My Dearest Reggie:
Grandfather has pneumonia again. The breath of life is slipping away, and as sad, even morbid as it is to say, I doubt that there is anything within that withered body that needs to see the banks of the Pearl again. As a burial in British Columbia might attract unwelcome attention, I am having grounds prepared at under Ch'i Wei Tao Wan.
As one life prepares to journey on, two more come in. I have taken the liberty of enclosing some photographs of your grandchildren. I am not sure what an old rake such as yourself does with such unbearable sweetness, but, after a moment entertaining dark thoughts of your passing them to some comely barmaid as an icebreaker, I retreat to the obvious position. You will have them framed and proudly displayed on your desk. You will have to have them enlarged, but that, of all things, should present you with no difficulties! I regret the cropping, but, as you will see from my review of the last two weeks, this is not a time when we can risk attention. Better any stray load found on an aircraft in, say, Basra, not be traceable to us this month!
Your daughter-out-of-law is in good spirits. We have had her confinement in the ranch house, as the coach house is not ready, and we have seen much of each other in the last few weeks. Some friction --she is so much changed from the sweet girl of 1939, who even then had a not-always-very-feminine hard core to her. Your son arrived two days after the birth. "Lieutenant A." was kind enough to drive him straight down from Hunter's Point as soon as his ship was docked, delivering an exhausted, rumpled engineer to an exhausted, rumpled new mother. At least it made a change from the young man's service duties, which seem to consist of couriering notes around the Bay to the effect that the only American admiral to have ever won an air-sea battle ought to be replaced by the super-annuated rival who is the only American admiral ever to have lost two, on the grounds that he did not win his victory enough, whilst his rival was somehow not responsible for his subordinates' actions, except when they turned out well.
I grouse, but that is because I report the complaints of the newly-minted Admiral Stump, who attended the christening and had long, fruitful talks with your son and Bill and David, with "Mrs. G.C." sitting in as hostess, on subjects of which I know not what. Antennas need to be a certain distance from each other? Mutual interference?
These electrical matters will be the death of me, especially with the lawyers bogging me down with doleful talk about our friend's contract renewal. Rather a matter of attention given that we intend to break it! The baleful instrument has been revised, although not in any serious way --just an expansion of the "morals clause," no doubt inspired by his young associate's public behaviour.
I grouse, but that is because I report the complaints of the newly-minted Admiral Stump, who attended the christening and had long, fruitful talks with your son and Bill and David, with "Mrs. G.C." sitting in as hostess, on subjects of which I know not what. Antennas need to be a certain distance from each other? Mutual interference?
These electrical matters will be the death of me, especially with the lawyers bogging me down with doleful talk about our friend's contract renewal. Rather a matter of attention given that we intend to break it! The baleful instrument has been revised, although not in any serious way --just an expansion of the "morals clause," which you can understand under the circumstances.
I am grateful to the Earl for his allowance of time. Unfortunately, he is mistaken. Taxes are filed at the middle of April, here, not the end, and so we are in another tax year. I know that he will be angry, thinking me to be temporising, but let me put it another way. We are less than a month away from the invasion. The fifteenth of May is the low tide, and the Allies need to allow themselves a solid month and time to spare to win the war by Christmas, even if the campaign in France goes as quickly as the "Hundred Days." After that, we shall be outfitting the invasion fleet against Japan, and only after that will it be time for the boys on the Bay to think about incorporation and the issuing of stocks.
This will happen. And it will happen this tax year, unless the war drags on. We will probably not be able to put the greater part of our investments into a proper, legal form --Bill and David talk as though their incorporation is a decade away!-- But it will happen. 1955 will be the tail end of it. The world will be back in the doldrums of the 1930s, so I am told, but, in the meantime, we will have reaped the profits of the growth of a new American electrical engineering industry. Profits that are likely to be greater than real estate, much less clapped-out "traditional" businesses such as steel.
As a final note vaguely related to news of the Bay, Wong Lee's son graduated. I took photographs of him in his pressed now-official uniform for his father's sake. One cannot be too cautious where Hoover's lads are concerned, after all. We threw a party for the boy at the ranch house, and many were the tired old jokes about Chinese laundry when a sprit of Hoisin Sauce was detected on the nape of his bright new Naval whites. There is the usual note of sadness at the realisation that he is off to war, with a stop somewhere in the deep Midwest to pick up his vessel, and a private warning that he ought to pack blues as well as whites. Parsing the time, I imagine there is to be a follow-up to the main cross-Channel assault.
The
Economist, 1 April 1944
Leaders
“Permanent Defence Policy” Lord
Chatfield wants the Lords to talk about postwar defence organisation. Oh, putanother inch of armour plate on it, and it’ll be fine, Milord. The paper offers
its insights: the maximum likely professional force is that of summer 1939;
600,000 men. To that can be added the annual conscript class of around 300,000
after exemptions. With recruiting shortfalls, say 750,000 to 800,000 to be
shared between three services. Since the armed forces are to be maintained for
effect, and not for “social education or processional elegance,” they must be
used as effectively as possible: planes, ships, and mechanised troops,
providing that “they are not so mobile that they cannot move.” Weapons should
be made and stored for war mobilisation, ships built and strategic supplies
stored in national reserves, which would also serve to stabilise boom-and-bust
commodity cycles. The paper namechecks Lord Keynes.
“Deadlock in Palestine?” I am absolutely confident that there will be peace between Jews and Arabs in Palestine this spring. The Foreign Office is on the case!
“Civil Aviation” How will
international civil aviation be organised? And how will this lead to us getting all the sales?
Burning questions indeed.
“Notes for the Week”
“Eastern Sedan?” Events in the East
this week might go down as an eastern Sedan, the paper posits. Or they might
not. Let’s go with “not,” for the moment.
Rumania is not surrendering this
week.
“Equal Pay” The Government was
defeated in the Commons on an amendment to the Government bill on education
calling for equal pay for male and female teachers, with strong support from
the Liberals, Independent Labour, and the Tory Reform Committee. It seems
unnatural to me pay fathers and spinsters on the same rate, but I had the
misfortune of putting my opinion to your daughter-out-of-law, and my ears were soundly boxed, so I hold my peace. In any event,
the paper sees a chance of this policy being carried through the civil service!
It is hard to see how this could be afforded, were stenographers, never mind nurses, included.
“Another Coal Crisis”It appears that three coal districts
out of five will reject the Government’s latest pay scheme, which the paper
thinks is absolutely wonderful. Some coal miners will “break their bond” and
strike illegally, although not as many as could.
“Ex-Service Industries”
Demobilisation and conversion will be very hard.
“Plainly Speaking” Americans are
horrid about Lend-Lease. Britain is being made a scapegoat in the American
election campaign! Oh, Tom Dewey, can’t you understand how the paper loves you? (That is, Leader loves you. American Survey still longs for the touch of Wendell Wilkie's lips, for his sweet promise of happy ever after. )
“Salute the Soldier” The paper
objects to savings bonds drives because they make the banks’ lives more
difficult, when tightening rationing would have the same effect of reducing
consumption without making bankers’ lives harder at all!
