R_.C_.
General Delivery,
Nakusp, Canada.
Dear Father:
This package is a bit bulky since I am including an album of photographs of your grandchildren, and snaps from Bikini. I've added notes to the back of the photos, and now find that the well of words has run dry. So if there is to be any humanising touch ahead of my newsletter, it will have to be business --if you can call that humanising.
Twins! |
The first and most important business news is that there is talk of a pull-back in California real estate. Mario has chosen to ignore this, after consulting with his father, etc. As a result, there has been a run on the bank's shares. Uncle George is undecided as to whether we want to reduce our exposure. It would be an awful insult to Paul, but since it is his son running things, and he is not a proven commodity, perhaps we should safeguard our affairs? There is, after all, increasing talk of a business depression in 1947, which sounds better grounded than the talk of the "postwar depression" usually is. For one thing, it is hard not to believe that there won't be a crash in farm prices, with the way that everyone is rushing to put everything in the ground they can right now. (You should see the orchard! I don't think that a bumper crop of oranges will save Europe's children but try telling Michael that!)
I guess the question is how well the housing boom will stand a pullback in spending. The shortage is real! We have been unable to find additional builders for the bottom corner, and are only building on two of five lots. But will people buy when they are not confident in their jobs?
Turning to the questions coming out of your visit with Chief Richards, I was up at the college last week, meeting with "Miss Ch." The Head of Special Collections is still interested in having her, but they do not have enough Chinese material to justify moving her over from the asian library. I want to be very sure that "Miss Ch." is at Special Collections before the fall, for reasons you may appreciate if "Miss V. C." has spun out her Oregon Scandal murder mystery for you. It's one thing to turn up a bit of old-time fraud and expose the College to suits from the Governor's creditors. It is quite another to implicate living individuals in murder, even one that would have happened thirty years ago.
Since, one thing leading to another, I would rather not have "Miss Ch." exposed as an associate of mine, my pretext for visiting the campus was to meet with the Engineers' boys: not the good one, the scapegoat and the bastard. (Don't worry that I was mixing myself up in cloak-and-dagger business beyond my ken. Fat Chow was on campus, escorting his wife. She has decided not to take a full-time position at the University, as a full set of classes would get in the way of her family duties, and is looking into teaching some courses at the college which would fit her schedule better.)
The bastard was up on account of having told the board of his meeting that he had pull with a law professor at the college who could advise them on how to proceed with the studios. He was understandably nervous, since in fact he was talking through his hat, and was depending on somone at the college to acknowledge his relationship with his father. The scapegoat? Well, I think he needed a break from thirty years of doing nothing on dirty radio money, enough to be willing to help the young man. Either way, we had a bit of a laugh at the Engineer's new bread-recipe-business, and plotted out an approach. And, hopefully, anyone who was snooping on me thinks that that was the sum of it. Because if one hair on "Miss Ch.'s head" is harmed, I will level that place flatter than the Ruins of Yin.
Ahem. I think that I had better go back to looking at holiday brochures.
Time, 17 June 1946
Letters
C. Herbert Laub of Tampa thinks that the Allies are BUNGLING postwar diplomacy. J. A. Reichman,
of Memphis, writes to deny that white men there have Coloured mistresses, while
Franklin Kimblough, also of that city, is very upset that the paper published a
photo of Coloured folk enjoying the city’s carnival. They’re not the worst
correspondents from Memphis this week, either. Robert Cochrane, of Washington,
thinks that the paper is hard on organised labour, and Buddy Shartar, of Atlanta, wants an atomic bomb dropped on the Ku Klux Klan. Ada P. McCormick
telegraphs her approval of the leprosy story from Tucson. Henckl Bierberg, of
Copenhagen, thinks that the press pool at Bikini is there for just so much
American propaganda. Ed Jones, of Port Clinton, Ohio, has concerns about a story about the “heart purity or Holiness”
churches. H. S. Atchkinson, of Camborne, England, doesn’t like Bolsheviks. M.
McRae of the Canadian army and W. K. Meredrith, of Sappho, Washington, write in
defence of Frank Buchman’s Moral Rearmament movement, which is sure to be big
news.
The (presumed) Sappho of Sappho, Washington, now defunct. Picture from kaleberg.com. Copyright not asserted, so let's just say "Mr. or Ms. Kaleberg, 2006 or so." I bet W. K. Meredrith knew the story. |
National Affairs
The President is
BUNGLING labour strife. He has also made Fred Vinson Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court and brought John Wesley Snyder into the Treasury to replace Vinson, while
sending Senator Warren Austin of Vermont to the UN as the American Permanent
Representative and Eugene Meyer, formerly publisher of the Washington Post, to the World Bank.
“Wrath Without
Dignity” Justice Robert Jackson back from the Nuremberg Trials on leave, has
made his side of his feud[!], with Justice Hugo Black public, just in time for
Vinson to clean up the mess.
“Politics and
Pork Chops” Joe Curran, head of the National Mariners’ Union, is this week’s
cover story. Whither labour, what with the strikes and the Communists and Harry
Bridges? Who knows, but Curran doesn’t like communists, who are trying to take
over the American labour movement, so he might yet save the country from
communism.
“The Big Winner”
Governor Warren has won both the Republican and Democratic primaries in
California, routing the candidate backed by the California Political Action
Committee, which the paper celebrates as a defeat for the American left. But what if
this is just a first step on the Governor’s path to become a Progressive
Republican candidate for President?
“Something
Borrowed” The Army has tracked down the officers who stole Princess Sophie of
Hesse’s family jewelry while quartered on her castle. Now they will face court
martial, all beause one corporal “could not be moderate in his looting.”
“One Promise Met”
The United States finally reached and exceeded its food exports target in the
third week of May, at 363,000 tons of grain. But to meet its targets, it must
ship 1.7 million tons in June, triple its total in May.
“Going, Going”
Price controls are on their way out more. Also in things that go on forever,
West Virginia’s “diehard Republican Senator Chapman” is still fighting the
draft law, because he does not “want to draft boys to fight a civil war in
China.” National service might take 50,000 boys a year for the Army. The “Work
Done” section once more reminds us that the Senate can get things done on
boring stuff like servicemen’s insurance (and Congressional pay raises!), but
not the FPEC bill.
