Nursing novel go set a watchman. It all happens tonight on cspan2s booktv. Of next military historian alan axelrod recounts the American Bombing Mission Operation aphrodite project anvil intended to stop germanys missile attacks on london. Good evening. I am tony clark from the carter library. I am really glad you guys are here. We have a Wonderful Program tonight. As always i encourage you to pick up one of these sheets from the blue skirted table, it talks about other authors we have coming. This summer harper lee, they are releasing the book, the second book that harper lee wrote and i wish we had harper lee here, we do have the author, she moved in next door to harper lee and she writes about harper lee and getting to know her. The book is called the mockingbird next door. Mark your calendar july 15th, president carter will be signing just signing, his new book, a full life here. Later in the year ahead salman rushdie, diana nicad who swam from cuba to florida. We have a wonderful list of authors but i am especially pleased to have alan axelrod to talk about joy katie junior. I grew up in oklahoma during the 50s and 60s and got caught up in the whole Kennedy Campaign and all as a kid coming home from high school. I remember the then president kennedy the motorcade going by. He had been to senator robert s. Kerrs i followed the kennedys all along. Alan axelrod got his doctorate in english from the university of iowa. He has written a a gazillion books. He has done this holes ceres that might be referred to as ceo books, napoleon ceo, gandhi ceo, Winston Churchill ceo. He has done military books like bradley, the great general sees. Eisenhower on leadership and tonight he takes us into a fascinating time of world war ii drones and perhaps the best known political family in this countrys history. Please join me in welcoming alan axelrod. [applause] thank you all for coming. Just to orient you as to the subject of this book it is probably gauche to do this, let me read two para as from a flap copy. Which i wrote by the way. On august 12th, 1944, lt. Joseph p. Kennedy jr. Heir to one of americas most glamorous fortunes, some of the disgraced former ambassador to great britain, big brother to freshly minted pt 109 hero jfk hoisted themselves into a radically modified be 24 liberator bomber. Kennedys mission was part of operation operation aphrodite project anvil, to liberate london from the german missiles lieutenantgeneral jimmy doolittle, a charismatic leader of the 1942 tokyo raid championed a plan to install radio control equipment in warweary bombers, a dozen tons of high explosives and fly them by remotecontrolled directly into the concrete german launch site the the 1s n. V. 2s. The catch was live pilots were needed to get these flying bombs off the ground. Joe jr. Was the first naval aviator to fly such a mission and in what was likely the biggest manmade explosion before hiroshima, it killed him. So i am going to read some passages which are strung together and hopefully will make sense and then we are going to get to the faithful and Fatal Mission itself. Tail number 5271, now designated more simply tee 11, the number painted on its use the launch had been modified for radio control in philadelphia. There was plenty of work to be done. The aircraft had to be stripped bare inside and out and reinforced with timbers to ensure that the structure would not be compromised by a dozen tons of high explosive. All of its guns and gun turrets were removed in a gesture intended to give the appearance that the plane was not totally defenseless, painted broomsticks were installed in place of the turret and tail guns. The silver aircraft received a coat of white paint on its wing talk to him visibility even further. Very soon after as they arrived early in june lie so james smith and cousin willing match joe kennedy. With his Commanding Officer joy in sunshine ready fresen, smith and willie had at long last explain the mission joe had volunteered for. Smith and with the began by describing what they had done to the navy designation of the be 24. It had been fitted with a system by which it could be radio controls to climb, bang, glide, lower its cliff, dissent and dive. It could not they claimed take off or land on its own and it would not be allowed even if it could. They told kennedy that the airplane would be loaded with 21,170 pounds of torpedo explosives in 327 tiny crates. This, they said, was 12 times the explosive load of a single buzz bomb. The weapon first used against london about three weeks earlier. The explosives would be carefully tied down, his mission they told kennedy, would be to take the aircraft up and fly it in a designated pattern during which he and one crew member with 3 parrot for hand off to a Remote Control island in ventura who would fly the robot plane into a heartened weapons facility on the coast of france and. After handing it off and before leaving english aerospace kennedy and his crew member would bailout. At that point of the mission was over. And oh yes, before handing of control, before bailing out they would have to arm the explosive payload. Now joe kennedy arrived