Wing Commander R_. C_. RCAFVR, DFC (Bar),
L_. House,
Isle of Axholme,
Lincs.
Dear Sir:
You may be surprised to have this missive from Santa Clara rather than Honolulu, but before we flee such winter as northern California (or October) has to offer for the sunny climes of Hawaii, we have word of obstacles to our progress.
First, Lieutenant A., with the surpassing silliness of a young man, is carrying the vital documents on his person at all times. Once again I wince with embarrassment at how much damage those awful novels have done our family by so exaggerating our powers. If I could send master assassins equipped with the poisonous fruit of Oriental knowledge, you know that I would.
Well, I might actually hesitate, fearing recriminations from our little housekeeper and "Miss V.C." It amazes me that they maintain such a friendly relationship when they are romantic rivals. Unless. . .No, I shan't finish that thought just now. It would just be too perfect. Though I will arrange to have our housekeeper along with us in Hawaii. Let it only be said that I have more arrows in my quiver than one in appealing to the young lieutenant's better nature. Since, much as I would enjoy it, I can hardly unleash assassins against him under Admiral Nimitz's roof!
In any case, the documents are on the young man's person, and it turns out that the Pacific Headquarters are to be embargoed imminently. I have it on good authority that the embargo will be lifted on the eighteenth, after which we will be able to approach him there, given introductions which I am sure I can arrange. But you must not breathe not a word of this, lest Japan's spies in Lincolnshire succeed in discovering the date of the invasion of the Philippines, where her legion in Honolulu has failed.
So our departure is delayed, and, our young people have to buckle down to their studies. I have not had to be polite to the Engineer, because for a miracle Uncle Henry has not seen fit to entertain us. Fontana is, at least for the moment, on the back burner as he entertains his dreams of mass-produced helicopters. Not that the current breed of helicopter enthusiast is much better than the Engineer! I long for the whole project to collapse (which is probably what is going to happen, of course), just so that my old age is spared anything so awful as the current Ford Motor Company advertising campaign that relentlessly attempts to persuade Fortune readers that Henry Ford invented the gas engine, or the assembly line, or good wages. I suppose that he could make a case for inventing cheek, but this has little to do with the helicopter-mongers and their outrageous hyperbole.
"GRACE."
Flight, 5 October 1944
L_. House,
Isle of Axholme,
Lincs.
Dear Sir:
You may be surprised to have this missive from Santa Clara rather than Honolulu, but before we flee such winter as northern California (or October) has to offer for the sunny climes of Hawaii, we have word of obstacles to our progress.
First, Lieutenant A., with the surpassing silliness of a young man, is carrying the vital documents on his person at all times. Once again I wince with embarrassment at how much damage those awful novels have done our family by so exaggerating our powers. If I could send master assassins equipped with the poisonous fruit of Oriental knowledge, you know that I would.
Well, I might actually hesitate, fearing recriminations from our little housekeeper and "Miss V.C." It amazes me that they maintain such a friendly relationship when they are romantic rivals. Unless. . .No, I shan't finish that thought just now. It would just be too perfect. Though I will arrange to have our housekeeper along with us in Hawaii. Let it only be said that I have more arrows in my quiver than one in appealing to the young lieutenant's better nature. Since, much as I would enjoy it, I can hardly unleash assassins against him under Admiral Nimitz's roof!
In any case, the documents are on the young man's person, and it turns out that the Pacific Headquarters are to be embargoed imminently. I have it on good authority that the embargo will be lifted on the eighteenth, after which we will be able to approach him there, given introductions which I am sure I can arrange. But you must not breathe not a word of this, lest Japan's spies in Lincolnshire succeed in discovering the date of the invasion of the Philippines, where her legion in Honolulu has failed.
So our departure is delayed, and, our young people have to buckle down to their studies. I have not had to be polite to the Engineer, because for a miracle Uncle Henry has not seen fit to entertain us. Fontana is, at least for the moment, on the back burner as he entertains his dreams of mass-produced helicopters. Not that the current breed of helicopter enthusiast is much better than the Engineer! I long for the whole project to collapse (which is probably what is going to happen, of course), just so that my old age is spared anything so awful as the current Ford Motor Company advertising campaign that relentlessly attempts to persuade Fortune readers that Henry Ford invented the gas engine, or the assembly line, or good wages. I suppose that he could make a case for inventing cheek, but this has little to do with the helicopter-mongers and their outrageous hyperbole.
"GRACE."
Flight, 5 October 1944
Leaders
“Private Flying” Colonel Fitzmaurice, in an article in this issue, talks about the obstacles that must
be overcome before private flying is “within reach of the ordinary man of
moderate means and average intelligence.” Flattery will get you everywhere,
Colonel Fitzmaurice! In the event, the paper thinks that private flying is
closer to yachting than motoring, and so much for the Colonel’s
recommendations. It will still print his article, however, and there is a place
for promoting small airports.
“Arnhem” Half a league, half a
league, half a league. . . Although the paper is pleased that the troubles at
Arnhem aided the taking of the bridge at Nijmegen.
“Guarding the Hump Line” The paper
is pleased that General Slim has been knighted. Because aircraft were involved!
War
in the Air
The withdrawal of 2000 men, and the
loss of 5000, in Arnhem, means that the Allies still have the “various branches
of the Rhine” in front of them, and are not yet debouching on the German plain,
and neither is Holland yet liberated. Instead, a grinding fight is ahead, with
the Canadians have just taken Calais and
the guns of Cape Gris Nez, and the German Air Force little seen. There is also
a fight ahead holding the Nijmegen corridor, and it is here that German
aircraft have been seen, showing the importance of the fighting. These include
jet-powered aircraft, of which the paper notices the Me 262 “Swallow,” as well
as the Tempest, apparently not a secret now in Britain. Bombing of German towns
and factories is underway, too.
Here
and There
Air Commodore Whittle has another
honour to console himself with. Pan American intends to run a twice daily San
Francisco-Hawaii service with landplanes, and expects to fly 100,000 passengers
a year on this route and a parallel one from Los Angeles. Southerners all over Waikiki. What a price to pay for a February vacation in Hawaii! I
imagine a Canadian service from Vancouver cannot be far behind.
“Fair Winds” An RAF Lancaster of Transport
Command has just established a new record from the Bahamas to Montreal. I did
not know that there was a record to be beat, but this, too, is a sign of things
to come.
“American Comment” The paper notices
Business Week as saying that it is “common knowledge” that
the Russians stripped the P-39 of armour and just about everything else that
would come off to increase speed, ceiling and manoeuvrability. I suppose the
point is that we are to be struck by an American contemporary admitting that
the P-39 was less than satisfactory.
