Postblogging Technology, June 1954, I: Wandering

The soundtrack of my childhood has some odd entries

R_.C_.,
Shaughnessy,
Vancouver,
Canada

Dear Father:

You can hardly miss the story of my labours  in the press this month. You will hear about James soon, long since hijacked from the propagation of sound underwater to the propagation of cracks through thin aluminum alloy shells at some point soon. You have pictures of your grandchildren, sent through the regular mail, and I'm not going to repeat the anecdotes in the accompanying letter here. Suffice it to say that we are still "happy wanderers" in the streets of London, and that I'm growing hoarse singing the chorus with James-James doing the saxophone bits. It is not very serious, but it is a distraction from export credits and controlled currency exchanges!

Your Loving Daughter,

Ronnie

The Economist, 5 June 1954

Leaders

"Last Week at Geneva" The first Leader is about the strike at British Rail, which any reader of The Economist can write for themselves. Over the last week at Geneva, Anthony Eden has been working hard to make sure that Britain doesn't have to stand by while the French pull a Dunkirk out of Haiphong, or, worse, send in troops, which The Economist seems to imply is an actual possibility, even if it would prefer that it were American troops, to which end it is hopeful that "staff talks" are beginning. Otherwise, it hopes for more humility from Dulles and more boldness from the French as "the right prescription for the fever that grips China and the palsy that shakes France." (A separate Note complains that they're doing diplomacy wrong in Geneva.)

"Cities and the Bomb" Coventry city council turned out to lead a demonstration against a civil defence organisation after the council decided to disband its local civil defence organisation. Coventry councillors are apparently motivated by the hope that their actions will lead to a hydrogen bomb ban, as opposed to a disinclination to build H-bomb proof bomb shelters, whatever that would look like.

(Probably not like this.)

Because the Home Secretary has now made a statement about how civil defence against hydrogen bombs will work. The bomb will only blow up the part it blows up, so help will start where things aren't blown up, and work inwards. Simple! Put a big warehouse of emergency supplies in the Orkneys and at Land's End, and the Cornish and Orkneyites(?) can fix and repair until they get to Coventry! Silly members of Coventry Council for not figuring this out! And, yes, I'm being facetious, but also far too kind.

"One Pakistan or Two?" Bengal is badly governed and Ghulam Mohammed should put fixing that on  his agenda because it would be terrible if East Pakistan became independent or rejoined India.

"Proof of Need" The Economist is very happy that Labour didn't win the Australian election with a promise to abolish the means test on the old age pension, because that means it can write an entire Leader about how means-testing social services is actually a good idea! 

Notes of the Week

"No More Neutrals?" Everyone agrees that there should be some neutral referees to supervise the Geneva settlement in Indo-China, but it is turning out to be  hard to turn up proper neutrals. Meanwhile, Siam is asking for international observers on its Mekong frontier, to be provided by the United Nations. Some technical news from inside Parliament concludes with Sir John Mellor leaving the Conservative caucus over Churchill's leadership, which The Economist takes to be just a silly thing that is happening, and one more indication that the dotard is finally on his way out.  Bugandans are still objecting to the way that their colonial masters are carrying on because they are a bunch of crazy nationalists. Negotiations over President Eisenhower's proposal for hydrogen bomb control continue, complicated by the fact that Communism is awful. Things are getting tense in Tunisia, where the "moderate" programme, which involves French settlers still having a predominant role in Tunisian politics, but not that predominant, is in trouble compared with the extreme position, now being presented by a "Tunisian Army of Liberation," that Tunisia belongs to Tunisians. The Colonial Office has decided to accept the results of the election in British Honduras in spite of the victors having once drunk from a glass from which a Communist had touched. Everything will be fine,

The Economist allows, unless and until the Guatemalan Red hordes invade. The Economist takes the opportunity to argue with Glasgow town planners, who absolutely should not build high rise flats or new factories, because that would be too expensive. Studies show that rich people live longer than poor people in Britain, but very rich ones get gout, so it balances out. The results of the Australian general election are buried down here because it's just Australia, then it's off to Germany to notice that the Germans are travelling all over Europe now that they  have some money, that Bulgaria is trading with Greece again, which is a hopeful sign of sanity somewhere, that Ireland's new government has brought in Labour and Farmer's support, which is the next thing to Communism, and Britain wants the Scandinavian countries to know that it is not shorting them 3 and a half millions in gold and that it is still fully committed to Uniscan and doing something about that annoying German trade surplus.  

