Alpha Omega M.D. – Episode #257

…Every Captain in my Clipper fleet, including the Atlantic routes, is getting one of these, it is marked, PLAN A – TOP SECRET – FOR CAPTAIN’S EYES ONLY…

In early December 1941:

“The Japanese are driving right for Hong Kong. What the hell are we supposed to do about the Clipper?” wonders Terry Trippe, not exactly thrilled with Japan’s policies in the Pacific. His island hopping enterprise depends on safe skies and tranquil seas. The ocean currents are tumultuous and the south sea air is fraught with turbulence.

“Why would that little bunch of islands be dumb enough to take on Uncle Sam?” asks Captain Robert Ford, one of Pan American Airway’s skilled pilots. His flying boat is the Pacific Clipper, which stays well south of Hong Kong, reaching Auckland, New Zealand before backtracking to California.

“We didn’t do anything about Hitler when we had a chance. Look where that got England… and France… and Poland. Shit, John, if you ask me, we should have joined the war, you know, declared war when Britain was bombed, not just supplying them with arms and goods. Are we going to allow Japan to the same damned thing?” Terry Trippe echoes the sentiments of many of the interested observers around the world. He has gone so far as planning for the worst case scenario. “Every Captain in my Clipper fleet, including the Atlantic routes is getting one of these.” It is marked “PLAN A – TOP SECRET – FOR CAPTAIN’S EYES ONLY”.

“You know something, something big, don’t you?”

Foresight is one of Terry Trippe’s stronger traits.