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

Hedy Lamarr

06:36 (Alaska Time)

Thursday, March 09, 1950 ‘C’

Main tarmac, Elmendorf Air Force Base

Near the city of Anchorage, Alaska

There were quite a few people at hand to wish good luck to the crew of the XB-12 heavy supersonic bomber for their extremely hazardous incoming mission, including Katharine Hepburn, General Hoyt Vandenberg and Lieutenant General Curtis LeMay.

Katharine was nearly in tears as she hugged and kissed both Ingrid Dows and Hedy Lamarr, both of whom wore USAF flight suits, as they were going to fly this mission as reactivated reserve USAF officers, with the respective ranks of major general and of major. One person who was notably absent was little Hien, as Ingrid had hidden to her the fact that she was going on a dangerous combat mission, in order not to scare her. In the best of case, she would be back home, intact, with Hien not having to suffer anxiety or fear about her.

‘’Please come back, you two. I love you both too much to lose you today.’

‘’Don’t worry about us, Kate: I wil pul yet another rabbit out of my hat.’ replied Ingrid, equal y moved but keeping a brave face. ‘’But, if we don’t come back, don’t spend all your inheritance from us on men.’

‘’Yeah! Keep some of them for me when I return, Kate.’ added Hedy, who was going to act as the electronic warfare officer of the XB-12 for this flight. General Vandenberg and Lieutenant General Curtiss LeMay shook hands with Major Charles Yeager, the copilot for this flight, and Major Glen Edwards, the designated navigator cum weapons officer for the mission, before also shaking hands with Ingrid and Hedy.

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Vandenberg’s expression was sober as he faced Ingrid, realizing too well how both crucial and risky her mission would be.

‘’You have proved to be vital to this nation’s military fortune during the past eight years, General Dows, and today is no exception. I wish you the best of luck on this mission. Give them Hell!’

‘’I always do, General. Wel , I believe that it is now time to fly out: we wouldn’t want to make Stalin wait.’

‘’Indeed! Again, good luck and good flying.’

‘’Thank you, General.’ replied Ingrid before looking at her three crewmembers.

‘’Time to mount up, people! Let’s get this show on the road.’

As Ingrid and her crew climbed aboard their bomber via its belly access ladder, Katharine Hepburn, Hoyt Vandenberg and Curtiss LeMay stepped away towards the hangar which had sheltered the bomber during the night and watched as the four powerful turbofan engines started up one by one. After another two minutes, the big aircraft, loaded to the gills with ninety tons of fuel and fifteen tons of bombs, started rolling towards one extremity of the base’s main runway, using a taxiway connecting it with the tarmac. Katharine felt her heart hang out of her chest when Ingrid applied maximum power and started her bomber’s takeoff run. The XB-12 took nearly all of the runway’s length to take off, so heavily loaded it was. Katharine swallowed hard while watching its navigation lights disappear into the low clouds.

‘’Please come back, girls.’

12:18 (Alaska Time) / 04:18, Friday, March 10 (Moscow Time) XB-12, flying over the Kara Sea and approaching the Soviet Arctic coast

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‘’We are now flying through the Karskiye Vorota Strait. Novaya Zemlia is on our starboard side on our navigation radar and the delta of the Petchora River is straight ahead, 115 nautical miles away.’’ announced Glen Edwards from his navigator cum weapons officer station, situated behind the copilot’s seat occupied by Charles Yeager.

Ingrid nodded her head at that, then spoke to Hedy Lamarr via her intercom.

‘’How is it looking in terms of Soviet radar activity, Hedy?’’

‘’I have three weak radar signals, one from Vorkouta, one from Arkhangelsk and the other from Murmansk. However, all of them are well under detection strength level, due to the distance. We are actually going through one of the holes in the Soviet radar coverage of their Arctic coast which our electronic intelligence has mapped. However, things will get dicey soon, once we will be approaching the region of Kotlas, to the Northeast of Moscow.’

‘’Then, I believe that it is time for us to go down on the deck. Let’s not make life easy for those Soviet radar operators. We will also switch our navigation radar to low power, to avoid passive electronic detection.’’

‘’Right!’