Books

Stephen Hemsley Longrigg's Oil in the Middle East is good because it shows that the Arabs and Persians are just a bunch of whiners, but badly organised. J. K. Jonstone's The Bloomsbury Group is an excellent book about a group of English poets and authors and thinkers back in the old days, before the war. Audrey Richards edits a study of Economic Development and Tribal Change: A Study of Immigrant Labour in Bugada. The Baganda are lazy landowners who have imported immigrant labour and now deserve what's coming to them, according to most sensible English writers who have taken an interest. The National Bureau for Economic Research has commissioned Princeton University Press to bring out Frontiers of economic Knowledge for them. "It is not a book to be reviewed in the usual sense," but that's not stopping this magazine! J. M. Mculloch's Early English Tracts on Commerce gets a useful reprint to show all the progress which has been made in the field. HAH!

Letters

Jossleyn Hewnnessy is upset at the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, as who wouldn't be!? (It is upset that the Queen took off her hat in a Buddhist temple.) J. Henry Richardson points out that the magazine's reviewer didn't bother to read his book. 

American Survey

"Schools Without Segregation" Everyone agrees that this is a good thing and a wise decision by the Supreme Court, and also that the Court's decision to delay implementation until everything has been studied in good time is also a good thing. The decision to take away Robert Oppenheimer's security clearance on the grounds that he once drank from a glass that a Communist had touched is obviously the right decision because he might do it again and catch Communism. Everyone can also agree that if all the things the Administration has done in the last two years to clear out the Communists isn't enough, then Senator McCarthy probably can't be satisfied, so it's time to give up on him because he just might be a bit insincere. Because unstable tin markets are an obvious problem from the angle of Communism being bad, and  because America can't have a tin stockpile because of free enterprise, America is going to keep operating its tin smelter at Galveston with its stockpile. At least they're not doing something completely crazy like, say, selling it to Madam Chiang! The victory of a liberal Democrat in the North Carolina senatorial primary shows that Southern Democrats have realised that they can't keep on race baiting, meaning that racial discrimination is dead in America! Yay, said Ronnie, not at all skeptically! Representative Carroll Reece's investigation of tax-exempt foundations, which are probably a Trojan Horse bringing Communism to America, continues. What a charming fellow Senator Taft found to run his campaign in 1952. He truly was a great American statesman! The New York docks strike continues to which the magazine is  opposed, as it is to agricultural subsidies. On the other hand it seems quite pleased with instant coffee, which is cheap and convenient and now comes with "aroma enhancer!" The Economist is happy that Congress is finally authorising a new census of business and manufacturing. 

The World Overseas

"Reflections from Lake Leman" Did you know that Lake Leman is another name for the Lake of Geneva? That's good news, because we don't have to come up with a "Something something Geneva" title for this one! Too bad, because "Random Thoughts About Geneva to Pad Out the Issue" was right there for the taking! We then head down to the Balkans where Greece and Jugoslavia practically have an alliance now, while Kenya's new Council of Ministers is definitely a sign of progress. Three of eleven of them are even non-European. Three! They've also resolved all the controversial issues by agreeing not to discuss them until 1960, and terrorism by authorising the detention camps to operate "indefinitely." The emergency has so far cost £60 million, and the settlers' solution seems to be shooting everything that moves on sight, (The Economist's words, not mine), so it is not obvious what kind of solution is on the cards even if the Mau Maus lay down arms, but at least we don't have to think about it until 1960, by which time maybe Kenya will finally be added to Unilever's African Empire, and the British can stop worrying about it. (Just to be clear, that would be a good thing, per The Economist.) Yoshida Shigeru has decided that the solution to the bribery scandal at home is a world tour abroad. He is flying out by Pan Am instead of Japan Air Lines, and The Economist reminds British politicians to be ready to greet him with demands to buy more and sell less, and also maybe with some face saving gesture (this vital Asian concept being, of course, explained, as it must be in every article about Japan), such as maybe agreeing to let Japan into Gatt. This would prevent the triumph of socialist Communism in Japan, as is imminent. We're apparently still fussing over not giving the Saar back to Germany some how, and because we haven't heard enough about it, here's your weekly "Journal of Geneva." 

The Business World

"It was all Lombard Street to a China orange that the Treasury would lose little time in launching another refinancing operation after the Bank rate was reduced to 3 percent three weeks ago." Honestly! They do know that talking in code just makes the rest of us more certain they're up to no good, right? Anyway, something something "gilt edges." 

