As Interior Minister, roads and transport fell within his remit. The FIA, the international body controlling motor sport, had offered Germany the opportunity to stage a grand prix motor race in late August. Speer believed it would be a good showcase for the country. The expected tourist influx should more than compensate for the cost of repairing the Nurburgring race circuit. He had already spoken to Mercedes-benz and Auto-Union about possible German entrants. They were thinking positively about it.
Speer got the wholehearted support of the Council.
The Justice Minister, Julius Buch, reported that crime statistics for the year 1943 were an average of twelve percent lower in all categories than the preceding year.
Hans Dietrich, the quiet but industrious Minister of Agriculture, as usual, had little to say. The innovative policies he had implemented upon his appointment had resulted in increased farm yields throughout the country. There had also been some diversification of crops. Germany was a little more self-sufficient in agriculture than it used to be, and this trend should continue.
Hjalmar Schacht gave his usual dry, but at the same time heartening, facts about record exports and climbing foreign exchange reserves.
General Beck confirmed that the intelligence services had picked up nothing out of the ordinary from the Soviet Union. His conjecture was that, with the containment of Russia by China and Japan on its eastern frontier, and the European Alliance to its west, Stalin may have finally and permanently accepted the status quo. The communist movements throughout the rest of Europe, and in the European empires, had been discredited, eliminated, or driven deeply undergound.
The rest of the Council certainly hoped this was the case.
It now remained for von Brauchitsch, now promoted to Field Marshall, to finish off the meeting.
“Today we will welcome our first ME262 squadron into the Luftwaffe. We all know that we delayed the introduction of this aircraft so as not to give Stalin any excuse or incentive to expand or speed up his own re-armament programme. This delay also meant that we saved quite a lot of money, whilst at the same time allowing a few more improvements to be made to the final model. It is a truly superb aircraft. Incomparably superior to anything else in the world.
The only other operational jet in the world, Britain’s own jet fighter, the Gloster Meteor, has been tested extensively against the ME262 in simulated combat. It is an excellent aircraft, but no match for ours. It is also more than one hundred and fifty kilometres per hour slower than the ME262 and is less well armed.
All the European Alliance members, Britain being the only exception, have placed orders for the ME262. In the case of some smaller members, Norway and Denmark for instance, the order is to equip only one small squadron. In view of the more settled state of world affairs, there is less enthusiasm in all our countries for spending excessive sums on weapons.
The same goes for the Panther and Tiger tanks. They are now rolling off the production lines but at a reduced rate. Again all Alliance countries except Britain have ordered these fine fighting vehicles.
Great Britain recognises that our ME262 and our two new tanks are superior to anything they have, or are likely to have in the near future. However they have long established armaments industries of their own to consider. It will take a little while longer before we will have truly integrated weapon systems throughout the European Alliance.
The British have, of course, partnered us with the Starflight airliner. Focke-Wulf and Rolls Royce have done a magnificent job. From idea, to design, to prototype, to production, in a little over two years. The first production line aircraft will be delivered next month to Lufthansa and BOAC and will now be produced at the rate of about five or six per week. This rate can be increased fairly quickly if necessary.
General Kesselring should be giving you this news, but at this moment he is immersed in details of the future jet airliner project. The Komet”.
The meeting finished. They were eager to see the jet fighters perform.
Two hours later they were all standing as close to the runway as safety considerations allowed at the Berlin airport of Templehof. Thirty minutes later their senses were pounded as eighteen jet fighters passed in formation less than one hundred metres overhead. They wheeled in a great circle around the airfield before doing another low level pass. After this they split into six flights of three aircraft, each of which performed various manoeuvers, before finally landing and coming to rest in a precise line facing their audience.
All the pilots descended from their aircraft at the same time. The lead pilot, and new squadron commander, Adolf Galland, walked down the line shaking hands, welcoming the pilots to their new home. Together, they headed towards the waiting dignitaries.
Now a lone ME262 appeared in the sky. It came over the airfield at a height of about one hundred metres before completing a tight three hundred and sixty degree turn and descending to fifty metres for a blast above the gathered officials and pilots. It landed and taxied to a stop at the head of the parked aircraft. It was only then that the uninitiated noticed it was a two seater trainer version of the ME262. The occupants climbed out and made their way to the small crowd.
Von Brauchitsch was the first to recognise them. The passenger was their absent Aviation Minister, General Kesselring. The pilot was Luftwaffe General Woltram von Richtofen, cousin of the legendary Manfred von Richtofen, ‘the Red Baron’ of Great War fame.
Woltram von Richtofen, even though he was now forty nine years old, had been allowed to train on the ME262 for this single flight, to honour his fallen relative, the greatest air ace of all time with eighty victories to his credit.
It was a fitting start to the new squadron’s history book.
The inaugural flights of the first two Starflights to enter service were arranged to take place simultaneously. The Lufthansa flight would lift off from Berlin, bound for London, at the same time as the BOAC aircraft left London for Berlin.
Standing among the invited guests on a specially erected terrace at Gatwick Airport to see the new airliner, were James and Fiona. His wife had been persuaded to be separated from their son for the day. She looked bored. James could not help noticing she was putting on a little weight. The difference in the ages no longer looked quite so obvious.
An RAF band played close by. A stall served light refreshments courtesy of BOAC.
The Starflight was parked directly in front of them. It looked absolutely magnificent and appealing in its sparkling new BOAC livery. James thought that on looks alone it was a winner! It also seemed to represent a break from the pre-war years and the war itself. It belonged to a new, more exciting, era.
Boarding the aircraft were eighty persons, most of whom had offered all sorts of blandishment to be on this flight. There were lords and ladies — including a Duke, several actors and actresses, socialites, wealthy industrialists and a couple of Members of Parliament, including the British Minister of Aviation.
Once they were all safely on board no time was lost. The rumble of the aircraft’s engines drowned out all conversation. It slowly moved to the end of the runway. Its engines revved up to a crescendo. The brakes were released and it lumbered forward gathering speed. As it left the ground and retracted its undercarriage, there was spontaneous clapping among the guests. Now they could finish the refreshments!
Alone among the guests, James watched the Starflight as it disappeared into the distance.