Pushing on her controls, Ingrid put her heavy bomber into a steep descent, levelling off only once at an altitude of some 200 meters above the sea. Then, while keeping an approximate heading towards Moscow, she kept away from any light on the ground that would indicate either a Soviet military installation or a village, where inhabitants could possibly signal by telephone the passage of her bomber. Surprise was going to be by far the main factor in making this mission successful, that and a bit of luck.

Due to the season and the latitude, Ingrid knew that she still could benefit from nearly three more hours of darkness, something she was resolved to use to maximum benefit to evade Soviet air defenses. Even if some Soviet radar eventually detected her bomber, the Soviets stil didn’t have an effective night fighter in service. However, scaring away her prey would mean that her mission would be a failure, so she was going to do everything to avoid detection until the last possible moment. Using her radar altimeter and frequently consulting her high-definition mapping radar, she concentrated solely on pure flying, leaving her three crewmembers to take care of other tasks, like navigation, aircraft systems monitoring and passive electronic warfare. She drew an admiring look from Glen Edwards after more than two hours of steady, very low-level flying passed.

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‘’God, you must be the most skil ed pilot I ever saw, Ingrid. This kind of low-level flying takes an expert to sustain for this long.’’

‘’You ain’t seen nothing yet, Glen.’ replied Ingrid while keeping her attention on the terrain ahead. ‘’How are we doing radar detection-wise, Hedy?’’

‘’I can now detect radar emissions from Kostroma and vologda, ahead of us. The signals are still too weak for detection but that will change quite soon. Should I start jamming those radars?’’

‘’No! We wil stay electronically silent as long as possible. In fact, we wil shut down our mapping and navigation radars as soon as the Sun will rise, at which time I will fly in strictly visual mode. I will also slow down a bit and get lower in about fifteen minutes.’

‘’Christ!’ said Yeager. ‘’And I thought that we were already low.’

‘’Naah! I wil be considering us to be low once we start collecting tree branches.’

joked Ingrid, making her companions exchange funny looks. Hedy then tried some humor of her own.

‘’Don’t worry, guys: we stil have a terrain-following radar.’

‘’We do?’’ asked Glen Edwards, confused.

‘’Yes! It’s called the ‘Ingrid Mark One’.’

08:19 (Moscow Time)

Official government limousine approaching the Kremlin, Moscow Nikita Khrushchev was in a sour mood as his chauffeured car was now in sight of the walls of the Kremlin, where he had been due to participate in an important meeting of the Praesidium called by Joseph Stalin. Due to no fault of his driver, a man he considered competent, he was now over a half-hour late by his desired schedule, thanks to a flat tire caused by a broken vodka bottle left on the road. That Praesidium meeting was due to vote on a plan to invade Western Europe, a plan pushed by Stalin. Of course, that plan would go ahead whether the members of the Praesidium agreed with it or not: the main goal of the vote was for Stalin to see who supported him and who didn’t. Khrushchev, the Communist Party boss for the Moscow region, knew too well what happened to the ones who didn’t agree with Stalin and he was not stupid to the point of openly opposing the

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dictator. However, arriving late at that meeting was not going to look well for him, whatever excuses he tried to give to Stalin.

‘’Can’t you go faster, Yuri?’’

‘’I am sorry, Comrade Khrushchev, but if I go faster our punctured tire will most likely fly off its rim and we will then be even more late.’

Understanding that his driver was right, Khrushchev sat back in his rear bench seat and thought about the plan he was supposed to vote for. At age 55, Nikita had already fully experienced war from close up, having served as a senior political commissar attached to the Red Army units defending Stalingrad against the Germans during the Great Patriotic War. He knew that there was no such thing as real glory in war, just death, suffering and destruction. In contrast, Joseph Stalin had never gone near the frontlines during that brutal, desperate war, while Khrushchev knew very well that Stalin didn’t give a damn about the lives of his soldiers or of his citizens. Only power interested him.

Unfortunately, by controlling the MGB, the state secret police, Stalin could cower into submission about anyone in the Soviet Union. So, whether he liked it or not, Khrushchev was going to vote in favor of that invasion plan.