"A Billion Dollars in Britain" One of the "'virtually new' British exports" the Board of Trade is so proud of is the dictating machine, which earned only £1000 overseas in 1939, and £456,000 last year. Because they are being made by Dictaphone Company, which is a subsidiary of the Dictaphone Corporation of New York, this is an example of American investment in Britain. It is a way around the shortage of dollars that prevents direct American exports, and might represent much more than last year's billion dollars in direct investment per the title, although no-one has, or apparently can, measure the exact number, which will probably decline in the future, which is, as always, gloomy for various reasons. 

Business Notes

The Chancellor is mumbling something about convertibility again, the National Film Corporation seems to be working out, the Ministry of Transport doesn't plan any major roads even though the immediate postwar crush of building is declining, steel prices are adjusting for technical reasons, the Raw Cotton Commission lost money last year, the world edible fat crisis is officially over, coffee prices are falling, the latest Anglo-American productivity report notes that the British fertiliser industry is less effcient m ainly because it lacks economies of scale.

Leaders

"The Prestige of Air Travel" Flight is not impressed by tourist class. 

From All Quarters reports that there was a debate about air policy in the Lords that went to show thta Sholto Douglas' brain was going soft. The Britannia will be doing tropical trials soon. The UK and US are cooperating on things like guided weapon development, says Duncan Sandys, so don't worry your pretty little heads about atomic cooperation. USS Bennington's 26 May fire, which killed 99 of its 2300 complement, was caused by a catapult exploding shortly after a radio fault led to a plane being catapulted into the ocean. (Bennington is not equipped with a steam catapult.) Canada is turning its old Sabres over to European air forces as the new Orenda-equipped Mk, 4s arrive. Meanwhile the "virile" Canadian industry is making plans to ensure it doesn't suffer a recession in the current run-down by building the CF-100 under license, a trainer, and getting ready to produce 50 Britannias for long distance ocean reconnaissance; and by taking part in the import of Grumman Trackers, various helicopters 

Bomber Command has sent off some Canberras on a tour of southern Europe, the Central Flying School has put on a show, and so has the association of Auster owners. Here and There reports that Sir John Slessor has joined Blackburn, two C-124s are off to the "new flashpoint" of Nicaragua with loads of arms to counter those recently received by "Communist-dominated Guatemala." Then we're off to the Antipodes for "Aircraft in Agriculture: History of Aerial Top-Dressing in New Zealand." Yes, it's an article about throwing mud at sheep from biplanes! Worthy, worthy stuff. (A more literal version of the same occurs a few pages further in, describing the Alaskan airborne wolf-kill programme.) Miles and British Emulsifiers are cooperating in a new kind of molded-plastic drop tanks that differ from all the other ones in being made of phenolic-bonded glass and asbestos fibre. CF-100s recently flew from Vancouver to North Bay in a bit over three hours, which is an "unofficial record." Mullard's GT60 is a "unit-built ('channelised') transmitter" and the largest and most powerful such built in Britain and is very versatile. The Ministry of Supply has ordered a quarter-million's worth of David Brown tractors for aircraft towing and "general airfield duties." 

"Eight Bells" Flight describes the Bell HSL-1s the Navy will soon receive, and then various French light planes and visits the new De Havilland wind tunnels at Hatfield, particularly the new high speed tunnel, in respect to which it describes all the latest arrangements to take care of condensation, heating, acoustic battering, and turbulence which have got in the way of accurate results from previous high speed tunnels. Hymatic wants us to know about its new pneumatic valves, while Flight wants us to know that it has been a responsible engineering weekly and has visited the Mechanical Handling Exhibition. 

I know that you're confused, and so am I. Didn't they just have a Mechanical Handling Exhibition/ Probably not. You're probably remembering last year's, or one or another announcement of this one. But just to be safe, let's avoid boldly claiming that this is this year's exhibit, in case they do hold them on a monthly basis. 

Correspondence

A. W. Martin, Technical Director of E.K. Coles, writes to describe the company's aircraft weather detection radar, noting everything except the emission band, including the all up weight of 170lbs that explains why the airlines having been jumping on them. J. R. Anderson supposes that Vertical Takeoff transports will change the world tomorrow. D. B. Robertson clarifies the makes of Rolls Royce Eagles that were available years ago, before the war. J. K. Metcalf supposes that he experienced a similar episode to that which caused the loss of the Air Charter Tudor, as discussed in the 14 May issue, which, unless there has been a very minor accident, is that horrible crash in Wales. 