“Cause. . . and Effect” Lord Brabazon is upset that our manufacturers have given the Americans a two year
lead in producing civil aircraft, with the effect that the Australians are
buying Douglas airliners.
E. Burgess, “Jet Propulsion and
Adiabatic Expansion: Theoretical Jet-Velocities at Various Temperatures and
Pressures” A series of theoretical curves showing same. I suppose that it is
useful for jet engine designers to have parameters in front of them, but then
the question is how many jet designers there might be to use them. I suppose
that the answer is “many,” and that we shall soon have as many jet engines
competing for our attention as we have helicopters now.
“Complete Power Units: A Reminder
that Bristol Radial Air-cooled Engine “Eggs” Were Produced Twenty Years Ago”
Lord Brabazon recently made comments that might have been taken to imply that
no air-cooled engines in the form of complete power units were currently available
in this country. Bristol Aeroengines is very upset with the master of Tara, and
wishes to have words with him. As soon as it is finished grinding the sleeve
valves of this engine back into true on this high-power lathe.
James C. Fitzmaurice, Col. (Retd.), “Post-war
Private Flying:” Great Britain’s Wonderful Opportunity: Converting the
Air-Conscious Citizen into an Air Enthusiast” It’s at least no less likely to happen this
time around than after the last war. The paper has the last word by putting a
short summary article about the Civil Aeronautics Administration report on “Injuries
in Light Plane Crashes” at the bottom of the last page of the article.
“Pathfinders” The Pathfinders will have
a “Pathfinders Association” after the war, with a nice regimental tie and long,
boozy reunions stretching down the decades into the distance future of the
1970s and 1980s, when there are no more Britons, and wolves howl through the
deserted wildwood where London now stands. If we are worrying about that “depopulation”
stuff this week. If that seems a morbid thought, the paper adds a little
article about “No More N.Z. Airmen for Europe,” and that reminds me of that old engraving.
Source |
Correspondence
F. J. B. thinks that people who get
confused about relative and absolute wind velocities are idiots. R. F. Simms
explains the influence of gravity on the function of down-draught and
up-draught carburettors in a similar way, although in a more restrained tone. Geoffrey
Cooper (Sqdn Leader, A.A.F.) has strong opinions about railways and civil
aviation. C. H. Potts thinks that there is “no future for diesel” in civil
aircraft engines. He sounds rather more reasonable here than when his is using
cooked numbers to compare British engines unfavourably to American, not that he
needs the numbers, given that the British engines in the running are all
impractical sleeve valves and liquid-cooled types. Someone else predicts “aerocars,”
and an attached book review proposes that we should use air power to keep the
peace in future via a combined air force of the four great powers which will
periodically raid Japan, Germany, and other potential future aggressors and
blow up their mountain top houses and granaries. It worked on the Northwest
Frontier, after all!
Studies
in Aircraft Recognition
The
Economist, 7 October 1944
Leaders
“More Perfect Union” Europe should be more united, with free trade and such.
“Real Estate” The government is
rebuilding London on an emergency basis, doing up housing and planning bills,
and pushing out a White Paper on Full Employment that will deal with industry
location and thus redistribute population around the country in job lots. You’d
think that all of this vigour and activity would render the Government immune
from criticism, but not a bit of it. The paper has concerns. For example, a
separate Ministry of Housing would be a bad idea for some reason. It’s giving
in to public opinion, maybe? The official stationarywould be ugly, because
capital “H” is an ill-bred letter? The paper is especially appalled that the
White Paper won’t talk about what kind of planning will be done, and by whom.
Planning! Local government reform! Accurate forecasts of housing demands over
the next thirty years! A complete financial plan for paying for it! A solution
to the problem of demand for improved housing causing prices to rise! A plan
for dealing with future unemployment when the building industry retrenches at
some future date! We need all of that.
“A Policy for Wealth, VII: Managers
and Distributers” Last week we covered the need for science and engineering to
make up for the fact that average British productivity per labour hour was so
much lower than American. The paper pointed out that British managers don’thave enough scientific training. But the question arises as to whether they
have management training. Are they efficient, in other words? No, only an
optimist would think that the average British management was as efficient as
the average German or American. “Indeed, the proof can be found in the
pervasive spread during the last two decades of protection and safety first, of
organised restriction and subsidised stability. Efficient industrial
entrepeneurs, who took pride in their powers, would scorn such resorts of the
inferior.” This is what is known in mathematics as the method of “proof by
random stringing together of words.” It is supposed that while in Britain
companies have boards of directors who are disengaged amateurs, in Germany and
America, they are expert consultants who enable scientific management. More
British managers should be scientific, in the German sense. Also, distribution.
It can be inefficient. For example, there is too much advertising in the wrong
places. For example, opposing billboards extolling rival brans of beer are a
waste of precious national resources worthy of a few paragraphs of comment in
the paper. “On dune and headland/Sinks the fire"
Notes
of the Week
“Events and Hopes” We have to accept
that the war in Europe will go on well into 1945.
“The Second Fall of Warsaw” Also,
“Polish Test” The insurrection in Warsaw and its outcome are heartbreakingly
sad, and an opportunity to wax political at the same time. The paper tends to
minimise criticism of Moscow compared to some.
“Civil Aviation” Oh, for God’s sake.
“the Bretton Woods Debate” There
is to be a parliamentary debate, so that
“Civil Aviation” Oh, for God’s sake.
“The Bretton Woods Debate” There is to be a parliamentary debate, so that’s actual news. Also, the paper does its best to explain that it is not, “Is it the Gold Standard,” and addresses the Chancellor’s "First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Bilateralists." These bits of actual news and attempted explanation aside, see above.
“Asylum for the Axis” If we abuse
the Argentines enough, they will surely not accommodate war
criminals who come to them bearing gold. On the other hand, Eire and Portugal
have not yet been sufficiently vocal in denying Axis officials refuge.
Greeks are excitable. And Bulgars of
Greek nationality. Balkan countries being invaded by the Russians are
excitable. With more excuse.
“The TUC’s Programme” The paper
cannot read it without being vastly bored. Literally! That’s what they say! No
pot-and-kettle self-awareness at all! (I'm not boring you, am I, sir?) There’s several other bits about unions
and unemployment and unions and industrial organisation, too.
“Six Month’s Finances” Income tax
receipts are up remarkably due to pay-as-you-go, and so are customs and excise,
“ominously,” because they show what extraordinary measures will have to be
taken to contain spending after the war. Also, the paper dives further into the
tea leaves to detect incipient inflation.
Letters
to the Editor
E.
Raymond Streat of the Cotton Board will not take the paper’s abuse of
the Cotton Board lying down. Also, something about the German peace terms.
