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“‘Gut reaction’?” Canidy parroted. “Okay. When Fulmar jumped out of the B-25, I felt a little sick to my stomach.”
“Fear or outrage?” Donovan asked conversationally.
“A little of both,” Canidy said. “Was making him the bait really necessary? ”
“Yes,” Donovan said simply. “And it paid off. We are now reasonably sure von Heurten-Mitnitz is everything he claims to be.”
“Well,” Canidy said,“I suppose that’s important.”
“It’s most important,” Donovan said. And then when Canidy didn’t reply, “You’re not going to ask me why?”
“I think if you want to tell me, you will,” Canidy said, smiling. “Otherwise…”
“You’re learning, Dick,” Donovan said, smiling back at him.
“Are you going to tell me?” Canidy asked.
“How much of a briefing about German jet aircraft did you and Ed Stevens get from the Air Corps? And how much specifically did they tell you about jet aircraft engines?”
“Not much,” Canidy said. “Just that the Germans have, in the flight-test stage, aircraft powered by jet engines. The Air Corps feels that it’s very unlikely that these will ever become operational.”
“And what do you think?”
“I’m a fighter pilot,” Canidy said. Then he paused. “An ex-fighter pilot? Anyway, from that position of ignorance, it seems to me that a fighter which can make five hundred knots and fire twenty-mm cannon well out of range of a B-17’s or a B-24’s .50-calibers is going to shoot down a lot of bombers.”
“To the point,” Donovan said, very seriously,“where the entire Air Corps strategy of bombardment of German industry may well have to be scrapped.”
“The Air Corps brass didn’t seem to be all that worried,” Canidy said.
“If the Luftwaffe can come up with half a dozen squadrons of jet fighters, ” Donovan said, “our losses would be unacceptable. And it would be as much a public relations as a logistical disaster. In other words, if the Germans get those aircraft into production, the course of the war in Europe will be drastically changed. It may not mean we would lose the war, but it could bring on an unsatisfactory armistice.”
“Jesus!” Canidy said.
“And there’s something you haven’t been told, Dick, because it’s brand-new information. The Germans have begun testing—we still don’t know where—at least one jet-propelled flying bomb. Or pilotless aircraft. You’re an aeronautical engineer, think about that: Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pilotless aircraft, faster than any fighter we have, each carr
ying five hundred pounds of high explosive, aimed at London or Manchester. Or, for that matter, launched from submarines and aimed at New York City.”
Canidy thought aloud,“How would they be controlled?”
“I’m not an aeronautical engineer,” Donovan said. “I thought maybe you could tell me.”
“I have a degree as an AE,” Canidy said. “That’s all.”
“Modesty becomes you, Richard,” Donovan said, teasing him. “But I’ve heard you’re pretty good. You really have no idea how they could be controlled? ”
“Navigation wouldn’t have to be that precise,” Canidy said. “All you’d have to do would be to maintain a known heading. Over five hundred miles, you could put something like that within, say, ten miles of where you wanted it. London is a lot wider than ten miles. And if you knew the cruising speed, a simple timer could shut off the fuel when it was over the target. ”
He looked at Donovan, who nodded.
“That’s just about the same answer I got from Professor Pritchard,” Donovan said,“who sends his regards.”
Matthew Pritchard had been one of Canidy’s teachers at MIT. More than a teacher, almost a collaborator in Canidy’s thesis.
“It’s frightening,” Canidy said. “The more you think about it, the more frightening it gets. And without having to worry about pilot safety, they could stamp them out like cookies. No landing gear, no communications equipment, a rudimentary stabilization system… Just an engine and a load of explosive.”
“Matt Pritchard told me that the engine is the only weak point he could think of,” Donovan said. “As it is with the jet-powered fighters.”
“I don’t understand,” Canidy said. “I agree, of course, that the engine is the most important component, but I don’t see how that helps us.”