"New American Transports" The prototype Boeing 707has "subsided on its port pods" in a taxying trial, suffering a  half million dollars in damage. This perhaps confirms concerns that no jet transport of less than 200,000lbs is likely to be airworthy, or just that Boeing has had a bit of a setback. American engineers have a range of concerns about the Comet, and about kerosene fuel. Douglas and Lockheed will have a real problem competing with the Boeing's 550mph speed. Douglas points out that in the past, taking a bit longer to build a purely civil airliner, over against military adaptations of the B-17 in the form of the 247, had proven successful; but everyone else thinks that they are whistling past the graveyard. It seems likely that there is not room in the American market for the Boeing, and the Douglas, and the Lockheed, never mind the Comet 3 and V-1000. On the engine side, as good as the Conway is, it is unlikely that it will be adopted by the American jets, unless the J57 gets into serious trouble, which seems unlikely. 

Civil Aviation reports that SAS's polar routes have been approved, that Silver City Airways is the latest to talk about a helicopter service, that the Comet inquiry has accepted that the Rome accident was misattributed to pilot error, and that new takeoff procedures have been instituted, leading to the suggestion of a public inquiry to clear Captain Foote. The Lords debate on the Air Estimates extended to helicopters, where Lord Douglas regretted that the Americans had got ahead of Britain on helicopters. The Minister says that there is no schedule for the appearance of the big Bristol and Fairey helicopters, but that the S.57 might be available in two  years, and might be bought in Britain, although American production schedules tended to be optimistic. Service Aviation gets in something romantic, as the RAAF heads off to the Antarctic aboard the MV Kista Dan.

Buried at the back of the issue is a long advertorial for GEC's new sintered tungsten alloys, which the company can now market thanks to the improved supply of tungsten. They approach the theoretical density of tungsten metal, are fully machinable, and have mechanical properties similar to the company's existing Heavy Alloy, which I gather has been used in lieu of pure tungsten because of those supply restrictions. The rest of the advertorial rhymes off uses, including in X-ray machines, fly wheels, and various other instrument-making applications. The Industry notes a new Rolls Royce apprenticeship scheme, City Electric's testing stands for starter motors, and Howard Clayton-Wright, Ltd's Claytonrite molded plastic Nylastic support clips for cable runs. 

The Economist, 12 June 1954

Leaders

"Next Step for Sterling" We explore the next step on the road back to convertibility. The Economist is also pleased that Secretary Dulles wants to offer some economic aid to India. Another Leader takes a jaundiced view of German attempts to be better friends to Britain, and a final one at proposals for constituency boundary changes ahead of the next election.

Notes of the Week

They're broiled now?

"Paralysis at Geneva" We're not getting anywhere at Geneva, and in related news, the Viet Minh's artillery is firing on the centre of Hanoi, and the National Assembly is going to hold another vote of confidence over the conduct of the Indo-China war that the Bidault ministry probably won't survive. The Economist is smugly satisfied that the Government took its line in the parliamentary debate on agriculture, and registers the Dudley North affair, arguing that Admiral North has sufficiently proven his case for an inquiry into his dismissal back in 1940. The Economist explains how to run schools to London County Council, and catches us up to date with Yoshida Shigeru's unsuccessful attempt to have a world tour, which is all the Socialists' fault. China trade is back on track, and The Economist explains that since the East Coast floods last year were a one-in-two-hundred years event, local authorities shouldn't be able to use them as an excuse to ask for money to improve flood defences. Except for London. It needs new watergates on the Thames even though it wasn't actually flooded at all. West Indies grapefruit growers are upset that the Commonwealth support scheme has left them with unsaleable grapefruit due to American subsidies and Israeli and Spanish exchange schemes and want a preferential tariff that The Economist thinks might get past Gatt. The Economist is happy that an Indian minister on the new Kenyan government is the one telling the settler police reserves to go home and stop shooting people because somehow having a non-White person saying it is better. It's actually a good idea for the British Transport Commission to buy out the Pullman Company so there. The Balkan alliance is great and absolutely worth all the ink we've spent on it because General Papagos is wonderful. The Hungarian Communist Party seems worried about how unpopular it is. Hospital wait lists are annoying but not as bad as they seem. Rural depopulation is continuing. Maybe the British Forestry Commission or someone should put more industries in small towns. That would probably fix it. 

