R_.C_,
Shaugnessy, Vancouver,
Canada.
Dearest Father:
I'm sorry to hear about your cold, endlessly amused by your ongoing feud with your neighbour. You are pulling my leg about his daughter riding around on his race horses, aren't you? I know that the stereotype of an engineer is a man more used to punching horses than riding them, but you had your cowboy days, long ago, if I remember the stories Uncle George used to tell. You must know that your roadster would never be able to edge around a thorougbred, and certainly not when climbing up the Oak Street hill. As for drinking on the back of one, and throwing the glass in the neighbour's hedge. . .
Well, at least she will be at Vassar soon, and you will have your rest from teen-aged parties. Those days are still to come for me!
And, of course, for you. We are very disappointed not to have you at Thanksgiving, but look forward to your arrival next month, from the Christmas Peace to the beginning of the Year of the Dog. I cannot bear the excitement, though I may be a less than energetic hostess, as my surgery is fixed for December 5th. Yes, I know that I am supposed to be pessimistic about the imminent end of the world due to its being smashed into atomic smithereens, but if anyone is wanting an antidote to fashionable pessimisim, I recommend driving a twenty-year-old to the railway station for her first trip to Europe.
In short, as we come up on the intercalary month (I looked it up. There's a technical name for the month between one year and the next. This year, we have all of January between solar and lunar new year. It seems to make sense to put it "between" the years.) we know that it marks a pausing point between the last year of war, and the first year of peace. How can it be bad? Look at the miracles ahead of us!
"GRACE."
Time,
19 November 1945
Letters
Pvt. David Marshall of the Straits Volunteer Defence Force, a recent prisoner of war, is quite pleased with
America. John Haynes Holmes, minister of the Community Church of New York,
thinks that the atom bombings were a monstrous crime. Dorothy F. Colquitt
shares the crest of the “Chairborne” division, those American soldiers who
fought the war on swivel chairs. Two Professors Erickson of the University of
North Carolina write to correct the paper. It was English professor and Socialist
Party stalwart E. E., and not geographer Franklin, who was involved in the
Durham Inter-Racial Dinner which inspired such controversy. An un-signed Air
Corps Lieutenant thinks that the Dutch, French and British should butt out of
Annam and Java. Several writers like the new “ruptured duck” discharge ribbon.
Ben F. Holzman, of New York City, writes to correct the paper on the authorship
of “That’s Why Darkies Were Born.” Edgar D. Smith writes to nominate Vannevar
Bush as man of the year, on account of radar. Other nominees are the American
GI, Franklin Roosevelt, and Hank Greenberg.
Our publisher’s letter establishes that he is a sophisticated man of
wide travels.
National
Affairs
G.I.s make bad ambassadors, because
they are badly behaved, on account of not wanting to be in Europe, right now.
Clement Atlee is in Washington, having flown over on a Skymaster. (An Anglo-American Skymaster, because
interior by Rumbold).
He will stay at the White House for two days, then move
to the Embassy, as by that time the President will be exasperated at never
having enough hot water for a whole shower. They will settle/have
settled/actually didn’t settle the whole atomic and Palestine things. (It’s a
weekly, so I’m sorry to say that at first I didn’t understand that they were
using some verb tense. English, she is a funny language.) The paper is upset at
the President because he “drifted” through the conversation. The Pearl Harbour
hearings are off to a sensational start, as ONI’s “missing” Captain Kramer
shows up to testify. After a week of debate, Congress has decided to pass the
May-Johnson atomic power bill, after all. Congress’ attempts to get rid of
three New Deal appointees by disallowing their salaries back in 1943 has
produced a tart response from the Supreme Court. It turns out that if they do
the work, they get the money. Congress wouldn’t –oh, never mind, it’s such a
sitting duck. The Labour-Management Conference was a flop. It is John L.
Lewis’s fault.. In the Philippines, an eleven year old girl testified at
General Yamashita’s war crimes trial to the effect that she lost her parents in
the fire that swept the city when it fell. The paper reproves General Yamashita
for sitting through the testimony in stony silence. Sounds like quite the
trial. Various persons won various elections as 1900 municipal elections were
held across the United States. The United Nations bill made it through Congress.
 |
| Let's set the "Yamashita Doctrine" aside. The prosecution has called a twelve year old orphan to testify that, in effect, General Yamashita was mean to her. |
“The Earls of California” Governor
Warren is “suspect” in the Republican party for refusing the Vice Presidential
candidacy in 1944 and for not campaigning enough for Dewey, and for supporting
a compulsory health insurance bill. Or so the paper says, because for some
reason, it believes that Dewey can win in ‘48. This week, it actually has a
name to attach to the allegations, Earl Kelly, “[a] hearty, well-barbered
Irishman with a fine baritone voice.” Don’t all American Irishman have fine,
baritone voices, just on account of Americans who can’t sing the Killarney
Lullaby not pretending to be Irish? I do a fair Jasmine Flower Song, if I say
so myself, but I don’t, and that’s
the difference. Kelly thinks that the Republican Party should be “frankly
conservative, and make no bones about it.” He implies that he will run against
the Governor in next year’s primary, and in the mean time just wants frankly
conservative Californians to First California, Co.
In other political news, a sweet
story of how Mrs. Clifford Ashton, of Salt Lake City, ran her naval officer
husband for a judgeship in Salt Lake City to get him out of the Pacific and
back home with her. Her story impressed people enough to elect a Republican in
Salt Lake City, and now he’s discharged and home.
“Housing: Preview of ‘46” The story
leads off with school superintendent John C. Goff, of Tuckahoe, (Westchester County!), New York, who is living in the high school home economics class with
his wife, in way of illustrating the National Housing Agency’s preliminary
report. It says that 1.2 million families are doubling up with friends and
relatives, and that an additional 3 million newlyweds and veterans joining
their wives will be looking for homes next year. Even the most optimistic
estimate says that only one million homes will be added next year, although
Newark is building 300 temporary homes to address a shortfall of 7000.
Sociologist Louis Wirth, chairman of an emergency Chicago committee, has
recommended converting factories, office buildings, and war plants into
makeshift shelters, “[b]ut mostly the problem was just talked about.”
“Veterans: More Rights” Congress
voted another 1.365 billion in funding to the 7.65 billion in the GI Bill of Rights.
“Heroes: First in Peace” Cordell Hull has been named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 1945, now that there is
a peace to be prized.The paper notes the $800,000 honorarium that goes with the prize, so that at last the Hulls can be financially secure. I don't know. I just think that it's ironic to mention the prize in the same month's end that the British government formally abolishes the money vote for its victorious generals.