“Germany’s Balkan Losses” As
Roumania is going, going… It is time to take stock. Roumania produces 5.5
million tons of petroleum a year, about a third of that available to Germany
from all continental sources; and not nearly as much food as it could, as its
war harvests have been poor. Therefore, the loss of Roumania may mean less than
is sometimes supposed. When it happens at some imminent date.
“Second Thoughts on Trade” Political
and Economic Planning has, after much cogitation, finally produced the
statistical appendices of the report it filed in 1937. The paper’s main
takeaway point is that in 1937, the PEP supposed that the main barriers to
international trade were regulations, including tariffs. Now it supposes that
it is national employment. Tariffs are symptoms, not the disease.
“Rights of Asylum” 243 Bulgarian
Jewish refugees have arrived in Istanbul on Milka,
and have requested to be resettled in Palestine. The paper says, that this will not be difficult if they have permits, but since they
do not, it is impossible as it stands, a horrible outcome for Jews escaping the death camps of Eastern Europe. Therefore, the paper proposes a compromise. Milka will proceed, and others, likely to be numerous with a new pogrom developing in
Hungary, will follow. Just so long as the 30,000 vacant places in Palestine under the current
plan have not been filled. Are there more than 30,000 Jews in Hungary? Oh, dear.
American
Survey
“American Zionism” Not all American
Jews are Zionists, although some are. non-Zionist American Jews hold that Zionists present Jews as an unassimilable foreign race from other Americans, causing anti-Semitismto rise in America. Sensible American Jews ask themselves whether America could offer
asylum to more Jews without provoking more anti-Semitism. Of course not, say
those sensible Jews. Only Palestine is left as a refuge from Nazi persecution, and so it follows that non-Zionist
American Jews are also Zionist. However, as most American Jews are not Zionists, but only
Zionists, a sensible British compromise
solution in Palestine will go over smoothly and without fuss in America.
“Front in the Orient”
Our Correspondent in Oregon says
that they make and ship things in the Pacific Northwest, including things that
will be used in the “Big Push” against Japan. They also make paper, like the
paper wasted here.
“Destitute Greece” Rationing has not
been effective, there is price inflation, with massive increases in the number
of bills in circulation, and there are difficulties trading with Germany.
“Feeding Switzerland” Is hard, but
the value of Swiss agricultural production has risen steadily, and the addition
of potato flour to bread has stretched the strategic grain reserve.
Germany
at War
Germany is a totalitarian
dictatorship not just so far as basic liberties are concerned, but financially
as well! Oh, the humanity!
The
Business World
“Steel Shares”
If you have invested in steel
shares, you have to be concerned about rises in wages and coal costs, as the
dominant postwar question will be how to reduce the selling price of steel to
help in the export drive.
Business
Notes
The Prime Minister’s statement last
week touched on housing. Will the initial stage of expansion be possible
without a state policy and planning, as he said? It seems unlikely. Will there
be factory made houses? Mr. R. Coppock, secretary of the National Federation of
Building Trade Operatives, says that the PM has solved a problem with a word,
“fabrication,” with no bearing on
reality. The half-million home target can be met by normal methods. The paper
is not convinced.
“Gold Price Raised’ In India. That
is, the Bank of India’s selling price was raised from R. 71 to R. 72. As this
was still well below the market rate, for some curious reason, the Bank’s
favoured buyers were able to reap a tidy
profit until the end of the week, when the price was further raised to the New
York/London clearing rate, which makes more sense, anyway, given that the point
of the gold sales is to hold down price
inflation and the growth in sterling debt to India.
“Persian Silver Sale” The price rise
in silver in India is even more marked than that for gold, as it is the
preferred peasant hoarding medium, but also because the Bank of India has not
been selling silver. But now comes news that the Bank of Persia has sold the
Bank of India 500 tons, and that it is on its way to Bombay, where it will be
sold. Curiously, the paper finds no problem at all with the silver price in
Bombay being 3 times greater than the London parity, because of inflation
fighting. Certainly no-one would descend to something so ungentlemanly as currency smuggling, and no aircraft whatsoever will be flying from London or San Francisco to Bombay with a few hundredweight of bullion tucked under a burlap wrap.
“Vickers Limited” Appears to have
had a good year, although it is difficult to parse its returns due to the
number of subsidiaries reporting independently. Overall, the company’s future
seems brighter than it did 25 years ago.
“Shipbuilders Wages” Are going up,
as the workers want to make hay while the sun shines.
“Whaling Agreement” An international
agreement to hold the harvest at “16,000 blue whale units” has been signed. But
given the shortage of ships, the total is not likely to be reached.
“U.S. National Income” The paper notices that the total income available for spending in the
United States has risen from $67.7 billion in 1939 to 124.1 in 1943.
It is a
wonder, the paper says, that there has not been much more inflation in the
United States than has yet become apparent. But soon! As for labour, this has
increased by 2 million from the normal growth of population, and by 5 million
from persons not normally employed. In spite of this, there are still about 3.5
million housewives under 45 without children who could be employed, and who
would be, in Britain. 44.5% of the population is working in America, compared
with 47% in Britain.
Flight,
6 April 1944
Leaders
The paper is pleased by “Bomber
Command’s surprise attack on Essen” on the night of the 26th. It is
a compliment, in its way, to German resilience. German industry recovers
rapidly when bombing relents. Will the invasion not require a massive diversion
of bombing sorties?
“Imperial Defence” The dusky races
of the Empire may have their freedom, as long as they listen to the Chiefs of
the Imperial General Staff at all times about everything. Also, the peacetime
air force should be incredibly huge, so
that it can be all things to all men.
Speaking of enormous efforts, the hundred-thousandth Rolls-Royce Merlin
has just been made. Most are, I suppose, too clapped out already to ever be
used for anything, but at least every cottage beside a country lane now has its own personal bucket of spare washers.
War
in the Air
The medium bombers of 9th
Air Force and TAAF have been joined by the 8th Air Force’s daylight
bombers in attacks on targets in the Pas de Calais. Air fields and training
stations seem to be particular targets in spite of long standing doubts
about the efficacy of airfield attacks. Although German attacks on London have fallen off. The paper is now cold on
the idea of an air attack on Casino Abbey. A little late, I think? On the other
hand, the mountain-fighting New Zealanders and Gurkhas are now being resupplied
from the air as they seize the commanding heights. Airplanes are involved!
Likewise on the Japanese front, where matters are confused, mainly by the fact that no-one
has any clear idea where exactly the fighting is going on.
"Imphal?" How did the Japanese
get to Africa, precisely? The Russians are advancing! Aircraft, etc. The paper
notices that it is official policy not to state the results of the Calais
bombing, but the Germans have not yet fulfilled their promise to rain rocket
shells of vengeance upon Britain. The two must be related. At least, this
week. Next week, who knows? Rocket shells, like radio direction finding, might not exist again. I am sure that they would do this to jets, too, if the manly jaw of G. Geoffrey Smith were not set against it.