By Andy Roberts from East London, England - Flickr.com - image description page, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=341229

 Books

You're not fooling anyone, Mike. Just 
sign the darn thing.

The first volume of The War at Sea is out. This is one of Uncle George's little irritations. The plan of the British official history is for "all service" theatre-wide histories, and while the only example so far published is a history of the Norwegian campaign and a very slight prototype, the word is that the first volume of Captain Playfair's history of the Mediterranean theatre, expected out imminently, has comprehensive  naval coverage.  So you have to wonder why Captain Stephen Roskill has been given leave to write his own private, as it were, official history of the war at sea. Other reviewers think that Roskill handles Churchill's handling of the war quite severely, but the reviewer here thinks that Roskill is too kind, as befits an official history. He then goes on to dwell at length on the question of of whether allegedly poor RAF-RN coordination in 1940 speaks to potential problems tracking the Sverdlov-class cruisers today, and tries to draw further lessons about how all the money spent on all the bases was wasted because either too much was spent, or, because too much was spent elsewhere, too little was spent where it was needed. Again, this point seems clearly drawn out here for a modern critique: Money is being wasted at Portsmouth now because it is in missile range of the Continent. The reviewer explains that Roskill shows how British intelligence improved, and laments that the volumes on grand strategy have been delayed, presumably by official reviews, leading me to raise a very attractively sculpted eyebrow.

Ronald Matthews' Death of the Fourth Republic explains that the reason that France is ungoverned isn't that a corrupt coalition is keeping the Socialists out of office, but rather that the French are ungovernable. J. A. Banks' Prosperity and Parenthood explains about "family planning amongst the Victorians." It's due to the shortage of servants, it says here. And yet modern people marry younger and have more children than Victorians. Curious! Salvador de Madartaga has Essays with a Purpose out. Essays are better with a purpose. (You! Reader! I see you rolling your eyes!) What the purpose of these essays might be I cannot even guess, although they do sound awfully anti-Semitic. A. R. M. Murray's Introduction to Political Philosophy manouevres us between political philosophy and the kitchen door, with the refrigerator blocking poor Political Philosophy, and leaves us with the assurance that "You two have a lot to talk about." Howard K. Beale edits Charles A. Beard: A Reappraisal, a collection of essays must surely cause us to think thoughts about Charles Beard. 

American Survey 

"The Oppenheimer Decision" Since no-one can actually pass a loyalty test that was designed so that the Administration would have an excuse to fire Democrats and hire Republicans, is it fair to let Robert Oppenheimer slide through? Of course not! He's Jewish! And compared to all the other ways that the Eisenhower Administration is going to be embarrassing in hindsight, who will evern remember this in eighty years? 

Everyone in Washington agrees that everyone should absolutely get involved in stopping Communism in Indo China you go first. Secretary Dulles says America might "go it alone" if it were an emergency, but has no idea what that would look like. The Chiefs of Staff seem to be saying that they won't sign off on sending ground troops unless they have atom bombs. The Administration's housing policy seems to be getting through Congress. The new strategic metals stockpile programme is absolutely only for war and not price stabilisation and will top off at $8.8 billion. The extension of social security is going ahead, and so are oil well depletion tax allowances for the industry. The Bureau of Reclamation is proposing a giant canal from almost the Rio Grande to the Sabine

to prevent future droughts like the one that afflicted the state this year. It would move thirteen million acre feet from the wet eastern part of the state to irrigate 850,000 acres in the western past, would cost $1.1 billion, improve irrigation on the southern coastal strip, and allow truck gardening there. Down in Texas, local engineers envision an even more ambitious scheme extending to the Mississippi. The Economist wonders if there will be opposition to this grandiose scheme. Of course not! It's in Texas! The Administration is shutting down the two pilot coal hydrogenation schemes because they weren't making money. 

The World Overseas

"Canada Looks at the Far East" And Ronnie looks at her "SNORE" word. Actually, since the lede is "Mr. Lester Pearson," make that her "SNORE" phrase. Canada's parliament has decided to have a debate over "the situation in Geneva and the Far East," or as otherwise phrased, "Are they all right down there?" Which Canadians, with reason, ask a lot, but not until recently about the Secretary of State, who seems to have a wide latitude to start wars, and a determination to keep on keeping on until he has one. Canada seems hopeful that Nehru can scotch any such adventure, and seems willing to support him in the effort. The election in Iraq features two parties fighting against each other, but don't worry, the socialist-looking one isn't Communist, so everything will carry on being boring. France has a Communist Party now, it says here. I bet that will amount to something soon! In northern Norway they are trying some alleged Soviet spies, while Our Correspondent in Dublin is skeptical about the prospects of Costello's new government. "A Correspondent," however, thinks that Bao Dai is being too heavily discounted in the West, and might be the man to lead a partition of southern and northern Vietnam as an alternative to the Communisation of the whole. 