Army
and Navy
“Postwar Plans Department” The Navy
currently plans for 6,084 combatant and auxiliary vessels, including 18
battleships, 17 large carriers, 558,000 officers and men, 12,000 aircraft, at a
budget of $3.5 billion a year. The Army wants an “overall force: of 4.5 million
men, including 500,000 in the reorganised Regular Army, 425,000 in the National
Guard, the balance in the current
conscript class and the new army reserve. The total cost would be above $4
billion. Lieutenant General Doolittle again argued for a separate air force.
Details are a bit vague, since it’s fight-the-navy time again, but 5000 planes,
“always ready,” maintained by 400,000 men, and backed up by a 3000 plane reserve
partly manned by the National Guard. The cost will surely be in the billions,
too. And to anyone who suggests that this might be an astronomical number,
General of the Army Arnold answers that in the not-to-distant future, war will
be waged with “3000mph projectiles, launched from true space ships, capable of
operating outside the earth’s atmosphere.” I sure hope those Martians know what
they’re doing, crossing us.
 |
| . Source. And explanation. "In 1955, NACA (later to be known as NASA) was working on a nuclear-powered spaceship for trips to near-Earth orbit up to interstellar travel to neighboring star systems like Alpha Centaur." |
“The Housekeepers” The Marine’s
Third Amphibious Corps of 53,000 men landed in northern China this week. Led by
Major General Keller Emerick Rockey, “a veteran of World War I, Haiti and
Nicaragua,” it’s task was to “stay, however long ordered.” Sometimes it seems
that America is stumbling into trouble in China, and sometimes it seems as
though it is rushing headlong into it.
“Over the Rock Pile” The Hump Air
Route is closed, having unofficially cost 3000 Allied aircraft (and
unofficially losing 33 aircraft in a single night last January), and having
carried 78,000 tons.
International
“The Atomic Age” Winston Churchill
says that it was a mistake in hindsight for Britain not to have made its own
atomic bombs. Molotov, on the other hand, promises that Russia will have atomic
power. On the third hand, Ernest Bevin is negotiating for a “Big Two” in atomic
affairs, with Britain, if necessary, taking a junior role. In Almogordo, New
Mexico, there are rumours of red cows turned white, black cats turned halfwhite, and grey streaks in beards due to the atom bomb. Various people have a
range of opinions, including Dorothy Thompson, who seems to think that America
needs to keep the atom secret because the scientists who gave it to the nation
were acting for “the whole people of the Earth,” while H. G. Wells thinks that
the atom bomb means that humanity will become extinct, I think? Harold E.
Stassen thinks that “a policy of ‘secrecy and suppression’ would make the U.S.
Government authoritarian, restrict science and research, stimulate a disastrous
race for atomic power,” and suggests either sharing the atom secret, or, better
yet, world government. U. S. Senator Joseph Ball says much the same. I gather the paper approves. (Edit: it only became obvious in the next issue, but the paper is backing Stassen for 1948.)
Beardsley Ruml, finally, actually
makes some sense. “I have heard people say that the Bomb bores them. I feel certain
it is not the Bomb that bores them, but what is said about the Bomb.” He
doesn’t go quite as far as to suggest that we not talk about talking about the Bomb, because that would put some of his friends (not everyone can talk about civil aviation, Palestine, unification, 1948 or Bretton Woods) out of work, but he comes close.
“Crackdown” Some people who are not
allowed to talk about talking about atomic bombs are atomic scientists.
Churchill and Bevin have told British (and, it turns out, Australian) scientists to shut up on the subject,
notably Laurence Elwin Oliphant.
“Only Logic” “Plump, brilliant
Geoffrey Crowther [And stinky! Don't forget stinky!] editor of London’s influential Economist, also edits Transatlantic on the side.” Well, that’s
the problem with The Economist. The
editor is moonlighting. Anyway, the point is that Crowther has a
point. A vicious slur, and I am sure that Time
will be hearing from The Economist’s lawyers.
And not be able to make out their point . If only they had a better editor . . .
Foreign
News
“Report on China” Communist troops
“entrenched along the Great Wall,” resisted the Nationalist advance into
Manchuria, and Vice Admiral Barbey, in command, declined to land Nationalist
troops in Communist-held ports, warning that Manchuria might be the next Outer
Mongolia. “From beautiful Peiping, Time Correspondent
William Gay cables:” The city is beautiful and calm, he reports, but no-one
expects the peace to continue. Mr. Gay’s informant, a restaurant owner named
Mr. Chang, says that the outcome depends on America sending supplies to the
Nationalists, and providing military support. The Nationalists need American
ammunition for their American weapons, or they will be mowed down by the
Communists, with their Japanese weapons. Which do not need ammunition? Please, Mr. Luce, at least try to make an argument.
“The Sands of Time” Stalin is out of
the public eye, and may be sick, leaving the stage to Molotov. I suppose that
we will know if Stalin is really sick when a second soloist appears. The paper
goes on to quote a speech by President Kalinin from last August in which he
promised more consumer goods and better rail service, eventually. At the end of
the cover article, the paper gets around to noticing Marshal Vasilevsky,
General Antonov, Marshal Zhukov, Marshal Voroshilov, the General Secretary of
the Party, Zhdanov; and Beria, of the Cheka.
Russia is trying to pull troops out
of eastern Europe, and hopes it will go faster if it checks ambitious moves by
local Communists, the paper reports. Tito is not listening. Field Marshal Carl Mannerheim, Finland’s President, has left the country for an indefinite stay on
Madeira.
The paper’s report on Japan doubts
that Japan will regain its old position as the most powerful economy of the
Orient. The official barber of the French National Assembly refuses to cut the
hair of the new female delegates, adding that “If the Chief of Protocol wants
to add a hairdressing salon to my barbership, I will not oppose it. But it is
foolishness!” The paper covers this as an example of French misogyny, but I
can’t help feeling some sympathy for “Monsieur Jules.”
“Signs of the Times” In Britain,
overworked bus conductors enforced the “No Standing rule” and inspired
near-riots; the night nurses at St. Bartholomew’s staged a “lie down strike,”
and it was thought that the Leader of the Opposition had coordinated his speech
to the Commons with the government to present a united British position on the
atom and Russia, already well covered in this letter.