“Don’t Jump!” The
paper does a two page spread on the fire at the La Salle Hotel in Chicago that
killed 61 people over the weekend, which was followed four days later by the
Canfield Hotel fire in Dubuque, which killed fifteen. The paper prints gruesome
photographs of burned corpses. The fire was caused by a short circuit behind a
false ceiling.
La Salle fire. My photos turne out even blurrier than this one, which is a print pinned from ebay. The contorted, charred corpses are on the Internet, too. Thanks, Time! |
“100 Indians”
Congress is debating a bill which will, generously, allow 100 Indians to
immigrate in the United States each year, joining the 4000 already there, not
counting resident aliens.
International
The entire first
page is dedicated to the hope fear that we can get World War III going soon. The
Communists will have started it!
“Mouse in the
House” Meanwhile, it is agreed that if Franco’s Spain is not a “threat to world
peace,” the United Nations shouldn’t do things about it that are not the things
that it isn’t doing. Also, a mouse chewed through the wirings at one pont.
Further bulletins as events warrant.
The mouse nibbling the wire leads UN news at Time and Newsweek. |
“Fission Fever”
The Russian press suggests that the atomic bomb is driving Americans mad.
Azerbaijanis are
excitable.
“The Bases of
Peace” America needs to keep all of its wartime bases in case World War II
happens again, and get new ones, in case World War III happens. (If it is any
consolation to the less enthusiastic peoples of the Azores, Iceland and the
South Seas, the new bases will be in Greenland and such.)
“After 1,995 Years” Is how long it has been since the Roman Republic. And now there is an Italian republic! Italians seem happier with a republic governed by Christian Democrats than monarchy ruled by a hereditary imbecile.
See, this is why hereditary monarchs should go in for sports. Or at least make it to the gym. |
“One Word”
Carlton J. Hayes’ book about his wartime ambassadorship to Spain has been
released in Spain, in a Spanish translation, just to show that Franco’s
government is not a “gangster regime.” Except that the places where Hayes
describes it as such (but still better than the alternative!) have not been
translated, supposedly because there is no word for “gangster” in Spanish. Similarly,
but vice versa, Poles are excitable.
Corinne Luchaire was sentenced to ten years of “national disgrace” this week for consorting with
the Germans during the Occupation, although if her tuberculosis is as bad as it
sounds, she will be lucky to live that long. (And spare a prayer for the less
famous French consumptives eating their current diet. . . )
We'll be hearing more about tuberculosis. |
“Surplus
Liquidators” The French are complaining that, because of a lack of GIs, German
P.W.s are practically running the American army’s organisation in France. The Americans are complaining that
unsupervised P.W.s are liquidating everything they can get their hands on.
“The Ham”
Mohammed Ali Jinnah hammed up the recent meeting of the Muslim League. It no longer looks like there will be a civil war in India.
“A Man From Palo
Alto” Oliver J. Todd, an “engineer and humanitarian from Palo Alto,
California,” is leading the effort to rebuild the dykes of the Yellow River. Also
in Chinese news, General Marshall is still negotiating with Chou En-Lai.
“News from
Never-Never Land” The American occupation authorities in Korea think that the
Russians are stripping all the factories in their sector and sending the
machinery back to Russia, but the President’s special envoy, Ed Pauley, saw no
evidence of that. Seoul is trying to figure out how he came to be so badly
mistaken. The North Korean people, meanwhile, long to be (re)liberated by the
Americans, it is reported.
“The King is Dead” King Ananda Mahidol of Siam,
whose erratic behaviour made the paper in April, has died, perhaps of
intrigue, or accident, or even suicide.
“As Ye Sow . . .
“ Japanese primary school students go on strike against their teachers over the
distribution of the harvest of their school vegetable gardens, resulting in
their teachers going around to the children’s’ homes to apologies. The Japanese
are an odd people.
Newsweek shows Donald Trump how it's done, old school. |
Latin Americans
are excitable, and it turns out that the Russians are perfectly willing to be
pro-Peron if there’s enough edible oil in it for them. The paper points out
that Peron is not a bad person because he is a Nazi, as was once supposed; but
because he is a communist, as is now realised. The State Department, meanwhile,
has dropped trade restrictions on Argentina because of the not-Nazi thing.
“The Hungry” The
Engineer has been touring the west coast of South America drumming up food for
Europe. It has not gone well, except for Argentina offering 150,000 tons of
wheat, to show how not-Nazi (or possibly not-Communist) it is.
Canadians are on
about atomic control, their growing surplus of U.S. dollars, which might lead
to a relaxation of currency export controls, and the work of Evan Hardy of the
University of Saskatchewan in promoting shallow plowing.
Business
“$12,000,000
More” Uncle Henry has just floated a stock issue of that size to buy Wheeling
Steel, of Portsmouth, Ohio, to provide the steel for Willow Run. My eyes are
rolling.
"Hercules" is what they're currently calling the Spruce Goose. Words fail, etc. |
“Confusion in the
Pit” The OPA’s sudden increase in grain price ceilings severely disrupted the
Chicago Commodities Exchange, and Robert W. Buckley is taking the Exchange to
court. He has obtained a restraining order, but it was promptly quashed by the
federal bench.
“Grey Market” The
British auto market is using outrageous tricks to evade price controls.
“Straw in the
Wind?” Real estate prices on the West Coast are showing signs of moderating,
and people are suggesting that Bank of America should rein in. I am not sure
that I agree, but Uncle George will have to make the call about whether we embarrass Paul or ride the flaming wreckage, etc.
“The Ax Falls”
The CAB this week introduced regulations in the non-scheduled airline business,
and up to 95% of the new operations may be grounded.
“Up Wages, Up
Rates” Western Union has secured permission to raise rates and wages.
Science, Medicine, Education
“Piles for Peace”
General Electric’s Vice-President, Harry A. Wynne, thinks that atomic-powered
ships, which might sail a million miles on a single fuel charge, are eminently
practical, but has his doubts about atomic power for electrical utilities,
because of the low price of coal. Despite that, GE is building a 300 acre
research centre to look into nuclear prospects, with a special focus on the meson, “a mysterious, sub-atomic particle which may hold the key to a revolutionary course of atomic power.” GE is also taking over Hanford from the
government.
