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

U.S.A.

Secretary of Defense Dwight D. Eisenhower got up from his chair, set around the small conference table furnishing his office, in order to receive General George Kenney, his Air Force Secretary, who was now entering his office with General Hoyt Vandenberg, an Air Force colonel and a man in his late twenties wearing a civilian suit.

‘’So, shal I expect to see some interesting design proposals this morning, George?’

‘’You certainly can, sir. But let me first introduce Colonel Albert Boyd, the commander of our Flight Test Division in Wright Field, and Mister Richard Whitcomb, a most talented aeronautical engineer and aerodynamics specialist employed by the Flight Test Division.’

‘’Pleased to meet you!’ said Eisenhower while shaking hands with Boyd and Whitcomb. ‘’Let’s sit down and start this meeting: I am real y impatient to see what our best aircraft designers have come up with in response to our urgent request for a new jet fighter and a new bomber. Coffee will be served before we start speaking.’’

A couple of minutes later, with cups of coffee having been poured, Eisenhower nodded his head to Kenney.

‘’You may now start presenting the results of your preliminary selection of leading contenders, George.’’

‘’Thank you, sir. As you know, we presented four months ago our requirement for a new fighter and a new bomber to nine of our aircraft designing companies, and this in order to urgently counter the Soviet Mig-15 jet fighter, which we had just learned about its existence in a rather brutal way. Those companies have now submitted basic design proposals in response to our request, with Colonel Boyd and his engineering staff at the

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Flight Test Division then studying and evaluating these proposals. Most of these proposals basically fulfilled the basic capability requirements we asked for, while we had to reject a few of them because their design performances were found to be marginal or insufficient. Thus, the entries by Chance-Vought, Grumman, North American and Northrop were rejected for those reasons. That left the proposals submitted by Lockheed, McDonnell, Douglas, Convair and Hughes Aircraft. Here is a copy of the executive summaries of those preliminary evaluations, sir.’

Taking the file presented to him by Kenney, Eisenhower quickly sifted through its content, concentrating on the design sketches and list of expected performances for each candidate aircraft. While he was no aircraft design expert, Eisenhower immediately got attracted to the candidate designs from the companies named by Kenney as leading contenders. He soon paused and threw a look at Kenney when he viewed the proposals by Hughes Aircraft for both a new fighter and for a new bomber.

‘’Geez, George, our young Ingrid Dows’ projects look like they are a full generation or two ahead of all the other submissions. My question would be if her proposals are realistic or just a dream.’

‘’Sir, I know wel Ingrid Dows and I can say that, when she proposes something, it is always based on some very solid thinking, even when her ideas could appear to be goofy or outlandish by conventional thinking. I will however let Colonel Boyd and Mister Whitcomb comment on her two design proposals.’

‘’Then, go ahead, Colonel Boyd.’’

‘’Thank you, sir. First, I have to say that, as the head of the Flight Test Division, I have seen all kinds of aircraft designs and actual aircraft pass by at Wright Field. The proposals submitted by Miss Dows, the XF-9 fighter and the XB-12 bomber, don’t just look revolutionary: they ARE revolutionary, with planned design performances widely superior to all the other proposals. My engineers, including Mister Richard Whitcomb, all agreed that her two designs are sound, not to say exceptional thanks to their innovative features and advanced aerodynamics. In fact, both of her designs are the only ones in the lot which could reach top speeds of Mach 2 or more.’’

‘’But,’ objected Eisenhower, ‘’she graduated as an aeronautical engineer only a bit over four years ago. How could she outperform by so much other designers who are a lot more experienced, Colonel?’’

‘’Much of the reason lies in the way she works on new designs, sir. The vast majority of the other designers work with large engineering teams, something that Dows

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herself call ‘design by committee’. In contrast, she does herself all the thinking and fundamental design work, something that she says allows her to let her imagination loose and to try new formulas few other designers would consider. There is also this business of her having received some education from Nancy Laplante, who showed her what the future produced in terms of advanced aircraft. Some may call that ‘cheating’

but I would simply call that ‘using everything at her disposal’, with us benefiting as a result. There is also the significant factor that she is an experienced combat user of aircraft, something none of the other designers are. That allowed her to know what was practical or desirable in a combat aircraft and what was not.’

‘’So, you are saying that the Hughes proposals are clearly superior to the other designs submitted by our other aircraft manufacturers, Colonel?’’

‘’I do, sir! In the case of her proposed XF-9, it comes with a nice extra: a design proposal for a family of air-to-air missiles, for which her XF-9 would be compatible from the start. Mister Whitcomb agreed with me that her claims of a top speed of at least Mach 2 are realistic and that her aerodynamic design solutions are sound and should result in a highly performing supersonic fighter aircraft. As for her proposed XB-12

supersonic bomber, it is simply out of this world, sir. If proving successful as a project, it would give our Strategic Air Command a strategic bomber capable of top speeds of about Mach 2.5, with a combat radius of at least 3,000 miles. Like the XF-9, it comes as well with a proposed new weapon, a heavy air-to-ground missile which would allow her XB-12 to attack an enemy target from beyond the range of enemy air defenses.’’