“Platonic Divorce” Madeline (‘Mirabehn’)Slade has left Gandhi’s retreat, to found her own ashram at a higher elevation. The paper is snide, but James points out that her father was Director of Naval Intelligence in 1907—09. So if the eugenicists are right, the woman must be “as dumb as a sack of
hammers.” Because less than a month back in America, and James is starting to
talk like Mickey Spillane.
“Arrows and Sugar” The fighting in
Surabaya continues. The arrows are alleged poisoned arrows being used in the
fighting, the sugar is the 2 million tons still sitting on the wharfs. U. S.
Secretary of Agriculture Clinton Anderson now says that “trying to get it out
would not tend to promote peace.” Peace first, then sugar. In other words,
peace now. People are starving.
“Armour and Bamboo” The French have
been given American tanks to make headway in Annam, because the Annamese do not
have all the starving children for hostages.
Latins and Canadians are excitable.
Press,
Literature, Art, etc
Moscow might be lightening up on
foreign correspondents. The Hearst Press is a bit of a laughing stock over its
allegation “Key Pearl Harbor Witness Vanishes.” Earl Wilson, the man who got
“stink” into print, has a book, I Am
Gazing into My 8-Ball, out. The paper, which knows a cad when it sees one,
doesn’t like him. The paper is amazed that “cluttered, satirical Soda Jerker, by Paul Burlin, won the Pepsi-Cola
Portrait of America art award. In books, the paper needs to prove that its
eyebrows rise to the highest heavens, and so has a big section on a dead poet
named Percy Shelley, whose wife (sister?) wrote Frankenstein, but she’s only a girl, so who cares? Also famous this
week is a novelist named Elizabeth Janeway. I wonder if she is Mr. Janeway’s
sister, and turns in long, unsourced bits about how the Republican convention
is going to be brokered, instead of the novel chapters her publishers demand?
Science,
Medicine, Etc
“Visible Speech” Bell Telephone has
come up with what it describes as a visual way of representing speech, so that
the profoundly deaf can understand it. The idea is that the deaf can record
their own voices, compare the results with their instructor’s, and improve that
way.
“Faster,
Faster” The paper covers the Meteor speed record with a picture, possibly even
the same one that was lost with the first two pages of my copy of Flight. As the paper explains, “Near sea
level, sound weaves travel through air at about 760mph. But long before a plane
reaches this speed, the layer of air crowding over the wing and other surfaces
begins moving as fast as sound in relation to the plane. Thus, a “shock wave”
(really a standing sound wave) may form above the wing.” So far, so accurate. However, the paper goes
on to describe a death dive, in which the “standing wave” causes a loss of
lift, causing the wing to stall, causing the plane to go into an uncontrollable
high speed stall.
 |
| Time to break the Sound Barrier! |
“Scientist
Goering” In this week’s testimony at the Nuremberg Trials, the world heard
about how the Germans froze political prisoners to near death to test methods
for reviving them. The paper is very interested in one approach, which uses
“two clean-looking, naked Gyspy girls” under a blanket with the frozen political
prisoner. Very interested.
The New Movies
Confidential Agent is the new Lauren
Bacall flick. The reviewer thinks that the “Bacall machine has gone too far,”
and that Bacall, “neither a great beauty nor a good actress” just about
sinks the movie. On the other hand, he likes the supporting actors. Good. Maybe
they’ll hide him beneath their bed when the reviewer is being chased by an
irate mob of servicemen. There’s also a farce and a comedy of manners out, but
I can’t remember either, and have put the paper aside.
People
Winston Churchill described Atlee
this week as a “sheep in sheep’s clothing.” Joan Bennett was in court getting
her daughter, Diana’s last name changed for the third time, now that she has
married Walter Wanger. Simone Simon is being evicted from her $240/month sublet
apartment to make room for his wife, who is about to deliver a baby. Senator
Leverett Saltonstall made a public statement in favour of Indian pudding
becoming the national dish of the United States. Woodrow Wilson is finally to
be recognised with a bust at Princeton.
Flight,
22 November 1945
Leaders
“Future of the Forces” Lord
Trenchard started a debate about the future of the air force in the Lords last
week. The paper has concerns.
“A Memorable ‘First’” Mr. Hudson Fysh gave the inaugural “Empire and Commonwealth Lecture” at the Royal
Aeronautical Society last week. The paper was enthralled. It was about Empire,
and Commonwealth, and probably dirigidoos.
“Celebrating the Record”
Representatives of British aviation met at lunch to celebrate the speed record.
There was much back patting.
Roger Tennant, “To-morrow’s Light
Aircraft: Conflicting Claims: Wood or Metal: High Wing or Low: Comfort and
Safety versus Performance” There have not been nearly enough articles about
this. Perhaps there should be a debate in the House of Lords? About the lack of
articles, I mean. I don’t think anyone needs to hear more about the cheapness
of welded steel tubes, strength issues of twin booms, weight of extension
shafts, or the advisability of floats versus retracting wheels. Model aeroplane fanciers can once again fly their model aeroplanes as high as they want, because of peace.
Here
and There
The municipality of Sapporo on the
island of Hokkaido has built a 4000x300ft runway of wood which can take a B-17, although not well. The Swedish, Danish
and Norwegian missionary societies have combined to fly some of their isolated
“sky pilots” home. The paper cites,
“without comment,” Vice-Admiral Charles M. Cooke to the effect that “we all
know that the British Navy entered the war almost fatally defective in its air
arm. It had to come to the U.S. Navy to get aircraft with which it could defend
its ships from air attack and contend on even terms with a modern navy such as
the Japanese.” Therefore, the naval air arm should not be united with the land
air force. James prepares himself to deny any confusion with “the Admiral Cooke who gets everything wrong.”
News
in Brief
RAAF courier flights to Tokyo have
begun. The Postmaster General announces that the more expensive airmail for
Australia, New Zealand, and the West Pacific will be carried by air the whole
way. Christmas packages will go by air about the same time we land on the Moon,
if not later.