De La Rue came out with the first spindle counter in 1957.
There's history of technology everywhere!

This week's supplemental insert has heard the siren call of the "SNORE" phrase and answers nobly from the forests of dreamland with British Banking 1954. Which also has articles about "Canada Planning a Money Market," and "Australia's Economic Recovery." "Extending Bank Mechanisation" emphasises the role of note-counting machines, note-weighing scales, microfilming, television links, addressographs, punch cards, teletapes, and the recent failure of the mechanised cheque clearing machine. 

The Business World

"What Price Wheat?" Since prospects for the North American harvest have recovered, the futures price of Canadian wheat are down, and now everyone is arguing about everyone about subsidies. There is a look at local authority borrowing in England, and a long story about "The Viscount's Century," the sale of 40 Viscounts to Capital Airlines, in which yours truly has had her own small role. This means that there are now 99 Viscount orders outstanding. Vickers is tooling up to produce 100 Viscounts a year if the market will bear it, which it may well, as the only real rivals to come out of the "DC-3 replacement" stakes are the Martin 4-0-4 and Convair, and those have been pretty comprehensively rejected, except when, as in the case of the Convair, produced at a loss subsidised by the Air Force. The Viscount, being faster and quieter and more comfortable, is far more obviously an alternative to the DC-3, since clearly when given the choice (but not the information) passengers don't care about safety. As for the Convair Turboliner, The Economist notes, "previous experiments" in putting turboprops on the Convair "do not appear to have been successful," which I read with relish to see that the frustration of actually getting at the facts of those experiments is shared. While the Britannia and Comet have competitors in the wings, not least Vickers' own V-1000, the Viscount has no new rival in sight in the next seven years, although the magazine goes on to wisely point out that when it does, it is not likely to look like the Viscount, since the real point will be replacing DC-3s. 

Business Notes

Everyone agrees that import substitutes are bad and that the only reason that British steel costs less in Britain than in Germany is excellent market reasons and you can stop rolling your eyes, Mein gnadiger Herr! Utility borrowing is expected, rayon is doing fine, there is various money news, Cadbury is frantically increasing capacity to meet rising demand since the end of rationing, the tea crop is good, the copper mines in Northern Rhodesia are burning oil at some of their refineries because the Northern Rhodesia coal industry can't keep up. 

Leaders

"Too Many Hands Make Uneconomical Work" It costs too much to make all the military aircraft in one country, so there should be international cooperation. Otherwise there will be financial collapse and Communist takeover. Not that Britain should stop making airplanes and engines, no! Rather, we're talking about all that boring stuff like radar. What kind of commercial future does electronics have, after all? 

From All Quarters De Havilland is making a Heron for the Duke of Edinburgh, to be operated by the Queen's Flight. Lockheed's XFY-1 has had its first test flight. Next up will be demonstrating horizontal flight. A Sabena DC-3 has been attacked by a MiG-15 in Soviet markings over the Austrian-Jugoslav border. Aviation Age has printed full details of the J65, which is to say, the Sapphire, which is still on the Secret List in Britain, so Flight reports the details of the J65 for those interested in the Sapphire. Supermarine Swifts are grounded over a power control fault. 

"Viscounts for America" Still news no matter how many times your report it. BEA will give up 3 Viscounts "in the national interest" to fill the initial order. 

"African Accident Repercussions" The investigator of the 29 March 1953 Vickers Viking crash at Mtara in Tanganyika, due to the fatigue-caused failure of the starboard outer-spar boom, drew unjustified conclusions about the negligent culpability of Vickers-Armstrong, the ARB and SBAC review concludes. 

"Twin-Turbine Helicopter" Kaman is showing off its HTK-1, converted to operate two Boeing 502-2 turboprops. The HTK-1 is still a helicopter with two intermeshing rotors, and it still looks like a terrible idea, but now with two tiny little turbines! 

