INGRID DOWS - AN ALTERNATE STORY PART 3 - THE SPACE AGE by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

CHAPTER 19 – AN INVITATION AND A TRAGEDY

14:35 (Washington Time)

Wednesday, October 22, 1952 ‘C’

Covered Drydock Number 12, Newport News Shipyard

State of Virginia, Atlantic coast of the United States

Ingrid and Hien, escorted by Rear Admiral Earle Mills through a guarded access, entered the huge covered shipbuilding drydock at the Newport News Shipyard and walked down a short hallway lined with doors before entering the drydock space proper. Even with her vast military experience, which included operating helicopters from aircraft carriers, Ingrid still froze in awe at the sight of the huge ship nearly filling the drydock basin. She knew that this drydock, specially built three years ago to house the U.S.S. UNITED STATES, was one of the three identical shipbuilding drydock which were now the largest in the World. Still, the metallic mass of the newest American aircraft carrier, designed and built mostly according to some key ideas from her, was a truly awesome sight. Ten-year-old Hien was also thunderstruck as she twisted her neck to look up the new ship from bow to stern.

‘’This can really float, Mommy? It must weigh tens of thousands of tons.’’

‘’The UNITED STATES actually weighs up to 94,000 tons at full load displacement, little girl.’’ said Rear Admiral Mills, who was in charge of the Navy’s Bureau of Ships, or BuShips in short, which was tasked with designing, building and refitting American warships. ‘’It is by a wide margin the biggest warship we ever built. Its double-hull catamaran design, suggested to us by your mother, makes it look even bigger. That catamaran design, along with other ideas from your mother, however gave our new aircraft carrier some capabilities we could only dream of before. Let’s enter the ship through that gangway to our left, so that you could visit it.’’

Hien was nearly jumping up and down with trepidation as she, Ingrid and Mills climbed the gangway on the left, or port, side of the ship, to then step into a cavernous space.

‘’We are now in the ship’s main aircraft hangar, which can be split in three sections by fire-proof sliding partitions. Its total length is 967 feet, its maximum width is 208 feet and its free height is 26 feet. It can accommodate comfortably up to fifty aircraft, or up to a hundred aircraft if you cram it when you would need to empty the flight deck of aircraft, like when you are navigating through a powerful storm. The ship’s aircraft can go up to the flight deck via four large aircraft elevators, plus one helicopter elevator, which goes from a dedicated helicopter hangar to a helicopter landing pad situated above the flight deck.’’

‘’If I understood well what you told me on the phone when you invited me to this launching ceremony, the ship is fully completed but still has to be provisioned and loaded with ammunition and fuel before it could leave this drydock, right?’’

‘’Correct, General Dows. Normally, we launch ships out of their building drydock while they still need some internal fittings but, in this case, we kept the UNITED STATES inside until ready to sail away, in order to preserve its secrets from preying eyes. For that same reason, it will depart Newport News at night, to then sail to its first assignment with our Pacific Fleet, in Hawaii. However, due to its sheer size, it will not use the Panama Canal and will instead sail down to and around the southern tip of the American continent, transiting the infamous Drake Passage21 during its trip. However, I am sure that our newest ship will be able to navigate through it without undue difficulties.’’

‘’Will it get its missile loads here or only once in Hawaii, Admiral?’’

‘’The UNITED STATES will leave Newport News only once it is fully armed and ready for combat, General. While it will be officially baptized today, it will not leave this covered drydock for another week, time to load up on ammunition, missiles and at least a few aircraft. Uh, talking of aircraft, know that Rear Admiral Pride, at BuAer, is about to announce a new acquisition program for a compact VTOL transport aircraft to be used on our carriers, cruisers and destroyers. We basically want to replace most of our shipborne support helicopters with faster aircraft with more range and lift capacity. However, that new aircraft type must fit in the same space as our medium to heavy helicopters and also needs to fit on our carriers’ aircraft elevators. Right now, no such VTOL aircraft exist, being too big and heavy. Rear Admiral Pride is due to announce the

21 Drake Passage: The body of water between the southern tip of South America and Antarctica. The Drake Passage has a fierce reputation as being the most dangerous maritime area in the World, due to its constant violent winds and storms, its extremely cold waters and the constant presence of icebergs and floating ice. competition for that new aircraft program next week and he intends to invite your company, plus Sikorsky, Bell, Grumman, McDonnell, Lockheed and Boeing. Maybe you will like to compete for that program, General?’’

