In the Fall of 1929, Robert and Walter made a large amount of money in
cotton and wheat. Robert was unusually happy. Altho over three years
had passed without any direct news of Marie he was sure she was alive;
felt that the time was not long to wait before she would reappear.
The war clouds had begun to appear as Robert had predicted. Spain and
Japan were threatening the United States. Controversies over airplane
airports arose. Japan had forbidden the United States commercial ships
to land on her soil. Diplomatic relations were not smoothing affairs
out and Robert knew that war was inevitable. Spain had made rapid
progress with airplanes and was anxious to try her power against the
United States. The United States Government was waking up to the fact
of their need of a greater air fleet and the Air Department was making
some great progress. Robert knew they were working on secret plans and
knew that he had something that could be used successfully at the right
time. He was spending money lavishly and working to improve on his
Ezekiel plane. He was keeping everything secret, sending out plans to
different manufacturers and having the parts made, Walter and himself
secretly putting the machine together. Robert had made a large amount
of money buying oil stocks. A big bull campaign in oil stocks had been
brought about by the decreasing oil supply. The Government realizing
the increased demand for gasoline on account of the large amount of
airplanes used, knew that in time of war their success would depend
upon the supply of oil and gas, so a decree was passed conserving
the oil resources. There was still a big foreign demand for oil and
gasoline as war in Europe was still going on. Affairs in England were
in a bad state and revolution was threatened.
April, 1930
Japan declared war on the United States and Spain joined forces with
her. They secured the aid of Mexico and established an air base there.
The United States was unprepared for war as they had not kept up the
programme of building a sufficient air fleet to protect the country
against invasion by such a large fleet as commanded by Japan and
Spain. There was a hasty call by the Government for volunteers to
the Aviation Corps. Robert Gordon and Walter Kennelworth hastened to
Washington, tendered their services to the Government and joined the
Aviation Corps. They were made Lieutenants and ordered immediately
to San Antonio, Texas, where the Southern Aviation Division had its
headquarters. Robert offered the benefit of his experience to the
officials, but older and wiser heads refused to listen to his advice
because they thought he was too young. At that time they knew nothing
about his long years of secret work and his great inventions, but they
soon learned the value of his discovery and patent which he had sold
to Japan,--the muffler which made the airplane silent.
The United States Government fearing that Japan would make the first
attack on the Pacific Coast either around Los Angeles or San Francisco,
rushed the battle fleet to the Pacific. This proved to be one of the
greatest mistakes of the war. As soon as the battleships cruised into
the Pacific, Japan attacked from the air with their noiseless airplanes
and began dropping deadly bombs from great heights. The anti-aircraft
guns from the decks of the battleships were powerless to reach the
bombing planes at such great heights. Defeat was swift and severe and
only a few of the battleships escaped complete destruction from the
first attack. The United States Officers had found that the Japanese
planes could rise more than twice the altitude of the United States
planes. They knew that Japan had some invention that was superior to
ours which enabled them to reach such great heights that their airships
were practically immune from attack. This placed the United States at a
great disadvantage as they were unable to protect the coast cities from
being destroyed by bombs from the Japanese planes.
A council of war was held. The commanding officers were called
together. The President hastily summoned the Cabinet. There was no
minimizing the danger for everyone knew that the ingenuity of Japan
had designed a superior fighting plane; that this was to be a war in
the air and that all old methods and weapons of war were obsolete;
that the United States must move quick and fast to prevent destruction
of the Pacific Coast cities. They decided to confiscate the large
manufacturing plants and start them on making new inventions and the
manufacture of airplanes. Central Steel was confiscated; also Major
Motors and Major Electric Co. The war council decided that they should
scatter their air forces from Brownsville, Texas, up to El Paso to
protect the Rio Grande from attack thru Mexico; that the battle line
should extend up the Colorado River on across to Portland and Seattle.
The land forces were all rushed to the Coast, forming a battle line
from Brownsville, Texas, across to the Northwest to Seattle. It was
decided that this line should be held with reserve forces to be sent to
support a second line of defense running from San Diego up the Coast
to Portland, to protect inland invasion by the foe in case they were
successful in capturing any of the coast cities. People in Los Angeles
and San Francisco were in a state of turmoil. Thousands were leaving
every day by train and airplane, going to the Grand Canyon where there
were no cities and they hoped they would be safe from attacks. Others
went to the central and eastern parts of the United States because they
feared attacks any day.