Note that this GE work, if it is investigating muon-catalyzed fusion, is eight years ahead of the phenomena's supposed "discovery." I suspect that, due to security considerations, we don't know half the crazy stuff that physicists were working on in the postwar era. The tragedy is that it is the Teller-Ulam bomb that worked out, and not cheap fusion. Photo scraped from Laurie M. Brown, et al, eds. Birth of Particle Physics (CUP, 1983). |
“Isotopes for
Research” Radioactive isotopes of various elements have all sorts of
applications in medicine (the thyroid cancer story), chemistry (as “tracers”)
and in physics, where they are convenient sources of radioactivity. The
exciting part is that isotopes produced in atomic piles are cheap.
“Split Starlight”
Otto Struve, of Chicago’s Yerkes Observatory, has perfected a new method of
taking infrared photographs of stars, which will produce more information about
the chemical makeup of stars, and also of the atmospheres of the planets.
“Birds Did It
First” Lytle S. Adams is back in the news with his air-sowing technique. Someone needs to sit this man down and take his publicist away.
“Speed and
Security” Supersonic speeds may be “further around the flying corner than many
people think,” the paper concludes after viewing various closed-course record
flights by B-29s and P-80s.
North American XB-70. No, you can't fly hypersonic to Hong Kong, but you can play Candy Crush on your lunch break, so I guess it's a wash. |
“Bogomolets and
the Longer Life” Professor Alexander Bogolomets of Kiev, discoverer of
“anti-reticular cytotoxic serum,” continues to believe that, with regular
injections of ACS made from the bone marrow of “young, healthy people who have
died by accident,” that he can preserver human life to the age of 150, by
virtue of its effect on diseases such as cancer and high blood pressure.
“Gesundheit” Also
in miracle cures, it is claimed that either one, two, or all three of the new drugs Anthallan or Benadryl and Pyribenzamine may be able to provide full
relief from hay fever, much like ephedrine, already well known as a treatment.
The paper also
has a graphic but no story about the use of those magnetometers previously
featured as U-boat hunters, now pressed into service to look for oil.
Also a plot point in M. A. Foster's remarkable Gameplayers of Zan. |
“. . . And Not
Enough of Labour” The paper, for some reason, covers Byron Price’s Commencement
Speech at Harvard. He scolds Americans for not being enough of this, but on the
other hand too much of that. Out of which the paper seizes on something about
labour? Over in Connecticut there is now yet another prep school, this one,
Romford, will have regular visits from a special board of very important people
such as Edward Stettinus. If you are wondering how he was roped into it,
William Ziff is the main backer. In other prep news, the Exeter-Andover game
was interrupted by rain, leading the paper to do a long profile of William Saltonstall.
Only accepts absolutely the brightest children whose parents can afford to send them to prep school. |
Press, Art, Radio
“Assignment
A-Bomb” No fewer than 112 American correspondents are in the Bikini pool, but
only 13 foreign. Vogue, Harpers and Superman Enterprises were all refused accreditation, but Air Aces and Charm were accepted.
Because I needed an excuse to put in this glam shot of a Valvoline customer. Only available at the better sort of dealers! |
“Too Many
Magazines?” The wartime magazine boom is over. Comic sales are down from 40
million monthly to 27, and the pulps are also thinning out, although there are
still 1200 titles to choose from. Pockets and digests are also hurting, and
while Reader’s Digest can easily
weather the storm, many of its competitors cannot. Women’s and glamour
magazines, by contrast, are doing well, while Life, Ladies Home Journal, New Republic and The Nation have had to raise newsstand or subscription prices.
The paper reminds
us that Herbert Lionel Matthews and Robert C. Ruark exist, and, in art news,
that these days, modern painters like abstract art.
If you can't say anything useful, just blather on about politics. |
Marshall Field
III has just purchased his fourth West Coast radio statin, KJR in Seattle.
People
Martha Taft, at a
recent meeting for Republican women in Philadelphia, described the Democratic
party as “a freak of nature . . . with a Communist front, a reactionary rear,
and a know-nothing middle.” But this is “people” news because a woman said it.
Henry L. Mencken is old. Mr. America 1946, Alan Stephen, is pictured.
1946 was a strange place. |
Admiral Ernest King has been received into the Shriners. Grace Moore is back in America and over her laryngitis. James M. Cain,
the “cold blood and thunder novelist” has been divorced by his third wife on charges
of cruelty. Jay Gould III’s wife has been refused a divorce on the grounds that
her grounds were frivolous.
Pat O’Brien and
his wife, Eloise Taylor O’Brien, have had a daughter. John Arthur (“Jack”)Johnson, former Coloured heavyweight world boxing champion, has died at 68 in
an automobile accident. Louis Kroh Liggett has died at 71, Frank Case at 73,
and George Albert Hormel, at 85.
The New Pictures
The Stranger is a new movie in which
Orson Welles plays a Nazi, instead of Randolph Hearst. The paper doesn’t have
anything profound to say about it (although it is contemporary, and the Nazi is
trying to start WWIII, as opposed to winning WWII, which is a fresh take); but
it really, really like the paper, especially Edward G. Robinson and Loretta Young’s parts. To Each His Own is a
movie in which Olivia de Havilland has a baby out of wedlock, and then suffers
for it. Two Sisters from Boston is a
costume drama that the paper didn’t like; it doesn’t say much about the costumes, though! Bad Bascomb is a horrible comedy from Wallace Beery and Margaret
O’Brien, and So Goes My Love is
ragged and sentimental.
I don't think the 1890s worked this way? |
Books
“It has been
80-odd years since Nathanial Hawthorne died, but the mystery of his life has
never been completely explained.” Whatever that means. A new collection of his
short stories, edited by Newton Arvin, is out. I didn’t even know that people
wrote short stories back then! Also,
Nancy Mitford has a new novel out, ThePursuit of Love, also out are Manuel Quezon’s memoirs, The Good Fight. Finally, Richard Aldington has made up a story
about Casanova.
Flight, 20 Jun 1946
Leaders
“Short Shrift”
Short Brothers announces that its Rochester works are being moved to Belfast.
