74 | John W. Warner IV or on foot, but by a newly-built airship of some kinda slow, hovering, loitering airship. One able to land anywhere, even on a mountain peak. I remember that vividly because I thought it was a silly idea, since as a fighter pilot I cherish speed and maneuverability above all. Any classified Luftwaffe program regarding obsolete airships would not be of interest to me, Im an aircraft man. But you see 1 Zagros range? Bernie stood abruptly. By airship? He paced, scratching at his beard. An obsolete Zeppelin? Why would anyone, especially the well-funded Ahnenerbe, take a lumbering, flammable gasbag all the way from Germany over Bulgaria and friendly Turkey down to the Iraqi desert mountains with all the high winds and snowy valleys and…Bernie paused to muse the unusual and confusing information. Diesel engines, hydrogen gas, 30,000-pound cargo lifting capacity, but a lumbering antique today. Thats just insane, by going low and slow in some deep gorge theyd be crushed into a mountain face by one strong gust in one of the most rugged, high-altitude places in the goddam Middle East, and its in British hands now after the Iraqi uprising failed. Somehow I knew that Fuhrer Directive was folly. Rashid Ali was no fool, and the Muslim Brotherhood is untrustworthy despite their ferocity. Hitler doesnt understand the desert peoples like I do.Too many competing clans and religious factions. You can build them up with advisors and equipment one day and expect loyalty, then the next they will turn on you like opportunist jackals. Who can blame them? Bernie looked out the window, guards were posted everywhere. Ja-ja, I remember. The Brits and Arabs learned their lessons in the last war in Palestine. Anyway, the Russians are in Iran with the Brits as well, they invaded it. American troops are there too, we Yanks built the Trans-Iranian Line railway and shipped in locomotives. Sixty Russian divisions are supplied by our materiel. From Persian Gulf ports up to Russia via the long way? So the Mongol hordes will be supplied from the south too. Regrettable. Look, Walter, none of this makes sense. The Hindenburg never flew very high, mostly stayed below the clouds due to its pressure height, the gas loses its lifting power higher up. It cant possibly work in the high-altitude mountains, even a smaller airship. That is.. .all I can remember. There were many new Wunderwaffe projects on the drawing tables at the Skoda Works in Pilzen, hundreds, thousands. In any case, thats a hell of a slow, low-altitude target for an allied fighter or any armed aircraft to bring down. Why the Sam Houston would they go to all the trouble…