Japan was quick to follow up her victory gained on the water by
attacking Los Angeles from the air in the middle of May. Here again
the great value of the silent motor was proved and the height to which
the Japanese plane could rise. As the enemy stole over the city in the
silence of the night, not a sound could be heard from their motors at
the great heights which they were sailing. Bombs began to fall in the
business section and the skyscrapers crumbled to pieces. Every street
light was ordered out, leaving the city in total darkness. The people
were aroused at the first noise of exploding bombs and rushed out to
find the city in darkness. This caused a panic. Army officers tried to
quiet the people and keep them in their homes because they realized
the danger if they rushed out into the streets where the bombs were
falling. Powerful searchlights were sweeping the sky in an effort to
locate the invading planes. Then the giant aircraft guns were trained
on the enemy, but the distance was so great and the planes moving so
swiftly, that they were unable to do much damage. They only succeeded
in bringing down three of the bombing planes. The United States
scouting planes were sent out immediately, followed by the fighting
planes carrying 6-inch guns. They found that the Japanese planes were
dropping bombs from a height of 60,000 to 80,000 feet and the United
States planes were unable to rise high enough to attack them.
The battle waged thruout the night and when the sun rose the next
morning, the beautiful city of Los Angeles was in ruins. Thousands of
people had been killed and the most of the important buildings had been
destroyed. The people of Los Angeles were more excited than they had
ever been during earthquakes. The destruction and loss of life were
so great that everyone forgot all about their property and money and
only thought of saving their lives and protecting their loved ones. The
commanding officers held a hasty conference, realizing the great damage
the enemy had done and the small damage they had been able to inflict
upon them and knowing that the enemy would follow this attack by more
attacks it was decided that to force the people to remain meant certain
death and a destruction of the balance of the valuable property, so the
only thing to do was to move the people out as fast as possible and
surrender the city. After the commanders had held this council, news of
their decision was conveyed to the subordinate officers.
Lieutenant Gordon's heart was broken when he realized that the
beautiful city of Los Angeles must be either surrendered or destroyed,
yet he knew that unless the Government quickly made some new and
wonderful inventions, many more defeats were in store. When Captain
George Cooper who was in command of Lieutenant Gordon's company,
received orders that no move was to be made and no scouts to be sent
out until further instructions, he called Lieutenants Gordon and
Kennelworth and conveyed to them the orders. Lieutenant Gordon was
desperate. He wanted to do something to help save the situation, but
to offer his advice to his superior officers was futile. Finally, he
decided to disobey orders and go out on a scouting expedition alone
and see what he could find out. He thought he might locate a Japanese
base, as he believed they had a mother ship somewhere near from which
they were sending out the bombing planes. He was flying very low as
he crossed the line below San Diego. All at once a Japanese plane was
coming straight toward him. He immediately turned his plane and rushed
back across the line followed closely by the enemy who was gaining on
him rapidly. Lieutenant Gordon whirled his plane around quickly and
charged the Japanese plane. The fight lasted for several minutes.
After Lieutenant Gordon had been gone some time and failed to return
Lieutenant Kennelworth knowing that he had disobeyed orders and gone
out with his plane decided that some harm might have come to him and
that he too must disobey orders and go to his rescue. He jumped into
a fast plane and sailed out, going direct toward San Diego. He soon
sighted the two planes in combat and just before he reached the scene,
they went down together. His heart sank within him. He knew it was his
old friend Robert and feared for the worst. Landing along the side of
the wreck he found that the Japanese aviator had been killed. Robert's
leg had been broken; otherwise he was uninjured. He quickly hauled him
aboard his own plane and started back for headquarters and was just
in time as other Japanese planes were approaching and followed him
close into Los Angeles. Lieutenant Gordon was confined to the hospital
three or four weeks before his leg healed and he fully recovered. He
was given a severe reprimand for disobeying orders but because he had
brought down an enemy plane the Government made him a Captain for this
bravery and also promoted Lieutenant Kennelworth, his chum, to the same
rank.
In the meantime, the people had been moved away from Los Angeles as
fast as possible. There had been several minor attacks by the enemy
and more buildings had been destroyed and only a few of the enemy's
planes had been brought down. The situation was desperate. People
were frantic. The United States was hopelessly outnumbered by the
Spanish and Japanese air forces. England was threatening to join forces
with Japan and Spain. An attack on San Francisco was expected at any
hour. People wanted to get away and move east into the mountains for
protection, but the Government had notified everyone to remain. The
fact that the foreign planes were noiseless put the United States at
a great disadvantage. Robert and Walter were using their secret radio
to communicate with each other. They had offered this invention to
the Government and it had been accepted. This was a great help as the
Japanese were unable to intercept their code messages or take any
message from the air because there were none.