Two or three hundred craftsmen will be moved to Belfast at company expense. The
paper is sad for Rochester, and then toddles off down memory lane.
“Pointers to the
Future” Variable incidence wings, tricycle undercarriages, slotted and flapped
wings, two-control systems and such might be on future private planes. Or not!
A bad idea is gathering speed. Sigh. Source. |
“Action” The
paper is pleased that the King’s Flight is being reformed.
“British Jets for
U.S.A.” People upset about the BOAC Constellation buy should be happy that
Rolls-Royce has licensed jet engines to America.
John W. R.
Taylor, “P-51F Lightweight Mustang: Ingenious Redesign Saves 1500lb Weight: New
Undercarriage, Oil Cooler and Airscrew” Taylor points out that aircraft keep
getting heavier. The Sopwith Pup weighed 1225lb fully loaded, but carried one
machine gun and flew at 106mph. By 1929, Furies and Bulldogs weighed three
times as much, the Spitfire was above 6000, and the P-47” “weighed around ten tons.” I think that that is
fully loaded, and that the number for the Spitfire, even the early Spitfire,
isn’t. Anyway, the point is that the P-51F keeps the armament of the P-51D, is
faster, but also lighter. This is because of extensive redesign. The
undercarriage, for example, is newer, simpler and smaller. The engine mounting and
cover is also simpler and better put together, although he has doubts about the
Dzus fasteners used on the cowling. The airscrew is by General Motors’Unimatic, and the oil cooler is replaced by a heat exchanger. More plastics are
used, and two guns are deleted. My understanding is that some American load
limits were also relaxed, but that’s just my understanding, and I may be wrong.
Here and There
The Bristol
Proteus gas turbine airscrew engine is announced, and there is a picture of the
Northrop XP-79 twin-jet fighter. Captain Short has died. Sir Malcolm Campbell
will attempt to set a new world water speed record with a jet-engined speed
boat. Mrs. Morrow-Tait and Mrs. Taylor-Young are disputing the title to be the
first English mothers to go to flying school postwar, and now there is news
that Joyce Tildesley makes three. Now that Hives is Managing Director at
Rolls-Royce, his people are coming in, and T. S. Haldenby is to be General
Director.
“The Birthday
Honours” Are not interesting, because my husband is not in them.
The D.H. Chipmunk
exists more.
“Netherlands
Terminal: Amsterdam’s Famous Airport at Schiphol, Wrecked During the War,
returns to Life”
In 1946, an international air port could look like this. Nowadays, Kelowna would be embarrassed. |
“More About the
P-92” Last week, we heard about the Boulton Paul P-92. Now we hear more, mainly
that the model was flawless and flew beautifully, and that it is tragic that a
giant, twin-engined fighter with quadruple 20mm cannons was not built for the
RAF because “the Air Staff decided, on tactical grounds,” to give the writers
of the specification a long rest cure instead of ordering it. (Seriously! The
paper says that! It would have been a good day bomber escort, it says. The
Americans tried that! Remember?)
A simple guide to aviation journalism: every plane that wasn't built, should have been. Whereas it is actually only the TRS-2. |
American Newsletter
“Kibitzer” is
back to tell us all the same facts we could have learned about the boom in air
freight in Fortune, only with no nice
pictures. (Though, on the other hand, no Fairchild C-82 ads rank with
desperation, either.) “Kibitzer” is also upset that “British policy” means that
he can never be cranky and say undiplomatic things to Americans, even when they
are criticising Trans Canadian or BOAC for being anti-free-enterprise. He has also heard complaints about the sale
of British jets to Sweden, in case the Allies have to fight the dastardly
Vikings. (I hear they like to invade Normandy, too!) Also, America has all the
new airliners right now, and that will soon include the Republic Rainbow and
maybe a version of the Northrop flying wing. Up to now, flying wings have been
unstable at low speed and dangerous in stall, “Kibitzer” points out, but no
doubt all the publicity about how the XB-35 is able to carry sixty tons of bombs
or fly 10,000 miles with “a substantial load of bombs” shows that Northrop has
solved all those problems.
I'm not seeing where there's room to stash the loot and slaves after they burn the monastery, though. |
“Britain’s Test
Pilots” does Captain R. T. Shepherd of Rolls-Royce this week. He test flies
engines, but they have to be put in planes, first. For example, the first Merlin flew in a modified Hawker Horsley. He has apparently been flying since forever, though,
because there are lots of pictures of much older planes on the second page,
which I respectfully decline to read closely.
Sqdn Ldr Harold
J. Payn, “Superlift: Some Reminiscences of Stages Which Prepared the Way for
the Supermarine 322” The 322 was the plane that could pivot its wings, giving
variable incidence, so that it could adjust them one way to take off of
aircraft carriers better, and another way to fly faster. He traced the origins
of the gadget back to the first Handley Page slotted flap. The problem with the
slotted flap was that it forced the fuselage up to a large incidence, so the
obvious(!) next step was to hinge the fuselage. This scheme was tested in the
1924 Vickers Vagabond. Adding seven pounds and making it much nicer to fly, although
not fixing all the problems. The better solution was to adjust the wings, and
the writer tested this in a modified Supermarine Southampton in 1933, but I
think it could only be adjusted on the ground? From there, the next step,
clearly, was a wing that could be rotated to any incidence you please at the
turn of a knob in the cabin. I want to be the one who tells the
engineer who has to design it!
Supermarine 322. The question is weight, guys. Weight. |
Civil Aviation
Air France is
resuming its Atlantic service, for which there are no priority reservations.
Pan American is now flying direct New York Vienna via London. A summer Iceland
charter service Reykjavik-Copenhagen via Prestwick is fully booked, fare £29,
fishing permit extra. PICAO has a monthly journal! A Hermes Hastings prototype
made a 300mph+ flight to Paris recently, “paced by a Spitfire.” The first BOAC
Constellation made yet another Atlantic record, 11hr 24min New York-London.
Captain W. S. May was the pilot. Internal routes continue to be added in
England on a regular basis –eight next month alone, if I am reading it right.
