Lindbergh had then rubbed salt in the wound by involving himself deeply in the America First movement, throwing his enormous prestige behind the notion that America should stay out of Europe’s wars. Immediately after Pearl Harbor, Lindbergh, who was a colonel in the Air Corps Reserve, had volunteered for active duty. Roosevelt, predictably, had had no intention of letting that happen. Franklin Roosevelt would allow Lindbergh to serve in uniform over his dead body. Donovan and Lindbergh, however, were friends. And Lindbergh had proved eager to help when Donovan asked for flight-planning advice. When Donovan had told Roosevelt that Canidy was getting a lot of help from Pan American, he meant help from Charles A. Lindbergh personally. “Because Pan American knows more about this sort of thing than the Air Corps,” Donovan said.
Roosevelt grunted, but accepted that. If he had asked if Lindbergh were involved, Donovan would not have lied to him. But he hadn’t asked, which was just as well as far as Donovan was concerned. “And you think it can be done?” Roosevelt asked. “Canidy tells me it can,” Donovan said. “You seem to place a good deal of trust in him, Bill,” the President said.
“He seems possessed of a number of interesting secrets.”
“There are two schools of thought about multiple secrets, Mr. President,” Donovan said.
“If people are limited to one secret at a time, you wind up with a lot of people who have to be watched. On the other hand, if one man has a number of secrets, we only have to worry about security for him. And, right now at least, I don’t intend to send Canidy himself to the Congo.
He’s just setting the operation up. In the end, I think it will turn out that we’ll use an Air Corps crew.” Roosevelt thought that over a moment.
“They would like that, I think,” he said, grinning.
“They have the responsibility, you know, of dealing with airplanes.”
“Yes, I know,” Donovan said, just as sarcastically, ‘and as I understand things, I’m supposed to be dealing with intelligence. You win doubtless be surprised to learn that sometimes, despite our best efforts, that puts me and the Air Corps in conflict.”
“Is that just a general philosophical observation, Bill? Or do you have something specific in mind?”
“German fighter aircraft propelled by jet engines,” Donovan said after a pause. The President smiled very broadly, his cigarette holder cocked high between his teeth. He was enjoying the exchange. “You will doubtless be surprised, Bill,” he said, “when I tell you that when I mentioned those aircraft to George Marshall, he told me that the Air Corps was not very concerned about them. In fact, they had-with great tact, of course-asked if such aircraft weren’t really a tactical conern of theirs, rather than a strategic concern of yours.” c “Then they’re wrong about that, too, Franklin,” Donovan said flatly. “Are they indeed?”
“Will you listen to me?”
“Of course,” Roosevelt said.
“How can I refuse?”
“As it has been explained to me, the Air Corps tactic for Europe is massive bombing from high altitude of German military targets by heavy bombers, B-17s and B-24s. The Air Corps believes that the massed heavy armament of a large flight of carefully arranged bombers can throw up a r ativeyimpenetrablewahoffireagainstgermanfighters.”
“And you don’t think they can?”
“Not against German fighters, armed with cannon, that are flying three times as fast as the bombers,” Donovan said. “The Air Corps disagrees with that, of course,” Roosevelt said.
“And they also believe that the Germans are a long way from having fighters Powered with jet engines off their drawing boards.”
“The first flight of a jet-powered German aircraft took place on August 27, 1939,” Donovan said, “at an airfield near Berlin. Roosevelt looked at him sharply. “The Luftwaffe will flight-test within a month or so one of the twelve Messerschmitt ME-262 fighter planes currently being built in underground, bombproof facilities in Augsburg. The ME-262 is powered by a centrifugal Junkers 004 engine, designed by a man named von Oh ain, which is supposed to be a great improvement over the radial jet engine they’ve used up to now.” It was a moment before Roosevelt spoke. “I was about to insult you, Bill, by asking if you were sure of your information,” he said.