at this base which the navy shared a small section of with the Army Air Force, right after four Army Missions to do the same kind of thing, to fly robot airplanes into the german facilities failed miserably and in fact by the time joe took off a total of six Army Air Corps missions had failed with two killed and one pilot named, his arms ripped off as he bailed out of his airplane and then it was joe kennedys turn to try. Embittered by the failures of august 4th and august 6th, many Army Air Corps personnel at the r. A. F. Bass the whole mission had now moved to made no attempt to hide their resentment of the small naval and shining new p b 451. Lieutenant colonel roy forest had homeland for intentional attitude the she was interested in the navys approach and when he walked to the Navy Aircraft and climbed into the cockpit he was impressed. The equipment was far more sophisticated than anything the army had produced, but then his eyes lighted on what was called the harming panel. It was a breadboard it was the very makeshift Circuit Board made out of why would. The turn to commander smith who was showing him the plane. Ginny, this looks like something you would make with a number 2 erector set and lincoln logs. Force was not an Electronics Expert but he knew a dangerously cold brittle joined when he saw one and screwing up plywood Circuit Boards directly to steal aircraft ball had invited a whole mess of short circuits and voltage spikes. Most of all he knew what a piece of junk looked like and he appreciated that the success of the mission, the lives of the air crew held the life and limb of every man on air base depended on that plywood peace of ship. Forests grillled is goodnatured the as he could command a smith on this side of hardware about all smith could say was it came straight from the Naval Aircraft Factory at philadelphia which certainly knew what it was doing. Getting no satisfaction from the navy he brought up his concerns in the Officers Club at dinner that evening with a colonel in the third bomb division, the colonel listened. The arming panel he replied, what the leader of the know about the navys arming panel, securing the martini from a proper dray he picks eyes on force and it was their problem. As an army officer knows, the gulf separating the man who wears the oak leaves of lieutenantcolonel from the man who has full colonel eagles is wider than that dividing a full colonel from a brigadiergeneral. It was time to shut up and he knew it. But couldnt stop himself. Is a matter of conscience with me explain to. And they have got it wrong. They have to blow a load of ten 12 tons with and arming system that is as safe as a basket full of rattlesnakes. The colonel could have fooled to rank with a warning that the Lieutenant Colonel was out of line. He did something worse. Raising his fresh martini depose a toast to you and your wild imagination adding when the navy blows of its jerome and give me a ring, nobody wanted the navy here in the first place. Joe kennedys principal anxiety had two sources. He did the army would have a chance to succeed or the war would end. On august 6th, one source was eliminated when two air Corps Missions of that they failed miserably and doolittle himself grounded operation aphrodite until such time as the new caster system was ready to replace the discredited double a sun system. And the rationale was twofold. Radio control technology was limited at this time, this system that the air force used had not been designed to take off on its own. And even landing by radio control but this is far from foolproof. There was a high possibility of failure and that brings up the second rationale. No way was anyone in charge to trust radio remotecontrol to guide the plane notify explosives off of a huge military airfield and over a portion of england that included several densely populated cities. Even london was not far. So kennedy is waiting to take off day after day goes by and they are always fogged in too fog in and this is a mission in which the robot plane has to be controlled by two control planes, the twinengine planes, and at all times the control plane has to be able to see visually the robot plane from thousands of feet away. You cant have any clouds and if you are flying out of england is hard to find a david doesnt have clouds. The hours and days crept by it remained elusive. Kennedy used when they for another practice flight and turned it over for loading. When the farmers began loading the plane, kennedy engines simpson who was his roommate and ambled by to watch. Work party consists exclusively of black g is, that is the way it is in segregated American Military of the day, see the doors to change on its human chain to the aircraft after hatch. And then twisted to the next man in the chain who took it, swiveled and passed it on. The work was much harder, but gracefully past a solemn ritual, contained 50, 60 pounds of a small wax paper wrapped lot of what looked like butter. Primrose in not quite translucent. At the end of the chain was a man, feet firmly planted on the tarmac, head sticking up through the open at catch hands extended, palms up as if