‘’I would love to and would certainly have some ideas for such a design, but my problem right now is a shortage of building capacity. Even while employing up to three shifts at my various aircraft and missile plants, I am barely able to keep up with my customers’ demands. I would need to build a brand-new assembly line in order to produce a new type of aircraft. However, I could do the same as with the Air Force C-152 heavy transport program, for which I secretly teamed up with Fairchild and suggested a basic aircraft design for them to develop and build. Contrary to most of my competitors, who wish to keep all the benefits of a government order to themselves, my main goal is to advance American aeronautics and render air travel and transport as common, practical and safe as possible for the American public and armed services. I was already thinking about designing a light VTOL transport aircraft designed for isolated, rough regions, and have started talks for a collaborative project with the Hiller Aircraft Company. Hiller is quite small as an aircraft manufacturer and specializes mostly in light helicopters but it has demonstrated in the past commendable imagination and original thinking in its designs. When Admiral Pride will invite me for his new program’s competition, I will team up with Hiller for that proposal.’’

‘’Hum, Hiller did produce some good, useful helicopters in the past. A Hiller-Hughes ticket should scare the other competitors shitless.’’ Ingrid smiled at that last sentence.

‘’Yeah! Those same competitors trying to win the C-152 contract are about to shit bricks there as well: the first fly-off competition for the XC-152 is due in about a year and I am pretty sure that Fairchild will win it hands down.’’

‘’Damn, you are truly revolutionizing aviation with all your fantastic aircraft, missiles and electronic systems. What’s next for you, if I may ask?’’

‘’Space!’’ answered Ingrid in a firm tone, stunning Mills.

‘’Space? Hell, what do you have in mind about Space?’’

‘’A hypersonic spaceplane geared towards strategic reconnaissance and the placing into Earth orbit of satellites designed for a variety of roles which could benefit all American citizens, like global communications networks, weather warning systems and detailed Earth mapping.’’

Mills was left speechless for a moment before he could comment on that.

‘’General, you are truly an incredible wizard when it comes to anything that flies.’’

‘’Thank you for the compliment, Admiral. Well, should we continue this tour before my sweet Hien becomes bored of watching us talk together?’’

‘’Uh, of course! Next, we will visit the engine rooms.’’

The trio was visiting the crew messing facilities when a junior officer ran to them some ninety minutes later, a catastrophed expression on his face. Seeing that expression, Mills stepped away from Ingrid in order to allow that officer to speak to him in a low voice.

‘’What is it, Lieutenant?’’

‘’The President: his helicopter crashed some fifteen minutes ago, after he left the White House to come here for the baptism of our new carrier. The first reports say that there were no survivors.’’

‘’WHAT?’’ shouted Mills, unable to contain his shock. ‘’Do we know what caused that crash?’’

‘’Witnesses to the crash reported that the President’s helicopter collided with a large flock of geese and then went down like a stone. The President was accompanied by his wife, by a White House public relations team and by a few Secret Service agents.’’

‘’My God! What about Vice-President Warren?’’

‘’I’m sorry, Sir, but I haven’t heard anything about him. I however doubt that he would have traveled in the same helicopter as President Dewey, due to presidential security protocols.’’

‘’Very well, Lieutenant. Thanks for informing me of this. Please come and tell me if you hear anything new about this.’’

‘’Will do, Sir!’’ replied the junior officer, who then saluted Mills before running away. Now in a near state of shock, Mills walked back to Ingrid, who waited for him to speak first.

‘’General, we just got an awful news: the presidential helicopter went down and crashed, possibly due to multiple bird strikes. It is said that there were no survivors.’’

‘’Oh my God! Then I better go to Langley, where my personal plane is parked, and fly to Washington. The White House may want me close at hand in order for me to help them deal with this catastrophe: I often advised the President concerning a number of things.’’

‘’I think that I will also return to Washington at best speed, General: this ship baptism ceremony will clearly have to be delayed. Let me guide you back to dockside.’’

17:47 (Washington Time)

Room at the Hay-Adams Hotel within view of the White House

Downtown Washington D.C.

Ingrid slowly shook her head in sadness as she watched the latest news on the television set of the room she had just rented at the Hay-Adams Hotel, which was within walking distance of the While House: cameras were now showing the smoking remains of President Dewey’s helicopter, which had crashed in a pasture next to a pond south of Washington. It was evident that nobody could have possibly walked away from that accident. While there were still many questions about this accident, the one thing that appeared to be agreed on right now was that no foul play was involved here. Still, the nation now had to deal with that tragic news. Hien, who was also watching the news, then looked up at Ingrid.

‘’What will happen now, Mommy?’’

‘’Vice-President Earl Warren was probably already sworn in to replace President Dewey on a temporary basis. Until next January, when the winner of the coming presidential elections will be sworn in, Earl Warren will govern as the President of the United States. The one question I have now is if Warren will decide to name an interim Vice-President.’’

‘’Will you be involved in that, Mommy?’’

‘’Me? No! I am presently apolitical and intend to stay so: as a reserve Air Force officer, my allegiance is to this country, not to one particular political party. However, I fully intend to continue to counsel the President and his cabinet to the best of my competences, while building the best aircraft in the World.’’

