How did Roosevelt get to Cairo & Yalta?

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Von Schadewald
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How did Roosevelt get to Cairo & Yalta?

#1

Post by Von Schadewald » 25 Apr 2007, 20:03

How and by what route did Roosevelt use to travel from the USA to the Cairo & Tehran conferences in 1943, and the Yalta conference in 1945, and back?

JamesL
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#2

Post by JamesL » 25 Apr 2007, 22:02

In 1943 FDR flew to Africa aboard a Boeing Flying Boat, the Dixie Clipper. His route generally was as follows: Miami, Fl > Trinidad > Belm, Brazil > Bathurst, Gambia. From Bathurst he flew aboard a C-54 military transport to Casablanca. He returned to the USA in the same way.




In 1945 FDR traveled to Malta aboard the cruiser USS Quincy. From there FDR flew aboard the Sacred Cow, a C-54 military transport built specifically for the president, to Saki (near Yalta). On Feb. 12, 1945 the Sacred Cow returned the President to the USS Quincy at Cairo, Egypt.


Von Schadewald
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#3

Post by Von Schadewald » 26 Apr 2007, 03:20

Interesting. Did the journeys affect his health? Approx how long would a C54 take to fly from Brazil to Gambia and at what altitude?

JamesL
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#4

Post by JamesL » 26 Apr 2007, 04:04

FDR crossed the South Atlantic aboard a Flying Boat, not a C-54. The 2,100 mile trip took 19 hours at a cruising altitude of 9,000 feet. Apparently he did quite well during the trip.
Here is a snip from American History magazine.
__________________
“On the morning of January 12, the two flying boats left Trinidad and headed southeast along the South American coast and across the equator to Belm, Brazil, on the Amazon delta. Late that afternoon, as the clippers refueled, the president visited with the air transport command officers who ferried aircraft across the South Atlantic to West Africa and on to the North African theater. Then it was time to begin the longest leg of the trip, the 2,100-mile crossing to Bathurst, in the British West African colony of Gambia. The two Boeings had to fight stiff headwinds during a 19-hour flight, but Roosevelt endured it with equanimity, enjoying cocktails, dinner, and a good night's sleep.

“Roosevelt rose early the next day and was driven across Bathurst to Yundum Field, where an army C-54 transport plane was waiting to take him to Casablanca.

“The final flight required the C-54 to climb to nearly 15,000 feet to cross the Atlas Mountains, and Admiral McIntire grew concerned about the effect the altitude would have on Roosevelt. The president did have to take what he described to Suckley as "a few whiffs of oxygen," but the flight went smoothly, and the president's plane reached Casablanca on the evening of January 14.”
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By 1945 a special C-54 had been built for the president. It was named the Sacred Cow. It had an elevator to lift the president into the airplane. I gather the entire plane was pressurized and could fly at 30,000 feet altitude.

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#5

Post by Von Schadewald » 26 Apr 2007, 13:41

Doesn't sound like much opportunity for the Axis to carry out a "Yamamoto" type airborne assassination, even if his route had leaked out!

A real change in history might have occurred when in August 1941 Churchill transferred from the HMS POW to the USS Augusta to meet Roosevelt in Placentia Bay.

WI a lurking U boat, U-47 Scapa Flow style, thinking it was the POW had sunk the US cruiser by mistake, with both leaders and their aides drowning.

Hitler offers an immediate profuse apology to the US, whilst gloating at Churchill's death.

I think VP Wallace would accept the apology.

Without Churchill's rodomontade, the fire is totally taken out of the British belly, and Lord Halifax reaches a deal with Hitler. Pearl Harbour is delayed. Russia falls in early 1942.

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Lornito Uriarte Mahinay Jr.
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#6

Post by Lornito Uriarte Mahinay Jr. » 27 Apr 2007, 10:47

Did the Germans knew Roosevelt's travels?

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#7

Post by Carl Schwamberger » 13 May 2007, 23:43

Not very well. German intellegence gathering had many areas not covered. They had too few agents in the US for broad coverage, and none in critical high level venues. Worse was that the analyiss of the data brought home was fragmented between many departments. These departments did not cooperate & even worked against each other. Admiral Canaris developed a sour attitude towards the social policys of Hitler & the nazis in general. This seems to have affected his role as head of the Abwehr. Another problem was that the British were able to locate & nuetralize every agent the Germans sent to Britian.

One of the most sucessfull intellgence efforts of the Germans was the penetration of the US AT3 voice encryption or scrambler system. The AT3 system guarded the radio/telephone link between the US Embassy in London and a comm center in Washington DC. This communications channel was used by many US & British offcials for coordination discussions and settling critical questions between departments on the opposite sides of the Atlantic. A key supplement to the millions of documents and messages through more ordinary channels that went back & forth. Roosevelt & Churchill used this telephone link several times to dicuss critical questions and to cap off their regular written messages. Hitler recived written summarys of the Roosevelt/Churchill converstations imeadiately after they occured. This intel source lasted from early 1941 through early or mid 1943. the Germans had some sucess with penetrating or breaking other US & British radio communications as well.

It is possible or likely that bits about Roosevelts travel intenerary were intercepted via the AT3 source, or one of the other signals intel penetrations. If so the evidence may be still lying in the archive of German intelelgence records that was preserved.

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Re: How did Roosevelt get to Cairo & Yalta?

#8

Post by quincyca71 » 16 Oct 2013, 01:33

My Dad was on USS Quincy with FDR. He met him in captains Qtrs when he had to fix telephone...I'm looking for fellow shipmates of my Dad who served on Quincy 1943 to 1946...First ship to fire upon Normandy beachhead...Miss my dear departed and wish to hear from the brave guys who served along with him. My Dad always said FDR was a true gentleman and had an air about him which showed strength despite his poor health."The galloping ghost of the Normandy coast"

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