The tunnel thru the air

by William D. Gann

Supreme Commander Gordon decided to take no chances with the captured planes which were in the Tunnel thru the Air and ordered the sleeping gas turned on to put all the aviators to sleep for seven days. After waiting till after 12 o'clock for further attacks and finding the air clear with no signs of the enemy in sight, he decided to retire and get some sleep. This was the greatest day since the beginning of the war. He was very happy and knelt to offer his thanks to Almighty God. He said: "Lord, thou workest in mysterious ways thy wonders to perform. I know that by faith and thru faith were all things made. I have put my trust and my confidence in thee. Thou hast guided me safely and helped me protect my country in time of greatest need. God, not my will, but thine be done, but if it be thy will, I pray thee that when these trials and troubles pass away and once the United Kingdom of the World is established and all men live as brothers according to the law of love, it be a part of thy divine plan to return to me in safety my beloved Marie. Guide me in this great task to protect and save my country from the enemies who would destroy it. Amen."

November 25th, 1931, was a great day for the United States. They had more to be thankful for than any day since November, 1918, when the great World War had come to a close. After conferring with his commanding officers and Government officials, Supreme Commander Gordon gave orders that no newspapers were to be permitted to publish anything about the attack upon Detroit, that it was to be kept strictly a secret.

There was not much to be thankful for in the camp of the enemy. Failure of any of the planes sent out the night before to return and no message being received from them, made it plain that the United States was not bluffing and that Supreme Commander Gordon knew what he had up his sleeve when he hurled defiance at the enemy and refused to accept any terms. They were not aware of the fact that when he defied them to come and take Detroit, he must have been anxiously awaiting the attack and had something new that he wanted to try out on the enemy planes, and that it had been successful. It was now a time to move cautiously. The next and future moves must be made in a way to conserve their resources and assure final success.

Everything was quiet and no move or attack was made until December 7th, when the enemy held a council and decided that a gigantic attack on Detroit should be made; that they should concentrate a large part of their forces there; destroy the factories and take Detroit; then proceed to attack New York and the Eastern Coast. The plan was to make a daylight attack and, if possible, to surprise Supreme Commander Gordon. About 3 o'clock in the afternoon the enemy planes were seen approaching from the East and West. He saw that this was to be a gigantic attack because there was a larger number of planes than they had used at any time since the attack of Chicago. Before he could get the Tunnel machines in working order and establish a wider range in the Tunnel thru the Air, the enemy planes had begun dropping bombs on the outskirts of the city and had destroyed many of the smaller buildings. The United States planes were attacked and being unable to rise to the heights at which the enemy planes were flying, a great many of our planes went down, but in a few minutes the Tunnel thru the Air was in working order and the enemy planes began to be drawn into it. Within less than an hour more than 2500 planes had been captured. The loss of life around the city had been small because the bombs which had been dropped had not reached the thickly populated sections of the city and no plane had been able to reach the factories or business sections where the large buildings were. The Tunnel thru the Air was protecting and keeping them away from these sections. Canadian planes had come to the assistance of the United States on the Northern border and were patrolling the other side of the river and preventing the enemy from attacking from the North.

About 5 o'clock, the gigantic concentrated attack took place. It was estimated that there were more than 25,000 planes of the enemy in this attack. They were supported by about 10 supply ships which sailed at a great distance and were attempting to anchor. Supreme Commander Gordon knew that it was necessary to sacrifice some of the American planes in order to draw this attacking force into the Tunnel thru the Air. He sent more than 1000 of our best planes to meet the attack and lead the enemy in the right direction. The enemy turned loose their large 12-inch guns and they destroyed our ships rapidly. Planes were falling all over Detroit. The people were very much frightened and thought that this was going to be another disaster such as had occurred in Chicago. Finally Captain Morrison changed plans and led the enemy toward the Tunnel thru the Air. Soon more than 10,000 of their planes had gone into the Tunnel never to return again. When this large fleet of planes went down and evidently were no longer able to communicate with the giant supply ships which were not yet anchored, the enemy quickly changed plans and the supply ships sailed back toward Chicago, followed by the balance of the invading fleet which had not been captured.