in supplication waiting to receive each box as it came to him taking it he would have to suggest high turn face forward and slide it onto the deck of the aircraft, inside of the neighbors directed by white naval officer carry each box forward and lowered it gingerly into place, one atop another filling every conceivable space beginning with the place for the copilot seat should have been. And working back box upon box toward the rear of the 60 foot bomber. Loading went ahead like a slowmotion machine smooth and precise and silva man with his head in the planes belly, the bottom of one box on the lip of the hash, scraped the knuckles of one hand and lost his grip. The box lid down, and of the briefly in the hatch and slid free falling toward the tarmac. Instinctively the g i thrust out his foot to take the weight of the greats edge on his toe. It had to hurt. At least it meant a broken toe, may be hairline fracture of the instep but whatever pain he endured he kept loading and not another craig slept. Good thing too. The butter in each crate was the royal gun powder factory that had developed from a german recipe. Mixing an old standby with tnt and all for a fine aluminum powder to produce a high explosive, 50 more powerful than the end he alone. It made up 42 of the mix and the tnt 40 . Together these generated the release of energy while the aluminum powder, 18 , made the explosive pauls last longer and therefore enhance its destructive force. Beeswax was thrown into reduce the sensitivity to shock and impact joy 6foot drop onto asphalt would have at the very least put the effectiveness of the bees wax buffer to the test. 347 pine creeks, 21,170 pounds would be loaded into t 11, equivalent to 18 tons of tnt until the detonation of little boy at the little boy atomic bomb over hiroshima almost exactly one year later on august 6th, 1945 kennedys p b 451 is the single most destructive explosive weapon in military history. Kennedy did not wait for the final grades to be loaded. Just after the load, but falling crane on his toe joy nudged simpson lets get out of here. T 11 was loaded and ready by dawn on august 11th but dense fog ruled out any flight and joe bruited as he listened to the bbc account of a juggernaut that was general patton and the third United States army. He could comfort the fact that patten was not pushing for many be went in sight. And could hold out that much longer. August 12th dawned cloudy and another day without cattle kennedy and the others rising a foot of of the earth. And the clouds would part and the skies would clear. Joe kennedy and company with simpson and will be wind to the officers mess. And an auxiliary starter followed by the whitney cough of the engines they knew the long to t 11. The crew chief was starting his preflight check. The conclusion was inescapable. He had been told to prepare for a mission that day. Holding their own anticipation in check joy and his companions finished their breakfast, walked out and studied the sky. The great cloud cover was now ridden with. Looking down it was apparent the ground fog has completely burned off. Rosy lie and pull the pin and jeeps to say there was a final briefing at 1500 3 00 p. M. That was hours away. In the meantime, they both bounced from the operational mission, pitched in to perform a thorough preflight with villain focusing on the allimportant radio equipment. At 10 30 joe was handed the latest weather forecast. It looks promising at first feel that the target about which joe had not been informed. Not as junk pilot, he really needed to know. He was going to bailout long before the jerome, went to its target. Joe had written to his mother and father on august 4th the day after the first four failed aphrodite sorrys. He said i working on something different, is terribly interesting but at this point quite secret. Per usual i have done nothing but it is far more in justin than patrolling over the day. Then he wrote a sentence outwardly designed to l. A. Parental anxiety yet clearly meant to provoke reading between the lines. Dont get worried about it as there is practically no danger. The he apologized for having volunteered beyond his mission quota but assured his mother he volunteered for 21 2 times the missions was supposed to fly and then he decided to do this on top of that. Is mother and father, when i tell you the whole story i think you will agree that was a Mission Worth staying for. All the boys who did go home now which they did state over. With time on his hands so much time it seemed that 10 30 a. M. Joe phone laurel hurst, second wife of William Randolph hearst some time war correspondent and good friend, she kept an apartment at the exclusive london hotel. Joe asked her to pass a message to his father. I am about to go into my act, he told her. If i dont come back tell my dad despite our differences that i loved him very much. Like so many utterances that end of counting among a persons last it is both moving and touching. It is also perplexing, despite our differences what did joe mean by that . Sounds like the statement of a son who had fallen out with his father or whose father had fallen out with