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the nucleus of the next stage of the project. The first
definite progress having been made, I now had some
assurance that our plan would succeed. It is easy to
understand, therefore, how disappointed I was, when
the gentleman involved told me a week later that,
unfortunately, he could not keep his promise. This
doomed the plan to failure.
Since I did not, however, wish to give up all hope
for concrete results, I called upon Duff Cooper, the
former First Lord of the Admiralty, who was then
on a lecture tour of the United States. I asked him if
he could put me in touch with Winston Churchill,
then the First Lord of the Admiralty. He was
immediately sympathetic, and a telegram was sent
to Churchill in which we asked if a certain number
of English planes could be placed at our disposal in
Finland. I would secure the necessary pilots and
ground crews in the United States. The answer came
almost immediately and was affirmative. At last it
looked as if the project could be carried out. I
thereupon set out on a lecture tour to different parts
of the country in order to collect money for Finland.
It was the first time that I had the opportunity of
working with Elsa Brändström, who was also
interested in Finland’s cause. It was a great help
to know that I had as an ally so charming a person.
Incidentally, I heard that a rather well-known man
in America, Colonel Sweeny, who belonged to the
American air group operating in Europe during
World War I under the name of ”Lafayette
Esquadrille”, was interested in engaging pilots for
voluntary service in the French Air Force. I asked him if
he would not, instead, concentrate his interest on
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