The next big Air Exercise, DIVIDEND, will happen next month. Queensland Country Life says it is a good idea to transport cattle by Blackburn Beverley, so it must be true! Ark Royal will undergo sea trials next month. It is the first British carrier with a steam catapult, and a side lift. Here and There reports that Lt. Col. H. C. Bazeley will receive an Inventor's Award of £1000 for coming up with the method for using Austers as artillery observation posts. Ontario's Minister of Health has taken part in a demonstration of using helicopters to evacuate the victims of road accidents.  The Air Ministry is not ready to give up Tarrant Rushton airfield, and will probably let Flight Refuelling continue to use it, as it has since 1947. Experiments in electrolytic recovery of titanium at Shawinigan Water and Power seem promising. Upcoming special issues of Motor Cycle News and Flight cover the Isle of Man TT and world military aircraft, respectively. 

The 2nd TAF is tired of waiting for the Reds to come and try to kill them, and are having a gliding contest instead. Flight is required to cover it, and evidently you need five pages for that. Aircraft Intelligence reports that American sources say that the Comet 3 will have Avon engines with wider scoops and flaps that "lower in sections." The B-47D is reported to be powered by four single Allison J71s in single pods, will be faster than the B-52, and is likely to go into production. The J71 is described as an "all steel engine," which is like saying that it sure can dance the Lindy. The Republic F-84J, flying with the J71 instead of the 84F's J65, is out and about, showing that there is an engine you can put on the F-84 , in case everyone is ready to give up on Wright but not the F-84.

By Tim Felce (Airwolfhound) - Auster -
RIAT 2005, CC BY-SA 2.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/
index.php?curid=27817825

The Auster AOP9, an "entirely new aircraft" with a Cirrus Bombardier engine, is also out and about. This one the Army is definitely taking, so the Bombardier will get  some sales. It is new, and improved, but most of the improvements are in the way of stronger undercarriage and better flaps to allow a slightly bigger plane to fly from the same kinds of grounds. De Havilland Canada's new Toronto factory gets a single page pictorial. More about top dressing in New Zealand follows that, then a feature about the new council of the Canadian Aeronautical Institute, and a picture of the Orenda on show. The Industry reports on new "Seetru" floor bolts from L., H. Newton, perfect for fixing gas turbine test beds to a concrete floor, for example, and new aircraft galley equipment from Stiebel. Civil Aviation covers the cost savings achieved by Redifon when it flew its new radio transmitting equipment to Luxembourg Airport instead of sending it by mule train, a new radar to operate from RAF Seltron so that northern England can have radar, soon to be followed by indoor toilets, a sale of two more Super Connies to Qantas, the BALPa statement on the Rome accident (stop blaming Captain Foote!) and the Capital buy AGAIN. Daddy, can we go home? I'm bored.

Service Aviation has a ten-year retrospective of the "part played by Air Command" in the D-Day landings. TAXABLE, the first described, was the "spoof operation" carried out by 617 Squadron, and can be fairly comprehensively described because it was just one squadron and a convoy of seven ships with balloons. Even the other spoof, TITANIC, which simulated an airborne operation with 3 squadrons of Halifaxes, is a bit unwieldy for the single page allowed, and the rest of it is pretty much just individual reminiscences, although perhaps you get a good picture of how the day unfolded for the forward air director ship, HMS Black Prince. 

Correspondence

P. H. Dobbs is upset that the Britannia, Swift and Vulcan didn't show up at the latest air show in the west country and feels cheated by the Ministry of Supply. How will he know they actually exist if they don't do a flyby of Yeovil? W. Armstrong remembers about the HP 42 years ago, before the war. P. Waring is quite upset about hats. (To be fair, the shutting down of the RAFVR flying schools.) F. A. Quick, Henri Hegener, and "Joystick" also recall years ago before the war, respectively in Avro 504s, Brooklands in 1913, and Camels. "Briton in America" is having trouble getting a job in the industry there, and it is all America's fault. 

Fortune's Wheel looks back at the life of Russell Wheeler Davenport, who died suddenly at 54 on 19 April, and who joined Fortune in 1930 and was the managing editor from 1937 to 1940. He was a rea man American intellectual, probably a cowboy or something like that, and his sheer intellectual power is best demonstrated by the fact that he thought Wendell Willkie was a good candidate for President. He quit Fortune to run Willkie's campaign, and then after that he wrote poetry or something, like a cowboy does, while the Ford Foundation paid for his groceries until he dropped dead, although we kept him on the masthead so that he could say that he had a job. Fortune is sad. 