him but nothing of that kind happened. Before he joined the navy joe jr. Had an almost slavish in telling his fathers isolationist line there was no argument over that issue and while his father wanted to security men important but state staff appointments he did not protest when joe jr. Became a Naval Aviation cadet although he clearly recognize dangers. Went joe jr. Earned his wings joy Senior Pentagon his uniform. Kid defrays the fray some unexpressed resentment on the part of the sun . Perhaps the feeling never put into words that the acts ambassadors relentlessly public defeatism and what often seemed a cynical contempt for heroism, sacrifice and even democracy, all sentiments the ambassador publicly expressed, forced him into risking his life. At 1500, 3 00 p. M. The men assigned to the First Mission of as a you 1, special Aviation Unit 1 gathered in the hut serve as the briefing shaft. The two six man Mission Crews were present, the primary commanded by rosie lion with John Anderson serving as control pilate, the guy who actually control the drone from the mother ship, the secondary flown by harry wary, also present were the personnel of the auxiliary aircraft, b17 flying fortress navigation plane, p 38 piloted by what forest and james smith a mosquito photo plane flown by fdrs son colonel Elliott Roosevelt assigned to document the bailout and 16 p 51 must things assigned to provide security. Seated up front in the briefing were joe kennedy and budget willie, joe carefully taking notes on the kneepad he would carry with him into the cockpit. He personally delivered the mission brief. He was to take off and climb to 2,000 feet, 23 minutes southeast of first feel. It was expected that anderson and the primary ventura, a control plan, would have established radio controlled by the time tee 11 was overhead. Even so kennedy and willie were to remain on board as passengers to ensure that control was maintained and fully operational. Anderson would turn tee 11 northeast, a 20 minute flight, during this time kennedy and we would continue checking all controls before anderson turned south to the departure deck that would take the drone across the english channel. As they flew above the estuary. Willie would test the arming circuit with the safety lab. When the circuit was safe, the wire safety on the arms which, before the arm position. It all went as eds should, willie would squeeze through the nose wheel doorway. This is the only way out of a modified heebie 451. Joe would follow immediately pulling the manual arming wire just before thrusting himself through the same doorway. Both men were to parachute down here and manson field a short distance north of dover. They are parachuting through tiny opening pushing themselves through the opening for the nose wheel. And they are parachuting from mclean that is going 200 miles an hour. And when paratroopers bailed out over normandy the plane was going 100 miles an hour and they are going out a big door relatively speaking. In the navys project and ville the two control aircraft worked together closely. Diving to an altitude of 700 feet over the channel below 0 rise in a german defensive radar. Andersons ventura would be within flak range since he was tailing the drone he would be quite close to the coast by the time the shooting started. At that point the primary ventura drew the germans fire anderson would transfer, but once transfer was completed, would share away from the coast. One more crew attended the 3 00 p. M. Briefing, the crew of the aircraft commanded by joes roommate and jim simpson assigned to scout the area, this much feared fortress had been the objective of the last sortie of Aphrodite Mission 515 joy was a mystery at this point. It was rumored to be very possibly a guided missiles that could fly across the Atlantic Ocean and it washington or new york. It was rumored to be the socalled american bomber which was the transcontinental bomber that could hit targets on the american east coast. It would be implanted in one of these bunkers and fire refugea huge project shall at great velocity and have enough range to hit london. The idea was they going to name Something Like 5575 of these guns at london and bonn its 24 7 with high explosives. Burying the range. Stake couldnt very that as a mess of the gun but they could very the range by changing the charge and they would eat up london at this late stage of the war. Did the name mean anything to joe kennedy . It was a vanishingly tiny hamlet in 1939 joe and company had driven to the secondhand chrysler convertible his father had given him down the road which passed within two miles. In any event most of the briefing focused on the work of the control pilots, not on the face of the jumpers. Their tasks including their very survival were straightforward. Anderson in contrast had to locate the bunker guiding the 11 into the bunkers main doorway whether it is massive steel doors are open or not. The target, 15 x 16 feet was the one place where the structure was most vulnerable. Assuming the budget could be located in the doorway identified, he had to use his video image to thread the needle. And tying