The Fly Boys Read Online Free PDF

airplanes to the government during a war?”
    “How many?” Teddy persisted.
    “Four thousand,” Gold said, and found himself grinning.
    Teddy laughed knowingly. “Thinking about big sales figures always
did
help you to relax. And the year before, we built two thousand of them, plus a couple of thousand Bear-Claw fighters.”
    “But the BearClaw orders dried up as newer fighter designs became available from the competition,” Gold said quickly, getting
     upset all over again. “That’s what I’m worried about, Teddy! I’m convinced that piston-engine technology has gone as far as
     it can go. If GAT is going to stay on top, it’s going to have to continue to meet the challenge of developing new aviation
     technology.”
    Teddy held up his hand like a traffic cop. “Herman, you and me go back, what, over twenty years?”
    “Yeah, so?”
    “So spare me the stockholder’s speech. I’m your best friend. I’ve been with you from the beginning, put GAT stock at the ground
     floor. Today, thanks to you, I’m a rich man. You don’t have to convince me of anything. Just tell me what you want. Do we
     try to redesign the XP-4, or—”
    “No way,” Gold cut him off. “No sense throwing good money after bad. That drafting table over there is calling to me,” he
     continued. “Know what it’s saying? Come back to the drawing board. And that’s what we’re going to do.”
    “Okay, Herm. I’ll get my department started on it.” Teddy frowned. “But starting from scratch is going to take time.”
    “I don’t care. At this point, no matter what we do there’s no way were going to be first with a viable jet fighter for the
     military. For instance, my contacts in Washington tell me that Larry Bell’s outfit in upstate New York is working on something
     the government supposedly likes a lot.”
    “And right here in California, Lockheed is supposed to have a very promising turbojet fighter in the works,” Teddy nodded.
     “Yeah, I see your point.”
    “And who knows what the other companies have up their sleeves?”
    “You’re not worried about it?” Teddy asked.
    “Sure, I am,” Gold said gruffly. “I’m scared shitless that we’ll be left behind, but remember one thing, buddy. It’s not about
     being first, it’s about being the best!”
    Teddy laughed. “I just wanted to hear you say it, Herman.”
    Gold had to laugh as well. “You do know me, Teddy.”
    “You bet your ass, I do.”
    “Our asses are already on the line,” Gold reminded him.
    “But not for the first time,” Teddy countered. “And not for the last.”
    “But the older they get, the fonder of them we become,” Gold pointed out. “So get the hell out of here and design me an airplane.”
    Gold left instructions to his secretaries to hold all calls. He wanted to clear his desk of some backed-up paperwork, but
     after a fidgety half hour he threw in the towel, admitting to himself that the XP-4 fiasco had him too upset and depressed
     to concentrate.
    He was feeling jumpy and threatened, he thought as he took off his reading glasses and massaged the bridge of his nose. He
     wished that he smoked—the advertisements had it that smoking calmed the nerves—but he’d never taken up the habit: tobacco
     gave him headaches.
    He briefly considered taking the rest of the day off and going to the movies, but all the pictures had gung-ho war themes.
     Watching them would only make him brood about his son, Steven.
    Gold had pleaded with his only son to let him use his contacts to get the kid a safe assignment out of combat, but Steve had
     insisted on front-line combat duty. The boy’s determination had caused some hard feelings between father and son in the past,
     but now, as much as Gold worried about his son risking himself in the war, he had long ago gotten over being angry with the
     kid about it. He had to admit that he was proud of Steve, who was a fighter ace who’d been shot down and wounded, but who
     had the guts to