Reuben Fleet and the story of Consolidated Aircraft

A sympathetic biography of one of the great tycoons of American aviation. William Wagner wrote it with the cooperation of Reuben Fleet, who sat for a series of interviews to prepare the book, which however was only published after his death. Hence it has something of the character of an autobiography: It is certainly the voice of the subject that we hear. Were criticism is due, Wagner sometimes leaves it to the reader to read between the lines.

The author makes a solid and largely successful effort to convey the complex character of his subject, who clearly was insufferable at times: His ambition, sense of responsibility, patriotism, perfectionism, and business sense; but also his excessive talkativeness, his stubbornness, neglect of his show more family, and difficult to control temper. Fleet belongs firmly to another era; his habit of marrying his secretaries (several in succession) would do more than raise eyebrows in any modern workplace.

Reuben Fleet sold his shares in Consolidated late 1941, a few days before the USA entered the war, mostly because he felt that it was financially opportune. But quite probably also under pressure from the US government, which was of the opinion that Fleet's autocratic one-man rule was no longer right for Consolidated, which was rapidly expanding to meet the demands of US rearmament. This means that this books covers Consolidated history in detail up to 1942, and offers a relatively brief summary of the war years. The story before 1942 is very detailed and interesting, however.

This story shouldn't be taken to be the full truth. For example, Wagner includes a letter from Vice-Admiral Coe, written in 1970, in which the admiral claims that the PBY flying boats based at Pearl Harbour in December 1941 were not used to scout for the approaching Japanese fleet, because the Japanese envoy Kurusu passed through Hawaii on December 6 and the government wanted him to see everything at peace. But this is nonsense: Kurusu Saburo had arrived in Washington DC on 15 November, and Wagner could very easily have checked that. (The USN and US Army did indeed neglect to use its PBYs and other aircraft based on Hawaii for long-range scouting. Lambert & Polmar discuss it in detail in "Defenseless: Command Failure at Pearl Harbour" and there just is no easy explanation for this neglect, which seems to have sprung from the fundamental disbelief of the local commanders in the possibility of a Japanese air attack.)

There are other statements, for example on Ford's construction and operation of the Willow Run plant to build B-24s, that seem a bit unlikely. Probably Wagner took the point of view that Fleet's tall tales, if they were, should be preserved for posterity regardless of their truthfulness. Never waste a good story, etc. And probably it's a good thing.

The conservative, combative Reuben Fleet (a lifelong and committed Republican, but on good personal terms with FDR, because those were better times) was a force to be reckoned with. He was a historically significant figure, with his strengths and flaws. Maybe this is not the kind of biography that would be written today; but it's still worth reading today. show less