Today, all eyes are fastened on North Africa where 200,000 Italian troops under Marshal Graziani sit barely 100 miles from Alexandria. The question asked across the world is, when will this mighty force complete the conquest of Egypt? When will it seize the Suez Canal? Barely 30,000 Commonwealth troops stand in the way of the approaching Italian juggernaught. Meanwhile, in Kenya, Italian troops there are being driven slowly back by South African troops supported by their new Tomahawk fighters.
Pathescope had obtained footage over the Tomahawks in action. The cinema screen was filled with pictures of the fighters with shark’s teeth painted on their noses. There was one sequence that was obviously camera gun film. It showed an Italian SM.81 bomber staggering under the impact of gunfire from a Tomahawk. Smoke erupted from its left wing and nose engines; then it nosed over and spun downwards in a train of flame. The cinema audience erupted into cheers at the sight. As if in reply, the commentary restarted.
The South African and Rhodesian squadrons are competing to see who can down the most Italian aircraft. The leader is South African pilot Pim Bosede with his Tomahawk Marijke. Just after this film was taken, he shot down another SM.79 bomber, making his total score ten victories. He is the first double-ace in East Africa!
The newsreel showed a young, fair-haired South African jumping out of his Tomahawk and being applauded by the ground crew. Rachael looked at him and jabbed Newton in the arm. “Look, David. He’s so handsome.”
Newton looked sideways and saw the flash of Rachael’s teeth. She grinned in the darkness. That made him realize he was being teased.
“You wait until I fly a Spitfire. I’ll show you handsome.”
The main feature was The Sea Hawks, starring Errol Flynne. Set in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it showed a Britain with its back to the wall fighting the overwhelming power of Spain. Only the Sea Hawks, the captains of the British warships, stood between Spain and England. What neither they nor the queen knew was that the Prime Minister, Lord Wolfingham, was a traitor, in league with Spanish. He betrayed the leader of the Sea Hawks, Captain Geoffrey Thorpe, and caused him to be captured by the Spanish. When the Spanish soldiers seized him, Rachael let out a cry of dismay and seized Newton’s arm.
Newton noted that the scene hadn’t really been that frightening, and that Rachael had kept a firm hold on his arm afterwards. A few minutes later, her head was resting on his shoulder and he had his arm around her. The film ended with a long speech by Errol Flynne about how no level of treachery, even that committed by a Prime Minister, would stop England from winning in the end. The cinema erupted into sustained cheering that drowned out the closing music. As they stood for the national anthem, they both thought it had been a very satisfactory visit to the cinema.
“We are organizing four additional divisions. Of them, the 7th and 11th Divisions will be assigned to secure Burma against foreign aggression. The 8th and 10th Divisions will be assigned to Iraq and will secure the Commonwealth position there.” Lord Linlithgow looked up from the report that he had received. “It goes without saying, of course, that a considerable force of those regiments who proved their loyalty to India in the recent unpleasantness will be held here in case of additional disturbances.”
“We are most fortunate that so few regiments were deceived into moving against us.” Pandit Nehru had been pleasantly shocked by the loyalty most of the Army had shown to the newly-independent India. Even the few regiments that had rebelled had done so by following their officers. The rank and file had abandoned them when faced with the reality of firing on other Indian troops. Quietly, Nehru gave solemn thanks in memory of Colonel Garry, whose self-sacrifice had prevented a blood bath on the streets of New Delhi. His name would be honored, Nehru promised himself that. When things settled down and there was time to consider how best to memorialize the man, it would be done.
“And so, we become the policemen of an empire again.” Despite his new-found respect for the Army, Nehru also remembered that traditionally the Indian Army had been the security force that had upheld British power across the world. It was less honored in Indian eyes than in British for that very reason.
“There is a big difference this time, Pandit.” Lord Linlithgow guessed what his deputy was thinking. The months that had passed since the stunning news from London had revealed much to him. One abiding theme was how little the British had understood of the people they ruled here in India. Linlithgow had taken for granted that Imperial rule had always been for the benefit of India, and that he and his predecessors had been benign, enlightened rulers. He still believed that, but he also knew that many of their actions were not so well regarded by the Indians. He hoped and prayed that the Indians politicians, now working throughout the Indian administrative systems as part of the slow transition process, were beginning to understand why apparently unjust decisions had been inevitable.
“This time, the Indian Army goes abroad in the interests of India, not Britain.”
Nehru nodded. “A big difference, indeed but our young men still leave. And Mohandas Gandhi still opposes their departure with every fiber of his being. Even the arrival of our new aircraft attracts his ire. You know he held a demonstration to block access to our new aircraft maintenance plant? It appears, though, that he was misinformed and held his demonstration outside the wrong building. A matter of an unfortunate clerical error in the transposition of two digits, so I am told.”
The Marquess of Linlithgow raised questioning eyebrows at that. Nehru saw the gesture and shook his head. “No, this was not organized by Sir Eric’s intelligence services or, indeed, the result of any official act. It was an Indian clerk, proud of the fact that Indian squadrons would receive the new aircraft while the ex-British squadrons had to make do with the old, who made sure information leaked to Gandhi’s clique was false. In its way, that is more important that the fact the demonstration was planned at all.”
“We still have no fighters in service, though.” Linlithgow had never quite recovered from the shock of discovering there was not one single fighter aircraft in India. “But, at least, we have trainers. Our pilots have already started to learn to fly modern aircraft.”
“This is the Harvard I. A two seat advanced trainer. Compared with the Westland Wapitis you have been flying to date, it is an entirely different machine. A hundred miles-per-hour faster, it stalls at higher speeds than your old Wapitis cruised. It climbs faster, dives faster and will kill you faster if you do not take care. We will all work with these aircraft together. When you are familiar with handling a modern monoplane, we will transition to the Hawk 75, the Mohawk, fighter and you will become the first Indian fighter pilots.” Gregory Boyington looked at the group of pilots surrounding him. They were young, earnest and painfully inexperienced. “Just remember, there are two kinds of people on this planet. Fighter pilots and lesser men.”
Boyington had resigned his commission with the U.S. Marine Corps to join the Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company, run by Bill Pawley. He’d been under the impression that he would be going to China to fight the Japanese, but Pawley had taken a look at his degree in aviation engineering and his experience as a draftsman at Boeing and assigned him to the training program in India. Boyington’s age had been part of that decision as well; he was a good half-decade older than most of the pilots in the CAMCO program. Boyington had two responsibilities with CAMCO. One was to train the pilots in the three Indian Air Force squadrons in the arts of flying high-speed monoplanes. The other was to get aircraft production at the CAMCO plant in Bangalore off the ground. India also needed the ability to maintain its new Mohawks, Bostons and Hudsons. CAMCO was the answer to that need.