Here
and There
“Jet Development” C. D. Howe, Canada’s
Munitions Minister (pardon me for a moment, dear cousin, as I must go and turn
over some salt pork rendering by the fire) is quoted as saying that jet
development has been transferred from Britain to Canada. Or misquoted, the
paper suggests. Which seems like a sound interpretation, so why does this bit
lead the column?
“Help from de Havilland” de
Havilland chairman Mr. A. S. Butler, has offered the Herts Education Committee
a 90 acre site for the building of a proposed technical college. Rather nice of
him, I think. We could offer the same to the Kent Education Committee. If by “offer”
is understood a nice profit on so much bog land. The Earl must be cursing
himself for holding most of his real estate in the remotest Midlands, where
no-one would ever want to study aeronautical engineering. Perhaps he should build a college for training cotton engineers instead?
Mr. Wright was at Buckingham Palace
to show off an American-made constitutional monarch. It is just like a British one,but cheaply made, too expensive, unreliable, and far too thick.
“Blue Riband” (not the actual title,
which is “Fine Performance”) An Avro York has made the flight from New Delhi to
London in 42 hours and 30 minutes, actual flying time being 31 hours 54
minutes. With a fortnight’s leave in London, even the Guards might be tempted
to do some trooping out East of Suez!
“Ford’s Glider Contract” Ford has a
$17 million contract to make CG-13 Waco gliders. The work consists of welding
steel tubes and assembling canvas, plywood and timber parts, rather closer to
the firm’s trade than the Willow Run madness, and good practice for “conversion.”
“Compulsorily Amphibian” F/O G. O.
Singleton, an RAAF pilot, has managed to land his Sunderland on an airfield
after sustaining a 7ft hole in the hull in an ill-advised takeoff in rough
waters. “Nice work, Aussie,” the paper condescends.
In fairness to the Diggers, it seems to be going around.
“Ironical Fate” Celebrated Aussie
pilot, F/O L. G. Fuller, has met his death in Melbourne in a cycling accident.
I suppose that the fact that he was still F/O rank tells the sad tale, but I
note the story because of the callous header.
“His Journey Was Necessary” Mr. D.
McVey, director of Australian civil aviation, has just arrived in London for a conference.
Last year, he led Australian delegations to South Africa and Washington. The
paper seems to be very upset at Australians this week. It seems surprising that
Canada has got off so lightly, after trying to steal tall and smouldering G. Geoffrey
Smith’s jet and jet-related thunder.
“U.S. Calls for Women Pilots.” More
women pilots would release more male pilots for the war.
G. Geoffrey Smith, “Turbine-Compressor
Unites: Problems of Small-Sized Units: Fuel Consumption Factors: Heat
Exchangers” Those baby-blue eyes! That manly chest! The most eligible bachelor
in all of engineeringdom explains Swedish and Swiss experiences with said
problems, etc. It is nice of the neutrals to publish their work.
L. G. Fairhurst, “Jets versus
Airscrews.” Someone who is not G. Geoffrey Smith (I have it on good authority
that he is knock-kneed, hairless, and 5’3”) says that putting propellers on
turbine engines could be a fine idea! Someone who is chief engineer at Rotol,
to be precise.
Behind
the Lines
The collaborationist government of
Yugoslavia is training several new pilots. (160, to be precise.) The Germans
are building three new airfields in Denmark, which are reported by the
clandestine paper Frit Danmark to
have dispersal areas for aircraft. I
suppose the news here is that Denmark’s premier freedom-fighting paper is named
after a fried treat? It certainly cannot be worth the paper otherwise. A
Helsinki paper accuses the Germans of building airfields sited to support
German bombing raids on Sweden? Are these stories related? Even the paper finds
the idea a little ridiculous. A new anti-knock fuel is distributed with
warnings that its lead content makes it poisonous, and that it should not be
allowed to contact skin. The paper finds this amusing; I say, if you are
distributing wood alcohol, however dressed, as fuel, good luck in persuading
alcoholics not to drink it by allowing that it is poisonous and irritating. News
of a larger version of the He177, suitable for Atlantic missions, and of the
new Arado Ar 240.
Studies
in Aircraft Recognition
The Fairchild Argus and Cornet, Bucker Bestmann,
Percival Proctor IV. Sub-200hp trainers all look very similar, and someone,
somewhere, might actually have cause to need to tell them apart, until the day
that he learns about girls.
“Continental Air Transport” Happened
before the war, will happen again after it.
“Siebel Si 204” A new Axis aircraft
is a cheap, light transport/advanced trainer.
“Mr. Burden is Optimistic” The US
Assistant Secretary of Commerce believes that the first postwar civil air
transport generation, which will come into service in about 1954, will be up to
30% cheaper than Pullman railway service. That is optimistic, as it will basically capture all business and
tourist traffic, I should think, leaving rail to the kind of daft old lady who
insists on the store keeping a credit book for her, as she is unwilling to
learn how to use a chequing account. (And, yes, I had to stand in line behind one
of those earlier today. In the new America, we do our own errands. Frankly, I
am a little pleased to recede into the background of Wong Lee’s life this
month. He has every right to be proud of, and frightened for, his son.)
P. W. Nicholas, “Plywood and
Plastics” The paper notices the use of high-frequency electrical heating on
phenol-formaldehyde resin plywood panels. The much-delayed point of the article
is that the “Gallay” process is much more economical of electrical power in
achieving the desired effect, for various technical reasons. It seems like there is something to be said
for it, and you should probably look at this number yourself. The real
question, of course, is feasibility of production on a home-construction scale,
and for that I am no guide.
Correspondence
Only one highly technical article
under a serving officer’s pseudonym this week, and relatively little of the
joyous boyishness of which “Mrs. J.C.” so approves. Perhaps the pace of work
has picked up in the service? Why do I even speculate to you, Reggie, when you
have the gen? Although the whole matter of British versus American planes
carries on. More hair-raising, a letter over a proudly-signed name (“V. H.
Izard,”) calling for Bomber Command to shift to day bombing. Although couched
in terms of improving accuracy, this strikes me as a bit of a stalking horse. In
clear weather, both kinds of bombers find their targets, do they not? So what
is the real issue? This is where I fret. The alternative is that casualties are
beginning to raise concerns.
Service
Aviation
Men are promoted, decorated, die.
Award citations take up more pages than the list of the dead. I notice also a
striking picture of a Vought Corsair with folded wings on a Royal Navy carrier.
It is nice that the plane finally reaches the place that it was designed to be.
Is it too much to be hoped that the Marines will now get some Hellcats, so that
the Grumman plan can catch up to the Vought in the aces derby?
The
Economist, 8 April 1944
Leaders
“The Prime Minister” The Commons was
whipped, and the Prime Minister got his vote of confidence on the issue of
equal pay for woman teachers. The paper is perplexed that Mr. Churchill felt
the need to make the withdrawal of Mrs. Cazalet Keir’s amendment to the
Education Bill a matter of confidence. The paper is beginning to have doubts
that the Prime Minister will be able to win the next General Election.