American
Survey
“Stock-Taking in the Mountain
States” By Our Correspondent in Colorado. Various persons of great importance
gathered in Laramie to agree that the Mountain states were much hard done by in
the recent war, and various measures should be taken to relieve their
suffering, notably protection against Latin American beef imports and something
about mining. OCC implies that the one beneficial outcome of the conference is
that some participants were willing to accept that “the post-war economy cannot
fully satisfy the extremist,” and that the region, like the nation, “must be
prepared for a drastic change in its economic outlook if it is to survive and
grow.” Survive?
I think that OCC is trying to suggest that there will be a postwar trading depression.
I think that OCC is trying to suggest that there will be a postwar trading depression.
American
Notes
“Slugging it Out” There is,
apparently, a Presidential election in America this year, and Governor Dewey
has said some things about the President and his Administration. PM Magazine is amusing itself and its
readers by collecting “Dewies,” which is to say, statements capable of easy
refutation while the Hearst papers are offering prizes for anti-Administration
limericks, which are required to include the phrase, “Clear it with Sydney.”
Voter turnout is expected to be low, and this will favour the Republican
chances. The President has 52% of the vote right now, but it is supposed that
since he will pile up votes unopposed in the South, he is actually running
behind. The paper supposes that the Coloured vote will defect from the
President to Dewey on the strength of an endorsement of the latter by the Pittsburgh Courier.
“Economic Policy” The Administration
has agreed that the Morgenthau plan to root up German industry was stupid. I do
not begrudge any Jew’s desire to see Germany levelled from end to end at this
point. The problem is that it is bad policy to set fire to your neighbour if
you live in an apartment building. Also, loans to buy American imports might
help European countries rebuild –and Britain, too.
There is more talk of the “G.I. Bill
of Rights,” now in connection with those returning veterans who might want to
homestead. There is also talk of steel
wages, with labour wanting a guarantee of no loss of wages with the reduction
from the 48 to the 40 hour week.
The
World Overseas
“Between Rhine and Oder” The
Oder-Neisse line might well be the eastern frontier, the Rhine definitely not
that in the west. This will render Germany even more dependent on food importsthan it is already as it will lose the great eastern estates. On the other
hand, various industries are examined to show that Germany must import, and
export for the country to function.
“Cacao Research,” By Our
Correspondent in Accra. Gold Coast is doing quite well in cacao right now,
making solid inroads on an industry once dominated by the Western hemisphere.
But there are clouds on the horizon, and eventually the country will run out of
bush land to put to use for new plantations, and have to rehabilitate the old
ones, and what if the prices fall? Research is needed, and also talking about
talking about planning.
The Business World
“the Future of British Shipping” For
the purposes of the family interest, the first half of this article is the meat
of it, unfortunately postwar rate structures, subsidies, and “international”
control is all up in the air, and the article doesn’t repay the attention
invested in its survey of the clouded horizon. The second half, which treats building, is interesting from an
engineering point of view. According to Fairplay
(and I wonder too whether I should bother to summarise this when the Earl
takes that paper), the cost of building a ship has risen from £13 6s 8d per ton
in 1939 to about £22 at the end of 1943. Reconstruction of a fleet with a war
deficit of 5 million tons deadweight is going to rise above £100 million not
counting worn-out tonnage. This is likely to be beyond the financial powers of
the British industry and require a government subsidy. Or more work will go
abroad, to Hong Kong and, I hope, Canton. Noticeable here in this section of
the paper is the lack of worship of American technical and
managerial-scientific efficiency. We know how much it costs to build ships in
America, and it is too much, even though their shipyard workers are so much
more efficient than hours in output per hour. (And yet require so much more
labour to actually build ships.. Which makes sense from the point of view of
measuring productivity by value of
output, but raises paradoxical questions.)
Business
Notes
“Coal Black-Out” And now we return
to the theme via an indirect route. The Minister, Major Lloyd George, has
reiterated that a serious shortage that
will effect war production and cause civilian distress is imminent. It is known
that output per man and voluntary absenteeism is up since the wage agreement.
What is not known is the monthly output, which has been suppressed for security reasons. Surely
this need is past. Also, the government should publicise the report of the
American Mining Mission, which presumably has been left unpublished because it
would hurt feelings. “The American experts’ suggestions for improving the
efficiency of the industry are of too great an importance for their report to
be confined to a narrow circle.”
“Full Technical Efficiency” In case
you were wondering what those recommendations might be, the minister announced
the formation of a committee on how to bring the industry to “a state of full
technical efficiency.” The committee consists of a group of colliery managing
directors and managers. The paper thinks the absence of “outside experts” and
“representatives from the highly efficient Nottinghamshire collieries” are not
included. “The exclusion of any representatives of the miners from the
committee is presumably to be explained by the desire to keep technical
questions separate from politics.”
“Idle Markets” The stock market has
been very idle, sitting in its familiar place at the bar, nursing a pint,
occasionally playing a round of billiards, when it should be bearing or bulling, whichever one is good. (I
can never remember.) This might be
because it is now expected that the war is going to go on for months
yet, so what is the point of it all, anyway?
“Meeting the External Debt” Will be
hard, says the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but our credit is good, because we
are hard working and determined to achieve full technical efficiency.
“Repair of Bomb Damage” We have taken the first steps to repaid bomb
damage –by limiting the amount that can be done through licensing. Local
government can license repairs in the £10-100 range, while Ministry approval is
required to spend more than £100.
“Census of Production” Will help us achieve full technical efficiency.
Also, the Board of Trade might fold its census in with other census-taking
organs of government, as is done in America, so that census-taking achieves
full technical efficiency.
“’Can Pac’ Wages Award” The Canadian
wage settlement was generous, and will have an impact on share prices and
dividends to British Canadian Pacific shareholders.
“Oil and Dollars,” and “US Mexican
Oil Settlement” This oil thing is going to turn out to be quite important.
“Bulk Purchase” The government has
decided to make bulk purchases of large quantities of foodstuffs extending out
four years in Australia.
“Wheat Supplies” The Ministry of
Food has ordered the rate of extraction of flour from wheat reduced from 85 to
82 1/2%, for, since the increase in the extraction rate was ordered two years
ago, the United Kingdom has enjoyed two very good wheat crops, and the
increased imports seem bearable, and will not impact the international wheat
supply, which, in spite of abnormal demand, has increased into general surplus.
The North American crop may reach a record total, and the French, Italian and
Balkan crops have all been high. Even if the southern hemisphere crop is poor,
we will not see a great reduction of the current surplus, and since the amount
of land planted will increase in 1945, in the absence of weather catastrophes,
the supply will be good next year, too.