All air routes lead to London. |
“Fire
Suppression: Survey of the Graviner Fire-fighting System for Aircraft: Manual
and Automatic Actuation: Crash and Flight Fire Requirements” The Graviner
system is a set of methyl bromide tanks actuated by either a “Fire” button in
the cockpit or by a flame detector in the engine compartment. Another injector
on the engine side of the throttle adds flame suppressant to the air entering
the engine, which “kills” it immediately. There is also an accelerometer switch
for crashes, which sets the system off when it experiences 6gs or more. The
Graviner system is in use in England, and has now been approved in the United
States, so that it can replace existing carbon dioxide systems. Graviner is
working on a single emergency switch that will cut off oil and fuel supply at
the fire wall and at the tanks, which will further improve safety in crashes,
where tanks and engines are apt to be torn free.
“Sokol” If
articles about new American private planes aren’t exciting enough, here is the
Czechoslovak Mraz M-1 Sokol.
Correspondence
Joseph Hutton
writes to defend the Halifax. B. E. J. Garmeson writes that ultra-light
aircraft would sell like hotcakes if the Government would only stop worrying
about “airworthiness,” as socialists do. Donald H. Smith writes to correct
correspondent “MIAEE’s” comments about the Jameson aircraft engine,
specifically that its flat four configuration with two-throw crankshaft is at
all normal. It is, in fact, not normal at all, and no-one has made it work well
yet, with existing flat fours all being three-throw.
“Operation Fly
Past” The paper took many pictures during the Victory Day flypast. Here they
are! (Not pictured: Geoffrey Crowther feeling unexpected stirrings of joy and
sternly repressing them with thoughts of sacking operatives and castigating
Labourites.)
Time, 24 June 1946
Letters
Strong opinions
are held about Boss Crump and proposed labour legislation in various parts of America.
Naomi-Margret Sevetson, of Cheyenne, thinks that the UN Women’s Committee is
wrong. Women are not human beings as well, they are human beings, only, because
men are beasts. (Not wrong, but perhaps overdoing it. . . ) John Abraham of New York thinks that
Ambassador Vishinski’s speech to the UN was untruthful. Major General F. L.Parks replies to a story about “thousands” of army cars rusting in a yard in
Atlanta while the country goes carless. He points out that the yard in question
is for non-operational cars, and that its collection has grown over the years,
since the Army only procured 20,000 civilian cars, mostly in the early years of
the war, and that they were all pre-war.
Our publisher
writes that a special episode of March of
Time will be broadcast this week, discussing the famine conditions in
Europe.
It's this, or I track down General Park's picture of the Bagana eruption, and I have to leave something for 1948! |
National Affairs
“Price of Eggs,”
and “Breathing Spell” Price controls are on their way out some more. This means
that the price of groceries are up, and now the talk is that, with one thing
and another, there will be a “short depression” in 1947 and then a “continuing
boom and full employment” through 1950. The President, meanwhile, with labour
legislation stalled before the Senate, and his wife and daughter off in Missouri to be embarassed by the national press digging up Mrs. Truman's high school shot put record, can just hang about with his buddies in Washington. In
crony news, John Steelman has spent so much time on the telephone trying to
settle labour disputes that he has had a special cradle made to comfort his
aching ear and shoulder. (More frivolous than the appointment of a board to study
Palestine, the recall of the envoy to the Vatican before he can be seduced by
Jesuits, and the appointment of an ambassador to the Philippines, but probably
more interesting.) By the way, Congress is allowing 100 Filipinos to immigrate
into America every year. It’s a
flood!
“Closing the
Ranks” No, not a story about the Lichfield trials, which is above. This one is
about how armed forces unification is happening more. I note with alarm talk of
giving the Air Force the land based reconnaissance and antisubmarine patrol
wings, which will greatly complicate my cunning plans for your son’s career.
The Marines may also lose their air force, which they have for very goodreasons that I cannot for the life of me think of right now.
“New Target:
September 30th” Labour legislation on strikes currently has to be
ready by then.
“Feud, Continued”
For some reason, Supreme Court Justices denouncing each other in public has
turned into news. The paper continues to be sympathetic to Jackson, while the President
continues to be “mad as hell” at him.
“Best Foot
Forward” Ambassador Novikov and his wife visited Detroit, where he had the
pleasure of being denounced as a communist by random hecklers and after dinner
speakers. Although at least he wasn’t pelted with eggs, like Lord Halifax.
“Swing to the
Right” The paper discerns a conservative swing in American politics. Communists are behind it!
“Power to
Burn” Something something Indiana politics.
“What Hit Him”
The paper is disillusioned by Harold Stassen’s’ failure to win the Nebraska
primary.
“The Word of a
Pro” Republican National Chairman B. Carroll Reece confidently counted out
expected Republican pickups in the House this week.
“Citizens First”
The new American Veterans Committee wants to be very different from the
American Legion. Their convention in Des Moines was chaotically entertaining,
and the Communists were defeated.
“Red Angel” Earl
Browder is still in Moscow, and has now been joined by long-time financial
angel Abraham A. Heller. The paper doesn’ like Heller, and also doesn’t like
Communists who don’t like him.
“Everybody’s
Doing It” Getting married, that is. Also, honeymoons are back in style.
Is the sceptre too much, do you think? |
International
“Beyond the Bomb”
The UN is talking about international control of the atom bomb. Further
bulletins as events warrant.
“And Now
Pistachios” The Russians have signed a treaty with Afghanistan giving them
control of the Kushk District, which has vast pistachio groves, and also and
perhaps even more importantly, is a good place to dam the Oxus River toirrigate Turkmenistan. The paper believes that the fact that the India Office
has no opinion just shows how anti-communist Labour is.
“Out of the
Storm?” The upcoming Paris Foreign Ministers Conference may stop WWIII, or
bring it on. Either way, it should be fun. (I don’t think that the paper is for WWIII, but it is ambivalent, in that it would sell a lot of papers.)
”An American Abroad”
This week’s cover story is on General Mark Clark, who is in charge of the
occupation in Austria, which is scarred by war, stalked by hunger and badly
dressed.
“Beauty and
Order” Lisbon’s press actually said uncomplimentary things about Salazar this
week. Can democracy be far behind?
“Pharao Superbus”
Umberto threw a temper tantrum in Rome before finally departing this week.
“A Copper Ladle”
Some gruesome crime news from Italy.
