apparently the british and americans had not read oberstleutnant fritz von beneckendorfs paper on how the war in northwest africa was to be conducted , so they had devised a plan of their own , and entitled it operation torch , commencement date 8/11/42 , and it was quickly pointed out to him , by a very junior officer that unless he had some flyable operational aircraft then shut up and stop cluttering up the airwaves .