“Deflation in Belgium” Belgium intends to put a currency reform in place in Belgium that will significantly deflate prices in order to hit an exchange rate of 166 ½ to the pound. France
is not doing this, even though plans were put together for such an undertaking,
for political reasons, of which the paper evidently disapproves.
Holland is seeking credits, and the
County of Fife and various industrial concerns are converting their bond
issues. There has been a slight improvement in the market for Argentinian
securities due to improvements there. Agreements on international seamen’s
wages, South African gold miners’ wages, and caterers’ wages is achieved or at
hand. Plans for developing the town of Barrow-in-Furness are announced.
Flight,
12 October 1944
Leaders
“Good Bombing” The Dortmund-Ems Canal has been breached, four years after the first breaching, by Bomber Command Hampdens, which earned Flight Lieutenant Learoyd a Victoria Cross.
This time, 96 Lancasters armed with 12,000lb bombs attacked it, and 14 were lost.
This time, 96 Lancasters armed with 12,000lb bombs attacked it, and 14 were lost.
The paper explains why it was worth the effort. Also breached were the Westkapelle dykes on the island of Walcheren, as part of the campaign to open up the port of Antwerp.
“The Liberation of Greece” The
Greeks are excitable in ways that involve aircraft.
“A Minister for Civil Aviation” The
paper notices Lord Swinton’s appointment, noting that Lord Beaverbrook washed
his hands of the appointment, and that Lord Swinton cannot possibly be fully
briefed in time for the forthcoming Washington conference on postwar civil aviation.
War
in the Air
The Lancaster attack on the Tirpitz was not intercepted for lack of
fighters. That will teach the Germans for not coming out and having a good old
set-to that will help us forget about Jutland. (Remembering, with a smile,
Uncle George commandeering the after-dinner crockery to redeem Evan-Thomas,condemn Beatty, and defend Jellicoe.) The B-25 has enough machine guns in its
nose to satisfy even a sixteen-year-old. Airborne artillery looks charmingly
like a pug dog, all pushed-in, puppylike belligerence. We have bombed Berlin
and Darmstadt, and landed troops in Greece.
Actual conversation that people really said: Scottish troops to Typhoon Squadron: “Well done! You have
completely demoralised the Hun. We are going in to attack!” Surrendering German
troops to Scots: “We can stand shelling or machine-gunning, but no more
Typhoons.”
“Fighting in the Dark: Something of
the Work of Night Fighting: Study in Co-operation” Our might-fighters began to
be effective in the fall of 1940, and have gotten better since, thanks to “Hush
hush radio gadgetry.” So, if you were wondering, radar is secret this week. (I
imagine that it is secret, as a practical antenna design for an aircraft would seem to imply a radio wavelength far too
small to be produced by a vacuum tube, but what do I know?)
Here
and There
Mr. Bruce Foster, formerly of the
paper, is now to be secretary of the Australian Council of Aeronautics, and
also of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Division of
Aeronautics. The first Indian Air Force Cross has been issued to F/O. D. F.Eduljee, of Fyzabad, United Provinces. American contemporary Air News reports that the secret HawkerTempest V has the not-secret 2200 Napier Sabre engine. The 30,000th
airlifted casualty reached the United Kingdom from the Western Front this week.
An RAF Transport Command York made a turnaround of 65h 23 minutes England to
India and back, 51 hours flying time. The Indian Air Force is to have
Spitfires. There are B-29 bases in India, and automatic gun turrets on B-29s.
BOAC is to fly direct to Lisbon soon. The American WASPs are to be disbanded on
December 20th because the Americans have too many male pilots. American Aviation reports that “large
quantities of the new Bell high-altitude fighter, the P-63 Kingcobra, are being
sent to Russia.”
“Incidentally,” a C-54 Skymaster
recently completed a London-Washington non-stop flight in 18h, equivalent to
211mph. London to Washington. Admittedly, “recently” must mean the summer high
season, and 18 hours is beyond the endurance of any civil passenger, but that
is beyond remarkable. For all of the tedium of talking about civil aviation, this brings home how much our world has changed.
“Continental Miscellany:
Observations from a Visit to Some Advanced Airfields and Recent Battlefields in
Western Europe, by John Yoxall, our War Correspondent at S.H.A.E.F.” I write
out the full title and attached byline because I am so relieved that Mr. Yoxall
is not the now-mysteriously silent correspondent who despatched from his plane
above Arnhem. I am sure that the paper would have told us if said correspondent
were lost, but I had still worked myself up into a tizzy over the young man,
but he is, apparently, fine and has gone to see Le Bourget, Evere airfield in
Brussels, and fighters, including the Me 262, in their native environment –the front.
He notices that the long-ranged Mustang has been very useful in “short-range”
tactical work, as the front has advanced so quickly that it has actually
outpaced the Spitfires and Typhoons on occasion. He is pleased with
rocket-firing Typhoons, the relative accuracy of our heavy bombing of French marshalling
yards and the effiency of air supply to the army. Most Spitfires at the front
are IXs, with the new gyro sight, operating the high altitude Rolls-Royce
Merlin LXI engines.
“The Handley Page Hermes” Great
Britain’s new, fully pressurised commercial aircraft is a “typical Handley Page
piece of trash,” as someone put it to James, once, albeit of the Hampden, or
possibly some oddly-named variant. I am sure that the Hermes overcomes Sir
Frederick’s organisation’s dodgy reputation. And it is certainly good to hear
that the company has produced a fully-pressurised type.
Pan-American has drastically cut
fares on its Latin-American routes, the better to drive Eastern out of the
market.
Behind
the Lines
Focke Wulf 190s attacking American
bomber formations may be equipped for ramming. The Japanese claim to have
developed a version of the Mosquito[?]. Japanese aircraft production has doubled,
declares Lieutenant General Endo, celebrating the “Day of the Japanese Air
Force,” and inventors around Japan are called upon to submit their ideas for
overcoming industrial bottlenecks. German air correspondent Mr. Zeppelin,
announces that the German Air Force has made a comeback, powered by “weapons
technically far in advance of the planes now in the air.” German sources
announce a 24 cylinder liquid cooled engine with 2700hp output, a two-row
radial with a swept volume of 60 litres, 2600hp, a 12 cylinder inverted V-12 with
a 1900hp output, a 24 cylinder H-of 54 litres, 2400hp. So much for standardising
and reducing production types! Germans are also producing charcoal-burning cars. (Actually, everyone is producing them. Or, at least, tractors, here in California. They're an awful bother, but some of the orchardists prefer not wasting gas. Watching them fiddle with the things makes me feel a bit guilty when I'm out driving.)