with utmost precision the object was to contact via number when the sun in the western sky would be behind the drone eliminating the bunker while blinding the flat cutters. There was so much burden of success or failure, was intensely keyed up when he, joe and the others filed out of the briefing shack. You got your insurance all paid up, he asked joe. He must have regretted the clipped instantly. If it bothered joe e. Didnt let on. Grinning broadly he delivered an answer worthy of a rich mans son. I got twice as much as i need, i dont need it and nobody connected with the needs it. Was the come back intended ironically or was it simply the truth . However he meant it, joe gave him a warm handshake. I wont say i will see you but so long. The eighth u. S. Air force launched Bombing Missions almost daily for england often several a day. They were as routine as a highly dangerous enterprise ever was in time of war. The launch of an aphrodite and film mention was no everyday occurrence and august of to 1944 everyone was away from whatever they doing to watch the takeoff of all involved aircraft. And a military organization fighting in the defense of democracy the location gave the appearance of democracy itself. Mechanics technicians, loaders, cooks sentries, drivers, g is of all ranks mingled with officers at every level of 2 men including top brass. By 1700 hours, 5 00 p. M. Everyone was watching. The key 11 was taxied to the hardstand the radio expert climbed aboard to check the box radio and said the pilot frequencies to those designated for the mission. As he left, jim simpson climbed aboard to give the radio control equipment of final preflight check. Outside the aircraft, mechanic and field have painstaking walk around. The three men were all expecting to fly this mission and had been bumped by willie. With your they resented this or felt relief or a reprieve we cannot know. What is clear however is none of them surrendered a stake in the mission. Each made himself responsible for ensuring the readiness of the aircraft. Perhaps no u. S. Military combat plane prior to the mission of the enola gay against hiroshima on aug. Sixth 1945 had been so meticulously, even obsessively preflight. Wing kennedy in willie arrived by jeep it must have struck them and the onlookers as extravagant recent careful with to have their walk around to those of the others but it is what a pilot and copilot do. And so they did it. Pausing only to shake hands with commander smith who was present on the hard stand. Walk around completed kennedy and billy should hands with dillon, holding kennedys and a moment, brad fields said something about the command net0 on the no. 3 engine. Kennedy nodded in acknowledgment and followed willie antiaircraft via the nosewheel doorway through which they were also to exit the bomber. Even though the plan to carry little with them, both were there chest pass emergency chutes and will be carried checklist for the radio control hand off. It was a tight squeeze. Their seat packs containing their primary parachutes were already on board. Joy on the pilots seat and will be secured new the nose wheel doorway. Only the pilot had a seat. Simpson was still in p 11 win kennedy and willie climbed aboard. Joe took his seat and willie standing behind him began reading aloud the state and preflight check list. Outside brand field confirmed all personnel, vehicles and other objects were clear of the big bombers propellers, he positioned to sell on the port side, locked eyes with joe and flipped his right thumb up. Show began the startup sequence in normal manner with no. 3 starter inboard engine. The engine turned over just as it should. For 1200 horsepower, 183035 whitney, just as it should was pretty dramatic. There was an initial growl as the electors starter motor fought inertia. The pitch slowly rose from growl to wine to bain she scream and a propeller began to rotate. As soon as he saw that joe engage the engine which coughed loudly shot a bolt of flame after, blue a dense columns of smoke and dragon like word to life. And he switched on number 4 next to it followed by number 2, the inboard port engine and number one. After pausing a second or two to read his instruments and listen to the engines joe raised his fists up to the wind screen, put both thumbs up and jerked them to port, starboard. Instantly two ground crewman pulled free the men huge trailing from the wheel chocks on both sides of the plane and dragged them away. Redfield stepped into joes view, extended his clenched fist and with the forefinger of his left hand beckoned the halting the bombers, loaded with 65,000 pound maximum takeoff weight as an impatient parents would summon a toddler. In response joe revved it the no. 4 engine to give it the aircraft in the direction of the taxi way. With the rapidly turning in joy and putting start out board propped out of sync with the others there began the visceral drumbeat of low frequency interference wave. The slow incessant beat was punctuated by the groan of metal and squeal of brakes internet we applied and released. Joy knew very well, brad field printed out the taxiway. Straining, he