General Dwight Eisenhower. Supreme Allied Commander in Europe 1943-44. U.S. Army Chief of Staff 1945-48.
The proximity of Bovingdon to London and The 8th USAAF and Royal Air Force Bomber Commands' Headquarters at High Wycombe meant that there was lot of Coming and Going at the airfield by senior Military figures and Diplomats during the period of The Second World War and the immediate post-war period. It would seem that nearly every General in the 8th USAAF had a personal aircraft which at one time or another would have visited Bovingdon. Mention is often made of 'Ike' keeping an aircraft at Bovingdon but further details are scant. During the period in question Eisenhower had the use of several B17s, two C54s, one B25 and an L5. Not all of these aircraft were based at Bovingdon but some of the B17s and the B25 were.
In November 1942 Operation Torch, the Allied Invasion of French North Africa took place. Two VIP config B17s that I know of, carrying a small number of senior military passengers, with crews from the 92nd Bomb Group at Bovingdon were dispatched to Maison Blanche Airfield near Algiers. Routing Bovingdon-Portreath-Gibraltar-Maison Blanche. On departure from Portreath on November 6th 1942 Capt Tom Hulings and second pilot Kemp McLaughlin, flying B17 41-24414
'Jarrin Jenny 11' , flew through the smoke from an aircraft which had just taken off and crashed ahead of them. This was Hudson AM660 (4 of the 5 crew injured) bound for Gibraltar. A month later on December 6th 1942 Capt Jack Reedy and second pilot Larry Hansen flying B17 41-9082 were at the holding point at Portreath when two departing aircraft flew into the cliffs. As a result the RAF Station Commander immediately grounded all aircraft and full inspections were undertaken for fear of sabotage. Reedy and Hansen were delayed until the following evening. The crashes on the morning of December 6th 1942 involved Beaufort DD980 at 0521 hrs and Hudson FK522 at 0525 hrs, the latter was to have flown to Gibraltar. (I had to re-write this. Got the dates wrong).
On arrival in Algiers 41-24414 and its crew were assigned to General Carl Spaatz and 41-9082 and its crew to General Eisenhower. Incidentally Larry Hansen would shortly be assigned Personal Pilot to Eisenhower a position he held until the end of the war. On one occasion during this period flying Ike to The Casablanca Conference in January 1943 the B17 suffered an engine failure. On arrival at Casablanca Ike told the engineers to change not one but all four engines. I think this was 41-9082 which was by then needing a lot of maintenance both in North Africa and at Bovingdon. A brand new replacement B17 was coming.
Photo American Air Museum in Britain.
In the spring of 1943 an envious General Montgomery obtained the use of a personal B17 (41-9082) and a crew by way of a bet with Eisenhower's Chief of Staff General Bedell-Smith. The wager being that the Eighth Army would not take Sfax in Tunisia by April 15th. The town was captured on April 10th. Unfortunately no one, apart from Montgomery had taken the wager seriously. On winning his wager Monty insisted on the bet being honoured. The whole affair led to some ill-feeling on the part of the loosers who presented the B17 to the General on April 17th.
Photo American Air Museum in Britain.
This is Monty's second crew period June-August 1943. Captain Richard E. Evans standing far right. Unfortunately the crew names are not captioned with this image. They were however: Lt Johnson 2nd pilot, Sgt Austin Ball turret Gunner, Sgt Ward Tail Gunner, Lt Beringsmith Bombardier, Lt Carver Navigator. *Sgt Owens Crew Chief. *Sgt Morris Radio Op and *Sgt Kennedy Waist Gunner. * Killed in another aircraft. General Montgomery was greatly saddened by their loss.
In May 1944 General Eisenhower took delivery of a modified B25 34030. It had accommodation for ten persons including the crew. Based initially at Bovingdon and flown by Larry Hansen it was very much used to follow the battle by Eisenhower after the Allies' D-Day invasion. The B25 was used by Ike until May 1945 and returned to to the USA in 1947 where it is now preserved.
Photo Eisenhower Presidential Library Museum
Thought to be at A-72 Mons-en-chaussee 1944. Note presence of Eisenhower's Driver/Secretary Kay Summersby and obscured left, Eisenhower's Pilot Larry Hansen.
By December 1944 Eisenhower was worried about the lack of progress that The Soviets were making in their part of invading Germany. A message was sent to Stalin to ask if he would meet two high ranking American Officers plus Eisenhower's Deputy,
Air Chief Marshal Tedder for a full exchange of information in the hope of being able to coordinate the invasion of Germany on two fronts. To this end Tedder and his fellow travellers arrived at Bovingdon on the 30th December 1944 hoping to take off the next morning. Technical problems with the B25 (one assumes that it might be Eisenhower's aircraft) meant a delay of 24 hours on a journey that would subsequently take a fortnight. As Tedder later remarked, had he known this beforehand he would have walked to Moscow. The exchange of frequent messages between Stalin and Churchill as to the whereabouts of Tedder and his party of whom apparently nobody had heard from are quite amusing. Tedder finally saw Stalin On January 15th 1945.