“Napier Sabre VII: Over 300bhp for
Take-off; Lowest Specific Weight of Any Piston Engine” A Mark II Sabre appeared
in the 23 March 1944 number of the paper. As the II progressed from the II to
the IIA to the IIB, the boost pressure was increased and power outputs stepped
up from 2090 to 2220 and then to 2420bhp. In spite of weight increase, specific
weight went from 1.12 to 1.06 until, with the IIB, it reached 0.98 lb/bhp. From
there, Napier went to a more exhaustive testing regime, making use of fully
regenerative dynamometers (to feed power back into the grid from the running
engine), which is a thing which is done nowadays. A single Sabre running in a
test rig on a Sunday provides enough power for the whole Willesden area, with
some left over for the national grid. The earlier marks had problems with grit
entering the sleeve valves and with supercharger clutches slipping. The Sabre
IIA was installed in the Tempest V, while the Mk III, which followed, was to go
into the Blacbkburn Firebrand, but only 25 were installed, owing to the
priority give to the Sabre V. (Note that this is a later Sabre V, and the first
Sabre V became the Sabre IV.) The V, and now VA, were strengthened to take a
higher boost pressure, and used Vandervell strip-type thin-wall bearings, while
spark plugs were relocated and the ignition harness altered for high altitude
operations. The double supercharger impeller entry was replaced by a single one
of more capacity, and the two-speed hydraulic clutch redesigned, and Hobson
fuel-injection replaced the earlier carburettors. It is now being installed in
the Tempest VI, and develops 2600hp for 2,460lb, giving aspecific weight of 0.94. Maximum rpm is up
to 3,860, and maximum boost pressure to 15lb, giving a unit output of
71bhp/litre, plus another fine entry into the school of British engines which
are so powerful that they shake themselves apart. It has water/methanol injection in the Mark VII, which must
be further strengthened (and tightened), and has “micro-switches” to prevent
the engine overrunning when the methanol-water tank runs out. The Sabre VII
achieves 3,055bhp, at an amazing unit output of 83 bhp/litre, albeit with no
mention of engine speed at that output.
“Spiteful with Griffon 59” The
paper, and Rolls-Royce, want to remind us that the Spiteful is equipped with
the two-stage Griffon 59, which is even better than the Griffon 61.
“A Record Party: Meteor Pilots
Toasted at Great Gathering” Not that it is a big deal or anything.
Major F. A. de V. Robertson, V.D.
“The School of Air Support” The “School of Army Cooperation” has been renamed,
for fear that someone might mistake it for not being supportive enough It has helicopters, and gliders, and Dakotas
now.
This week’s VC goes to Flt Lt. David Samuel Anthony Lord
“Jettisoning by Intent” The cockpit
hood of the Martin Baker M.B. 5 demonstrated at Farnborough did not come off on
its own, but was jettisoned because the cockpit filled with smoke. It was a
problem with the engine that is being built, not the plane that won’t be, in
other words. Very reassuring.
C. H. Latimer-Needham, “Refuelling
in Flight: Further Examination of the Possibilities of Sir Alan Cobhams’s
System in Application to Trans-Atlantic Airlines” Mr. Latimer-Needham continues
to argue, at great length, that the fuss and additional equipment required for
in-air refuelling is worth the gain achieved by taking off underloaded.
Civil
Aviation News
“The Capetown service starts some
more. The Swedes have trialled a Stockholm-U.S. flight, and are ramping up
European services. Argentina gets its Sunderlands more. The CAO talks about
talking about civil aviation.
“From the Australian Viewpoint: Mr.
Hudson Fysh Delivers the First Commonwealth and Empire Liecture to the R.Ae.S.:
Need for World Co-operation in Air Transport: The History of the Australian
Services” It used to take 70-90 days to sail from London to Melbourne on a
clipper ship; then it became 30 days with steamships, and then 62 hours with
the Avro Lancastrian service. In the future, we will lob people there by rocket
in no time flat. (Seriously! "Ballistic" flight is coming.) Mr. Fysh tells us about the Indian Ocean route, about which
“relatively little has been written.” Well, less than about rockets on fighter
planes, I suppose! I guess it is one of those things that you just can't get people to understand was remarkable, and so
you repeat the story, over and over again, until you get through.
Or they avoid you, because you are
an old bore.
Correspondence
A. C. Loraine comments that the
polar route from Victoria to Singapore is much shorter than it appears on a
Mercator map; but so is the New York-Singapore route, which would probably have
more traffic than a service via Okhotsk and Markovo.
 |
| "Airport Markovo" by AlGaman - http://www.panoramio.com/photo/25233873. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Airport_Markovo.jpg#/media/File:Airport_Markovo.jpg |
Patricia Parker writes
that both pre-and wartime-trained ground engineers have their points, but that
the prewar engineers probably are better from a safety point of view. The paper
seems to disagree. Several writers have opinions
about “Tyro’s” view that headwind has less impact on a jet-type aircraft than
a propeller one. I. G. Henry is glad to finally have authentic details of the
V-2 in print, but finds Mr. Perring optimistic about winged rockets. Booster
engines, on the other hand, show real promise, and he does a
back-of-the-envelope calculation showing that a V-2 with a booster engine might propel a 400lb
atom bomb 1,450 miles. G. A.Chamberlain, a flying club enthusiast, notices that people are getting quite
concerned about the disposal of surplus government property and suggests that
surplus parachutes be donated to flying clubs. But, clearly, they should be handed over to the hosiery trade!
Time,
27 November 1945
Letters
Wilma C. Ludlow, of Williamsburg,
Virginia, thinks that World War III should not happen, and especially not with
atomic bombs, and that politicians are awfully foolish for letting it going to
happen. Clara Alden Pickergill, of Los Angeles, will have none of these half
measures, and wants atomic scientists silenced, a “bomb dropped” on the
Manhattan Project, and all atomic research banned on penalty of death. I guess
researchers should just be grateful that they aren’t going to be sealed into
President Truman’s tomb.
 |
| Long Tomorrow, Leigh Brackett. Image from James Renner. I haven't been able to find the artist credit. |
Norman McKenzie, of Boston, thinks that the only way
forward from all of this atomic stuff is to quote (another) dead poet. John L.LaMonte, who doesn’t want anyone to forget that he is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania, thinks that Europe’s Jews should be
allowed to emigrate to America, to prevent the situation in Palestine from
deteriorating. To clinch his argument, he makes a bizarrely pedantic point.
 |
| Once we can settle whether or not the Canaanites were Arabs, we should have this thing sorted out in jig time! |
With which the paper disagrees. J. E. Miller thinks that the Navy looks a bit
silly right now, and that in the next war, battleships will be about as useful
as “a wooden leg in a forest fire.” Nell Abernathy, having read one too many
Hornblower novels, detects that Professor LaMonte will have the silliest letter
this week, does him one better. Business
Week writes to complain that Time called
it Hitler. It replies that Time is
more like Hitler. Time replies that Business Week is more like Hitler, to infinity! Radiomate 1/C Jack Haizlip writes that “Autumn Story,” on the
hardships of Europe, was far more informative than “incoherent explanations by
some of the world statesmen and experts. . .” My hero!
