10th March 1943
Chapter 325
War or no war, for those living in London March 1943 was a good time. The weather was warming up again after the worst winter in living memory that at times had grounded Fighter Command and brought live on the island to a halt.
The war was going well too, in the Far East the Army was preparing to move into Siam and the fall of Vienna was still lingering in the papers even now. It was glaringly obvious that the big battle that would decide how the war went for the remainder of the year was at hand and every paper had it's own 'experts' that voiced their opinions.
On the wireless everyone was listening to E.R. Murrow's series as he toured the capitals of the Continent under Allied control and the children cheered on Captain Walker has he and the intrepid crew of their Flying Aircraft Carrier fought Nazis, Soviets and assorted bad guys.
The top-secret meeting taking place inside the deepest depths of the city in one of a number of Officers tuked away in side alleys, old tube stations and assorted buildings that were not officially owned by the Government or anyone directly connected to it had no mind for such things.
“Frankly Sir,” Admiral Tovey, First Sea Lord and one member of Winston's Talk Shop said, “Edgehill lacked any number of things to make her truly combat capable. For example her guns were too small, her machine guns to few and she lacked torpedo mounts. It pains me to say it, but the Germans were onto something with their commerce raiders before we sank them.”
“Probably true,” Churchill said, “but I gather that Captain Fleming was rather...open with his concerns about his mission?”
“He was, Sir.” Tovey scratched his chin while he tried how to formulate it without ruining the Captain's career.
“Mind you, I can't fault him for that,” he said after a while, “and no one can doubt the courage of a man and crew who go up against a Destroyer in a butchered tin can like they had. They are damn lucky they didn't loose the lot.”
Churchill nodded. He liked the two Officers in question, and for that matter so did the Regent and the Queen. While the prospective Elizabeth II didn't know the part they had played in the aftermath of her father's death she was aware of the role they had played after the death of her uncle in France before the war[1] and Churchill himself was also well aware of the role they had played in the war since.
There had been a time when Leiter had not been trusted by the establishment, fearing that the had been turned into a German spy[2]but it seemed that they were both on their way to earn a second bar to their DSO's if they lived long enough. Not for this mission but eventually fate would throw something their way.
“So I gather their open-ness will not have adverse effects on their careers?”
Tovey shook his head. “I doubt either of them would be happy with flag rank, and anyway they are far too valuable to waste in an Office at the Admiralty. I must say what they did in America was frankly...wrong to say the least. Not quite conduct unbecoming, not under the circumstances they operated under but thank god the Foreign Office isn't made up of men like them.”
Marshal of the Empire Dill spoke up for the first time in more than an hour and looked at Churchill.
“So what do you want done with them? They are due to arrive in two days.”
“Give them some leave. After that....”
Only nods were exchanged, and Churchill looked around at the faces around the table.
“Gentlemen, as usual with the next subject I am required to state to you that divulging any information on it would lead to the gravest consequences, no matter your position.”
“Well then, what is the status on Tube Alloys?”
Sir Hugh Dowding, Chief of the Air Staff and thus representative of the Royal Air Force on the Imperial General Staff rose. Any prospective weapon coming from Tube Alloys would by default fall under the responsibilities of the Air Force and so the RAF had taken over the military side of the project.
“Well, Professors Einstein and Bohr have sent us an estimate on how long it will take them to refine enough of the elements and I have to say it will take at the very least two years before they can begin assembly and that is even pre-supposing that nothing goes wrong and that they can overcome the scientific and engineering difficulties this project entails. I'm being told that they have the...reactor pile I believe they call it running and under control but the materials this process yields are so far in only very small amounts. They expect that they need somewhere between forty and sixty kilograms of that ore they use[3] and since it does not occur naturally, or if it does only in trace amounts, enriching the closest naturally occurring approximation has proven to be more difficult in both time and the technical effort needed than we expected.”
“What about the plant in Canada?”
“There production with the new process is expected to begin within two or three weeks, Sir. The main problem is to get the materials to our assembly site without loosing it to an enterprising U-Boat skipper and without the Americans getting wind of what we are doing. So far the plan is to wait until a suitable amount of material has been amassed to ship it in a specially converted and disguised freighter in the middle of the next available convoy from Canada to our stations east of Suez.”
“Disguised? What as?”
“Nothing fancy, Sir. But when someone searches the ship and sees her papers all he finds are crates labelled “Engine Parts, Merlin” with the crest of the RAF on it. Without actually opening one he has no way to see that they are led-lined and the crates in question are always hidden under crates containing actual engines. The ships are also equipped with scuttling charges and the officers on board are informed of what they are expected to do if boarded, but not of what they are actually transporting. However there is always one of my Officers who is in the know as it were, aboard to supervise.”
Chalk River National Nuclear Research Centre in 2001. It is here that the first Canadian Nuclear Weapon was designed and built.[4]
It made sense. The shadow factories in India were assembling planes by the dozen but as usual the real choke-point was the availability of engines. Rolls-Royce owned subsidiaries and several sub-contractors were turning out engines by the dozen in Canada and the UK and a significant part of the Merchant Navy shipped them all over the globe.
“Tell them they have my utmost confidence.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Well then. That's it for today.”
The Officers and officials filed out of the room but Churchill held back the Chief of the Air Staff.
“I hear the Canadians are working on a new plane?”
“Yes, Sir. Avro Canada calls it the Mustang, Prime Minister. They are looking at using it as a long-range escort fighter, both here and in the Pacific.”
“And you think it might be useful for us as well?”
“Yes, Sir. At least for daylight operations it is far superior to anything we have in the escort role. Our newest Spitfires have a slight advantage in speed and are superior dog-fighters. Problem is they are still rather short-ranged which isn't a handicap here but in the Pacific. So yes, we might want to look at it for Far Eastern Service at least.”
Dowding paused.
“But Sir,” he said hesitatingly, “this plane...it has aerodynamics far more advanced than those of the Spitfire. There is far more development potential in the Mustang, especially long-term.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Hm...I will have to think about this, Marshal.”
“Yes, Sir.”
But Churchill already knew that totally replacing the thousands of Spitfires at this stage was not the right thing to do. In fourteen months at the latest the Gloster Meteor would enter service and he honestly believed that on that day the age of the piston engine was over.[6]
The future of the Royal Air Force. While it was not the first Jet Engine in regular service (this honour goes to the Derwent) it is the most numerous. It has often been compared to the Jet equivalent of the Rolls-Royce Merlin. While the absolute number of units produced and aircraft that used it is lower than that of the Merlin this comparison stands as the Nene equipped every Allied Jet that saw large-scale service during the war and for several years afterwards along with several other aircraft and projects in friendly nations.
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Comments, questions, rotten Tomatoes?
[1] Come to think of it, being a British Royal in the AAO-verse isn't the healthiest of jobs...
[2] Which I seriously considered for a while but then rejected as it would totally destroy the dynamic of the duo.
[3] U-235.
[4] Yup, Canucks with Nukes. First under a Dual-Key arrangement with the British but then under the tutelage of a Defence Minister whom we all know and hate as a Canadian PM IOTL (Guesses via PM please) Canada starts building her own.
[5] TTL-term for the Griffon.
[6] Winston has taken a bit of a shining to the Jet Engine.