John, I am extremely sceptical that the President was actually phoned. Of course he may not have been at the White House, perhaps the call was made to Casablanca when he was there, or something like that.
The reason I posted the story here is because it’s interesting that a) there was a prefectly good airfield that they were told not to use and not told why; and b) Why an American B-17 was breaking regulations and landing there.
Whether their cover story was true may not be known but perhaps my post may at least reveal some extra details such as the name or location of the strip near Idku that was out of bounds.
By the way, Idku was a massive and civilised RAF station, I suspect they went there to do the telephoning as I doubt there was a phone on the abandoned strip.
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