“L’Affaire Mufti”
The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem disappeared while on a visit to Cairo from his
villa near Paris this week. The next day, he was reported in Damascus,
addressing the Arab League, which has Zionists upset at the French and British
for not keeping him under wraps. Ernest Bevins, caught telling people at Bournemouth
that the reason that the Americans want 100,000 Jews to go to Palestine is
“that they don’t want them in New York,” is under particular pressure.
On the Palestine question, I prescribe silence and happy thoughts. Also, check out the clothes and the road in the window. That's what people drove on in 1946, young 'uns. |
“Too Tired” The
Yugoslavs are trying the royalists for losing the civil war.
“Skeleton’s Exit”
The paper went to Bournemouth, but all the news it could find went under
different headers, so this one ends up celebrating the fact that Harold Laski
is no longer Party Chairman. Because Harold Laski is awful, don't you know.
“Pattern in
Cotton” The paper went to stay with Cuthbert Clegg, third-generation owner of a
red-brick cotton mill in Littleboro, Lancashire. Clegg only has 500 workers,
down from 1500 before the war, and is hoping to install new, highspeed weaving
looms by the end of the year. Clegg is one of the industry members of the
working committee appointed to modernise, rationalise, full technical efficiency,
etc., the industry. He thinks that the government is BUNGLING full technical
efficiency, because “private enterprise” would be enough motivation for other
owners to modernise, as he has. Not government planning or cartelization.
“Elder Sister” ”Scar-faced
Giichi Masuda,” the new head of the 2000 open-stall shopkeepers (tekiyas) of the Matsuzakaya “street
gang,” tried to modernise his syndicate’s operation, and was assassinated by
his accountant, Tomiji Nodera, this week. And as though the story couldn’t get
pulp noir enough, it was with a Mauser pistol. So now his wife
has taken over as “Elder Sister.”
"The Rocketeer" by sdowner, but via Robowork's Deviant Art page. Pulp as nostalgia. |
“A Pistol for Panchito” Now that the war is over, there are lots of guns for military aid for
South America, which apparently really needs guns. Should Argentina get some,
being as how it is not fully de-Nazified. (Pretend you haven't read those articles about Peron being some kind of Communist so that you don't have to be puzzled by this.) The answer is probably yes,
although some dissenters think that new hydroelectric dams might be more useful
aid than tanks. Also, in Paraguay there has been a coup, and with that story
between the previous one and this one, there is insulation against confusion, so that we can have a story about how Peron is so left wing
that he’s practically a communist.
Canadians are
boring.
Science, Medicine and Education
“Diggers” The war
has kept archaeologists out of the field, or at least quiet. Now the paper
remedies this with a quick survey of sites from caves in France to forgotten cities in Peru.
“Deadlier
Insecticide” A Cambridge chemist claims to have improved on DDT by “activating”
it with paraffin. With various DDT formulations coming on the market, the paper
follows on tnis story with a list of things that you should and shouldn’t use
DDT on. It does add that the dangers of handling DDT have been much
exaggerated, though.
“Progress Report”
Progress is continuing in the fight against tuberculosis. Rene Jules Dubos has
discovered a new way to cultivate the tuberculosis bacteria, presumably to make
diagnosis faster. Dr. Horton Corwin Hinshaw of the Mayo Institute confirms
that streptomycin definitely arrests tuberculosis, and Dr. Richard Overholt’s
surgical method of cracking open the rib cage and sectioning out the entire
part of the lung that is tubercular is reported to cure “56.2%” of the
consumptives so far operated on. The US Public Health Service also reports
success in immunising public health workers against TB, with a vaccine which hasbeen in use in Denmark since 1930.
“Antimetabolites”
MIT’s new Technology Review has news that the average neurotic dieter can
use! Various foods “neutralise” the vitamins in other foods, or in other words,
prevent metabolism. For example, the
body cannot take up the iron in whole wheat flour because of the phytic acid in
it, and clams have a “powerful enzyme” which destroys the B-1 vitamin in other
foods. Coffee is a mild antimetabolite to the vitamins biotin and inositol, and
aspirin depletes the body’s Vitamin K.
“Drug Deficiency”
Various drugs, such as adrenalin and insulin, are extracted from the organs of
slaughtered animals, but with so much of the slaughtering being done by “behind
the barn” operations, the organs are being thrown out, and a dangerous shortage
is emerging.
“Swindles and
Perversions” George Orwell has written a whole book about how Confucius wasright in the first place.
“Dewey Unchanged”
John Dewey, the 87-year-old philosopher and educational reformer, has a book
out. (The paper helpfully notes that he is a “distant cousin” of Governor Dewey
and Admiral Dewey. Less helpfully, it spends a full page explaining the
philosophy of “Pragmatism.”) The paper follows this with yet another story
about the principal of a prep school in Connecticut.
Press, Radio
“Rural Press
Lord” One John Holiday Perry, head of the Western News Syndicate[¯\_(ツ)_/¯], just moved
into Florida and bought “the cream” of the state’s 140 local dailies. This is
terrible, because he just syndicates content to produce low cost content, and
steers writers away from politically controversial congtent. The syndicate even
supplies editorials on presumably anodyne subjects.
Not at all
anodyne is PM, the “adless” New York
daily, which is looking for more money to keep on running, since people are
sure to start liking it real soon now.
“Busy Air” NBC
radio commentator John McVane is in charge of making the United Nations sound
interesting. FCC Commissioner In other news, Clifford Durr is not making
friends in the radio business by insisting that radio stations have regular
reviews before the FCC before their channels are renewed every three years, in
the interest of making sure that they “serve the public interest,” as the
Engineer said.
Business
“The Red and the
Black” Some companies are doing badly, others are doing well. Strikes are an
important reason for doing badly, while retailers that have filled their
shelves are now worried that “pent-up demand” can’t last much longer.
“Enough is
Enough” The Chicago Commodities Exchange shut down again this week, because
no-one can figure out what is going on in the wheat, rye and oats business, and
corn and barley aren’t doing much better.
“Plywood Palace”
With all this talk of prefabricated homes of new industrial material, Jean Valjean Willis of Louisana thinksthat a plywood number might do well. His Home-Ola plant in Chicago is nowshipping ten complete units a day, and he hopes to ship 1500 a month by August.
