At the beginning of April 1954, Lt. General Earle E. ("Pat") Partridge, Commander of the U. S. Far East Air Force (FEAF), had arrived in Saigon and begun talks with his French counterpart, Gen. Lauzin, as well as with Gen. Navarre. He had brought with him Brigadier General Joseph D. Caldara, then the chief of the FEAF Bomber Command—the man who would fly and command the "Vulture" missions (bombing the area around Dien Bien Phu with 98 B-29 Superfortresses). The Americans had arrived at Saigon's Tan Son Nhut Airport in a discreet B-17, so as not to alert hostile eyes to the unfamiliar configuration of the B-29 Superfortress. From the beginning, the Americans were appalled at the total lack of French preparedness for anything like the control of a major saturation bombardment operation. French Col. Brohon later said that this project involved the use of "several A-bombs" in the Dien Bien Phu area.