I am amazed at how often the allied leaders seemed to have conferences given how long travel took in the 1940’s. How long and what routes did FDR, Churchill and Stalin take to get to the various allied leadership conferences? How did they secure these routes to protect the leaders?
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FDR travelled by Battleship, in this case yhe USS Iowa. This brings us to discussion of the USS William D. Porter, more famously known as the Willy Dee. They formed part of the escirt group. They conducted a torpedo demonstration for the President and fired a live torpedo directly at the Iowa with the President on board. Iowa evaded the torpedo which detonated 3000 yards astern of Iowa.
Thereafter whenever the Willy Dee approached another US Ship, she was greeted with the signal “Don’t shoot, we’re Republicans!”
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Ahh… Willie D, the meme ship that comes close to the Russian Baltic Fleet in terms of meme quality.
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FDR crossed the Atlantic by ship and by air. For instance, by the Boeing B-314 flying boat (4 engines) “Dixie Clipper” in January 1943 on his way to the ‘Casablanca’ conference. Churchill went by air and sea.
The only one who didn’t was Stalin, who hated to fly, and so would only attend conferences he could take a train to. When asked to go places he would have to fly to, he would refuse. (For instance, asked to go to someplace other than Teheran for the “Big Three” conference, he said he’d be at Teheran, and hoped the others could show up.)
Hope this helps!
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