“Australia’s Inland Flying Boat Base”
Is a 4000 acre lake in Victoria. I did not know that Australia had lakes? It is
for fitting and repairing Pacific flying boats out.
Studies
in Aircraft Recognition
This week, the Bell P-63 Kingcobra,
for some reason. It is shown in the American livery it will never wear.
Correspondence
A. H. Curtiss wants to talk about
the old days. Eric Lorraine Adlem wants to talk about postwar civil aviation,
and Arthur C. Clarke, of the British Interplanetary Society, wants to talk about
old-time rocketry experiments.
Pocket book reviews of Squadron
Leader William Simpson’s long recovery from burns suffered in action, includingan account of his plastic surgeries. Aerosphere1943 is reviewed. But this is all to be complete, since what I want to mention
is Captain Norman MacMillan’s the Royal
Air Force in World War 2, Volume 2, the latest by the occasional
contributor to the paper, which covers the Battle of Britain. The paper thinks
that this is premature, and explains why: the serious historian of the battle
will want to know orders of battle, with squadrons listed by Group, the type of
aircraft they were flying, the system of reinforcements, the tactics used, and
so on. These, the paper notices, have not yet been cleared for publication, so
this history is premature. Of course, this much goes without saying. The
dispiriting part is that the world is not going to wait for all the details to
form its picture of the Battle of Britain. It needs to make sense of it right
now. And so a picture of the Battle, and all the other events of this war, wil
be formed long before we have the information to actually make sense of it. And
by the same token, by the time we have the facts, the immediacy of the
experience will be long lost to us. I am sure that the historian who ventures
to bridge the gap and put the two back together will be enormously pleased with
himself!
Major F. A. de V. Robertson, V.D., “Air
Power in Burma” I am going to take a wild guess that an article about the
Tempest was spiked again, so the
paper decanted Major Robertson to fill a few pages with a summary of the war
news from Burma. You need not trouble yourself with the thought that he
actually went out to the front and did reporting!
“Airborne Lifeboats” Are something
to talk about this week.
Mr. H. Burroughes and Mr. R. H. Dobson have been elected to the board of directors of Hawker Siddeley. Both are old aviation industry hands. So not like most corporate directors, then. Mr. Dobson is managing director of A.V. Roe, for example.
Mr. H. Burroughes and Mr. R. H. Dobson have been elected to the board of directors of Hawker Siddeley. Both are old aviation industry hands. So not like most corporate directors, then. Mr. Dobson is managing director of A.V. Roe, for example.
“More American Helicopters” Features
the Hiller and the Platt-le Page, as well as the Sikorsky R-5. The Sikorsky is by far the most conservative technically and in appearance, so it is the one that will probably "go." (Not to mention that it actually has an established builder behind it.)
The
Economist, 14 October 1944
Leaders
“Machinery for Peace” The new United
Nations is similar to the old League of Nations in various ways, different in
still others, and may or may not work out for the best.
“Back to Politics” The next election
will be a party election. The paper thinks the Liberals cannot take seats under the first-past-the-post system, while Labour's attack on Sir Stafford Cripps shows that it is obsessed with purity at the cost of power, so that the Conservatives will win.
“Colonial Constitutions” Various
colonies which aren’t India have received constitutions, and India should take
note, get its house in order, etc. Most of them have vaguely democratic
tendencies. From here it is surely only the shortest of steps to Egg People
voting for the governor of Hong Kong, I am sure.
“Confusing the Issue” The
Chancellor’s recent statement has confused the situation over the Bretton Woods
Agreement, which was previously a model of simplicity and clarity to the world.
One’s eyes inevitably skip to the last, neatly separated para, where the paper
speculates that a less ambitious international monetary scheme might work just
as well, perhaps one extending the “sterling bloc” concept to other natural
currency areas, thus abetting “full employment.” From this am I to infer that
Bretton Woods is to be taken as threatening British unemployment?
“A Policy for Wealth, VIII: The
Policy Summarised” The author of this summary is allergic to anything that
might be described as summarising, so it is no surprise that this takes a full page and a half of close text. The first problem is that the per
person productivity in Britain has been rising for the last few decades at
a rate of 1 ½ %/year. The objective
should be to raise this to 2 ½%, corresponding to a doubling by 1975, at which
point British per-person productivity will be about the level reached in
America today. The most important step in achieving this is increasing our
productive equipment. Horsepower per head= wealth per head. The problem in the
past has not been the amount of savings relative to desired investment. In
other words, not enough has been invested. Thus, we should increase the savings
rate still further in order to flood industry with money for investment in
horsepower. We should do away with “restrictionism” and excessive competition,
but not through public ownership. Rising wages should be understood to go
together with good profits, and linked through profit-sharing. In return for a
“High Wages” policy, the Trade Unions should roll over on their productivity
reducing preferences. Demands for shorter hours should be deferred, and double
shifting the rule. An effort should be made through the educational system to
multiply the scientific community by four or five within a generation. The
balance of the needed educational seats will be achieved through polytechnical
universities. Research and development should be encouraged in industry.
Managers should be better trained, distributive methods rationalised, and
advertising reduced.
Notes
of the Week
“The Planning Storm” Attempts to accelerate
the planning process to more quickly meet the needs of blitzed cities are in
difficulties due to disputes over landowner compensation. This is the theme of
a further piece on “Local Government Areas”
“New Ministers” A Minister of Social
Services is appointed, and Lord Swinton comes in as Minister of Civil Aviation.
The paper thinks that, even though this does not actually create new
ministries, the cabinet is too large.
“First Fruits at Moscow?” The Prime
Minister may have obtained the first of more anticipated concessions regarding
the Balkans in his current trip to Moscow.
“Dutch Tragedy” The paper is
appalled by the situation in the Netherlands and thinks that it will encourage
the Dutch to demand territorial compensation from Germany after the war.
The French are excitable.
“Telling Europe” Diplomatic and
economic correspondents are soon to be allowed to go over to Europe. The
paper’s correspondent will rush to Dover, catch the Calais boat, contemplate
disembarking and alternatives, be carried back to Dover, resume his trip,
repeat his hesitations, and finally arrive in Paris just at the end of his term
of assignment, give a brief address to
his colleagues on the superiority of the British press to the French, and then
return to London.
“Lord Woolton’s Policy for Wealth”
Lord Woolton apparently reads the paper. Actually, if it seems like one of the paper's ideal readers can prattle on like the paper, it is time for the paper to get out its damn rut, I think. But I am no fan of the paper, and would drop it for something more congenial were I not following in Uncle George's footprints.
“The Last Satellite” Hungary has
begun to surrender. Hopefully it will not take as long as Finland and Rumania!
