Showing a new grudging cordiality toward Victor Henry, the admiral explained that the President had elicited from the Attorney General—“probably by twisting his arm pretty damn hard”—the scheme and the ruling for selling these planes to England despite the Neutrality Act. First, the Navy was declaring the aircraft surplus. Second, Chance-Vought was accepting them for a trade-in on new F-4-U’s, at a good high price. Chance-Vought could afford to do this, because it was turning around and selling the old planes to England at a profit. The catch was that the delivery of the F-4-U’s lay far in the
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