Business Roundup This month it is time for the "business turning victory lap." The downturn is over! Now, does Dien Bien Phu mean that defence spending starts to go up again, and the good times really come back? Probably not, because we're already sending the French a cool billion in aid, and can hardly spend even more unless we send American ground troops. On the other hand, what if the "New Look" means that we end up spending more on things besides H-bombs? That could be good news! Speaking of guns and butter, the spring rains mean that the 1954 harvest will probably be good,which will be good news for farm incomes. Fortune also sees glimmers of hope in textiles, and urges cities and states to spend even more on public works. This is the time to do it, and no looking back at the regrets of the Thirties!

Minnesota is apparently the land of Paul Bunyan, big opportunities, and vacations at the lake. Its greatest asset is its people, it says here. Then it is off to foreign parts,where German exports are booming. Now, it's probably due to secret state export subsidies, but who cares? Britain, on the other hand, is all light and gay and the current accounts balance is good, but apparently not good enough. Speaking for all the people with "livings," Sir Sidney Caine explains that the only thing for it is even more exports and "sound, non-inflationary finance." The British probably have it too good, and could use some salutary misfortune to convince them to try harder. Also in all those other places like "Benelux" and Switzerland things are good, which is why European stock markets are booming. 

Leaders

"Creeping Cartelism, U.S. Model" The Administration is looking into the way that Ford and GM might be driving the smaller carmakers out of business. This is "cartelism," because it encourages the industry to get all clubby, fix prices, and divide up the market. Stop all this antitrust business at once, America! Shorter Notes point out that business capital expenditure isn't rising fast enough, that Sewell Avery is still an idiot, and that the Administration still has no tariff policy. 

Charles J. V. Murphy asks, "Is the H-Bomb Enough?" The Democrats believe they have an angle to attack the Administration over the delayed buildup of American air power, the lack of ground forces, and the diplomatic paralysis caused by having no alternative to the H-bomb, an argument favoured by Adlai Stevenson. 

Alcan gets a feature describing its world-wide aluminum empire, while Duncan Norton-Taylor looks at the nation's business schools. One in eight students is now a business major. Are they getting their money's worth?  Dero A. Saunders and Sanford S. Parker investigate the thirty-billion dollar leisure industry. That's a lot of money for fun! Hal Lehrman  is off to Turkey to find that "The Turks Like American Capitalism"! And then to stave off bitter feelings of self-loathing, Fortune gives some artists a spread on the pretext that they, I don't know, paint machines or coal mines so it is okay to put them in Fortune!

By User:JeremyA - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=601906

We check in with a bank, an engineering company, and a plumbing fixture company, and then, it is "The Gas Turbine's Awkward Age." Besides GE, Westinghouse, Elliot, Clark Brothers, and Allis Chambers have all tried to get into the industrial gas turbine game, but only AiResearch, Boeing, and Solar, which have confined themselves to tiny turbines, have found a paying market. Chrysler is working on an automotive turbine, and GE has shipped 80 for all lines of work. We've heard about all of this from The Economist and the Engineer, but at the very least they don't have Fortune's art department, and there's nothing that brings home the workings of some of the more complicated proposed turbine configurations than a Fortune explainer!

American builders have been making extravagant use of super alloys and high operating temperatures, but have found that these (and the use of economical Bunker C crude oil fuel) come at the cost of much greater corrosion issues than experienced in Europe. This sort of thing has some speculating about atomic turbines using a closed-cycle helium working fluid, while over in England, the London County Council is putting the heat to good use by including a sewage sterilisation cycle in the gas turbine pumps used in its new Beckton works. Venezuela is interested in gas turbines to burn natural gas, the Maritime Commission wants to try gas turbines out in refurbished Liberties, and it is suggested that car engines will get to turbines by "evolution, not revolution," through the effective transformation of the piston cycle as providing the working fluid for a  turbine supercharger that does all the mechanical work, perhaps with a free piston configuration.  

Francis Bello brings us "The Young Scientists," the most exciting young scientists in American universities and industry. It turns out that most of them are liberal eggheads who voted for Stevenson, that a surprisingly large number of them are Jewish, that they are not very religious, and that they like a good time, at least as far as they see it. They tend to be from public schools, and to be city boys. They make good  money, much better in industry, and are prone to nervous breakdowns in middle life.

 

Follows an interesting short explainer describing Canadian Aviation Electronics, which sounds like the kind of company that Uncle George wants us to invest in.