Robert K. Awtrey
Commander, U.S. Navy (ret.)

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John W. Whitman replies: I have no problems with your comments and agree with almost all of them. Your main point seems to be that you wanted additional details about MacArthur, the war warnings, blame and the absence of surprise. You acknowledge that my intention was to describe the December 10 Cavite attack. That is true. I concentrated on aviation issues. The war warning situation, MacArthur's responsibilities, lack of strategic surprise on December 8 and official blame are quite separate matters and would not have fit in an article on Cavite written for aviation enthusiasts.

You state that "MacArthur made no special preparations after receipt of the November 26 war warning." Not true. My research on the Japanese invasion of the Philippines has numerous pages concerning MacArthur's orders and subsequent responses to those orders. I could not have included that detail in the Cavite article, nor would it have been appropriate.

You cited a different source saying that three-quarters of MacArthur's fighter strength had been destroyed at Clark Field on December 8. I said 37 percent of MacArthur's modern (Curtiss P-40) fighter strength had been destroyed on December 8. Your source might have counted planes lost only at Clark and Iba while I took all of MacArthur's P-40s into account, even those not engaged–aircraft undergoing repair and two P-40 squadrons in the air that did not intercept the Japanese. Thus the difference.

Noorduyn On Noorduyn

I want to draw your attention to a misstatement of facts in C.V. Glines' article "Fokker: The Flying Dutchman" in the September 1998 issue. Page 43 contains two errors regarding Robert B.C. Noorduyn: 1. He did not design the Fokker Universal. That aircraft was designed in Holland by Rheinhold Platz. Most of the Universals were assembled in the Fokker factory in Teterboro, N.J., using components built in Holland. Several of them were sold to customers in Canada for use in transporting supplies and personnel in the far north. Noorduyn was responsible for the Super Universal, which incorporated modifications to the basic aircraft resulting from input from Bernt Balchen and Canadian owner/operators. 2. Noorduyn's Norseman was not a "spinoff of the Universal." It was a completely new design, and its only similarity to the Universal was that it was also a high-wing, single-engine monoplane.

Robert H. Noorduyn
Columbus, Ohio

C.V. Glines replies: I assume that Robert B.C. Noorduyn is a close relative of yours, so I take your comments very seriously. I want to thank you for taking the time to write, and I'm glad to be corrected. Please know that I do not enjoy being incorrect in my writing and always use the best references I can obtain.

From the references I consulted, it is my understanding that Noorduyn did design the Universal, and I would appreciate knowing if you can refer me to a reliable source that will confirm that Platz was the original designer. It certainly does make sense that it would have been designed in Holland, so I don't dispute what you say.

I flew the Norseman while in the U.S. Air Force and liked it very much. Perhaps you don't like the word "spinoff" in my assertion, but it certainly seems not too far from reality to assume that it had some of the flying and/or design characteristics of the Universal and Super Universal.

Thanks again for writing. I would be interested to learn about your background and connection with Robert B.C. Noorduyn. He was a highly respected designer and engineer.

Bull Date Questioned

I read each issue of Aviation History with great pleasure. That is why I cannot leave two statements in the "People and Planes" department of the May 1998 issue unchallenged regarding the Bruning flight with bulls from Westport, Mass., to Italy in 1947. On page 8, the article states, "Animals that big [bulls] hadn't been transported by air before…." This is incorrect, or (dare I say it?) a lot of bull. The first air transport of a live bull took place in 1924, when KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flew a bull from Rotterdam in Holland, to Paris, France, in one of its Fokker F.3s. Perhaps the author meant to say that "animals that big hadn't been transported by air before in the United States."

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