National
Affairs
“The Presidency: New Blueprint” America,
Britain and Canada have agreed that only America, Britain and Canada should
have the bomb. Russia will be assured that it won’t be bombed as long as it
cooperates with the UN (I don’t think the paper realises that this is how it
frames the agreement), and everyone should work together to ban the bomb and
other “mass-destruction weapons” such as gas and bacteriological warfare.
Clearly, these are men who do not see their grandchildren when they are sick,
or they would not dream of a world without bacteriological weapons.
“Vanishing American” Someone named
Samuel Irving Rosenman is leaving the Administration, and this is
worth almost as much column space as the nuclear agreement. You might point out
that the next story, about how the President gets up at 6, or the one after,
about how the President won’t receive an honorary degree from Baylor
University, after all, because thte Baptists’ Civic Righteousness Committee
thinks he drinks too much, are each also credibly long. But they’re meant to be silly!
“Foreign Affairs: It’s the People” The Congress should get on with voting funding
for Unrra, because people are starving.
“Food: Land of Plenty” The only
remaining food shortages in the United States this year are in pork, high-grade
beef, butter, sugar and canned fish, but even these shortages will be “more
apparent than real.” For example, the average consumption of meat next year
will be 145-155lbs, compared with a 30 year record of 150lbs.
“Labour: D-Day in Detroit” An auto
strike is likely.
“Veterans: The First Punch” General
Bradley announced this week that the siting of future veterans’ hospitals would
no longer be decided by Congress, but by scientific and rational means.
Congress gently let him know that this was not on.
“The Congress: In History” The Pearl
Harbour hearings are on! It is interesting, and should be alarming, to the
Russians, that America apparently had all the Japanese signal codes. It should
be some consolation that, even with all this information, it was not at all
clear that Hawaii would be a target.
“Political Notes: Man to Watch” The
man to watch is Harold Stassen, the paper’s new crush. So much for Dewey!
Both
the Admiral and “archconservative columnist” Frank R. Kent came out for him this
week. Under the same title, but with a question mark, a few paragraphs about FranklinDelano Roosevelt, Jr. Charles Gossett, a conservative but Democratic Idaho
governor has resigned so that he can be appointed senator in place of the late
John Thomas, restoring the Senate to its 56 D, 38 R division of November 1944.
“The Philippines” Caulking Job” The
Philippines are a leaking boat, and new Commissioner Paul V. McNutt has to fix
it before the “Communist-led Hukbalahaps” take over. This is particularly
threatening, in that the “U.S. left-wing press” deems the Hukbalahap-aligned
Democratic Alliancce as the “hope of the Philippines.” American occupation
authorities, meanwhile, had to clamp down on the black market, deal with the
money shortage, and, in general, fix the country, see “caulking.”
“New York: Shrine in the Bronx” A
boy named Joe Vitolo, who claims to have nightly visitations from the Virgin
Mary, is drawing thousands to a rock-strewn lot in the Bronx to see him work
miracles of healing.
Army
and Navy
“Merger: One Yard Line” The Army and
Navy are still fighting about how to be separate and still united, and since
there is an army proposal with which the Navy does not agree, and the Army-Navy
Game is coming, it’s all football analogies. The Navy has now sent Forrest to
the Hill in place of the Admiral, so perhaps something will be achieved.
“They Want to Get Out” Generals
Eisenhower and Spaatz, and Admiral King think that demobilisation is being
BUNGLED. Spaatz has the reasonable point that the sped of demobilisation has
had its effect on the recent “rising curve of flying accidents due to loss of
experienced ground personnel.”
International
(which is completely different from “Foreign Affairs”)
“War Crimes: West of the Pecos”
Gustav Krupp is too old and sick for the war crime trials, so the prosecution
has decided to try his son, Alfred. More generally, it is feared that the “Nurnberg
trials would turn into chaotic farce, set international law back by decades.” Hence the title, which refers, in U.S.
Attorney General Tom Clark’s words, to “Law west of the Pecos –fast justice,
particularly fast.’” Yes, indeed, America’s experience in lynching Chinese and
Indians will serve it well in punishing Germans for their crimes on the Eastern
Front. Perhaps Colonel Dyer could be brought back from retirement (resurrected,
it turns out, poo!) to head the firing squads. In firing squad news, Joseph
Kramer, the “beast of Belsen,” his assistant, 22-year-old Irma Grese, and nine
others were sentenced to death.
“The Atomic Age: Russian Cosmos” “General
Electric’s tuough-minded, soft-spoken Nobelman, Dr. Irving Langsmuir, said last
week that the Russians might win an atomic race if the world let itself in for
one.” He named two specific Russian scientists, Peter Kapitza and AbramFedorovitch Joffe, neither of whom actually seem to have much to do with atomic
bombs right now, but one of whom is working on ‘cosmic rays.’
“The Nations: Points for the Future”
Atlee and Truman talked about atom bombs! Stalin tells Averill Harriman that
good great power relations hang on atomic policy. Atlee tries to convince
Truman that a socialist Great Britain would be a useful friend against
Communist Russia, if you know . . . Atlee also issued an “apologia for the
left,” in the paper’s words, to Congress. For example, Labour isn’t
anti-religion, it turns out. Congress isn’t convinced.
“Germany: Tasty Tip” A recipe for
Belin housewives features ‘Herring-flavoured bread:” herring head (eyes
removed), boiled with bones; then strain off liquid, mix with flour, and serve
with onion nrings “to get the full effect.” At a meeting with Russian Zone
officials, Marshal Zhukov could take some credit for getting production there
up to 20% of the 1938 level, compared with 5-10% in the American zone. Brown
coal output is at 50% of the 1937 level, and the first new-model automobiles
were in production, as were stockings, underwear, gloves and roof tiles. Russia
will end industrial equipment transfers at the end of the year. In the American
zone, two German powder factories have been demolished. In Italy, prisoners of
war returning from Soviet Russia attacked a Communist Party welcome party, “killed
three, injured 50.”
“France:
The Issue” The issue is that General de Gaulle looks awful in his new suit. No,
wait, actually the issue is something about French Communists, bad or worse?