From the linked 1947 Popular Mechanics article, which also shows some of the more attractive competitors that never went anywhere. |
“The Peckerwoods”
Are temporary, portable sawmills, which are popping up by the thousands in the
southern pinelands of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas to produce vast
amounts of wood; but with the intention of stockpiling it until the OPA
ceilings came off. 400 to 500 million board feet are estimated to be in the
stockpiles even as lumber shortages are bringing construction to a halt in many
northern markets.
“Bigger and
Bigger” In a report on “Economic Concentration and World War II” Senator
James Murray concluded that this week that one led to the other. (Probably war
leading to economic concentration, although check back in a few years in case
it goes the other way.)
“Eagles Among
Chicks” Latest developments in the CAB’s attempt to regulate non-scheduled
airlines.
The New Pictures
The paper really
liked The King of Siam. I agree!
Although having to stop and explain what is going on to Fanny made me wonder if
it was too good. (And thanks to
Judith for the babysitting!) Specter of the Rose tried hard.
People
Even the paper is
doing the Birthday List! It is impressed that Lord Beveridge is now a Lord. Not
included in the Birthday Honours is Marjorie Morgenstierne’s award as “Miss
United Nations” by a beauty contest in Washington.
Not strictly an
honour is being on the top of the Treasury Department’s list of top earners; a
title which goes to William S. Hart this year, at $1,113,035, at a tax rate of
89%, which, if applied to his whole income, would leave him with a take-home of
little more than $120,000(!) Alvin York is said to have found oil near his home
in Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee. Robert Donat, Martha Scott, and Richard Joshua Reynolds are getting divorced.
Ralph Ingersoll,
active elsewhere in the paper cadging for money for his paper, PM, has had a son with Elaine Keiffer
Cobb Ingersoll. The paper is all romantic about the Duke of Northumberland
getting married. Charles Butterworth has died after his roadster hit a
lamppost, leaving 126 feet of skid marks behind it. John Logie Baird has died
at 58, of influenza, while Major Edward Bowes, of the Original Amateur Hour,
died at 71 of a long illness, John Hollis Bankhead of cerebral thrombosis,
Flight, 27 June 1946
Leaders
“Helicopter
Configuration” How many blades should a helicopter have, and what should they
stick out of? The paper has opinions, reflecting on the Paisecki PV-3, the
Cierva Air Horse, and the Cierva W. 9.
"the flying banana." |
“Heads I Win” The
Government (may be) BUNGLING charter aviation.
“Eisenhower and
the Air” Eisenhower’s report on the Normandy campaign, published this week,
reveals that aircraft were involved.
“Southampton Air
Show” There was a “static” air show at Southampton. Various people and the W.9
prototype were there. Mr. D. H. Emby, lately
of James Taylor (Chertsey), has died. He was an aviation pioneer, because he
was the engineer brought in to salvage J. D. Mooney’s new-born Steel WingCompany, which eventually merged with Gloster.
“Fixed Pitch and
Constant Speed Airscrews” Things are a bit slow around the office, so the paper
sent out for someone at Rotol to explain their catalogue.
In shorter news,
Hall Hibbaard, of Lockheed, writes to explain that Constellations in fact make
the American load limits in all flying states. Prince Birabongse of Siam has
taken up flying.
Prince Birabongse. Grandson of Mongkut |
The Illife Press (the paper’s syndicate) had a nice shindig
for returning veterans. Lord Camrose also gave a nice speech about managing
director, Claude Wallis.
“Californian Air
Display” The paper reports on the Burbank Air Show, for some reason, and below
it reports Squadron Leader Arthur Stewart King Scarf’s Victoria Cross.
Civil Aviation
The Danish
airline has ordered five Vickers Vikings. The Italian Air Agreement needs to be
discussed more. The CAB has suspended operation of the Constellation’s
pressurisation and cabin heating system due to a recent accident. Francis
Chichester has joined the board of Straight Aviation at Bush House to further
develop civil “synthetic” flight training. Juan Trippe, in town on his way to
Vienna, said that Pan American would replace its Constellations with Boeing
Stratocruisers “in due course.” The Bristol 170 has just received the first
unrestricted certificate of airworthiness for a postwar civil aircraft. Aer
Lingus will be buying 3 Constellations next year. Four Conservative MPs, Air
Commodore A. V. Harvey, Croup Captain Max Aitken, Lt. Colonel W. H. Bromley,
and Captain M. Astor, are founding a charger airline. Priority restrictions on
air services continue to relax. British South American will be able to accept
non-priority passengers for Buenos Aires as from 1 July, while BOAC’s service
to America will be 50% free bookings as from the same date.
“Messier
Hydraulics: Survey of the High-pressure Hydraulic System Installed in the
Handley Page Hermes/Hastings” Things are a bit quite around the office right
now, so they sent away to Messier for someone to explain their catalogue to us. It
turns out that the hydraulics are perfect, that they adjust to altitude
perfectly, and that if they don’t, there is a pneumatic emergency service, and
the undercarriage twists and folds in ingenious ways that are the best ever. The
electrohydraulic control system is even more ingenious than the undercarriage.
In shorter news,
the NPL gave a nice exhibition recently.
“Birthday
Honours” Still not interesting. (Well, perhaps I could use the names of all the
businessmen, scientists and engineers who received honours in an argument with
the kind of American who thinks that Britain is some kind of pastoral backwater
of Milords and sheep; but that kind of opinion is more prejudice than anything,
and scarcely rewards arguing with facts.)
Correspondence
An insurance
executive writes to correct “Indicator” about insurance. J. L. Jameson writes to defend the company’s
remarkable claims that they have built a “ventilated” engine. Correspondents Y.
Labye and H. M. Yeatman keep up the barmy discussion on bird flight. C. G. G.
Knight, an RAFTC operator stationed last year in San Diego, writes to tell us
that he doesn’t understand the difference between ground and air waves.
(Actually, he points out that he was in regular contact with his ground station
in Auckland all the way to Honolulu, which he thinks proves that he was
achieving a greater distance for C.W. communications than was claimed in last
week’s paper was a record. M. C. Quist thinks that rockets accelerate too fast
for human crews. “Two Ex-Brat Sergeants” think that wartime Halton graduates
are hard done by.
