About a week later, Josh said goodbye to Margot. Along with Lindon and six bodyguards, he set off for Europe with a group of beautiful young ladies from the company, including Whitney and Angela.
They didn't take a ship; they flew.
Of course, it wasn't a DC-3. Though the DC-3 was decent, its range was only a little over a thousand kilometers—not nearly enough for the vast Atlantic.
They flew in a Boeing 314, one of the largest aircrafts of that era, even bigger than the famous B-29 bomber. Though slightly inferior in altitude, that was understandable, as it was a twin-wing seaplane.
It was a pre-war custom order by Pan Am from Boeing, specifically designed for transatlantic flights.
This was also the first model in history to support transatlantic flights. Only 12 were made; it could carry 74 passengers on short trips and 40 on long-haul sleeper flights.
After the U.S. entered the war, 3 of these planes were lent to Britain under the Lend-Lease Act. The rest were requisitioned by the U.S. military to transport goods or officers and soldiers.
Josh and his group were able to board this plane because they were going to the front lines for a morale-boosting visit.
Of course, ships were also available, and traveling by sea was far more comfortable than flying.
In fact, most actors and singers from other companies who were going for morale-boosting chose to travel by ship but Josh absolutely refused to go by sea.
Although it was already 1944 and the Empire was on its last legs—especially in this world where it had been badly backstabbed by Red Skull—that didn't mean the ghosts of the Atlantic had vanished.
In the original world, over 200 ships of various kinds were still sunk in 1944.
More importantly, at this point in time, German submarines were completely out of control. No matter what kind of ship you were on, if you were sunk, they'd often surface and use machine guns to wipe out any survivors.
Josh wasn't about to gamble on those odds.
By comparison, air travel was much safer.
At this point, German fighter planes could no longer appear over the Atlantic.
Moreover, this kind of seaplane had a very high safety margin—four engines meant it could still fly even if one or two failed. And because it didn't fly very high or very fast, emergency landings were relatively easy.
Even if he had the worst luck and something went wrong, and they had to land or parachute into the Atlantic, Josh could easily survive thanks to his Plane Trading System.
Since Josh's group was only a little over 20 people, the military naturally wouldn't waste transport resources letting them have the whole plane so they traveled alongside a few military officers.
Of course, the ranks weren't high—just junior officers. The highest was a captain.
When these officers saw Josh and Lindon boarding with a group of stunning young women, their eyes practically popped out.
Although none were particularly famous, anyone signed by a film company wasn't going to be plain-looking.
And upon learning that these ladies were going to the front lines to boost morale, they were even more excited—especially since Whitney, a famous movie star, was among them.
As soon as the plane took off, one eager second lieutenant tried to strike up a conversation with the girl but before he could get close, Vito blocked his way.
"Vito!"
Seeing things about to escalate, Josh immediately called him back and stood up to address the officers.
"Gentlemen, I'm Josh Kane, owner of DreamWorks. These ladies are my employees, here to cheer up the heroes at the front—of course, that includes all of you. So I won't stop you from enjoying a bit of romance during this journey. I'm sure the ladies won't mind getting to know a few war heroes. But one condition—there must be no coercion. I trust you gentlemen are not the kind of people who would stoop to that, are you?"
"Of course not, Mr. Kane!"
"Anyone who tries that, we won't let him off easy!"
Hearing that Josh was okay with them chatting up the girls, the officers immediately cheered and applauded, showering Josh with praise.
"This trip is long—we might as well enjoy it. I brought some small gifts along to share. Vito, bring over the boxes!"
Josh raised his hand, interrupting their cheer, and gave Vito a knowing glance.
Vito quickly understood and pulled out two boxes from under the bunk. Then he opened them.
One was filled with more than a dozen bottles of wine; the other with cigarettes.
Flights of this era had no bans on smoking or drinking—security checks were also very lax—so bringing this stuff aboard was no problem.
"A little grape juice from my family's estate—not famous wine, but it tastes pretty good. I hope you all enjoy it!" Josh raised an eyebrow and tossed a bottle to the officer who had first stepped forward earlier.
The man caught it eagerly.
The other officers, seeing the wine, became even more excited.
Josh tossed out bottles one by one. The officers were ecstatic—just short of calling Josh their brother.
They didn't care much about the cigarettes because cigarettes were military rations. As long as you used them sparingly, no soldier lacked them. But wine was another matter—rare and expensive.
Besides, alcohol was officially banned in the military.
However, in most cases, the military turned a blind eye to soldiers drinking—as long as you didn't cause trouble or drink in front of officers or MPs, no one cared.
That's why Josh called it "grape juice" instead of wine.
It was clearly a bald-faced lie—but sometimes, mutual understanding without saying things outright was exactly what you needed.
What Josh was doing hit all the right notes for these junior officers.
Look—wine, smokes, beautiful women—making friends with soldiers was just that simple.
As for why a wealthy tycoon like Josh would bother cozying up to junior officers, the reason was simple.
Don't be fooled by their low ranks—these were the people most in touch with frontline intel, the ones who blended in with the troops.
And often, these company or platoon-level officers could be more useful than high-ranking generals.
Josh expected to stay in Europe for about six months so getting to know more officers and becoming familiar with them was definitely not a bad idea.
You never knew when he might need their help.
"Mr. Kane, you're not like the other rich folks I've met. I, Aldo, consider you a friend from now on!" said Aldo—the same officer who'd first approached the girls. But now, he seemed more interested in Josh.
With him was another officer with a more refined demeanor.
"Dick Winters, 101st Airborne Division," he introduced himself.
Hearing this, Josh's eyes lit up.
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