“Europe: Common Men” A groundswell
of popular support for Guglielmo Giannini, the Italian prophet of “individualism,”
is a sign that Italian politics is turning Fascist-wards, as well as also
communist-wards. Also something about Norwegians, Bulgarians, Palestinians
(both kinds), Indians and Iranians being excitable. Also Latins, although that’s
in the separate, “entertainment” section on Latin American news. The Canadian
section isn’t usually entertainment or news,
but this week is an exception.
 |
| The Canadian Army is going on a skidoo trip to the north this winter. Because of bombers, obviously. Note that they could come from Germany, as weldl as Russia. We're not prejudging! |
“Java: New Man, Old Demands” “Britons
and Indonesians still killed each other in the Netherlands East Indies last
week. They did not know quite how to stop.” Since the Dutch won’t talk with
Soekarno, the Indonesians have produced a new premier, Sjahrir, to do the
talking in Batavia, where he is standing on a demand for “eventual
independence,” which the Dutch would not give. This is ridiculous! Not only do
they not have the troops to rule Indonesia, they don’t even have the ships to
get them there! Meanwhile, Sjahrir “grew pineapples” during the Japanese
occupation. There is food there. I’m
sure that men like Sjahrir and Soekarno are eager to export it to Japan and
perhaps even the Netherlands. Does someone think that Javanese will only grow
sugar, oil and rice if they’re being governed by the Dutch? Because, if so,
they are wrong!
“China: It’s Wonderful”
Correspondent John Walker is in Shanghai now, and thinks it is quite some
place. He is pleased to see it being run by Koumintang toadies, rather than the
taipans, and that the nightlife is lively, if you can pay in American dollars.
The Chinese currency continues to inflate, and the paper continues to press for
American involvement to save Manchuria for the Koumintang. The paper blames the
Russians for letting in the Communists instead of the Nationalists. A war in
Manchuria might follow. “In the long run, the Central Government armies,
especially the crack U.S.-trained divisions, looked like more than a match for
the Red guerillas.” Also, the Marines have ordered a strafing mission against a
Chinese village harbouring Communist guerillas.
Business
and Finance
“At Last: Prices” Price ceilings on
automobiles have finally been announced.
“Who Gets the Sleepers?” Pullman is
trying to sell its sleeping-car business to the railroads. Twenty-two rail
companies have joined to offer $75 million, leading Allegheny to tender its own
offer, as the current deal wouldn’t break up the monopoly.
“Reconversion: Where are the Goods?”
BUNGLING!
“The Old Order Changeth” At a
meeting in the swank Waldorf-Astoria hotel, 2000 foreign traders were told that
the old China trade was changing. China was free of foreign domination, and
there would be . . . I cannot even finish, because while I usually try to
believe in Mr. Luce as a misguided idealist, can he really be this naïve? Of course the Koumintang is making a
squeeze play. Why not admit it?
“Shipping: Anchors Aweigh” U.S.
shipping men have not exactly rushed to the yards with new orders, to the U.S.
Maritime Commission has placed an order for eleven large, modern passenger
liners.
 |
| "SS-United States" by Lowlova - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SS-United_States.JPG#/media/File:SS-United_States.JPG |
“Rebound: Rubber” US stockpiles of
natural rubber are down, and US Rubber Co stocks are up. It turns out that the
plantations are ready to go, as somehow the natives failed to ruin them while not being supervised by white people.
In shorter news, GE as an electric
blanket, promised as an end to marital squabbles over blankets. Westinghouse
will employ 10,00 in its new jet turbine plant. Lionel Corporation will make
the first electric train set in the US since 1941. The FCC has approved in-train
radio communication systems.
Press,
Radio, Music, Art, Literature, etc.
“Average Man” “Caspar Milquetoast,”
the creation of cartoonist Harold Tucker Webster, is this week’s cover person.
That puts the story into “Press," and, if anything, makes it even longer than
the usual cover story. Oklahoma Governor Robert Kerr appeared on the Bergen,
McCarthy show, which is going on the road to all fifty states, and hopes to
broadcast from the Governor’s Mansion in each.
John and Alan Lomax’s collection of “blues,
‘hollers,’ Appalachian ballads and sacred songs” is out on a seven album set.
Southern country folk are very picturesque.
Elmer Davis has a new contract.
Exeter Academy is out of the red
thanks to a new headmaster. UCLA is offering a new four-year course in fashion
design and merchandising.
The paper accidentally has to talk about Salvador Dali, so to save its eyebrows, leads off with one who is more respectably dead..
In books, higher brow, ever higher!
This week’s big book is a life of Queen Elizabeth and one of her favourites,
the Dudley Earl of Leicester. There’s a bit of room below for Robert Payne’s Forever China. The paper wants us to
know that it is a “non-partisan” book, which is probably a bit of a surprise to
Payne.
 |
| Wen Yiduo |
Science,
Medicine, Education
This weeks Nobel Prize winners are chemist
Ilmari Arturi Virtanen, for medicine, and the two already noted Germans, Pauli for
physics, and Hahn, for chemistry. Hahn, “who is believed to be in the United
States at the present time,” receives it for chemistry, in the discovery of the
new, unstable, trans-uranium element, plutonium.
“Never Mind the Birdie” The Army
Signals Corps has developed a “parent-proof camera with built-in sunlight.” The
new gadget is an electrically-fired light, which flashes for 1/25,000thof a second, in the same instant that the camera shutter is lifted. It was
developed for the Surgeon-General’s Office, which wanted a way of taking rapid,
fool-proof pictures of operations. The apparatus is expensive and heavy, with a
25lb power pack, but the Army hopes that “by spring,” it will be streamlined
for the civilian market.
 |
| . . And we have our patent trolling for the month. Photo: Atomic explosion seen strobscopically, by Harold Eugene Edgerton |
“Look Out for Rikki” U.S. port
officials were notified this week of a new threat to our national well-eing:
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. Apparently, mongooses are on the loose, and will overrun the
United States if some returning serviceman is allowed to bring his pet home
with him.
“All in Your Mind” Columbia
Professor of psychiatry Dr. Leland Hinsie has a book out about people who have psychosomatic
diseases, The Person in the Head. It
turns out that various difficult patients with hard-to-diagnose conditions were
just sick in the head.
“Drug Notes” Penicillin is back on
the priority list as production falls further and further behind demand.
Tridione, a new, synthetic drug with a good track record with petit mal epilepsy,
also has a mild effect on pain. Paludrine, newly synthesised from coal tar, is
said to be better against malaria than atabrine. The US Office of Scientific
Research and Development has hinted dramatically that it will soon have
something new for malaria.