“Russia in the Far East”
Will Russia enter the Far Eastern
War after victory in Europe? Probably. It has already won a considerable
victory by compelling the Japanese to withdraw from their oil and concessions
on Northern Sakhalin in return for ludicrously small compensation and the
promise of 50,000 tons of oil annually after the end of the Pacific War. As
Japan was relying on Sakhalin for almost a quarter of its domestic oil supply,
this is a sharp blow, administered diplomatically.
But what after that? TASS’s recent
statement that the Chinese are driving the Kazakhs out of Sinkiang Province and
aggressing into Outer Mongolia in the process is seen as evidence of friction.
Chungking, communists, possible return of Russia to its Northeastern
Concessions after it enters the land war and takes the necessarily predominant
role in defeating the Japanese Army that this implies.
The Budget, accurately reported this
year, is surprisingly good. Expenditures have been lower than expected,
revenues higher, the increase in National Debt therefore, although high, within
the range expected. The paper is pleasantly surprised.
Notes
of the Week
“Into Roumania” Russians invade,
Roumania surrendering more. Latins are excitable.
“Best Foot Forward” The late
Director-General of the BBC, Robert Foot, has gone to be President of the
Mineowner’s Association, which is occasion for the paper to remember that it
hates the coalowners as well as the coal miners.
“Thunder on the Right” The Tory
Reform Committee has a plan for reorganising the coal industry, too!
“Feeding India” Now that the famine
is over, it is over. And it might not happen next year, at least if the effects
of the “small” Japanese advance into India are not excessive.
“Battle of Communications” The paper
is disquieted by news of the evacuation of Tiddim and the use of RAF fitters
and clerks as airfield defence detachments. With the death of Wingate possibly
putting a check on the development of airborne operations, the Allies can no
longer put pressure on the Japanese offensive, which seems to be developing in
a worrying way. Just how worrying is unclear to readers of the paper thanks to
one of the more impenetrable maps of the region that I have seen.
“On Air” Civil aviators are
excitable, as are Argentines. And Caribbeanites. Not that anyone cares,
although it is a little disgraceful that British subjects be at risk of
starvation on their little islands. And the Welsh.
American
Survey
“Bulwark of the Farm Bloc” The Farm
Bureau (if somehow you have not heard of it, Reggie, it is a farmer’s lobby in
the United States) is increasingly at odds with the Farm Security
Administration over the Administration’s subsidy policy. American Survey dedicates
almost two full pages to refuting the ludicrous idea that the Bureau lobbies
for the interests of rich farmers over poor farmers, with
the effect of endangering the New Deal –that is of depriving the Democrats of
farm votes. Of course, that’s what the Bureau intends, it’s just that this is precisely what all the poor farmers
want! The paper says so.
American
Notes
“The Right to Vote” Is at issue with
the continuing controversy over the soldier’s vote, and the Supreme Courts’
finding that the Sixteenth Amendment protects Americans’ right to participate
in party primaries without respect to race. In other election news, the paper
has a good feeling about Mr. Wilkie’s prospects in Wisconsin.
“Conscripting the Barrel” It is
suggested that the 3.5 million 4-F men be conscripted anyway, and put into
labour units. It seems very unlikely that this will happen. Meanwhile, the Army
is calling up more men over 26, there is evidence of people drifting away from
war work to positions in industries with more promise of peacetime permanence,
leading to labour shortages in war work.
Latin (Americans) are excitable, and
possibly Communist.
“Mineral Poverty in Eire” Our Dublin
Correspondent takes aim at the ill-advised myth that there is plenty of mineral
wealth to be extracted in Eire if only it could be put to work. Good to have
that cleared up, I say.
Russia
At War
“Plan for Farming” Last year’s
harvest was poor; lack of tractors, drought, other reasons are indicated. This
year’s harvest, thanks to the vigorous planning and directives of the Council of People’s Commissars will be better. Hopefully. Actually, the paper is not
that hopeful. The losses of war are not
to be made up that easily, and schemes like last year’s plan to interplant rice
with cotton in the fields of Turkestan do not encourage confidence in the
competence of the Council. Perhaps more Mouziks will rise on the Kolkhozs.
Business
Notes
The France rate needs to be set with
an eye to the errors made in setting the lire rate; new building methods are to
be embraced, not disparaged, and Sir Malcom Stewart, of the London Brick
Company, has a much more progressive attitude than Mr. Coppock in regards to
prefabrication. However, even his views may fall short of the innovativeness
needed. What of alternatives to brick such as cement, plaster board, timber,
and, possibly, metal and asbestos board? The future is bright with possibilities. Sorry, for a moment there I thought that I was reading Fortune rather than The Economist. What I meant to say is that the future is full of uncertainties.
“Coal Dust Abatement” The paper
greets new schemes, then offers tempered skepticism about the value of putting
even more sprinkled water into the collieries before moving on to the problem
of “black lung” and the difficulty of finding employment for miners so
afflicted.
“South Africa and Free Gold” and
“Bombay Bullion Prices” both concern the recent rise in prices on the Bombay
Exchange. South Africa is eager to have its share, even as the price of gold
and silver began to fall there. Although they have risen at the end of the
week. General Auchinleck’s soothing statements about Imphal do seem to have
caused some abatement in the price rise, however. On the strategic metals
front, China has announced that it has found additional reserves of tungsten
and antimony to introduce into the world
market once they can be exported again. The paper applauds the prospect
of a fall in the price of these useful metals, which would encourage greater use
of them.
Flight,
13 April
How boring can high-speed,
heavily-armed “hot ships” be? Very, when your front cover advertisement is for
Cellon’s new Cerrux dope paint.
Leaders
“Putting the Jet on the M.A.P.” The
paper was disappointed when MAP took over Short Brothers, believing that less
drastic measures might have sufficed. The paper hopes that the case is
different with the now-announced MAP takeover of Power Jets, Ltd. The paper’s
hopeful formulation is that the vast national effort required to bring the Jet
Age on is now to be backed by the whole nation, rather than the limited
resources of a private company, which could hardly bear the burden of such an
enterprise, unless its name were Boulton & Watt, Parsons, Brown Boveri,
Vickers-Armstrong, Rolls-Royce, Nuffield…. Actually, this sounds like exactly
the same case as Short Brothers.
“The Satellite Capitals” Rumania is
surrendering some more, and aircraft were involved! Specifically, 15th
Air Force attacked the Bucharest railyards on 4 April as the Russians crossed
the Pruth.
“The Barracuda’s Bow” The Fairey
Barracuda now officially exists, thanks to publicity over the carrier-borne
attack on Tirpitz. The paper
intimates that special bombs were used, perhaps glider bombs. A striking
picture shows the Barracuda with its enormous flaps extended for landing.
War
in the Air
The loss of 94 bombers in the BomberCommand night attack on Nuremberg in clear air under a full moon shows that
casualties in air raids can be heavy, the paper concludes. Actually, I suggest
that you can conclude more than that. The Germans have pretty clearly won this
round of the long night bombing war over Europe. In other unfortunate news,General Wingate has died in an air crash. The paper describes General Wingate
as a soldier of an original cast of mind., and notes that he was “probably”
unable to avail himself of current meterological reports that would have led
him to postpone his trip. The “probably,” I think, says much. The paper has its sources.