snapped the textbook navy salute. The 11 rolled to the end of the runway joining the other aircraft of the armada. First offer the two ventura mother ships, one after the other. They circled over the field and 1,000 feet. The primary ventura controlled by the anderson put the radio control equipment through its paces while the 11 stood idling listens and would not have exited the drone stood behind kennedy to observe the results. When anderson moved, it this is the ballistic, they called it a peter stick, this is an innovation in 1944. Moved his peter stick forward, joe radioed back down elevator he moved the stick to the right, joe reported right aileron. Each control command was checked. And joy and willie work cleared to take off, confident that radio control would be established and that they would not be writing 12 tons in vain let alone putting untold numbers of english civilian lives at risk. Satisfied with the test, simpson reached out for is to willie who was squatting next to him. The men should hands. And to joe he said simply i wish i were going with you. You will make the next one, joe assured him. If i dont come back you can have the rest of my eggs referring to the staff secreted in his treasure chest, fresh eggs were light gold in wartime england and joe kennedy made it his business to collect eggs for himself and all his friends. They always had fresh egg for breakfast. Simpson slipped out the nose wheel doorway and trotted out to the b17 to find across the channel and observe the execution of the missions final stages. Along with another b17 designated navigation plane as several key 38 lightning fighters, among them were forceds personal aircraft functioning as observation craft and Elliott Roosevelts for 03, mosquito, observation b17 would take off after the departure of p 11. Most of the mustang fighter escorts preceded the 11 into the air, taking off in groups of three, then it was finally joes turn. Redfields to up in their jeep looking on from the perimeter of the runway, joy lost his brakes and throttle the and in turn while villain and brad feel listened. To and aviator in the era of peace and engines no instrument was more sensitive accurate or important than human error. Number one engine roared up and was throttled back. Number 2 was next number 3 and 4, brad field insisted that number 3 did not sound right. Villain disagreed and seeing how agitated redfield seem he shouted over the engine noise, good thing you are not in that plane but he made no attempt to dissuade loan restrain the mechanic from jumping out of the jeep and running to the aircraft. Redfields signaled to joe who throttle back on pensions and waved him into the cockpit, the mechanic shimmied up through the nose wheel doorway, and joy throttled the tension successfully of and down. The mechanic indicated that this time at least number 3 sounded just fine. A minute later bread filled rejoined villain in the gee. Now it was approaching 1800 6 00 p. M. Time to take off. Of the drone was to approach its target within an hour when the sun would be positioned just right. Joe wasted no oldtime slamming the tee 11 into takeoff position but did not rush to take off itself. Never a natural pilot no seat of the pans fire, joe was always methodical in the cockpit. Key region japan down for a third time, a procedure that consumed seven minutes. Then he pushed all the throttles forward at full power, the 11 strain against its brakes, joy released them. The aircraft rolled forward, accelerating slowly but steadily. To ville when it seemed joe would never rotate to take off. Watched anxiously as the p b 48 up more of the field in the last few yards of the runway the nose finally lift off the ground and the main wheels reluctantly followed. They watched as they spend in the year before joy tapping his brakes stopped them and retracted the air. There were 4 big engines diminished with distance the radioman and the mechanic became aware of cheer is rising from the throne of everyman gathered on a runway. The rest of the auxiliary aircraft in turn now fallen into the blue. Dylan and bread filled focus exclusively on kennedy and reallys clean, straining after it until they could see it no more. The time was 7 52, eight minutes to 6 00, there was nothing to do but go to get dinner, the two men were relieved the aircraft had neither exploded or crashed on takeoff and it had left with plenty of time to get too excited. For once the gods of war were smiling it seemed and the mission was off to an excellent start. It was at precisely 18 minutes into the mission that tee 11 approach the initial check point the joe radioed the code phrase spade flush signaling that the aircraft was trimmed, the autopilot was set and engage and tea 11 was ready for hand off to the mother ship and anderson acknowledged the radio call, switch on the equipment and began controlling p b 451. Relying on a combination of radar and direct visual reports from rose the lions, private addition to video fed to him from the camera, anderson steward the rest of the way and turned left toward the next checkpoint, beckers north northeast. Anderson and kennedy used