The
New Pictures
The paper really, really liked Saratoga Trunk. It was especially
pleased with Ingrid Bergman, Gary Cooper’s tight pants, and the fact that it
manages not to be Technicolor. It also liked The Last Chance, a Swiss
production about international refugees fleeing across the Alps from Italy to
Switzerland,
People
Governor Dewey took a helicopter
ride and mused that it would be a good way to commute from his home in Pawling
to Albany. Senator Claude Pepper got an award from Baby Talk magazine for promoting maternal and child welfare
legislation. A living poet, arriving in Washington to be tried for treason forliking Mussolini in public, said stuff. Several rooms of Mrs. Cornelius
Vanderbilt’s mansion were bought by Paramount as props. An admirer broke into Carole
Landis’ dressing room and assaulted her before being removed by George Sanders.
Ty Cobbs, who invested his baseball earnings in Coca-Cola stock, donated
$250,000 to a hospital in his home town in Georgia. Charles Lindbergh thinks
that a world organisation for the atomic age is the only way forward. He still
thinks that “World War II could have been avoided.” Edward R. Murrow has had a
son, an Aldrich (Chase National) and a Gimbel have married. Major Putnam Bradlee (“Putty”) Strong has died, and Eldridge Reeves Johnson, who founded Victrola
and sold out for a reputed $40 million in 1926.
 |
| Actually seems restrained, for the era. "Breidenhart (5)" by Apc106 - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Breidenhart_(5).JPG#/media/File:Breidenhart_(5).JPG |
Flight,
29 November 1945
Leaders
“It Won’t Do” This week, the paper
reminds us that it won’t do to blame the newspapers for over-publicising air
disasters, or to print misleading safety statistics. While, next week, it can
go back to doing just that, this week it has to admit that the Service air
transport record of the last few months has been terrible, with a hundred
passenger deaths in ten days of peacetime flying. This is because Service
personnel have too much “dash,” the paper suggests, and goes on to imply that
some of the crews are not “the best.” It closes by insisting that the situation
must improve, and asking for a volunteer to answer the mail for the next few
months. The last part is just my suggestion.
“Long-distance Record” Last week,
while Britain won the high speed record, it lost the long distance record to a
B-29 which flew direct from Guam to Washington. The paper grudgingly admits
that long range performance might be important for some applications in the
future.
“German Research” Sir Roy Fedden is
back from Germany, where he looked for all the advanced German workers and
equipment, and couldn’t find nearly as many as he thought there were. It turns
out that this is because the Americans and Russians got to them, first. (Since
this will be news to the Americans, I suppose that means the Russians have
them, and it, all.) Those workers, and equipment, he did find, ought to be put
to work under British direction in Germany,
“Red Herrings for Luftwaffe: Another
War Secret Disclosed: How Airfields, Factories and Even Cities Were Protected
by a Country-wide System of Decoys” The country was dotted by decoy sites
marked out by lights in open fields. Cardiff’s “Starfish” site drew 150 bombs
on one night. Efficient work by the NFS in putting out fires in the actual
targets was a crucial factor in their success, though. It’s not a cheap
alternative to air raid precautions, in other words.
Here
and There
Mr. Arthur Woodburn, Parliamentary
Secretary to the Ministry of Aircraft, was at the Blackburn factory,
celebrating the first production model of their aluminum house. British
factories are producing the world’s finest pre-fabs, said the Labour MP.
There’s an awful, snobbish joke in there somewhere.
 |
| Unity Structures, not Blackburn, but still illustrative of something or other. |
Avro has bought the Malton,
Ontario, Canada works of Victory Aircraft. There will be an exchange of
designers, so the Canadians can learn to make Tudor IIs, and the firm will also
develop gas turbines. Air Vice Marshal John H. Boret said today that there were
only 100 British aircraft left in Norway, and that the radar station in
Stavanger, “one of the finest in the world,” will be handed over to the
Norwegians. The British were in Norway?
They built a radar station there? Glowing steel slag can be seen from the air
by night bombers, so United Steel Companies built “mobile buildings, with
wheels on parallel sets of lines,” which were moved to different pits to dump
up to 7000 tons of slag a night.
News in Brief covers the American
distance record, Sir John Anderson rejoining Vickers, the Department of
Overseas Trade moving from Dolphin Square to Old Queen Street, a denial that
any RAAF personnel had been asked to volunteer for Dutch service in the East
Indies, the first automatic Arctic radio meterological station, set up in the
Kara Sea, Sqn Lder H. Clements’ new position with Silentbloc, Air Allan
Gordon-Smith’s with Smith and Sons, H. M. Samuelson with Smiths Aircraft
Instruments and a new RCAF “winterisation” trials in Edmonton, amongst other
news of less import. Not to underline it or anything, but the American long range record goes in the same bit with the Department of Overseas Trade moving offices.
Roy Fedden, “An Inquest on Chaos:
What Shall Be Done with Germany’s Research Equipment: Some Afterthoughts on a
Technical Mission” Fedden and his team were looking for equipment for the new
College of Aeronautics. They were in Germany two days after the occupation
zones were allocated, and managed to visit 33 locations. They were well
provided with transport, having brought their own Jeeps in Dakotas. Fedden met
various old friends, and found them mostly “unrepentant.” So what is to be done
with them? Well, Fedden reports that he was told by one engineer at Bosch that
the Russians had sent the firm’s whole research headquarters at Spandau back to
Russia, with all of its technicians. So the Russians are already exploiting
German research, and we should do the same. Various Allied interests have taken
off all the interesting stuff in truckloads, particularly the Americans, who
after all have all the trucks. Fedden was very impressed by the big new wind
tunnels. He does not, however, think that this equipment should be moved,
pointing to the heaps of rusting Italian research equipment found at the German
stations. In summary, in the next installment, he promises us actual
information.
“Flapjack,” “Empire Requirements:
With Particular Reference to the Australian Civil Aircraft Market: Why America
‘Gets Away with It’” America sells too many planes to Australia because
Australia is big, and so is America, and Britain is small. Fortunately,
Australians are just waiting for an opportunity to patriotically buy British,
as happened once, before the war. A history lesson follows, then the
observations that Australians would really like the Dove, Miles Aerovan,
Bristol Freighter and Vickers Viking, if they were only given a chance. He then
complains about how slow spare part delivery was before the war.
