Douglas's Request

When news of Scott's acquisition of the Douglas Aircraft Company reached Australasia, Arthur was immediately surprised, and even somewhat excited and relieved.

The economic crisis had arrived several years earlier than it had in history, leaving Arthur unfamiliar with some of America's famous companies.

Aside from companies like Boeing Company, whose names were so familiar that he could recall them immediately, Arthur had left the other smaller companies to the intelligence agents, telling them to acquire them as they saw fit.

As a result, Arthur had forgotten about the Douglas Aircraft Company, an aircraft manufacturer that would not rise to prominence for more than a decade, and had nearly let Douglas slip through the net during the great bargain-hunting operation.

The reason Arthur reacted so strongly was that the transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company in the 1930s had been far too famous.

Just how exaggerated was it? One president had once said that if he were given fifty DC-3 transport planes, he would not even have to worry about an extremely important transport highway being occupied.

That famous saying alone revealed the importance of the DC-3 transport plane. This model had been launched by Douglas Company in 1936.

What Australasia currently lacked in aviation was precisely the kind of transport aircraft Douglas excelled at.

Together with Boeing Company's aircraft series, Australasia could even form three giants in aircraft manufacturing: the Royal Aircraft Manufacturing Plant, the Douglas Aircraft Company, and Boeing Company.

The aircraft fields covered by these three giants encompassed every kind of military and civilian aircraft, and would also propel Australasia's aircraft design and construction capabilities forward by a great leap.

To prevent complications from dragging on, Arthur immediately ordered all intelligence agents, through Director Barty, to do everything they could to help Boeing Company and