Allied air supremacy was a fact not in evidence for the lion’s share of WWII.
In the 18 months leading up to D-Day, nighttime missions over Germany from the UK proved ineffectual and daytime raids were sitting ducks for the Luftwaffe. The B-17 bomber was a testament to Boeing’s engineering prowess, but it was also a death trap for 1000s of aviators.
Though multifaceted, a key problem was that the otherwise regal North American Aviation P-51 Mustang fighter plane outfitted with American engines just didn’t have enough range to accompany B-17s all the way to their targets and back to safety in the UK.
Enter the most famous polo player in the US — Tommy Hitchcock, Jr.
Seriously.
In addition to being a wealthy, swashbuckling polo player extraordinaire, Hitchcock had also been a standout aviator in the waning days of WWI.
Though he was too old to be considered for active flying duty in WWII, the US Ambassador to Britain, John Gilbert Winant, pleaded with Hitchcock to consider being an advisor in London to lend an expert set of aviation eyes upon the Allied conundrum.
Hitchcock agreed and quickly gained the trust of both the US and UK air corps. It wasn’t long before he understood the problem.
P-51s could accompany Allied bombers all the way to German targets and back if they were outfitted with a new British-made Rolls Royce engine instead of their American ones.
The answer from Washington? A resolutely hard “no.”
Many senior government leaders were distrustful of Britain. They were steadfast that US technology and resources were the way to preserve the power dynamic they sought. Putting British engines on a uniquely American export was a non-starter.
Hitchcock, however, would not take no for an answer.
He began a relentless, improbable campaign on both sides of the Atlantic to tell anyone influential who would listen that the P-51 was going to save countless lives and shorten the war if, and only if, it were outfitted with Rolls Royce engines.
The rest, as they say, is history.
***
I remember thinking after reading about Tommy Hitchcock that over the last 25 years of investing in and advising growth companies, most great companies I’ve come across tend to have… someone like him.
Think about the best companies or organizations you’ve been part of in your career. There probably was a male or female “Tommy Hitchcock,” no?
They drove everyone crazy. They were forces of nature. They probably almost got fired.
And… they often ended up being right.
Nowhere, incidentally, are “Tommy Hitchcocks” more important than in those glorious bastions of company-killing groupthink: Boardrooms.
***
I am a bit chagrined to admit — particularly as an author — that I forgot how powerful it can be to give someone you care about a book. In a world beset by all kinds of fleeting, nextgen doodads, a great book reigns supreme. I have two friends who routinely send and recommend books. I would like to be more like them.
Thanks to Tom, I learned about this unlikely impetus for Allied air supremacy from a wonderful book he sent me called Citizens of London.
And, solemnly, thanks to Tommy for an historically singular life. As a result of his courage and that of countless others whose names we’ll never know, I only speak German… occasionally and poorly.
Thanks, as always, for reading and engaging.
P.S. The last surviving member of the 100th Bomb Group from which far too many B-17s departed but never returned died earlier this month at the age of 103. His name was John “Lucky” Luckadoo. Godspeed.