“Indicator,” “Conventional and
Unconventional: Another of ‘Indicator’s Handling Impression Series: The Bell
Airacobra and Two Early Curtiss Fighters Remembered” Speaking of ancient
history. It is interesting to hear that the P-39’s drive shaft would “whip
about in a noisy frenzy from time to time,” because the impression you get is
that such an unconventional installation would never have been approved before
that kind of thing was fixed. He then goes on to say that he didn’t actually
fly the Tomahawk and Kittyhawk very much, and so has hardly anything to say
except that the cockpit controls weren’t well arranged.
“Anglo-American Skymaster” The Prime
Minister’s personal C-54 was a luxury machine, fitted by Mr. Rumbold himself.
The usual pictures of light-but-nice looking furniture and suites follow. This is sadder than Geoffrey Crowther inadvertently admitting that he has B.O.
Group Captain Sidney Albert Dismore
has died at the age of 45. A WWI veteran who went into Handley-Page Transport
and then Imperial Airways, eventually as assistant General Manager, he is best
known for the prewar scheme to carry all first-class Empire mail byair in 1938, although the paper is careful to point out that a lot of other
people had to pass on the idea before Short flying boats could fall out of the
sky into African lakes, and Ensigns could proceed to not take off at all.
Civil
Aviation News
Many aircraft now flying no longer
have spare parts being made for them. This is especially true of the many
prewar de Havillands. (News!) American airlines will soon have a
Washington-Bombay service. An overnight service to Glasgow will soon fly. Some
Sandringhams were launched in Rochester
yesterday. There are services in the Western Pacific Area.
Australia-Manila; Australia-U.S.; China National Aviation resumes flying.
Lockheed announces its “P-38 Swordfish,” a P-38 modified with special wings for high speed flying.
“Enterprise
Honoured: Famous American Aircraft Carrier Receives Board of Admiralty
Flag”
“The Martin-Baker M-B V” This
airplane which will never be built hasn’t received enough publicity. Here is
more!
Correspondence
J. M. Sleight believes that
high-wings are just the thing for passenger transports, as many passengers love
the view. D. Haynes thinks that nationalised airlines ought to have lower
operating costs; “Ayeone” agrees with “Indicator” about twin-engined trainers
Radio
News, November 1945
Short
Radio News
The FCC has just announced the preliminary
allocation of FM radio broadcast licenses. Sixty licenses might be available in
the New York City area, with the exact allocation still in some respects
forthcoming. Just to be on the safe side, consumers should buy combined AM/FM
receivers, when they become available. Which might be a while, as there is a
shortage of tubes.
Tony Wayne, “Radio Jobs for G.I.Joe”
“Thousands” of jobs will be available. For example, television will soon be a
billion dollar business, employing four or five million. (Thousands, millions,
details!) The “ten to fifteen thousand” home television receivers now existing
will be dwarfed by the millions to come off the assembly lines just as soon as
manufacturers get the ‘green light.’ 398 TV stations, 45 FM stations, and 935 standard
broadcast stations are foreseen around the United States soon. Also, those
microwave relay networks. Other prospective employers include the airlines and
the government.
Joseph Gavin, W9YES, and Sol Heytow,
W9FAL, “Home Constructed 12mc. Receiver”
Robert Stone, Chief Engineer,
Soundscriber Corp, “Business Recording Equipment,” Soundscribers record on
seven inch plastic discs, which the company also sells. That sounds like a good way of creating continuing revenues.
 |
| Two decades of "uhms" and "Ahs." |
Stuart Reiner, “A Geiger Counter
X-Ray Spectrometer” X-rays can be used to probe the structure of matter, but
only if diffracted for imaging. Reiner covers the history of the industry
before leisurely getting on with the question of how incorporating a Geiger
counter tube assists the process.
Henry L. Metz, Chief, CAA
Experimental Station, Indianopolis, “Radio Glide Path for Aircraft” The glide
path in question is a new 330 mHz frequency equipment, used in the war, and now
being installed in airports. A discussion of the beam arrangements (antennae,
etc) which make this one stable, follows.
Salvatore Patremio, Chief Engineer,
WARD, “Movies for Television” The frame rate of movies is 24 per second,
whereas TV runs at 30. Adapting conventional movies for television to give TV
lots of popular material to fill the hours when the local opera company isn’t
available (As if!) requires some gadgets. Coincidentally, WARD has a gadget.
N. F. Smith, Philco Corporation,
“Washington to Philadelphia Relay Network, Part II”
“Radar: Radar, One of the Most
Miraculous Developments of World War 2 –Surpassed Only by the Atomic Bomb, Was
Made Possible Through the Combined Efforts of American Production and
Engineering Skill” A three page pictorial that keeps the advertising apart.
 |
| More MIT "long hairs." |
Leo. G. Sands, “Vacuum Tube
Analyzer” An article describing how to build one of your own.
Jordan McQuay, “Practical Radar,
Part 6: Technical Details of Methods of Indicating or Displaying Target
Information Obtained by Radar Sets” In other words, a short primer on cathode
ray tubes.
Four short articles for short wave
enthusiasts follow.
Gerald F. J. Tyne, Research
Engineer, N.Y., “Saga of the Vacuum Tube” More on the vacuum tube and its role
in WWI, with lots of pictures of ridiculous old time vacuum tubes, available in any size you can get a mason jar in, and about as sophisticated-looking.
Edward Burgess, “A Simple Co-Axial
Switch” Again, for amateurs, but it is interesting that we’re already telling
amateurs how to switch co-axial cable feeds.
Letters
M. Snitzer, of Boston Harbour,
Massaschusetts, writes to say how much he enjoyed the paper’s sizzling
dismantling of a recent Pegler editorial. All very well, but fish, barrel,
right? A. G. Brown, in England, writes that he likes the paper, and wants more
about American radio servicing. Good news, because the paper’s own Rufus Turner
has a book in the press. E2/C Malcolm E. Hess writes to say that he and the
boys would like to see a small radio in a compact, rugged metal case. Never mind Malcolm and the boys, I want one of those. Or, more likely, five or six. Pfc Harold Phillips wants a column of hints and tips, just like
the one the paper is about to launch. Franklin Munro, of Marshfield,
Massachusetts, thinks that the amateur is getting a raw deal. Josef A.
Plaschkes, of Tel Aviv, Palestine, has suggestions. T. Powell thinks that
amateurs have exaggerated ideas about what manufacturers can provide in terms
of part interoperability. Connections are soldered for a reason, guys!
No industry shorts in this issue. Instead, what seems to me to be an awfully padded review of radio station frequencies and
reception quality around the world. On the other hand, I'm not a radio enthusiast who has legally changed my name to my ham radio call-sign, so what do I know?
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