The United States Army officers knew that they must fight for time
to get some new inventions ready to combat the enemy. On June 14th,
Los Angeles was surrendered. White flags were run up all over the
city as a signal for the enemy planes to stop attacking. The plan was
to send no message to the enemy headquarters in Mexico but to wait
and see what action they would take or what terms they would offer
to make. General Pearson of the Aviation Corps, General Johnson of
the Cavalry, Admiral Dawson of the Navy and General Marshall of the
Infantry held a council to decide the next and wisest move to make. A
plan was discussed for crossing the Rio Grande into Mexico with land
troops and making an attempt to capture the supply base of the enemy.
General Pearson said that the days of old tactics and war had changed,
that the enemy evidently intended to make this a war in the air and
that they would attack troops from the air. To send an army into the
mountains of Mexico would not only mean the loss of thousands of lives,
which would prove useless, but that part of the air force would have
to be sent into Mexico to protect the army and this would weaken the
coast patrol and give the enemy a chance to make an air attack on other
coast cities. Admiral Dawson said that in the weakened condition of the
Navy, since the disaster from the first attack by the Japanese planes,
it would be foolhardy to attempt any aggressive campaign by the Navy,
that what ships they had were now scattered along the Southern, Eastern
and Western shores for protection and to concentrate them at one
point would only weaken other joints from which they would have to be
withdrawn. General Marshall was of the opinion that the best plan was
not to attack, but let the enemy make the first move every time and try
to find some way to protect the coast cities, that what we needed was
time to get better equipped with sufficient airplanes to cope with the
enemy's superior air force. So it was finally decided that the wisest
course to pursue was a waiting attitude.
There was a panic in Wall Street when the news came of the surrender
of Los Angeles. Edna had been left in charge of the office in New York
and thru the secret Pocket Radio, kept in communication with Walter and
Robert. She was conducting a campaign in the stock market for them and
had made a fortune on the short side of the market. Business was bad,
and the whole country was in a state of turmoil.
After the white flags were floated over the ruins of Los Angeles, days
went by and there were no more attacks by the enemy, nor was any word
received from enemy headquarters. The American patrol planes around Los
Angeles reported occasionally seeing the enemy planes scouting over
the city at great heights, evidently taking observation as to what
was going on. This mysterious action on the part of the enemy was a
source of worry to the commanding officers of the United States. The
people all over the country were in a state of anxiety, wondering where
the enemy would strike next. The Infantry and Cavalry were restlessly
waiting orders to go into action along the Rio Grande.
On the night of August 1st, the enemy planes crossed the Rio Grande
and dropped bombs all along from Brownsville to El Paso, destroying
property and killing more than a hundred thousand men among the
Infantry and Cavalry. The enemy planes were again flying very high. The
anti-craft guns and the attack by our planes did very little damage,
only bringing down five of the enemy planes along the entire lines,
while more than 200 of the American airplanes were destroyed by bombs
dropping on them from above. General Marshall in his report to General
Pearson next day said: "Hell turned loose in the sky last night from
Brownsville to El Paso. Our loss was terrific and the enemy's loss was
very small. There is but one hope and that is to get more and better
airplanes. We must get planes that will rise to a height where they can
reach the enemy and make the fight in the air."
Captain Robert Gordon was still stationed near Los Angeles and when
news came of the terrible loss of life along the Rio Grande, his mind
turned to "Marie the Angel of Mercy,"--his great plane secretly stored
away in the Adirondack Mountains for use in just such an emergency
as this. He knew what the "Demon of Death" could do and the sleeping
gas invented by Captain Kennelworth. He thought of going to General
Pearson, telling him of his discoveries and offering them to the United
States to put into immediate use, but after meditating over the matter
decided that they would only call him a fool and refuse to listen to
him as they had before, because he was too young. However, he asked
General Pearson for orders to permit him to go on a scouting expedition
over Mexico and up and down the Rio Grande to see if he could learn
anything of value.