“Mrs. J. C.’s” father was able to pull his familiar little game of feigning a lack of English. The general,
I gather, was moon-touched. At this point, may I digress and suggest that if the social costs of
opium were so great as to occasion its banning, that the same might be contemplated
for Benzedrine. But not until after the war, of course. You lads need not fear
being deprived just yet? (Or, conversely, that we just be frank about the
dangers of both, and give over puritanical prohibition of both?)
In other Burma news, it is mentioned
that the men of the RAF Regiment have been posted around the airfields at Imphal
as a possible last-ditch defensive line. Which is, I think, the first that I
have heard of the Regiment in this paper.
In the Pacific, carrier attacks on
the Palau group at the western end of the Caroline Islands. Unless the Japanese
fleet comes out, the hundred thousand men in their garrisons in the Pacific
will be isolated and left to starve, the paper points out. What a senseless and
predictable outcome, it says. Well, yes, but Britain’s loss in France in 1940
was not far short of a hundred thousand men “cut off” uselessly. Do we now say
that this was a senseless undertaking and an easily predicted defeat? The
railyard attacks at Bucharest are noted again. This must have cheered up the
Russian troops, the paper speculates, then notes that they are already flushed
by their own victories. Which seem rather more consequential, even if attacks
on the railways make their jobs easier. The Tirpitz attack is summarised again. The paper notes here that the Barracuda has
been in service for “about” a year, and that the number of squadrons equipped
with it has “steadily increased.” Given how much the taxpayer has spent on
planes in the last year, I should hope so! The week’s box score shows 145
bombers lost over Europe this week. The Nuremberg casualties are thus about two
third of Combined Bombing Offensive losses and not that far short of half of
all (232) Allied air losses in service flying this week.
Here
and There
The total American aircraft supply
to Russia now stands at 8800. General Oliver P. Echols of USAAF Materiel
Command says that new long-range fighters are being developed to escort B-29s.
Have we not heard this already? Major General J. F. Miller, AVM T. W. Williams,
and AM Sir William Welch all have new jobs.
A Transport Lancaster has set a 12 hour 59 minute record for
Scotland-Montreal, beating the old record by 17 minutes. It carried 3,611lb
mail, 425lb freight, and four passengers. B-25 Mitchells are now being used as
advanced trainers. Another warplane surplus to requirements? A new Mid-Air
Safety Device is announced by the “Square D Co., of Detroit,” which sounds
exactly like C. G. Grey’s old “Radioaura.” The important part is when someone
pays everyone who has patented this contraption
so that they can actually use it.
Very important people are going to Washington to talk about petroleum. A Navy
school has been opened to train 300 Ceylonese as engine fitters, so that they
can relieve 70% of Fleet Air Arm personnel on the island for carrier duties.
Catalinas searching 200,000 square miles of the Indian Ocean from Ceylon take
four days to find 42 survivors of a sunken ship and directing a tanker to them.
Americans want free competition by private airlines on international routes,
while other countries prefer “international control.”
“Flying the Typhoon” It’s remarkably
nimble for such a large plane, and the engine, with its high rpm, gives a
gentle hum. (While it is subtly shaking you to pieces.) The very thick wing
gives good handling at the stall, and “lineal descendants” of the Typhoon and
Sabre will be very impressive. Pictures of the Hawker Tornado, the failed
Vulture-powered rival to the Typhoon, appear next page. The Vulture, it will be
recalled, was not taken up, as it was so much more complicated than the Sabre.
Studies
in Aircraft Recognition
Today we learn to tell gliders
apart. There is the Hotspur, a dashing northerner, the Horsa, always trying to
invade Britain, the Hadrian building a wall to keep the Horsa out, and the DFS
230, which ..also tries to invade England.
“Indicator” must be grounded, as his
column this week is a “Literary Interlude.” He has read some novels about
aviation, and is not impressed. Books that tell us what war flying was actually
like will be written, and read, but not until some time after the war is over.
Who wants to remember the frightening and uncomfortable parts now?
“Mobile School Unit” The US Air
Transport Command has a group visiting schools with the M.T.U. 96, which is kind
of a mockup/model/display of the C-54 Skymaster. It does not appear that it is
a Link Trainer-type setup to give the students the feel of flying the plane, but then it is mainly for instructing ground
crew.
“Interchange of Technical
Information” The eligible heiresses of Old England will be devastated to hear
that the dashing G. Geoffrey Smith of this paper (and Aircraft Production, as well) is off to America in connection with
the sharing of technical press information.
“A Novel U.S. Suggestion” The Civil
Aeronautics Administration has proposed installing a recorder in the pilot’s
compartment to preserve every word spoken, so as to learn the cause of crashes
in which both pilot and co-pilot are killed. (The actual device would be
secreted in the tail and wrapped in an asbestos blanket.) I just wonder how
much the pilots’ conversation would add to the chatter with ground control. Speak, oh ancestral voices...
Behind
the Lines
“An Axis newspaper” reports that
rumours circulated that Bratislava would be raided by British, or Russian, or,
failing them, German bombers. The intent would be to force the inhabitants of
the city to evacuate, at which point the Germans would move their entire
governmental apparatus into the abandoned buildings. It is rumoured that certain
war profiteers actually fled the city on that date, showing that they had
conduits of information to Moscow or London, says the paper. They should be
exposed, says the paper, and punished. It has been said that, thanks to
Bismarck and the threat of Social Democracy, Germany has quite good provisions
for the handicapped. Paranoid maniacs, for example, are employed in the
provincial press.
All German able-bodied men of the
classes of 1884—1893 have been asked to register for conscription.
“The Wild Sow” technique of
directing single-engined fighters onto night raids is described, presumably
indicating that it is now obsolete.
Correspondence
J. R. Gould (Major, late RAF),
writes to say that he thinks the Sabre much too complicated and vulnerable, and
that it is a pity that the company did not instead further develop its licensefor the two-crankshaft Jumo diesel aircraft engine. He goes on to explain the
advantages of diesel powertrains for the tens of Flight readers who might be unaware of them. As usual with diesel
enthusiasts, he is less forthcoming on the subject of compression stresses,
vibrations, and exhaust work loss. Not that he’s necessarily wrong. In many
applications, the future does belong to diesel cycle engines. The problem isthat the various complications inserted to deal with these difficulties ratherundermine the appeal to simplicity!
N. V. Brittain, on the other hand,
is convinced that the Sabre’s sleeve valves score by saving work on regular maintenance,
and imagines the chagrin of German engineers analysing the Sabre. As well they
should. If the British have so much design talent to waste on that contraption,
imagine what their service jet engines will be like!
G. W. Stanley takes issue with the “Projet’s”
opinion that some jet engines are impractical. In fact, other jet or perhaps turbosupercharged engines are impractical. If
I am reading him correctly, and I will allow that it is quite likely that I am,
arrangements much more advanced than in any jet engine are used in oil
injection turbines and for a combustion/steam turbine without a boiler. Whichsounds as though he is describing a ground installation?