Eisenhower was left speechless for a few seconds by all this before speaking again, addressing Kenney and Boyd.

‘’But, our planned orders for those two projects are in the many hundreds, even thousands of aircraft to be built. If we award those two programs to Hughes, it would never have enough production capacity to satisfy our needs quickly. Hughes new Verti-Wing 100 AIRBUS VSTOL airliner is said to be selling like hot cakes already.’

‘’True, sir!’ replied Kenney. ‘’However, Dows already agreed to the idea of letting other manufacturers produce her designs under license in order to produce them for us with adequate speed.’

Eisenhower slowly nodded his head at that, apparently fully convinced by now.

‘’Hell, Dows may get a lot of other aircraft manufacturers jealous of her successes. The Soviets also appear to have realized what she is capable of.

Thankfully, with the forced closure of all the Soviet diplomatic facilities in the U.S.A.,

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save for their United Nations representation, the Soviets seem to have run out of steam in terms of clandestine action capabilities in our country. Alright, George: call Dows in and tell her that she has the go to continue the development and eventual production of her XF-9 and of her XB-12, with our full financial support from now on. I will as well let you the sad duty of informing the losers about our decision.’

Kenney sighed at those last words.

‘’That wil certainly not be a fun task, sir. We may get a lot of bitching from some of those designers about so-called favoritism.’’

21:06 (California Time)

Saturday, May 28, 1949 ‘C’

Aircraft design office, Hughes prototype hangar complex Glendale Grand Central Airport, Los Angeles

Katharine Hepburn sighed with frustration when she found Ingrid hunched over a draftsman desk, still working despite this late hour on a Saturday. Since her two new aircraft designs had been selected by the Air Force, Ingrid had immersed herself totally in her work, not taking any day off and often working over sixteen hours a day. Both Katharine and Hedy had pleaded with her to cut that insane work schedule but Ingrid had not listened, obsessed about starting production of the first prototypes of the XF-9

and XB-12 as quickly as possible and saying that the United States urgently needed her new planes in order to regain the time lost during President Truman’s neglect of the American armed forces.

Approaching Ingrid in the design office, Katharine saw that her friend was so involved in her work that she had not sensed yet that she was here. Katharine then decided to forget about niceties and spoke four words loudly once within two steps from Ingrid.

‘’BOOM! YOU’RE DEAD!’

Ingrid, taken by surprise, involuntarily jerked before pivoting to face Katharine.

‘’Oh, it’s you!’

‘’Yes, it’s me, Ingrid, but it could also have been another Soviet assassin, in which case you would now be dead. It is now past nine in the evening and this

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nonsense has to stop...NOW! You are killing yourself with overwork, Ingrid, and we are getting seriously worried about your health.’’

‘’But I need to finish the detailed design of my two new planes and...’

‘’YOU WON’T FINISH THOSE DESIGNS IF YOU FALL ILL FROM OVERWORK, INGRID! GET YOUR SENSES BACK! NOW, YOU WILL DROP THAT DAMN PENCIL

AND YOU WILL COME HOME WITH ME, THEN YOU WILL TAKE A FEW DAYS OFF.

YOU HAVE A TEAM OF ENGINEERS TO HELP YOU: LET THEM WORK ON THE

LAST DETAILS OF YOUR PROJECTS.’

Taken aback by Katharine furious outburst, Ingrid didn’t reply at first, allowing the ex-actress to continue, but in a more measured tone of voice.

‘’Look, Ingrid, you immersed yourself so much in that work that you haven’t flown a single hour in a plane for two months now. You never did that before. You also have stopped training physically and have been eating mostly junk food on the go.

ENOUGH!’

Stunned by that remonstrance, Ingrid sat down on the high chair of her drafting station, her tired mind trying to find a proper reply to Katharine, who spoke more words.

‘’You are now so tired that you could well have made a major mistake in the last few days and weeks, a mistake that could doom a pilot later on. Is that really what you want?’’

That last argument from Katharine then hit home and Ingrid lowered her head in response.

‘’You are right, Katharine. I have become too obsessed with those two projects.’

‘’Then, come with me: we’re going home. Tomorrow, we will go together to Santa Monica Beach, so that you could get some Sun and fresh air and start rebuilding your physical fitness level. After that, you will take at least one week of vacation from work. Monday will be the inaugural commercial transatlantic flight of our new New York

– Paris route with our jet-powered Verti-Wing 200 airliner. You should go to Paris for your vacation, away from work: it will do you a lot of good.’’

Ingrid thought about that for a moment, then nodded her head once.

‘’I might just do that. I could also fly to London, so that I could go pay my respects to Nancy and to my old Luftwaffe comrades interred in London.’

‘’A good idea, Ingrid.’’ approved Katharine. ‘’Alright, let’s go: my car is parked in front of the hangar.’

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18:32 (Paris Time)

Monday, May 30, 1949 ‘C’