ABSTRACT
By the end of August 1943, after five years of constant pressure, Tedder was a tired man, despite the exhilaration of unexpected love with Toppy Black. Eisenhower, primed by Toppy, encouraged him to pay more attention to physical comfort, especially when travelling by air. Hitherto, Tedder had commuted from end to end of his vast command in whatever aircraft was handy. On landing, he would emerge either frozen or cooked, certainly deafened, and with his slight frame sadly strained. The Americans therefore gave him a Douglas DC-3 Dakota with soundproofing, thick carpets, curtained windows and six well-padded reclinable seats, four of them placed round a conference table. There was even a proper lavatory and wash-basin. Inspired by Toppy’s delight, Tedder had ‘her’ (not ‘it’, she insisted) painted light blue, in honour of his beloved Cambridge University – and in memory of his last bluebirds: FE 2b biplanes, painted to mark his elevation to command a flight in 25 Squadron, exactly 27 years earlier.1