Michael Annand says that the
proposed “Wyvern” would be too heavy, too lightly armed, and would ask too much
of the lone pilot. He proposes that the
carrier arm might be pared down to a single fighter (/dive-bomber) and torpedo
(heavy dive-) bomber, for example the Seafire and Avenger.
R. E. Gregory, thinking on similar
lines, narrows the role of the fighter down to only fighting, and suggests a carrier
torpedo-bomber large enough to carry the torpedo internally! Surely that would
imply a twin-engined aircraft. Have such proposals not been vetoed before on
the score of weight and size? I am beginning to doubt my rash speculation that
the “Wyvern” has taken such concrete life on these correspondence pages because
it is an actual aircraft under development. My logic is that there would also
be a twin-engine torpedo bomber under development, and that would imply
aircraft carriers to match.
W. H. Hambrook, Assistant Chief
Designer for Short & Harland, objects to another correspondent objecting to
flying boats.
“Optimist” thinks that the only
problem with the “drift” (that is, castering) undercarriages discussed in an
article in an earlier number of the
paper is that they are not complicated enough. Throw in a gyro-controlled
powered servo to keep the castered wheels turned in the right direction, and
you would have a miracle machine. I shall propose the idea to your eldest when
I see him next. It is always amusing to see him wince in pain and put his hand
to his forehead.
D. A. Brice thinks that “Indicator”
is wrong to say that the proposed 100 ton mammoth airliners might be a bit much
for existing manpower. He also thinks that “Indicator” was insulting him
personally as an airline pilot. And not only him but all air marshals, aviation
pioneers, and, in general, everyone. Not to harp too much, but someone needs to
cut back on the Benzedrine.
“Russian Ground Crews” Are much like
ours, but wear those unflattering, shapeless, Russian-style forage caps. I hope
that the engines aren’t offended.
R. D. Leakey, “Where Battles Are
Won.” In the future, in anticipation of future wars, aircraft factories will
have to be secret underground complexes where unidentified top scientists and
engineers work on top secret new aircraft with all the advances made possible
by top secret research and development. Also, the designers will have
codenames, like “the Shadow,” “Dr. Syn” and “The Scarlet Pimpernel.”
I’ll bet you can’t tell what part of
that I made up, Reggie.
The
Economist, 15 April 1944
Leader
“The Governor” The paper is sad that
Mr. Montagu Norman has withdrawn his name from the election for Governor of the
Bank of England after a quarter century
in office. Oddly, the paper’s main complaint is about the Bank’s industrial policy of encouraging cartels
under the guise of “industry self-government.”
“Freedom for France” Within a few
weeks, we will be invading. Should we not sort out franc convertability, and the
administration of the occupied zone? Maybe we shall get rid of that annoying De
Gaulle fellow, too. The French will thank us for it when they come to their senses. And it will help the French try out this democracy arrangement.
Sometimes I think it would do Britain good to lose a war once. It might help the paper gain some empathy for defeated.
“Article Seven” The paper hopes that
Lend-Lease is not ended too quickly on account of difficulties over tariffs and
such. This would undermine trade and employment. It is hard, the paper says, to
feel happy about the prospects for full employment in the United States after
the war, and only a rash man would prophesy with complete assurance that it
will be attained in Great Britain. With
American production vastly above prewar levels, and no plan in prospect for
organising and administering transition, there is a very real risk of a postwar
American depression.
(Emphasis mine.)
Notes
of the Week
“Odessa and the Carpathians”
Roumania still being invaded, still surrendering.
Latins are excitable. Eden-Stettinus
talks will continue, given that Mr. Eden is not resigning the Foreign Office
after all. Miner’s delegation visits London and puts their case against the
Portal Reward with some success. It turns out that “rippers, roadmen, machine
minders and some classes of enginemen” do require higher wages! The paper
lugubriously points out that the rate of strikes was even higher in 1919 than
during the war years, so we may face even more work stoppages soon.
Finland is still surrendering; the
Polish Resistance may cooperate with their Russian liberators, after all; after
the contretemps over equal pay, it is now possible to again notice that
education reforms are being held back by a shortage of teachers. I certainly hope that this, like the shortages of nurses and coal miners, does not turn out to have anything to do with wages, because then trying to hold teachers' wages down might prove to be a mistake!
“Responsibility for Industrial
Progress” The paper is pleased that it is now generally recognised that the
improvement of British industrial prospects depends on improving productivity,
and not mysterious magic and tricks. Yet many in industry suppose that
Government support for research and development will be enough. It will not.
Everyone must put on white lab coats and splash goggles and take long,
insightful glances at test tubes held aloft.
There must also be more technical
education. In that area, Britain is apparently a backward country. Its old edge
in industry led it to lazy ways of rules of thumb and practicality. Now there must
be technical education. And, of course, there must be opportunity and status to the young
people who “have been through this mill.” Unless they work in the Lancashire textile trades, in which case we shall wipe our feet of them and move on to wondering why no young people enroll for aeronautical engineering training.
“Defending Assam” The paper notices
that if the Japanese take Kohima, they can advance on Dimapur, which is still the only rail nexus between Bengal
and Assam, just as it was when we toured the area with Grandfather in ’27.
“Front Line Province” The Governor
of Bengal promises that there will be no
recrudescence of famine this year. The wheat and millet crops were poor, but
the rice was good enough to make up the lack. Providing that loss of confidence
in the food supply does not lead to hoarding, mind. Meanwhile, the Statesman of Calcutta is now running a
series that was suppressed during the famine on the utter ineptitude of the
Government of Bengal’s response to the famine. The paper finds it
disheartening, and suggests that continuing concealment of vital statistics can
only raise doubts about whether these have been remedied.
“Absent Workers” It is not just
miners who have absence problems. A look at industry in general shows a 5%
absent rate in peacetime for men, 6-8% in wartime, 10-15% for women. These are
for various reasons, but the reporting Industrial Health Board singles out
fatigue as something that can be remedied by steps such as holding the work
week to 60 hours for men and 55 for women.
“The City President” Herr Goebbels,
who is, of course, already the President of Berlin Gau, is now made President of the city. The paper hopefully
supposes that this is because of the extent of damage and chaos caused by the
night area bombing offensive.
American
Survey
“Wilkie’s Wake” Mr. Wilkie’s defeat
in the Wisconsin Primaries, predicted only by everyone, has led him to withdraw
from the race for the GOP nomination. The paper thinks that that was premature,
and dreams of him going on to greater and grander things. Governor Dewey, who
did not even contest the primaries, won over half the vote, suggesting that, as
only predicted by everyone, he is the front-runner! But what of MacArthur, Stassen,
Bricker, Warren, Taft, or the paper’s pet parakeet? Surely someone other than
Dewey could win. It’s not over yet, surely? Governor Bricker? Commander
Stassen? Anyone?