His limousine was rolling past the northern wall of the Kremlin’s compound when violent and deafening explosions made Khrushchev jump in his seat. Snapping his head towards the Kremlin, Nikita’s eyes bulged at the dozen or so huge explosions which had just hit the Kremlin. A fraction of a second later, powerful blast waves hit his car, nearly making it veer off the avenue it was following. Then, seconds later, a rain of debris started falling down all around the limousine, with a number of pieces of bricks hitting it and damaging its body. Despite being understandably near panic, the driver reacted in the best way possible: he immediately veered left on a side street leading away from the Kremlin, in order to get out of the rain of debris. Still, by the time he slowed down and stopped after doing a second turn on a street parallel to the avenue they had been on, the front windshield was cracked, while there were a number of deep dents in the steel body of the limousine.

‘’CHYORT! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?’’ shouted the driver, who was hyperventilating. Khrushchev, himself badly shaken, was able to answer him thanks to his war experience.

‘’Aircraft bombardment! Only aircraft bombs can be this powerful.’

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‘’But,’ objected Nikita’s personal bodyguard, a Red Army major, ‘’how come we are not hearing any of our anti-aircraft guns firing? Any bomber attacking Moscow should attract the fire from at least a few dozen guns.’’

Listening for a few seconds, Nikita swore loudly when he saw that his bodyguard was right: not a single gun had opened fire yet. Looking back towards the Kremlin, he saw that there were no more explosions, while the rain of debris had mostly stopped. He was about to tell his driver to drive towards the Kremlin when a new series of explosions was heard from the distance, inside Moscow.

‘’Fuck! What now?’’

Maybe a second later, his bodyguard shouted out while pointing at something through his open window.

‘’THERE, A PLANE!’

Quickly looking in that direction, Nikita was able to get a glimpse of a fantastic-looking plane before it fell back to very low altitude after completing a turn towards the Southwest. That was when the first anti-aircraft guns belatedly opened fire, without apparent results. Nikita’s mind then came back to the Kremlin and his scheduled Praesidium meeting.

‘’Yuri, get us inside the Kremlin: I must go check on how bad things are there.’’

‘’Uh, yes, Comrade Khrushchev.’

Once they entered the Kremlin through its Spasskaya Gate, their limousine nearly immediately had to come to a stop: the road was blocked by an impressive pile of fuming debris. As for the origins of those debris, Nikita saw at once where they came from: the nearby Senate Building had been completely destroyed, razed nearly to the ground. The Praesidium building, where Nikita was supposed to attend a meeting, was also one pile of burning ruble. Nikita couldn’t help shake as he imagined what would have happened to him if he had been on time for that meeting.

‘’Yuri, stay here with the car. Major Samsonov, let’s step out and see if we can find survivors in the ruins of the Praesidium Building.’

Stepping out of the car, Nikita had to be very careful not to trip or sprain an ankle on the pieces of brick littering the road as he walked with his bodyguard towards the little that was left of the Praesidium Building.

After over two fruitless hours of searching, and with hundreds of soldiers and firemen assisting them, Nikita had to accept that all the occupants of the two destroyed

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buildings had to be considered dead. That probably meant in turn that he was now the sole surviving member of the Praesidium and that the central organization of the Party had been decapitated. Then, a senior Kremlin guards’ officer approached him, stopping at attention in front of him and saluting him.

‘’Comrade Khrushchev, we just got the news that the Lubyanka MGB25

headquarters building was also destroyed by the bombs from that bomber. The whole senior staff of the MGB is said to be dead, while their central archives have burned down.’’

His face hardening, Nikita then started to understand what was happening.

‘’Chyort! A decapitation strike! The Americans have targeted our top political leadership and our secret police. Do you know if the Red Army leaders at the Arsenal are stil alive, Major?’’

‘’They are, Comrade Khrushchev. The Arsenal Building is also intact. I saw Marshal Sokolovsky only minutes ago, directing rescue crews near the Arsenal.’

‘’Then, lead me to him, Major.’

‘’Yes, Comrade Khrushchev!’

The two men actually found Marshal Sokolovsky near the ruins of the Senate Building, directing the rescue efforts there. Sokolovsky immediately ran to Khrushchev on seeing him.

‘’By the Virgin Mother Mary, you are safe, Comrade Khrushchev! You are the first member of the Praesidium to turn out alive to date. How did you manage to survive that bombardment?’’