“Education for Demobilisation”
Demobilising servicemen will receive six to eight hours of instruction time on
various matters. A lesser woman would be tempted to sarcasm here.
Letters
to the Editor
Ronald Walker and A Richmond have
opinions about the “Policy for Wealth,” mainly having to do with what labour
might or might get, or is supposed to want. I get the impression that the
correspondents know as much about the British worker as they do about
Hottentots.
American
Survey
“The Willkie Survey” Remember
Wendell Willkie, the man who was not elected President in 1940, nor nominated
to run for President in 1944? The one who just died? His influence might be
comparable to that of the PAC. That is, it might be large, or it might be
small. It might swing California and New York to the GOP, or the Midwest
against.
American
Notes
“One Man” This correspondent has
heard of Mr. Willkie’s death, which, not to be too flippant, affected every
politically aware person I know quite deeply, as untimely death always does.
“Second Round” Had you heard that
there was to be a Presidential election in America this Fall? Well, there is!
Will foreign policy gain the Republicans votes, or lose them? Will labour
support strengthen the President, or damage him? It is all so very exciting.
“The Right to Vote” Voter turnout is
low, and the Republicans might be said to be encouraging this. Dewey’s campaign
is deliberately low key, supporting, for example, such tax reductions as might
be practicable.
“The Wage Issue” Wages are rising,
and employers wish to “hold the line.” Mr. Eric Johnston has pointed out to the
War Labour Board that wage increases will cause price increases, and thus a
spiralling increase in the cost of living. He does, however, step away from the
majority of industry leaders by suggesting that wage increases might be
desirable after the war, when costs and and likely sales are better understood.
If the President allows wage increases before the election, he will certainly
be accused of playing politics, and he might alienate the AFL, as CIO unions
are at the front of the line.
The
World Overseas
Greece is backwards, has a decayed
agriculture, few autos or railways, and rampant inflation. The Greeks should
cooperate with the British, who are best able to help them address their
problems.
“Switzerland’s Economic Problems” A
war which engulfs your neighbours and trading partners is surprisingly bad for
a country’s economy. There may be problems after the war, providing no German
or French “collaborationist” has heard that Swiss banks have confidentiality
rules. If that information has got out, though, this article may prove to have
been overblown.
The
Business World
“Dear Raw Materials” Well, by now I’m sure that
someone has written to tell you that I have become engaged with American
imports. I never wanted to hurt you by telling you about the progress of low
cost, high efficiency American producers in winning my heart, but you must know
that, due to the scarcity of coal, and fears that British industry will never
gain full technical efficiency, I came to seek profitability in American
chemicals and even coal. I will not correspond again, but please know that your
dearness will attract attention from every trade estricting combine in Britain.
“Monetary Reform in Belgium” The
paper is quite excited by the strictness and rigour of the Belgian monetary
reform. It sees hopeful glimmerings of future Bank of England policy in it.
Business
Notes
“Disposal of Government Factories”
They will be immediately leased out, which is good as far as it goes, although
the paper was hoping that some would be withheld as leverage to encourage
industry to achieve full technical efficiency.
“The Mark Exchange Rate” The rate of
40 to the pound, 10 to the dollar, announced a fortnight ago, does not seem so
wise in retrospect to the paper
“Gold Ban in France;” and “Belgium
Regains Gold” Hurrah for Belgium, a qualified boo for France.
Greeks are excitable.
“Shipping shares recover; wool
industry reconstruction; Canadian Pacific interim dividend; more treasury
bills; clearing bank statements.” Just so that you know what is moving markets,
if you did not already know. The North-East Coast is combining to plan the
industrial future of the area, and the publication of quarterly agricultural
statistics has resumed in the United Kingdom, with a retrospective publication
of the last six years’ numbers to make clear the remarkable achievements ofBritish agriculture. Except in the area of eggs and bacon.
Aviation,
October 1944
Down
the Years in AVIATION’s Log
In 1919, the British Government
announced money prizes for improvements in small and large seaplane designs;
Lts. Killgore, Rugh and Nelson flew planes over the Continental Divide at
16,000ft; flying records of 270 miles, 28,500ft, 34,610ft, and 18,500ft were
set, there being a great many records to set when all the various kinds of aircraft are considered. Fifteen years ago, there were 7,466
pilots and 6,432 mechanics licensed in the United States, and monthly civil
aviation miles were 74,000. Lieutenant Doolittle takes off, flies fifteen miles,
and lands “blind” to show off progress in instrument flying. Ten years ago,
Roscoe Turner won the Thompson Trophy at 248mph.
Line
Editorial Mr. McGraw thinks that “The Economic Reconstruction of Europe” is
a matter of concern. He advocates
economic unity, freedom of trade, an end to agricultural protection and
subsidies, producing a higher standard of living for European labour. American
agricultural exports to Europe will be helped in the first instance, American
industrial exports in the second. Also, something about continuous strip steel
mills.
Major General Follett Bradley
(ret.), and R. E. Gillmor, President, Sperry Gyroscope, “Research for Security”
The robot bomb is crude in comparison with what could be developed and used.
For example, monster rocket torpedoes with an intercontinental range are
possible. New York Navy Yard or Willow Run might be levelled by their payload
of many tons of high explosive before the slightest warning could be given.
They would be accompanied by fleets of long range air transports with loads of
infantry, artillery, and auxiliary troops to consolidate the advantage of the
initial strike, winning the war at a stroke. To prevent this, we must have
research and development, for example of giant bombers.
Clinton R. Harrower, “Put Those
Surplus Plants to Work” War plants should be turned into “trading estates” on
the British model.
Charles I. Stanton, Civil
Aeronautics Adninistration, “More Airports for the Personal Flyer” these should
be funded and built, although not by the CAA, which is busy with more important
things.
Rear-Admiral E. .L Cochrane, Chief,
Bureau of Ships, “Our Navy Builds Flat-Top Mastery” The Bureau of Ships is very
pleased with itself. Buried in the article are points that tend to suggest that
the Essex-class are too small. They
present problems in accommodation, and protecting gasoline supplies to aircraft
on deck. They are potentially unstable due to all the weight at the flight
deck, and are limited by the dimensions
of the Panama Canal. New slipways had to be built to accommodate the rapid
construction programme, but the real bottleneck was in naval machinery. James
rolls his eyes and suggests the likelihood of extremely expensive machinery
refits to keep the Essex-class in
service through the 1960s, although “fortunately” sound-reduction is going to
require that work irrespective of defects.
William F. Durand, Stanford
Professor Emeritus and member of the NACA Advisory Council, “Ames Laboratory
Crowns NACA Progress” It’s very nice.