American
Notes
“Holding the Line”
Incredibly, there has been no
increase in the cost of living, or in wages, over the last year. Price controls
have been very successful, which is why they might be doomed. They’re digging
their own grave, you see. Successful prince controls will lead to runaway inflation. How many papers does Mr. Janeway write for, anyway?
Shorter
Notes
Some Texans are appalled that
Coloureds are now by Supreme Court decision allowed to vote in the Democratic
Primaries. Or the Republican primaries, should such a thing happen, and the
organisers choose to exclude Coloureds in the first place. Or new measures will
be found to exclude them, just as, when the “grandfather clause” was found
unconstitutional, literacy and poll tax tests were substituted.
The Census reports that the American
population was 134.9 million on 1 July 1942, compared with 133.9 in 1941 and
132.8 in 1940. There are now more American women than men, ending the old
American demographic exception.
The
World Overseas
Latin Americans are excitable about communism, part
2. The British have stepped up their sisal buying in East Africa. It is thought
that production of hard fibre will have risen during the war, and hoped that
new uses have been found to absorb this production.
“The Discount Market” I am not going
to adventure comment; the Earl is the expert.
Business
Notes
Canadian Pacific has had a good
year; there is talk about oil, or talk about talks about petroleum; South
African bonds are doing well; the Government is criticised for whitholding
statistics, and answers that it is not going to change its policy on the eve of
the Second Front; it looks like revisions in GRT measuring methods might
finally come this year.
And now.. the monthlies!
Aviation,
April 1944
Down
the Years in Aviation’s Log
25 years ago, New Zealand announced
plans for air mail, a variable-pitch propeller was tested and declared
“eminently practical,” and the Post Office bought twelve DH-4s for the proposed
New York-Chicago route. Fifteen years ago, the Air Corps adopts ethylene glycol
coolant, Keystone Patrician flies
10,200ft carrying 36, Guatemala buys six all-metal Crawford planes, Chicago
grocery firm equips a Ford trimotor as a “flying store.” Ten years ago,
Congress ended the Air Mail experiment, the first S-42 flies, Sodium lights are
used at Schipphol, Army request for 4000 planes put off by Congress, United
makes a $2 million buy, including 6 12-seat sleepers.
Line
Editorial
Junior is on about the disposal of
Government war plants and equipment. In the last four years, the Federal
Government has spent 15 billion dollars on plant, two-and-a-half-times private
spending. One third has gone to aircraft and shipyards. A third to ordnance, a
third to chemical plants and miscellaneous. About a third are suitable for
peacetime commercial use and will be disposed without difficulty, and, with
ingenuity, this might rise to half or even more. But the rest present
difficulties. Fortunately, there are encouraging signs (George Committee
Report, Truman Committee Report, appointment of Baruch) that this will be
handled in a way that promotes freedom of action towards a competitive society.
But more argle bargle.. Planning, inventory, sober second thought! Wherever
possible, plant should be auctioned off at the best price. That would be fair!
Where not, it should be leased at attractive rates to put it into effective
use. Plant needed abroad can be exported. Plant needed by legitimate government
enterprises such as the services and the TVA should be kept. Anything that does
not fall into these categories should be liquidated, lest it lead to government
or private monopolies.
"Cousin H.C.", who dreams of a Lower Californian monopoly on steel, does not seem frightened by Junion, however.
Editorial
Neville thinks we need a powerful
postwar air force. Just like Flight! It is a grand coincidence.
Captain C. H. Schildhauer, USNR,
“Global Air Transport and the Flying Boat’s Role.” Perhaps this is the fellow who is interchanging technical press secrets with that heartbreaker, G. Geoffrey Smith of Flight.
Flying boats will be large and comfortable, with smoking lounges and dance floors and indoor swimming pools, just like the trans-Atlantic dirigibles that now ply our skies.
E. H. Cargen, Sales Research
Engineer, and L. J. Stosik, Market Analyst, Write Aeronautical Corp,” “A
Three-Way ‘Fix’ On Aircraft Markets.” I) The Military market: scientific
technical analysis shows that military spending fell after the War of 1812,
Civil War, and WWI. Therefore, science says that the postwar military market
will be small, about 5000-5500 aircraft/year. Four alternative levelling curves
are shown, with the best forecast showing renewed international tensions
requiring continued high armament spending, and the worst flowing from renewed
isolationism, in which case it will be closer to 3500. Commercial demand is
established as 298 a/c in Victory +5. (1949, based on defeating Germany by
Christmas and Japan a year later.) This is scientific! Though even the authors have no
way of estimating the private postwar market, though
Raymond Hoadley, “Hope for the
Aircraft Investor,” is apparently not the prompt launching of the world onto
the road leading to World War III at the stroke of 1957 (ie, not waiting until
1967), but rather the orderly readjustment of the industry, which will take
aviation stocks out of the “orphan” status that has kept them at low
valuations.
“Ernest G. Stout, “Experimental
Determination of Hull Displacement.” Say you do not know precisely how much
water the flying boat that you are designing will draw in practice. Good
question! It’s hard to calculate, and it might be helpful to know before you sit down behind the controls
for that first takeoff run! Well, here is an easy experimental method involving
pressing your hull model underwater with gradually increasing weights. Words
fail. But, on the other hand, one gets a sense of how the Mars and Lerwick got
the way that they did.
David B. Thurston, “Key
Considerations in Pressurized Cabin Design”
Uncredited, “Metal PLUS Plastic
Makes New Aircraft Flooring.” This miracle flooring sells itself! And if it
doesn’t, we can always buy space in Aviation.
Commander Harry J. Marx,
“Production-Line Remedies For Hydraulic Headaches.” In summary, you can do
everything with aircraft hydraulics except make them work. A very dirty
mechanic demonstrates how to pack clean parts.
Articles on forming sheet aluminum
and “near infrared” baking of engine parts at Jacobs follows, at which point we
get to...
J. S. Nielson and C. B. Mitchell,
“Stretch Bend Unit Simplifies Metal Work,” which is a feature length
advertisement for the new Goodyear Roto-Stretcher, developed by the
Experimental Tool and Machine Design Division of Goodyear Aircraft. The one
built in house for Goodyear is doing excellent work, and these two
Goodyear-associated engineers want you to know that a Roto-Stretcher is right
for you!
“The A to Z of Servicing Cuno
Filters” is helpful in case a Cuno filter has arrived in your shop and you have
no idea how to get at the filter and service it. It turns out that “auto-clean”
Cuno filters are very complicated.
It frankly astonishes me that all of this has been designed and put into service in the last five years or so.
“Field Maintenance of Bosch Magnetos”
is helpful in case a Bosch magnetor has arrived…
“Two Metalwork Units Do Work of
Twenty. The proud inventors, both tradesmen at Northrop’s metal-forming shop,
are shown smiling. My snap impression is that I would enjoy working with RalphFroelich in particular. He is, however, only a tradesman who has made something workaday to improve metalworking, not some transcendent mystery machine like a real inventor, such as Nikolai Tesla!
