and gearbox section. As you can see, nearly sixty percent of its parts would stay the same, while I can design quickly a new fuselage of simple construction for the transport variant.’

Howard took the sheet of paper offered by Ingrid and examined the two sketches with growing hope.

‘’This could actually work, Ingrid. This new fuselage should be fairly easy and economical to build, as the whole propulsive system and its auxiliary systems would stay exactly as is. Yes, I will certainly go with this scheme, Ingrid. But how would your Fifinel a girls fit with this plan?’’

‘’Howard, thanks to the stupidity and irresponsibility of Truman and Louis Johnson, you now have hundreds of highly qualified and experienced female helicopter flight and ground support crews now looking for aviation jobs. Those girls could be hired by you to form a new regional air service company able to pick up passengers and cargo anywhere, using only the equivalent of a small parking lot, and to fly them directly to the downtown areas of other cities and towns. Right now, nobody in the United States, or in the rest of the World, has such a helicopter transport network and you would thus have the exclusivity for such a market. Once our Verti-Wing 100 will be ready to enter service and be sold to commercial airlines, it would then be able to supplement our helicopter transport network by adding much longer and faster routes, while using the same small

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operating surfaces for takeoffs and landings. Think of the kind of male business clientele who would be eager to use that network to get quickly from, say, downtown New York City to Boston, Miami or Detroit while served by an all-female crew of young women.’

An air of illumination came to Howard’s face as he contemplated her proposal, while Katharine nearly clapped her hands with enthusiasm.

‘’Ingrid, you are a true genius!’’

‘’As I said before, Katharine, Hedy is the genius here. I am just a girl with an explosive imagination who lives outside of the box.’

‘’Goddam!’ exclaimed Howard Hughes. ‘’I love your idea, Ingrid! When could you start designing that new transport variant of my AH-4?’

‘’How about tomorrow, on Monday morning? Hedy and Katharine could help by contacting our Fifinel a veterans looking for work and offer them jobs with Air Fifinel a.’’

Both Hedy and Katharine sucked air in at her proposed name for her air service company.

‘’I love it!’ exclaimed Katharine Hepburn. ‘’Our girls would love to fly with that future company.

‘’Then, you and Hedy wil need to start organizing a recruitment campaign to grab our Fifinel a veterans, Katharine. What do you say to all this, Howard?’’

‘’I say: go for it with full steam ahead, girls!’ answered the enthusiastic billionaire.

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CHAPTER 13 – AIR FIFINELLA

11:08 (California Time)

Saturday, June 19, 1948 ‘C’