the time and miles to check each of the controls essentially running the same radio control check they had run on the ground. So far it was textbook, had there been a textbook for something 1 had ever done before. Five minutes to the north, andersons radar showed the 1112 miles of its course for battles. The plane was veering too far east too soon for the channel coast. At this point it was closing in on the river live passing over the west would martians. Elliott roosevelt maneuvered a mesquita within a few miles of the drone and began taking pictures. With forced approached in his p 38 giving commander smith, huddled in a planes nose a clear drone. Joe kennedy, into the p b 4 windows. Into an estuary that is one of the gems of the suffolk coast. Salt marshes home to a wide variety of water birds, gentle flash landscape conducive to a solitary walks and quiet contemplation. At the very margin of the marsh is a new delight would. At 1820 20 minutes past 6 as the tee 11 began to passover new delight anderson went to work. Seeking to put the drone back on course. A 12 mile error was unacceptable especially when the objective of the targets. And t 11 exploded. One blast was followed, a second later by another. Elliott roosevelt was closest to the 11 when it blew apart but he did not see very much since it was all he could do to fly his mostly wooden plane cleared the debris. Pulling at his controls he sheared away from the fireball. That was mostly what riveted the attention of rosie lion in the primary ventura how roosevelts mosquito stood on its swing in a sharp turn away from the blast. Lion did not look to his right but he distinctly heard his copilot been a low animal grunt. And over the blast wave rising and falling hard like a fast moving old truck encountering a rise and did in a row gone suddenly bad. And represented an airplane. Glancing at his round video monitor use on nothing but what early video technicians called grass, video chaos of a loss signaled. It was commander james smith who had the clearest view from the plexiglas knows of forests p 38. All that came to him was a strange insight that nothing larger than a basketball could have survived the blast. He moved away from his control consoles. And steered through the windscreen but by this time the blast had resolved into a pair of vivid orange columns, one adhering to rise into the sky to sing king countered point for the estuary and woods below. Later described the image as the biggest explosion he ever saw until the pictures of the atom bomb ainge spoke of a terrific flame and many pieces, less than a thousand feet. And and married at 44. And conversing with her few neighbors. Standing in the doorway she shared with her niece passing time of day, the sky suddenly cracked open, something to like lightning flashed and she would have thought it had the war not taught her to think first of rockets, she turned from her neighbor in mid sentence and dashed into her house, she had not noticed that its door had been blown off its hinges. Share first thought was of her cousin in side. He had come to live with her at sheppards cottage after a heavy one had destroyed his flat in london but there he was under her front door stunned to be sure but unhurt. Thankful for that miss westgays inventory of love ones turns next to her aunt and uncle who live nearby. Which was even closer than shepherds cottage to the source of the explosion. She said please run upstairs to fetch your coats, she needed to check the house, the girl bolted up the stairs. She called from above, the ceiling is all down. That is it. [applause] a great opportunity now for you to ask questions, since we are reporting this week for the microphone please raise your hands. Questions . Where they grooming joe kennedy to run for Political Office . That is the story i have always heard that they were grooming him rather than his brother john. Yes. In fact both joe and his wife rose thought that joe jr. Who was this adonis of a man and a picture of health had a much better chance of surviving into maturity than his sickly brother jack, is younger brother and moreover based on iq tests and performance in school they thought joe was far more intelligent and jack not so much. So they certainly loved jack but and they gave him a good education that they did not anticipate that he would enter into public life. Joe jr. Was to fulfill the unfulfilled political ambitions of his father. These were ambitions that his father had forever destroyed essentials the saying the germans are going to win and we in the United States better adopt fascism and get rid of democracy if we want to survive and he said this publicly and in newspapers and he was not going to get elected and he knew it. To answer your question, yes. Had they ever considered using at different plane for such a very explosive mission . Seemed like it was very not well constructed for what they were wanting to do. What was the rationale for using the plane that they did . The air force, the Army Air Force did something even riskier. They used war beery, planes that had been through a lot of combat and were not combat worthy anymore. P 