The next day, after returning to Los Angeles with Hien, Ingrid learned via the evening news that Earl Warren had effectively chosen an interim Vice-President, in the person of Dwight Eisenhower. She was discussing these news with Katharine and Hedy after having supper when the phone in the living room rang. Ingrid, who was nearest to the telephone, picked it up and answered.

‘’Ingrid Dows speaking.’’

‘’Ingrid, this is the President. Do you have a minute?’’

‘’Uh, of course, Mister President!’’ answered Ingrid while signaling to her two friends to switch off their television set. Her two friends and corporate partners did so quickly, then left the lounge in order to give her some privacy. Earl Warren then spoke more, his tone sober.

‘’Ingrid, I suppose that you heard through the news that I picked Ike as my interim Vice-President for the next three months.’’

‘’I have, Mister President.’’

‘’Good! Now, I was planning to name Chester Nimitz as my interim Secretary of Defense, to replace Ike in that position. However, Nimitz just turned that offer down, pleading that the Navy is in the middle of a critical period of reequipment and that his expertise there is strongly needed. I then debated who else I could nominate to take Ike’s place at the Pentagon but, while I have some names who could do the job fairly well, none of those men are what I would describe as fully understanding and supporting all of our military services while not favoring one service over another. Ike had been in that respect a notable exception, thanks to his experience as Allied Supreme Commander during World War 2. I know of only one other person with as much or even more understanding of combined military operations and strategy as Ike: you, Ingrid.’’ Completely taken off balance by that, Ingrid needed a couple of seconds before she could reply to Warren.

‘’Mister President, your offer is a truly flattering one, however I see a couple of problems with it. First and most important, my corporation, Hughes Aircraft, is presently a major Defense Department contractor with many current and very important defense contracts with the Pentagon. Me becoming the Secretary of Defense would most probably raise pertinent questions of possible conflict of interests when time would come to attribute defense contracts around the country. Second, I am actively involved as chief designer and CEO of Hughes Aircraft, roles in which I could say without bragging that I am irreplaceable. I could possibly serve in your cabinet during the next three months, until a new president is sworn in, but not for much longer, Mister President.’’ It was the turn of Warren to pause for a second before speaking again.

‘’I fully understand your objections, which are most valid, but I would need you just for that interim period until the end of January. After that, if I am still President, you will be free to either stay in or leave my cabinet and return to Hughes Aircraft. What do you say to that, Ingrid?’’

Ingrid again needed time to mentally debate Warren’s offer. On one hand, she truly lived to direct Hughes Aircraft and to design new aircraft. On the other hand, Warren was right in saying that no one else understood combined military operations and strategy as well as herself. He devotion to national duty then made her take a decision.

‘’Very well, Mister President: I accept to become your interim Secretary of Defense until the end of January. After that, I will reevaluate my decision.’’

‘’Thank you, Ingrid!’’ replied Warren, visibly happy. ‘’I am certain that you will do a bang-up job as Secretary of Defense during those three months. I would thus like you to move to Washington as quickly as your personal affairs would allow you: I know that you will want to have your young daughter near you during that period and that you will thus have to arrange for her continuing education. How much time would you need before coming to Washington?’’

‘’Could I ask you for the next four days, in order to arrange my affairs here in Los Angeles, Mister President? I would then arrive in Washington in time to take my post at the Pentagon next Monday morning, on the 27th of this month.’’

‘’That sounds most acceptable and reasonable for me, Ingrid. In turn, I will present you to my cabinet on Monday morning, near noon hour.’’

‘’I will be at the White House by eleven in the morning on Monday, Mister President.’’

‘’Excellent! Thank you again for accepting to serve in my cabinet, Ingrid. Have a good night, Ingrid.’’

‘’The same for you, Mister President.’’

As Ingrid put down her telephone receiver, her two friends, who had been waiting in the nearby kitchen, nearly ran back in the lounge.

‘’So, what did the President want to discuss with you, Ingrid?’’ eagerly asked Hedy.

‘’He wanted to offer me the post of Secretary of Defense on an interim basis, until the next President could be sworn in.’’

‘’And?’’ asked Katharine.

‘’And I accepted his offer. I will take my post at the Pentagon next Monday morning. God, I will be really busy for the next few days, making temporary arrangements concerning Hughes Aircraft and the education of Hien, who will go to Washington with me. Kate, I would need you to take charge of Hughes Aircraft during those three incoming months. My senior engineer, John Milton, will continue to supervise our ongoing aircraft and missile projects, so you will only have to concentrate on the daily operations of the company, which are closely connected anyway to the operations of your Air Fifinella. Hedy, I would like you and Noah Dietrich to supervise the financial and business side of Hughes Aircraft during my stay in Washington. Can I count on the two of you?’’

‘’Of course, Ingrid!’’ replied at once Katharine. ‘’Hell! You, a young woman, as the Secretary of Defense: the medias will go bonkers!’’

‘’And so will the Congress.’’ added Hedy, sounding most serious.