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Lt. General Frank Maxwell Andrews. Source: Wikipedia

Question

What was the purpose of Lt. Gen. Andrews' flight in May, 1943 aboard the B-24 Liberator Hot Stuff?

Was it a routine inspection tour of remote facilities as some sources indicate?

Or was it a flight home to the USA for an important meeting (with perhaps the "inspection tour" being a cover story for security), taking the opportunity to pilot the B-24 Hot Stuff on its way home to the USA for a war bond tour after being the first heavy bomber to complete its 25th mission (not the Memphis Belle, by the way)?

Background

While researching an answer to this question asking why Eisenhower was chosen to be Supreme Allied Commander in Europe (more on that later this week in another question, by the way), I came across some interesting and inconsistent information about Lt. Gen. Frank Andrews flight which ended in his death in the crash in Iceland on May 3, 1943. Some sources (below) indicate the purpose of this flight was merely an inspection tour, while other sources (below) indicate Andrews had been summoned back to Washington D.C. to meet with Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall, ostensibly to receive a promotion with his 4th star and to be given the position of Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force (SCAEF), the position which then went to Eisenhower because of Andrews' untimely death.

Sources indicating the flight was merely an inspection tour:

Sources which indicate it was a flight back to the USA for an important meeting with the Chief of Staff:

Note:
I have found some additional potentially credible sources (looking for primary sources) which support the claim that Andrews (for whom Andrews AFB is named) was the original choice for SCAEF, not Eisenhower, which lends tangent or indirect support to the claim Andrews may have been on his way home for the appointment. (This is also controversial because I have also found other credible sources which either contradict this or neglect to mention it at all in the context of SCAEF and SHAEF topics. But this is worth another separate Question).

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Kerry L
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    I was not familiar with Lt. Gen. Andrews. Your question sent me scrambling to read up on him. I did not know Gen Andrews actually replaced Ike as Commander of US Forces Europe (January 1943) when Ike became Supreme Allied Commander North Africa in Nov 1942. Thank you for the interesting read. –  Dec 10 '18 at 18:21
  • Do you have access to volume 3 of The Papers of George Catlett Marshall? – sempaiscuba Dec 10 '18 at 19:34
  • @sempaiscuba - no, everything I have been poring through on George C Marshall thus far is what I have been able to dig up out of the National Archives – Kerry L Dec 10 '18 at 19:40
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    I know that Hap Arnold expressed a belief that Andrews was to have been given the position of Supreme Allied Commander in his memoirs, but I don't remember if Marshall said anything about Andrews in his papers, and I don't have access to a copy here. – sempaiscuba Dec 10 '18 at 19:51
  • @AaronBrick - I ordered this morning from Amazon a copy of this book ... (cont'd) – Kerry L Dec 10 '18 at 19:55
  • @AaronBrick there is also this quote from the Nashville Post article (linked in the Q): Many of the best-known American participants in the Second World War sat for oral history interviews in the decades afterward. Lieut. Gen. James H. Doolittle, winner of the Medal of Honor for leading the U.S. surprise bombing attack on Tokyo in April 1942, echoed the words of several other interviewees when asked about Andrews: "He would have been the Eisenhower, at least, if not more. He was a great man, of great breadth of concept, and he would have been one of the truly great leaders." – Kerry L Dec 10 '18 at 19:56
  • @AaronBrick and this, from same NP Article: After Churchill and Roosevelt met at Casablanca, Morocco in January 1943 to settle on a plan for defeating Nazi Germany, they issued a communiqué naming a new commander of all U.S. armed forces in the European Theater, in charge of preparing to invade the Continent. They chose Lt. Gen. Andrews at the recommendation of General George Marshall, Army chief of staff ... (cont'd) – Kerry L Dec 10 '18 at 19:58
  • @AaronBrick (cont'd) - Marshall had earlier placed Andrews in command of all U.S. forces around the Panama Canal and in the Caribbean, then put him in charge of U.S. troops in the Middle East from a Cairo command post. "Then I finally moved him to England," Marshall recalled after the war. Of all his generals, the architect of America's war effort remembered, Andrews was "the only one I had a chance to prepare all around" to command the invasion of Europe. – Kerry L Dec 10 '18 at 19:59
  • @sempaiscuba I am looking for a primary source for the Marshall quotes in the Nashville Post article that I just commented to Aaron Brick. – Kerry L Dec 10 '18 at 20:00
  • As I said, I think Volume 3 of The Papers of George Catlett Marshall is probably your best bet. It covers the period December 7, 1941 - May 31, 1943, but I couldn't find a copy online. – sempaiscuba Dec 10 '18 at 20:06
  • @sempaiscuba - ouch, expensive! Even used copies. Might be worth it. – Kerry L Dec 10 '18 at 20:13
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    Yeah. I did have access to the full set in a military studies library, but that has now expired. Volume 2 is available to borrow on archive.org, but not volume 3. Isn't that always the way! – sempaiscuba Dec 10 '18 at 20:21
  • Thank you for a balanced discussion of this issue. As his namesake and grandson, I'm not sure the family will ever have a definitive answer. I have always admired my grandfather's willingness to stand up for his beliefs, although it once cost him a star, and to persist through challenges such as the Casablanca conference. I also appreciate the people of Iceland who have memorialized the crew of HotStuff and the passengers on board her. There were so many heroes in the 8th AirForce. – Frank M. Andrews Oct 12 '23 at 15:10

1 Answers1

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There is no hint of Andrews being on the way to be promoted in the official history. The Supreme Command, available free of charge from the US Army Centre for Military History. Page 58 (which has the only mention of General Andrews in the book, in a footnote about the setting up of the headquarters) says:

When, in the late summer of 1943, it became clear that an American officer would become the Supreme Commander …

That suggests that the timing is wrong for Andrews to have been going to the US in May for appointment as SCAEF.

John Dallman
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    There are 2.5 pages of search results behind that link for "Frank M. Andrews", not the single one you mention – Pieter Geerkens Dec 10 '18 at 22:20
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    Thanks John, I am using that online book as a source for the follow up question later this week about whether or not Andrews was the original choice to be SCAEF. But in your answer here you have not provided a primary source which indicates the purpose of the flight that resulted in the crash in Iceland. Your answer does not indicate Iceland was the destination for an inspection tour, nor does it rule out that the Hot Stuff’s destination was in fact the USA for a war bond tour (with Andrews aboard to the USA then as well). – Kerry L Dec 10 '18 at 22:37
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    Incidentally, I’m not downvoting because in general I appreciate all sincere attempts to help with Answers. – Kerry L Dec 10 '18 at 22:38
  • @PieterGeerkens I had found the reference to Andrews that John references above in that online resource a couple weeks ago, will help ID the link / location when I get home. Hard to do this on my phone right now. – Kerry L Dec 10 '18 at 22:41
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    @PieterGeerkens - Andrews is in the footnote on p.58 of this PDF from John's linked reference - the only Andrews reference in that particular title (The Supreme Command by Forest C. Pogue). – Kerry L Dec 10 '18 at 23:40
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    @KerryL: My point was that this answer states "which has the only mention* of General Andrews*", yet there are many more such mentions behind the link. – Pieter Geerkens Dec 12 '18 at 11:53
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    @PieterGeerkens - yes, understand and agree. I was trying to help clarify what I think John meant. – Kerry L Dec 12 '18 at 13:36