When all reports were in, Supreme Commander Gordon found that the United States had lost about 400 of their best planes, but had captured more than 12,000 of the enemy planes. He was very greatly elated over this victory because he knew that when the enemy planes retreated, it was the first time they had ever returned to their base without a report of victory. He felt that this would break the morale of the enemy; make them more cautious in the future; give him more time now to complete his invisible airplane and the one which would rise to any altitude. When this was completed together with other machines for establishing Tunnels thru the Air, the balance would be easy and a mere question of time until the enemy could all be destroyed or put to sleep. People thruout the United States were still in a panicky, restless state. Ever since the attacks at Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Kansas City, New Orleans and the Southern part of Texas, every large and small town all over the country had remained in a state of fear, expecting an attack at any moment. Hundreds of thousands of people had moved from the Pacific Coast and from the Central and Eastern parts of the United States into the mountains of the West and the Grand Canyon. They felt that there were no large cities and nothing to attack around the Grand Canyon and that it was the safest place to go. Thousands of people were living in tents and there was a great scarcity of food and much suffering.

Supreme Commander Gordon decided that the people should be given some encouragement and that the news of the failure of the second attack upon Detroit should be given to the newspapers; thought it would encourage and cheer the people. On the morning of December 8th, all the newspapers thruout the United States, carried big headlines: "DETROIT ATTACKED THE SECOND TIME BY THE ENEMY FORCES BUT DEFEATED. THOUSANDS OF THEIR PLANES HAVE BEEN CAPTURED. THERE HAS BEEN PRACTICALLY NO LOSS OF LIFE AND NO IMPORTANT BUILDINGS DESTROYED." The papers emphasized the fact that this meant the turn of the war and that the placing of Supreme Commander Gordon at the head of our forces had saved the country and that there was no longer need for any great alarm. It was a question of only a few months till the war would be over and the enemy would be driven from our soil.

The defeat at the second attack of Detroit had indeed put the fear of God in the hearts of the Enemy, but they had not by any means lost hope. They were getting recruits rapidly from Europe. Every nation was building airplanes as fast as the factories could turn them out and sending them to the United States to aid their allies. Practically every nation on the face of the earth, outside of France, Canada and a few countries in South America and Australia, had joined against the United States. This encouraged the Enemy and they felt that no matter what the United States had, in the end they would not be able to win. The great problem now was to find out what the Americans were using in order to capture the enemy planes and what discovery they had to prevent their communications. The Enemy were unable to find out anything about the American plans. They demanded to know what had happened to the captured aviators, whether they were living or dead. Supreme Commander Gordon refused to give any information whatsoever about prisoners; replied that reports of anything in regard to prisoners or planes would be made after the war was over and after the Enemy had surrendered and were ready to leave our soil. This greatly aroused the Japanese, Spanish and Germans who decided to redouble their efforts to take Detroit and then attack the Eastern Coast of the United States.

Days went by and everything was quiet in Detroit. No attacks were made anywhere in the United States. December 25th, 1931, arrived and the United States had much to be thankful for. There was a great rejoicing and merry-making on Christmas. Supreme Commander Gordon had a great Christmas. The Major Electric Co. had been working on the process for making planes invisible and reported to him that they had completed the process according to his plans and that it was a success. They had also completed a new motor which he had designed with 24 cylinders. This motor was to be used in lifting our planes to great heights. It was estimated that it would carry a ship 50 miles in the air if necessary. A stabilizer and anchor had been completed in accordance with his plans. The Major Electric Co. informed him that these machines were all ready for him to test out. He ordered these new inventions to be sent to New York headquarters. A large 24-cylinder motor was placed in "Marie the Angel of Mercy" and she was made an invisible airship. This motor was able to take its power from the air.

Supreme Commander Gordon went to New York on January 1st, 1932, leaving Colonel Morrison in charge in Detroit and ordering General Pearson to Detroit to hold the fort until he completed the test in New York. Supreme Commander Gordon accompanied only by Colonel Edna Kennelworth made the first flight in "Marie the Angel of Mercy," ascended to a height of more than 20 miles and anchored the "Marie" in the air. The new inventions were a perfect success and the machine could rise to any height and anchor and remain as long as it was desired and was absolutely invisible.