Photo U.S. Army Signal Corps.
Air Chief Marshal Tedder, Lt Gen Spaatz and Marshall Zhukov prior to taking the German Surrender at Zhukov's HQ, Karlshorst, Berlin May 7th 1945.
Franklin D Roosevelt and General Eisenhower flying from Cairo to Tehran for The Tehran Conference (November 28th- December 1st 1943)
The aircraft is a C54 Skymaster operated by TWA under contract to the U.S Government.
Credit World War Photos
This is one of two C54s named 'Sunflower' and 'Sunflower 11' being rolled off the line at Santa Monica in 1945. Delivered to Washington on June 19th 1945 for the use of General Eisenhower. Now we can turn to a page of John Young's wonderful Bovingdon Diary.
Diary extract for Sunday October 13th 1946 with very many thanks to Keith Fletcher for permission to use. Well as usual I don't have an image of the aircraft at Bovingdon..........
Photo New Forest Knowledge.
Sunflower 11 (44-9146) departing Stoney Cross Airfield, Hants for Frankfurt 28th September 1946 with General and Mrs Eisenhower (who hasn't flown much nor been to Britain or Europe before) aboard. The Eisenhowers and their party arrived at Southampton on the Queen Mary on 27th September. Ike is undertaking one of his tours of inspection in occupied Europe. They will return next on October 1st when they fly from Berlin Templehof to Prestwick for a tour of Scotland which will include a stay with the Royal Family at Balmoral. Thence to London and a return to Frankfurt from Bovingdon on Sunday October 13th 1946. Mention of Templehof......
Photo eth-bibliothek Zurich.
4th December 1958. The arrival at Templehof on board 44-9146 of Chancellor Adenhauer who was not permitted to travel to Berlin on a German aircraft.
This particular aircraft continued service with the USAF until it was sent to the Storage Depot at Davis Monthan where it was scrapped in 1976.
Winston Churchill.
On Friday 29th December 1944 at 1530 hrs due to fog at Northolt Winston Churchill's C54 lands at Bovingdon. He has flown in following a night stop at Naples having previously departed Athens where he had tried with little success to mediate in the civil unrest that had broken out in Greece. (At the Air HQ at Kifissia north of Athens 600 RAF Servicemen had been captured and were forced-marched away, over the mountains, in very in harsh winter conditions by The Communists).
Winston Churchill's palatial C54 at Odiham. When becoming Prime Minister, Clement Attlee had short use of the aircraft before it was returned to the Americans along with those C54s which had apparently been 'loaned' to The Royal Air Force. On its return to the USA General George C Marshall made it his personal aircraft. It was damaged beyond repair in a taxying accident, Nanking China 13th October 1946.
W.Averell Harriman U.S. Ambassador to Moscow.
Credit GWU National Security Archive.
Diary entry for 4th October 1945 by Robert P Meiklejohn secretary to W.Averell Harriman. I cannot establish what sort of aircraft this is. I would guess perhaps a VIP B17 or a C87A Liberator. Perhaps not up to scratch for the Ambassador, for on the following day when they fly from Frankfurt to Berlin Mr Harriman cadges a lift on a C54 and Kay Summersby joins Kathleen and Lt Meiklejohn on their aircraft.
Photo Gen Stanley Scott U.S. Army.
Averall Harriman and his talented daughter Kathleen. Pictured here at Tehran in October 1943. They are about to board a C54 for Moscow where Harriman will take up the post of US Ambassador whilst his daughter will act as the Ambassador's hostess.
Photo Son of Sandor.
Presidential VC-54c Skymaster 42-107451 at Bolling Field Washington D.C. 1st August 1947. Delivered June 12th 1944. Nicknamed 'Sacred Cow'. Crew of seven and accommodation for 15 passengers. Fitted with an elevator to facilitate President Roosevelt's wheelchair. Later used by President Truman until 1947. Continued use as VIP and general transport a/c until October 1961. Preserved Wright Patterson AFB.
Crown Prince Saud Ibn Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia.
The Prince is seen here at Bovingdon arriving on the American President's VC-54c on February 21st 1947. He is returning from a visit to President Truman in America where I think he was hoping to acquire some financial support and encourage expanding American interests in his country. When King in five or so year's time he will acquire his own C54 (second-hand).
I will post part two this evening.........
Sources: Laurence Hansen 'What it was like flying for Ike.' Largo, Florida 1983 and J.Kemp McLaughlin 'The Mighty Eighth in WW11.' Lexington 2000.