John Foster and Chester S. Ricker,
“Design Analysis No. 9, The Focke-Wulf 190” Although perhaps the most
technically significant aircraft of the war due to its forced-air cooling, it’s
also rather old at this point, isn’t it? James attended a seminar on its “Kommandogerat” at MIT almost six months
ago, now. And even that was a “catch-up” for men like him who had been out of
the way when it first appeared.
G. M. Kuettel, “Bullet-Checking
Plastic for Pressure-Plane Glazing” The story of a new plastic laminate
developed for aircraft cockpits and other visual domes that suffered minimal
damage from bullet penetrations, and the testing process that confirmed this
property.
W. J. Griffey, Senior Weight
Engineer, Glenn L. Martin, “Favoring the Classical in Flying Boats
Hydrostatics” I hope that all of this wasted effort is redeemed somewhere.
J. D. Miner,. “High Frequency A.C.
‘Ups’ Motor Performance, Part II” A continuing discussion of equipment tested
on the XB-19. Speaking of wasted effort… Although this is unkind. The exact
circumstances of a high-frequency alternator linked to an aeroengine feeding a
power circuit are unlikely to come up in the future as described here –jet
engines rotate too fast--, but the
engineering is not going to go to waste.
Maintenance papers this week include
material on hot doping, servicing modern magnetos, a fabric doper, and “The
System for Servicing Hydraulic Unloader Valves” These are the equivalent to
grounding circuits in electrical systems and vital for hydraulic systems
subject to a wide range of variation in loads. So if your hydraulic system does
ambitious things in the automatic control field, it is pretty important that
the unloader valve is working properly, which is apparently a very difficult
thing of which to be certain without the maintenance methods described here,
which have mainly to do with cleaning, it seems to me. In fact, contaminated
oil is pretty clearly rearing its head as the serpent in the new high-pressure
hydraulic circuit paradise.
Charles Carroll, “New Latin America
Requires New Thinking” If we want to fly Latin Americans all over Latium, we
shall need to do new things requiring thinking.
William R. Nelson, “LandgrafHelicopter has Unique Design Features” For example, it comes with a vacuum pump
to directly suck money out of the wallets of gullible investors. Specifically,
all the eccentric accessories added to wings and airscrews are tried out on its
rotors..
It certainly seems interesting to have ailerons on a helicopter rotor, but what kind of impractical mind could think that this would be practical on a helicopter lifting a useful load at a useful speed?
Major Eliot F. Noyes, AAF, “Gliders Have Changed War Tactics” I think that, on balance, “will” is safer, “will not” more likely. In Major Noyes’ defence, though, this would have been submitted well before Arnhem.
Major Eliot F. Noyes, AAF, “Gliders Have Changed War Tactics” I think that, on balance, “will” is safer, “will not” more likely. In Major Noyes’ defence, though, this would have been submitted well before Arnhem.
“Navittrainer Teaches Dead Reckoning
Accuracy” this contraption has appeared in the paper before, and I do not see
any obvious improvements here.
Aviation’s Sketch Book of Design Detail
The feature today presents the first
sketches of the B-29, which is certainly impressive.
(That is the pressurised tunnel which runs through the unpressurised bomb bay to provide communications with the tail turret. It seems a little impractical to me.)
(That is the pressurised tunnel which runs through the unpressurised bomb bay to provide communications with the tail turret. It seems a little impractical to me.)
For
Better Design
“New Rivet is Plastic” S. H. Philips
has developed a plastic rivet for use in plastic laminate sheeting such as
acrylic resin. Being softer, it produces less crazing.
Raymond L. Hoadley, “Don’t Put a Boy
on Man-Sized Terminations” Contract termination negotiations are potentially
man-sized, so definitely use men, not boys, to negotiate them. Because boys are
bad negotiators. Why, for a chocolate bar and a comic-book, you can get them to
give away the entire factory!
“Bell’s Jet-Propelled P-59A
Airacomet” Pictures are at last available.
Aviation
News
Wright’s appointment is noticed. So
are the remote control turrets of the B-29, which have James so hot and
bothered. The math here is quite interesting. Who would ever have imagined
human attention as a variable in a mathematical equation? The sale of 4000 Army
trainers is almost complete. The new 18ft propellers, designed to take 3000hpin the “sub-stratosphere” have passed testing.
* |
America
at War
The Airborne Army exists, might be
used soon! The Far East is big, but B-29s have long range. Our air forces in
China are now superior to the Japanese. However, B-29s might start flying from
bases that can be supplied from tankers rather than over the Hump might start
at any time. The Mark XIV Spitfire with its five-bladed airscrew is noticed.
Washington
Windsock
Blaine Stubblefied thinks that the
flying bomb will be a major weapon in future wars, and that Stanley Hiller is a
real swell guy. I agree,having met him the other day in company with Uncle Henry. Affability is an advantage in a swindler, and will take him far, though not into helicopter manufacture, at Willow Run or elsewhere. “Great demand for tricks in Europe was partly due to to lack of
rail facilities, which were knocked out by Allied air forces during the time the
enemy held them.” You can see why Uncle George thinks that Mr. Stubblefield is
drunk most of the time, although you might also charitably assume that he is
being very careful to avoid saying anything so specific as to be censored. He
also thinks that automobile manufacturers will not get into the small postwar
aviation market.
Aviation
Manufacturing
“Nazi Fall to Allow Switch to Civil
Craft; 3000 cut in Monthly Warplane Output” Also, August plane production down
to 7,939. So will our production go negative when the “Nazi Fall Cut Allowance”
goes into effect? Note that the August production total was again below the
target, this time by 3.5%. It is irrelevant to the outcome of the war, but
something that the Economist might
pay more attention to it in its comparisons. Our monthly production of heavy
bombers is 1500, by the way.
I quote, because I cannot do anything less. “Twice as many Nazi warplanes are reported kayoed by RAF skyfighters
since the adoption of this gyro gun sight…” As it is a British contraption
instead of an American, James pats himself on the back, having played the
crucial role in its development of having beers with its designers on several
occasions.
Transport
Aviation Is well behind Aero Digest in
developments.
Aviation
Abroad
Four German jet type aircraft have
been identified, and word of the Miles M. 20 and the Ju-88/Me-109 piggy back bomber is heard. The jet aircaft include the conventionally powered He-219,
which has an auxiliary jet engine for speed, the Heinkel He-280, a twin-engined
type, the Me-163, a bat-wing plane said to be able to achieve 600mph for short
periods of time, and the Me-262, another double-jet type. The paper also knows about the Hawker
Tempest, which has been shooting down “robombs,” and the Henschel Hs-130, an
experimental high-altitude fighter for shooting down B-29s, with a third engine
in the fuselage to drive the superchargers on two wing-mounted engines. The
prototype is said to have crashed. It’s also an idea that dates to 1939, if I
recall correctly. German bigwigs may
escape a failing Germany in the Me-264, the He-274, or a submarine. Where they might go is less clear. Japan?