‘’Easy: I was late.’ replied Nikita in a cynical tone, who then told the marshal what had happened to him, making Sokolovsky nod slowly his head.

‘’Decidedly, luck was with you this morning, Comrade Khrushchev.’

‘’Yeah! Don’t you think that this looks a lot like the strike the Americans did on Berlin in 1944, when they killed Hitler and his Nazi clique, or like the strike on Tokyo that eliminated the leadership of the Japanese Army and Navy, Comrade Marshal?’’

‘’It does indeed, Comrade Khrushchev. If I remember well, those strikes were planned and executed by that famous American female general and ace pilot.’

25 MGB: Ministry for State Security. The Soviet secret police, renamed as MGB in 1946. It will again change names a number of times, as MVD in 1953 and as KGB in 1954.

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‘’And a single American bomber just played the same dirty trick on us. That can’t be only a coincidence. Did you hear about the destruction of the MGB Lubyanka headquarters?’’

‘’I have, Comrade Khrushchev. What do we do now? Our citizens are liable to panic after such a terrible strike on the Kremlin. Some elements may even try to take advantage of this to seize power.’

Nikita stayed silent for a moment, looking at the ruins and watching as the rescue workers took out of the burning debris the dislocated body of a woman, probably one of the secretaries assigned to the Senate.

‘’You are right and we certainly can’t let that happen. I am thus declaring martial law in Moscow. Have your troops take firm control of the city and its surrounding area and stop any group that would try to profit from this calamity.’’

‘’It wil be done, Comrade Khrushchev.’ replied Sokolovsky before he ran away towards his command post in the Arsenal Building. As Sokolovsky went away, a fireman suddenly shouted that he had found a body, attracting more rescuers. Curious, Nikita also approached and looked with a stony expression as the body of Georgy Malenkov, his main rival for power in the Praesidium, was pulled out, soon followed by that of Semyon Ignatiev, the head of the secret police. The dislocated and burned bodies of the other members of the Praesidium were all found in the following hours, including that of Joseph Stalin. Nikita had to hide the growing feeling of triumph which filled him progressively then: his hands were now free to take power over the Kremlin and to reestablish at least a semblance of common sense in the direction of the state and of the Party. Mostly, he would not have to worry again about being purged and ending up in jail or being executed. His wife Nina was going to be able to sleep quietly tonight.

09:42 (Warsaw Time) /10:42 (Moscow Time)

Combined Polish/American airbase of Gdynia, on the Baltic Coast Poland

Ingrid waited until she had stopped her bomber and shut her engines in front of a hangar of the airbase of Gdynia, where she had just landed at the end of her long mission, before exchanging happy hugs and kisses with her three crewmembers.

‘’We did it, guys! With any luck, that Stalin monster and most of his stooges are now dead. The World is now a much safer place for the United States and Europe.’

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‘’All thanks to you, General.’ said Glen Edwards while firmly shaking her hand.

‘’I have never seen such skil ful low-level flying and precision bombing as yours.’

‘’Many have said that I was born to fly. Maybe they were right. Well, let’s get down on the tarmac, so that we could then call Washington to pass the good news. We will also get the films from our bomb damage assessment cameras developed. This was truly a great day.’

13:06 (Washington Time)

Tuesday, March 14, 1950 ‘C’

Office of the Secretary of the Air Force

The Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia, U.S.A.

George Kenney and General Vandenberg, both harboring wide smiles, went at once to Ingrid to shake her hand when she was introduced into the office of the Secretary of the Air Force.

‘’Ingrid, you again did a fantastic job, you and your crew. While Moscow refuses to confirm it, we now know for certain that Stalin is dead, along with nearly the entirety of his cabinet and of the Praesidium. The only known survivor of the Praesidium was the Moscow Party boss, who had a flat tire and arrived late for the scheduled meeting called by Stalin.’’

‘’Well, that man certainly can thank his luck for that, George. What about the Soviet divisions massed along the borders of Eastern Europe?’’

‘’They haven’t moved at all. Marshal Zhukov, who took command of the Soviet Army, ordered a general stand-down yesterday. By the way, there are also strong indications that the Red Army, following orders from Zhukov, is in the process of conducting a deep and wide purge of the MGB secret police, supported in this by Nikita Khrushchev, the sole surviving Praesidium member, who used the aftermath of your bombing mission to seize power. Indications are that the Red Army move to defang the MGB is proving very popular with common Soviet citizens.’

