bombing or area bombing? It was a question of patriotic impor-
tance, and Göring knew it. “Your precision bombing,” he flat-
tered Spaatz, “because that was decisive. A ruined industry was
difficult to replace.... I myself planned to carry out only preci-
sion bombing at the beginning. I wanted to lay a barrier of con-
tact mines around Britain and seal off her ports, but again I was
forced to do otherwise by political Diktat.”
Recalling this unusual dialogue years later in an oral inter-
view, Brigadier General Glenn O. Barcus remembered that
Spaatz asked Göring whether he had any recommendations as to
the improvement of American air power. “Göring kind of
smiled, and said, ‘I should be telling you about how to use air
power!’ “ The verbatim record in Spaatz’s papers shows that he
asked, “If you had to design the Luftwaffe again, what would be
the first airplane you would develop?” “The jet fighter,” said
Göring, “and then the jet bomber. The problem of speed has
been solved. It is now a question of fuel. The jet fighter con-
sumes too much. The Me jet bomber, designed to fly to
America and back, awaited only the final solution of this prob-
lem.”
“Did you have a three-inch gun for the jet?” asked Spaatz.
“The fifty-five-millimeter cannon, which is only now going
into production, would have made a great difference in the jet.
While waiting for that, we were using the fifty-five-millimeter
rocket. You might find some jet airplanes around Germany
equipped with [mm] antitank guns. Don’t blame me for such
monstrosities. This was done on the explicit orders of the
Führer. Hitler knew nothing about the air... absolutely noth-
ing. He even considered the Me to be a bomber, and he in-
sisted it should be called a bomber!”
After this talk they took him into the kitchen of the camp
office, and stripped him of all his medals and insignia except for