March 7, 1918 - Bennett give order to go to France, and a visit to Whitehead Aircraft Ltd.

Don Martin diary entry for Thursday, March 7, 1918:

Another air raid – started 11:30 – over 1:45.

Looks as if I shall go to the front. Mr. Bennett wires to go to Paris and stay at the Crillon Hotel where he will engage a room. Things coming along very well so far. Left at 10 a.m. to visit J. A. Whitehead of the Aircraft Co. Went through his big plant which turns out 150 aeroplanes a month. Attended a luncheon at his beautiful home on the Thames near Richmond after a pleasant automobile ride through the country. Made a speech which seemed to take pretty well. About 70 prominent men – editors among them – present.

[John Alexander Whitehead was a real entrepreneur and self promoter, who built up Whitehead Aircraft Ltd. from scratch starting in 1915. He got badly in debt and at the end of the war it went bankrupt and he went on to other ventures, eventually establishing successful apple orchards to compete with imported North American apples. The photo shows Whitehead and his wife with the Mayor of Richmond and wife.]
Got back at six. Went to office and while talking to Champion about the orders to go to Paris heard sirens. No one was expecting an air raid. He and I came up to the Savoy. I hung round the lobby after standing on Waterloo Bridge till the barrage started. Heard no bombs but saw place of big fire. Came to my room at 1:45 a.m.

Weather delightful

Comments

‘New war with Israel at any moment’, ‘still digging through rubble’

The news about Iran has taken an ominous tone in the last couple days. Here is some reporting and commentary. Newsweek on August 18, 2025, reported that Yahya Rahim Safavi, senior military adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said ‘ We are not in a ceasefire; we are in a stage of war. No protocol, regulation, or agreement has been written between us and the U.S. or Israel. A new war with Israel could break out at any moment .’ Yonah Jeremy Bob commented in The Jerusalem Post on August 19, 2025, that ‘ Khamenei can either “drink from the poisoned chalice” of diplomatic concessions … or face more airstrikes, possibly next time some targeting him directly ’. Bob also noted that ‘ right now Iran is still digging through rubbl e’. The U.S. attacked Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan on June 22. Two months of digging. No surprise that there has been no public news about that.

U.S. Sanctions, Middle East views

Trump’s special envoy Witkoff has hit the capitals again; in Tel Aviv Netanyahu probably told him to tell Trump that he will take over all of Gaza; in Moscow Putin probably told him to tell Trump that Ukraine will be destroyed and forget the sanctions. Witkoff didn’t get to number 3 on his list, Iran. But Trump played another ‘ getting to a deal ’ with Iran card, adding sanctions he can later get credit for removing. And the Middle East commentators are worriedly reacting to the Iran situation. Here are some highlights. From Newsweek: The U.S. announced on July 30 the largest Iran-related sanctions since 2018 , targeting entities and vessels linked to the country's petroleum sector: 20 oil firms, 5 vessel management companies, 1 wholesaler, and over 115 individuals in 17 countries and regions, including the U.K., Italy, Switzerland, India, the UAE and Hong Kong. U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said: "Today's Depar...

Assessing possible outcomes of the snapback mechanism

The initiation by the E3 of the 30-day snapback mechanism in the UN Security Council makes everything more difficult and there is great uncertainty about the outcome. Will it be peaceful with a new nuclear deal with Iran, negotiated by the U.S., endorsed by the UNSC and verified by IAEA, or will Iran withdraw from NPT with further military action by Israel and the U.S.? To perhaps shed a little light on what the outcome will be, here is my analysis of how the players - Iran, U.S. and E3 - may be assessing the acceptability of the range of outcomes. Four levels of acceptability were used: 1 Fully acceptable; 2 Less acceptable; 3 Just acceptable; and 4 Not acceptable. Four near term 30-day outcomes are listed, and two optimistic outcomes with an interim U.S.-Iran agreement reached within a 6-month extension. For the 30-day near term, the best outcome would b...

Search This Blog