‘’Hmm, I wonder why? This is one rare case where I wil approve of a military coup. Maybe we should change an old historical quote to ‘My kingdom for a flat tire!’?’’

All three laughed at that joke before Kenney invited Ingrid to go sit with him and Vandenberg around the low coffee table set in a corner of the office. Once sitting, Kenney became serious and looked thoughtfully at Ingrid.

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‘’Ingrid, if you knew how much I am tempted to try to get you to stay on active duty from now on. However, I know how much your work at Hughes Aircraft is important for you and also realize how much good you effectively can do there for us all. So, if you still decide to return to Hughes Aircraft after your mission over Moscow, I will swallow my pride and accept your decision.’

‘’George, you know how proud I am of serving the United States but I truly believe that my work at Hughes will benefit our country a lot more than if I kept on this uniform and ended up as one general among hundreds of other generals. For one thing, I hate decisions by committee and I work best when left alone to come up with new ideas and concepts. On the other hand, I realize that Hughes Aircraft will never have the industrial capacity to produce in a large scale all the projects I still have in my head. I also realize that my success with my projects to date have indirectly hurt our other big aircraft manufacturers and discouraged their design teams from investing in new designs. I am thus going to propose a halfway solution to you: I keep my reserve officer status while working at Hughes Aircraft and, in turn, will request a heavy voice when the Air Force staff will want to ask designers to work on a new aircraft program. By heavy voice, I mean a veto power to nix any new military aircraft or air-launched weapon proposal that would be in my mind a nonsense or would be too conservative and unimaginative. We wasted too much time and money on past programs which should never have been started in the first place. The Convair B-36 was a prime example of such a program that was both bloated and already obsolescent before it could even fly.

The XF-76 FISHER of Early World War 2 was another glaring example of procurement mismanagement, while the Navy had and stil has its share of bad decisions.’

Kenney exchanged a look with Vandenberg, who nodded his head then.

‘’I could live with you having the final word on proposed new aircraft and weapons projects, Ingrid. However, your present rank of major general is a bit light when we talk about discussions with four-star generals.’

‘’I could always throw my two Medals of Honor in the balance in order to convince them to listen to my advice.’’

That earned her a sober look from Kenney.

‘’Hoyt is right about your rank being on the ‘light’ side, Ingrid. Fol owing the success of your mission over Moscow, I already decided to upgrade your rank to that of lieutenant general, even though you will keep your reservist status. As for chucking your two Medals of Honor in the balance, you will be able to soon make that three Medals of

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Honor. I approved a request by Hoyt to award to you and the three members of your crew who flew over Moscow the Medal of Honor, for quote ‘insane bravery during a near-suicidal mission of vital importance for the national security’, unquote. That request is now on the President’s desk and I expect him to sign it in the days to come.’’

That left Ingrid speechless for a few seconds before she could reply to Kenney.

‘’A third Medal of Honor?! Has anyone ever earned three of them before?’

‘’Nope! You wil be the first, the same way Nancy Laplante was the first to earn three Victoria Cross medals. Not a bad score for feminists around the World. Now, about your mission over Moscow, are there tactical, operational or strategic points worthy of incorporating into our air doctrine, in your opinion?’’

‘’Definitely, George! The main one concerns our doctrine about strategic bombing: we need to trash our present emphasis on high-altitude, high-speed mission profile and switch to very-low altitude, high-subsonic or transonic airspace penetration.

While the Soviets can’t presently intercept our XB-12, they eventually will put into service ground-to-air missiles and long-range air-to-air missiles able to shoot it down. Our present B-45 and B-47 jet bombers are already vulnerable to the Mig-15 fighter and shouldn’t be used for nuclear strikes or for conventional strikes against an adversary equipped with jet fighters. In turn, that means that the training of our bomber crews will need to be drastically changed, with a lot more flying at very low altitude. Our fighter pilots will also have to train more on low-level interceptions. Lastly, we seriously need to think about establishing a comprehensive detection, alert and defense network around the Continental United States and Hawaii, a network which could stop any attempt at airspace penetration by an enemy. Right now, our aerial borders, like those of the Soviet Union, are full of holes. Ideally, that air defense network should include batteries of high-performances surface-to-air missiles, to supplement our fighter squadrons.’’