Radio News, July 1946
The good news is
that the nice people at Ziff-Davis have added me to their advanced copy list.
The bad news is that they have inaugurated the service by sending me the July
number instead of the June! I blame their new Cardex system.
Editorial: For the Record
Our editor is
concerned with difference between radio servicemen and dealers.
Spot Radio News
Fred Hamlin
predicts an all-out sales blitz of FM equipment by the end of summer. This may
answer Commissioner Durr’s concerns that radio manufacturers are not producing
enough sets with FM capability, perhaps to handicap the new sector. Pioneering
FM broadcasters are confident that this problem will be overcome soon, even
though a shortage of copper wire has emerged as a result of the coal strike, work stoppages in the copper industry and emergency exports of copper.
Also short is wood for radio cabinets.
Nothing says cozy like stainless steel! |
ON other fronts, CBS President Frank Stratton
believes that the last handicap in the way of colour television has been
overcome thanks to the successful relay of uhf transmissions over a 450 mile
coaxial cable between New York and Washington. The FCC has also approved the
first rural radiotelephone system, in Colorado. The FCC reminds hams that these
must be authorised, to keep frequencies clear in the “public interest.”
Paul Wender
contributes an exciting article on “Patterns in Selling: Radio Service,” and
Robert Lewis describes a “Compact 75 Watt Transmitter” for the hams, and Carl
V. Hays describes a “Super Sensitive Amateur Receiver.”
Yes, this is plastic, probably Bakelite, and not wood; but I couldn't wait a minute longer to explain why I was making fun of U.S. Steels' sad effort to domesticate steel as the material of choice for "Home, Sweet Home." |
“Radio News to
/cover Operation Crossroads.” That’s right, Radio
News joins Charm, not poor Superman, and is off to Bikini.
Andrew R. Boone,
“Highway in the Sky: Skyroads which Criss-Cross the United States are
Masterpieces of Scientific Development” Ads being a bit too close together in
this number, Mr. Boone supplies a one
page precis of the radio range system that’s been in service for over ten
years now. At least it is shorter than the last article the paper ran on the
subject.
Rollin E.
Campbell and Lyman Greenler, “Photo-Electric Organ” A device for converting
broadcast music into pretty pictures Ii described. “It does not use much actual
electronics,” the writers say, and they are still “experimenting” with finding
a use for it, but, ads too close together, etc.
Colonel J. J.
McDuffie, Commanding Officer, 18th Base Unit, AAF, “Ground Control
Approach System” Colonel McDuffie explains how radar works. No, that’s unfair.
There are some interesting devices here, including automatic trackers that keep
the radar centred on the airplane, and so give continuing azimuth readings.
Elevation is trickier, but can be achieved with two radars. (I’m told that that
is a trick with estimating the size of the signal lobe, if I remember correctly.)
George and A. L.
Boles, “Combination Noise Limiter and Pre-Selector” A device for improving the
reception of existing receivers at higher frequencies.
Alfred A.
Ghirardi, “Practical Radio Course” opens with a picture of that Philco
automatic table-radio-phonograph, where the ladies just have to insert the
record into the slot, because putting them on turntables is as unladylike as
going out for varsity shot put.
We've already seen that picturel so here's a Victrola set, instead. Victrola: almost as glamorous as Valvoline! |
Howard R. Bard,
Radio Engineering Aide, U.S. Immigration Service “C.W. Break-In Monitor” This
particular employee of the Great Enemy believes that “the traffic man and
‘brass pounder’” needs a good device to produce an audio version of his Morse
code sending.
Edward M. Noll, Reading
Television Labs, Inc., “Operation and Adjustment of Television Receivers” Your
television will have a station selector, brightness control, contrast, vertical
and horizontal hold, brightness, contrast and focus control and possibly a
width control. Any time a television show comes on that your wife, children, or
guests want to watch, stand in front of the television
fiddling with these interminably before complaining that you can’t follow the show, and invite James out for a smoke, and
get upset when James tells you that he has quit. (I wish I had half the will
power, but at least I get to quit more often! In Uncle Henry's defence, he is under a lot of pressure. Most of it brought on by his own ridiculous behaviour, but that's another story.)
He brought a football to the dealer's? Notice that the vents are larger than the screens. |
Lt (j.g.) N. M.
Smith, USNR, “Home-Built Vacuum-Tube Voltmeter”
Lyle C. Taylor,
“Designing a Stable V.F.O: Important Facts to Remember when Designing Your Own
Variable Frequency Oscillator” A very long article, since apparently many
factors can make the output frequency unstable.
What’s New in Radio
Triplett has a
new signal generator.
Webster-Chicago has a compact record changer. GE has a
three-electrode transmitting tube for FM service. It is forced-air cooled and
can handle 500 watts of heat, with an output of 600 watts. Electric Laboratory
of New York, has a pipe locator.
"Serves for centuries." But what about EBIDTA next quarter? |
Delco, of GM, announces the first of its line
of home radios. Ellinwood Industries, of Los Angeles, is pleased to announce
its Radiotone line of professional recording devices. Sound quality is assured
by filters and inverters, and recording is onto acetate, while the driving
mechanism is a professional quality overhead lathe. Premier Crystal also has a
new radio, and so does Hallicrafters of Chicago. Panoramic Radio Corporation of
New York offers a new concept in “panoramic reception.” The Amplifier
Corporation of America offers a new amplifier, the ACA-100DC direct-coupled
amplifier, with a wide pass-band and low inherent amplitude and
cross-modulation distortion. Simpson Electric Company offers a wide range
signal generator for both AM and FM. Hammerlund Corporation offers a midget capacitor,
for when you need a very small capacitor.
“Improvements in
Portable Generator Design” The Signals Corps has created many new and improved
portable generators.
ay M. Bartels, “’For the Defence:’ The People vs. Servicemen” IN this hard-hitting expose for the paper, Jay M. Bartels discovers that most servicemen are as honest as the day is long, if not heroes of the arduous work of radio repair.
The Letters page reappears to print all the letters praising the paper for its new Circuit Diagrams Page.
At this point I should probably wind up before the postman brings the August number!
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