17s and loaded them with explosives. The p b 4 that the navy used was pretty much brandnew. The reason it was used once both of these aircraft were quite sturdy but you could hide it from of explosives. These planes were intended to carry heavy explosive loads but on the bottom of the planes in the bombay. These were stacks and stacks of weight that were piled off to the overhead and there was a real problem in flying these planes with the center of gravity having been altered so there were problems. This was the mission that was done in the same spirit as Jimmy Doolittles tokyo raid at the beginning of the war. It was done in a kind of improvised way. Taking weapons that were not intended to be used this way and using them in the hope that it would work and in fact the air force wanted to keep this Program Going and use it against japan because they figured it would save pilotss lives during what they figured was the invasion of japan. Yes . Was this the last attempt or were they ever successful in actually attacking the missile base . This was actually the second to last attempt that the navy made. And there were several in all of there were 18 attempts, flights. The last of them, they gave up trying to hit the bunker is because they realize, this is the tragic irony of this story, which i explain in the book, these bunkers they ever tried to head had already been abandoned by the germans but from the air, from aerial reconnaissance they were so they were built in such a way that they looked like they wrestle functional and the germans, realizing this, put people out there to do busywork can move around in they decoyed these bombers. It wasnt with the eye toward getting a Suicide Mission or drone there but to equally bombing commissions and one german general said he wanted to turn it into the graveyard of the r a f, he wanted them to shoot him down but what the air force did, the navy gave up after one more attempt. Ear for started sending drones after factories, german factories, after cities and never succeeded in doing any damage to anything and in the end you had several injuries most of them fairly minor, but one amputation, midair amputation, and four fatalities. It was in vain. Did they ever determine what caused it to explode . Was a short of some kind . Not with any 70. The coverup may have originated with joe sr. He wanted his son to be a war hero killed in a desperate secret mission, did not want to associated with the failure. One is the breadboard this plywood Circuit Board was so poorly constructed that it shorted out and prematurely detonated, another possibility is a straight f am radio signal, very crowded airwaves and this was long before the days of digital tune in and things like that, there was all kinds of overlap, it could have been there was some instability, could have vibrated had not blown up could also have been this is a safety device. And was supposed to hold back the stolen aid, like an electromagnet, has a switch in it. This safety device was supposed to hold back the solenoid precisely to prevent premature detonation. And joy was energized and current flowing through it the solenoid would get very hot and joy if you plug in an iron and have a bad circuit you are plugging in the iron gets warm. The wire from the solenoid went right to a fuse in the cortex and if that wire overheated it could kick off and ignite it. There was probably have a dozen things you sit on 12 tons in an explosive in an airplane not built to do that. And crap the Circuit Board and radio in primitive shape. One last question. How did family received the news of his death . It is well documented. These memoirs of Teddy Kennedy edward kennedy, jfk was recovering from the p t one 09 experience back injured, all sitting out on the porch bing crosby crooning we will meet again. Was in the background. Two Navy Chaplains or civilian priest went up the driveway and they knew what was going to be said. Joe sr. Was up in the bedroom napping, his wife got him and according to teddy he fought back tears and ran back upstairs. And joe was anti war, but joe was going to find scapegoats for the death of his son. Is a strange kind of thing. They took it, they accepted it. He lost all interest in politics and public speaking, never talked on the phone. He never wrote letters. Used clearly a broken man. A fascinating story. You have copies of lost destiny for sale in the lobby. Alan is going to be signing copies a few by more than one he will sign everyone of them. Please join me in thanking alan axelrod. [applause] thank you. Join us in the lobby, thank you very much. [inaudible conversations] taskforces mack booktv is on twitter and facebook and we want to hear from you. Tweet us twitter. Com booktv. Post a comment on our Facebook Page facebook. Com booktv. This coming tuesday july 14th harpercollins is publishing the second book from author harper lee, in 200746 years. [applause] harper lees beautiful book is a meditation on family human complex complexity and themes of live. The novel became an instant classic and earned her a pulitzer prize. Her work enco
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