“Bull’s-Eye Aim Makes Bombardiers”
Bombardiers need training! Honest, Reggie, it is true. (Given your position,
you might have noticed at one point.) The Norden Bombsight is the best thing
ever, which would fall under the heading of things that your eldest tells me is
not true, and the USAAF has established a vast apparatus to train new bombardiers, which is true. More
interesting is the fact that while even the USAAF can only give them 85 hours
in the air, trainee bombardiers do 450 hours on the ground, learning theory and
reading maps, but also practicing in a special Link trainer! The point here, I
suppose, is that the Trainer sounds fairly simplistic compared to schemes that
I have seen elsewhere, with a simple “ bug” projected on the floor, similar to
a battleship seen from 10,000 feet. Where is the scrolling countryside lit by
faked Flak? Perhaps someone could sell something like that to the air force?
Involving “television?”
Side
Slips
We begin with an amusing anecdote
about a silly girl riveter, young pilots who joke about how many hours it takes
a freighter to cross the Atlantic, about pilots who lose their hearing after a
few hundred hours in the air and turn it to their advantage by pretending that
people are offering them a beer, and amusing doggerel about Goebbels and
Goering. I mock heavily and without humour, because imitation….
Made-up people love Bonney Tools!
Aviation
News
“Improved Planes at Lower Prices
Seen Postwar,” says somebody. Why do fighters now go further? They have drop
tanks, the latest brand new technology that has been around forever. Wright
Field has two new wind tunnels ready to go. “Private flying is coming out of
the superman class andn down to the common man via a drastic revision of air
traffic rules…” The AAF is exploring the possibility of having a garden sale.
Flyers posted on hitching posts is my suggestion. Telephone poles good too, if
you’ve got them. Blaine Stubblefield thinks that everyone in Washington should
be fired for being lazy and not doing anything. Other bits of news in his
column include the fact that some in Washington want a postwar Air Force, and
that others want there to be airports around the country and that despite
rationing, you can still get a decent blended American whiskey in this town. And that’s Stubblefield, signing
off until next month!
America
At War
…Reports nothing that I couldn’t get
from …I was going to say Time, but
that’s too kind. Honestly, the news in the Montgomery-Ward catalogue is
fresher.
Aviation
Manufacturing
“February Production: Record 350
planes in one day for 8,760; Weight up 4%.” Four pages into the news insert comes the news that aircraft production is down 29
units over the January numbers. But the month was short, or we would have hit
the 9000 a/c/month new minimum target required to hit the 100,000 vice 120,000
unit target for the year! Also, weight is up and we built a record number of
aircraft on one particular day! No guilty consciences here, sir.
Plant investment is projected at only $500
million this year as the effort winds down. The P-47 now has a four-blade
Hydromatic propeller. Glenn L. Martin promises that the new model of “Mars”
will be even better! B-24s made at San Diego are also now better, because they
are a pleasing metallic silver rather than drab camouflage, adding an estimated
6 to 8mph top speed. At least Aero Digest is honest enough to admit that the lack of paint is labour saving.
Aviation
Abroad
The Swedish air service is back in
operation. The Tudor and Brabazon I are under construction. The “Boomerang” is
in action. The paper picks up the Flight story
about how German pilots are being kept away from flowers with distressing
scents and adds its own unique touch: “A bouquet to the Japanazis!”
Aviation
Finance
In brief, lots of aviation companies
made lots of money during the war, but the stocks are not highly valued because
the end of the war is likely to crimp demands for new warplanes.
Wellwood Beall, looking in photo like the son of one of our clients (by the way, thank you for Mr. Johnston's file. I was being facetious in suggesting that we would lean on him for his father's unpaid passage, but am amused to note that my instinct was correct), has received some kind
of award over something related to being another aviation figure who landed in the honey pot thanks to our pal Hitler.
“Footprints Halt!’ An ad for some
kind of adhesive doormat that cleans the soles of shoes of people entering a
very clean room at a ballbearing plant is illustrated with a picture of a
child’s bare feet. That is, the technology of 1944 is projected to 1955 again! Page over finds Kinnear missing the opportunity to suggest that its technology could have a domestic use in ten years.
“Building Railroad Tracks for
Electrons” is an ad celebrating Astatic’s “coaxial conductors.” Gives me a
better sense of where the conversation is turning whenever the lads from the
day turn up to visit your eldest and his wife.
“For More War Work With Fewer
Workers” What will our future be, when devices like this have done away with
manual labour in 1955? Though I could write 1855 for all the inherent
plausibility of it.
Fortune,
April 1945
This should be a quick read, as the
entire number is devoted to Japan, and I cannot even begin to guess when we
might be called upon to invest in the lands of the barbarians of Wa. I pick it
up mainly in anticipation of that special outrage to which only Mr. Janeway can
move me. For lack of any actual reportage, the number has been turned over to
Herrymon Maurer, who has spent whole weeks
in Japan in pursuit of his in-depth study of Eastern cultures. Known as the
author of an “imaginative” account of Lao T’se, he is… He is One of Those.
Enough said. Although Claude Buss and Shelly Mydans both
recently repatriated from Japanese internment, are also represented. Neither,
astonishingly, have a high opinion of the Japanese. Apparently, they, unlike
other armies, select military police from the lower sort of recruits.
“Issei, Nissei, Kibbei” The paper is
upset about the internment of American Japanese, even though it’s not as bad as
all that, and it is really all the Hearst Paper’s fault. Not that that
nasty gossip Hedda Hopper has helped, with her allegations that released
evacuees have been committing sabotage.
“How Many Japanese?” It is supposed
that the population of Japanese might rise by 1970 to 95 million, which is
obviously too high for their land. This is the result of demographic
transition. In the previous hundred years, Japan’s population moved from only
28 to 33 million. Industrialisation has had the effect of reducing birth rates.
The point of the graphical comparison is that Japan’s curve
lags that of England and Wales by 60 years.
Before the war, Japan’s increase of
a million a year exceeded that of America and also all new inhabitants of
western Europe! To feed them with imports, Japan has customarily depended on
imports paid for with consumer goods. Emigration has been difficult, and there
was the hold Manchuria thing. What is left? The Japanese are big on commercial
fishing, and greater agricultural productivity would help.
Though not relevant, it is disconcerting to see the curve of population for England and Wales turn downwards in 1950. We did well to sell as much land as we did, when we did. I know that there is no direct relationship between population and real estate prices, but the one does tend to drive the other. It also illustrates just how tricky it is going to be to balance demand for housing against the future of the industry. No point in overinvesting in a sector that is going to be ebbing in the same way as the Lancashire cotton mills.
Or steel. Do I repeat myself? I do!
Unfortunately, it turns out that Mr. Janeway has no
opinions worth printing on the subject of Japan and the Japanese, and I am deprived of my eagerly anticipated moment of righteous outrage.
Until next time, Reggie, I remain your beloved Cousin.
PS: I hope that you find time for this missive and do not spend it all looking at those wonderful baby faces. I see Grandfather in the boy. Do you?
Let me guess, graphics were excitable?
ReplyDeleteYou know those frivolous foreigners. Always on about something that won't matter in 70 years.
ReplyDelete