Hoyt Vandenberg, who was frantically scribbling down notes, made a grimace.

‘’Hell! While I agree with you on those points, Ingrid, this will represent major changes to both our bombing doctrine and to our aircrew training and will also cost a fortune.’

‘’Better that than having to schedule for a lot more funerals in times of war, General.’ replied Ingrid, dead serious. ‘’Remember the old saying that ‘a pint of sweat during training will save a gallon of blood in combat’.’’

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15:25 (Washington Time)

Friday, March 26, 1950 ‘C’

East Room, ground floor of the White House

Washington, D.C.

‘’A toast for your Medals of Honor, guys!’

The proposal by Katharine Hepburn was enthusiastically accepted by Ingrid, Hedy, Glen Edwards Charles Yeager and his wife Glennis, who gently knocked their Champagne flutes together before taking a sip of their bubbly wine. As for little Hien, she had to make do with a glass of Coca-Cola. Glennis Yeager then looked with admiration at Ingrid, Hedy and Katharine, who all sported a Medal of Honor ribbon around their necks, with Ingrid’s medal also wearing two clusters signifying that she had earned it three times.

‘’Damn! Three women, all billionaires and all wearing a Medal of Honor. A feminist couldn’t ask for more than that. I’m jealous!’’

‘’Don’t be, Glennis: you have a big consolation prize standing by your side.’

replied Ingrid. ‘’Besides, being a billionaire is not what it is made to be about.

Personally, I haven’t change any of my habits, except for lighting up my candles with a ten-dol ar bil .’

They all laughed at that before Glennis insisted.

‘’Then, what do you spend your money on, Ingrid, or you, Hedy and Katharine?’’

‘’Me, I spend my money on men.’ joked Hedy Lamarr, getting amused looks from the others before becoming serious. ‘’Actual y, I have used our Hughes Enterprises Chief Executive Officer, Noah Dietrich, to tighten the screws on all those misogynistic film producers at RKO who abused me and other female actresses in the past. Now, those old farts are forced to give more substantial, less bird-brain roles to our young actresses. I also contribute with my money to the expansion of the production facilities at Hughes Aircraft, which is very successful, and to the improvements in both pay and work conditions for our employees, including by providing workspace daycare services for our female employees.’

Glennis’ eyes and mouth opened wide on hearing that last sentence.

‘’Workspace daycare services? But that’s a great idea! It should make life a lot easier and cheaper for working women.’’

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‘’And I have plans to build large playgrounds and small kindergarten schools attached to our daycare centers, so that single mothers can work without worrying about their young kids.’’

‘’Hedy, you are a saint!’ said a smiling Charles Yeager, attracting a reply from Katharine Hepburn.

‘’Her? A saint? She is a sinner, like me and Ingrid.’

‘’And you, Ingrid?’ asked Glennis.

‘’Like Hedy, I spend much of my money on improving the facilities and pay at Hughes Aircraft, which in turn attracts top talents to us. I also have now a little angel I am most happy to care for.’

As she said that, Ingrid bent over and kissed Hien on her forehead, then spoke further.

‘’Finally, I intend to soon form what I would call a high-technology think-tank at our Glendale facility, which will work on pushing highly advanced concepts and projects concerning aerospace, missile guidance and computers. While it will be geared to research work, what it will develop will then be able to advance greatly what Hughes Aircraft and Hughes Missiles wil produce.’

‘’Aerospace?’’ said Glen Edwards, a bit confused.

‘’Yes, aerospace! Eventual y, the United States wil want to go into Space.

When that happens, I intend to be in the front rows of that new adventure.’’

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ANNEX ‘A’ – HUGHES A-11

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ANNEX ‘B’ – HUGHES CH-4 ‘VOYAGER’

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ANNEX ‘C’ – HUGHES ‘AIRBUS’ AND ‘AIRBUS 2’

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ANNEX ‘D’ – HUGHES F-9 ‘ARROW’

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ANNEX ‘E’ – HUGHES B-12 ‘SKYBOLT’

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