On the morning of August 3rd, Captain Robert Gordon traveled across
Arizona and New Mexico and as he neared El Paso saw the largest airship
that he had ever seen before slowly drifting over El Paso. It was a
giant plane and Robert knew that it was either a mother ship or one of
the enemy's great bombing planes which had been so high that he had
never been able to see them before. He began circling it at a great
distance, watching to see what this monster of the air was going to
do. Finally, it slowed down and came to a complete standstill. He saw
that it could anchor in the air and knew that the enemy had another
discovery that would beat what the Americans had. Waiting for awhile,
he saw what seemed to be an observation platform emerge from the side
of the plane. An officer appeared on it with some instruments. Captain
Gordon thought that they were either taking photographs or making
observations over El Paso for some purpose. Fortunately, he had started
out on a bombing plane and had plenty of bombs on board. Decided
that he had but one life to give for his country and that he would
rise as high as he could, sail swiftly over this monster and drop his
bombs. When he got as close over it as he could gauge, he released the
automatic control and started dropping bombs one after another. The
first bomb made a hit and struck the ship near the middle, which was
lucky, tearing a terrific hole in it. He knew from the way it acted
that it was badly disabled. Now was the time to get in his effective
work. Dropping lower, he let go more bombs, this time striking the
giant ship both in the front and rear. It started to fall rapidly and
he followed it down and got close enough to see that there were still
men on board alive so he let go more bombs and in a few minutes there
was nothing but a wreck of the greatest dreadnought of death which had
ever floated over American soil.
Before venturing to land Captain Gordon ascended to a great height,
circled the sky to see if there were any more enemy ships in sight
which might endanger his life. Finding the air clear, he immediately
radioed the news with his Pocket-Radio to Captain Kennelworth who was
then stationed at San Diego. The news was quickly flashed to General
Pearson's headquarters. On examination they found that the giant ship
was a mother ship more than 600 feet long, bearing the name of "Tokyo
J-1" and that it carried 25 bombing planes of the most modern type with
collapsible wings and equipped with powerful searchlights carrying
bombs and poisonous gases. It was estimated that more than 100 officers
and aviators were aboard the airship when it fell. All were killed
but two. They were badly wounded with broken limbs and were taken
prisoners. There were found to be three of the enemy's planes that were
not damaged badly. Captain Gordon and Captain Kennelworth tested these
planes after they were put back in working order and found that they
were high altitude planes and could rise higher than any of the planes
used by the United States. This was a great victory because it would
enable the American inventors to find out how these planes were built
and they could also be used against the enemy.
News of this great victory was sent to the President of the United
States. He ordered General Pearson to decorate Captain Gordon with the
Cross of Aviation and convey to him the gratitude of the people of the
United States and the President's sincere personal appreciation. The
afternoon newspapers in every large city in the United States carried
in big headlines "GIANT MOTHER SHIP CAPTURED BY DARING YOUNG AVIATOR,
CAPTAIN ROBERT GORDON." The people thruout the United States breathed
a sigh of relief; felt that the tide was at last turning and that now
some way would be found to destroy more of the enemy's giant ships.
When General Pearson called Captain Gordon before him, he was very
modest and meek because he remembered the severe reprimand before when
he disobeyed orders and brought down the Japanese plane near San Diego.
This time he had acted on instructions from General Pearson and was
very happy to have rendered a great service to his country. As the
General read the message from the President, tears came into his eyes.
He thanked his commanding officer and said that he hoped he might
have many more opportunities to render service to his beloved country.
At that time his thoughts turned to Marie and he wondered where she
might be and if she knew what was happening. He was especially happy
because he had brought this enemy ship down in the State in which he
was born and that State of which he was very proud. Captain Kennelworth
came to congratulate him and said: "Robert, old pal, I am very proud
of you and your great achievement. The Lone Star State of Texas which
was distinguished by its brave sons at the Battle of the Alamo, has
again been distinguished by one of her favorite sons, and Mexico as
well as Spain and Japan will be made to realize that the Texans never
surrender."
After the night attack and the great destruction along the Rio Grande,
the American forces waited anxiously and in peril for another attack.
Days went by without any sign from the enemy. Los Angeles had not been
molested and the mystery was deepening as to what were the enemy's
plans and the next move they would make. General Pearson had ordered
one of the planes from the "Tokyo J-1" sent to the Major Electric
Company in the East where they could experiment with it and make some
planes like it or better ones. He gave one of the planes to Captain
Gordon and the other to Captain Kennelworth to be put into service.
Captain Gordon asked that they be permitted to go into Mexico, locate
the enemy's headquarters and try to destroy more of their ships, but
the General refused to grant this request, saying that he would not
risk the lives of such valuable men or risk losing the ships which
might prove very valuable when the enemy again made an attack.