Side
Slips
A story is told of an old-time
aircraft dealer who was swinging a deal to sell a plane to a wealthy family
looking to be able to inspect their various farms spread through the country
more quickly. He crash landed on his way to their estate, called them to let
them know that he was down on “So-and-So’s” field, and was surprised when he
didn’t get the sale. Side Slip also jokes about the pictures of giant flying boats in
various places, saying that one reason they are so big is that they have to
carry their own machine shop to make replacement parts for their engines. Also
amusing is the fact that men fired at one aviation firm often end up hired at
another, and sometimes end up by hiring the man who fired him. Yes, it
certainly is hilarious to imagine that the firms that design the planes my
husband has to fly in are running an old boy’s club!
Fortune,
October 1944
Fortune’s
Wheel
F. Lawrence Babcock has been to
Palestine, sees difficult times for America there. Also for the Jews and Arabs, but
they deserve it for being so Semitically stubborn.
Letters
Last month’s Fortune Survey said that 45.7% of those surveyed thought that
servicemen ought to be kept with the colours until it was certain that there
was a job waiting for him, and that 31.3% thought that servicemen should not
have a preference for jobs coming open. This month’s letter column is devoted
to servicemen writing to share their opinions. “Spanish Fury” comes to mind.
The paper points out that the 45.7% are motivated by solicitude for servicemen,
even if they are out of touch with their actual desires. It offers no defence
for the 31.3%, who are simply terrible.
The
Job Before Us
“Oil: The First Agreement” America
and Britain are working on an agreement on how to divide the Arabs’ oil. This
can’t possibly go wrong, as see above, "Palestine."
“Air: The U.S. Position” Now all we
have to do is persuade the British that it will be best for them if American
carriers fly passengers into London on American planes! The British, being
inbred and upper-crust, seem to have difficulties grasping this point, and
counter that colonials feel better when their betters fly into New York on
British planes. That doesn’t look like it will fly, either. In fact, the only
things that fly will be the things that are allowed to land at Washington and
London.
“What Price Glory This Time?”
America’s plans for providing for some thirteen million discharged veterans are
comprehensive, but things could go wrong, and that’s why all the servicemen
should be kept in the colours until jobs are lined up for them. It is supposed that
it might be hard to reintegrate them into society (they might be violent and
angry) The sorry treatment of WWI veterans is a bad precedent. Still, the
servicemen all want to be released, and released quickly. All this said, the GI
Bill has a great many provisions to handle postwar problems, such as 52 weeks
of unemployment benefits, tuition subsidies, etc. There's also the question about how the "superpreference" for soldiers returning to their prewar "permanent" jobs will be handled in practice.
“If the War Ends Now, Where do we
Stand?” For the handwringing over demobilisation above, substitute handwringing
over reconversion. It is, however, supposed that social spending might balance
the loss of consumer spending in the postwar slump. This will be a novelty for
America, but there is evidence from abroad that it will work.
“Commercial Solvents” Commercial Solvents Company did well in WWI by making gunpowder, and penicillin in this
one. In the future it will look to the manufacture of butyl alcohol and acetone
through fermentation processes. It also makes nitroparaffins for industrial
solvents, and antifreeze.
“Pushing the Pens” Parker PenCompany makes pens, and ink, with remarkably heavy equipment.
Its classic line of pens have been improved with better
nibs, and its ink is now packaged mechanically, although the pens are packed by
a “bobby socks brigade” of summer workers. Bobby socks really have swept the nation, and both "Miss V.C." and our little housekeeper are just the cutest little things in them.
“The Freight Rate Battle” The
Interstate Commerce Commission is at the end of a five year political battle
to reduce the freight rates into various states that see themselves as
disadvantaged. The paper offers the opinion that rates to the West Coast are
favourably low, which seems to be the economists’ consensus, but will find its
dissenters out here. It is the Southern states that have been pressing for
better rates.
“Bombers by Beall” Wellwood Edmetson Beale was head engineer on the B-29 and one of the main developers of the B-17.
Beall recalls the old days for the paper –the old days of eight years ago—when
Pan American flew its “Pacific clippers,” strictly, Bealll thought, as a stunt,
with the future of Pacific commercial aviation a decade or more away. But then
Pan American came to them with an order for the Pacific Clipper. Beall thought
it couldn’t be done, buit, on the other hand, they’d learned a lot from the
B-15, and there was no other work in sight, so he and a team of 10 engineers
went onto the Clipper….Now he has “3300 engineers, draftsmen, researchers and clerks”
under him. Beall studied mechanical engineering at the University of Colorado,
but was drawn to aviation by the Lindbergh flap. He studied aeronautics for a
year back east, then got on with the Boeing School in Oakland before being sent
to China to sell the P-26 and 247, and did a pretty good job. I wonder why?
Soon after he
returned from China he got the Clipper job, then the Stratoliner, then, as
chief engineer (because something happened to the old chief engineer of the
Stratoliner project, I take it), he got the B-29. Beall is the sixth chief
engineer at Boeing, with a line stretching back to Wong Tsoo, followed by C. L.Egtvedt, “brilliant and eccentric” Charles N. Monteith,” who scorned wind
tunnel data and jeered at flaps, and who shot himself in 1940; then came Robert
J. Minshall, now with Pesco, then Jack Klystra, killed in a flying accident,
then Beall. Under Johnson as President, and Egtvedt as chairman, Beall has
built up the research and development side of Boeing ever since the
disappointing water trials of the Clipper revealed its control deficiencies.
This in spite of younger critics who think that the apparatus of tanks and wind
tunnels and cold rooms is a “boondoggle.” As Beall recalls it, the wind tunnel
trials of the Clipper were adequate by the standards of the day but failed to reveal the
design’s shortcomings, an expensive lesson. Adequate testing before hand might
have saved $250,000.
In the B-29, Beall deprecates the
importance of pressurisation and automatic turrets. He prefers to emphasise the
aerodynamic improvements. The B-29, simply to move its bulk through the air,
ended up with a 70 lb/square inch wing loading and an aspect ratio of 11.5
required the thickest gauge skinning ever attempted at Boeing. The structure,
the aerodynamics, all perfection which Air Force and crews have desecrated,
costing speed and range with their armour and radar and guns. Now the company
is looking the future. What might it make in peace time with its expensive
production processes? Other companies have a leg up in the commercial aircraft
market, and the company can hardly turn to making eggbeaters. But perhaps the
life of the Stratoliner can be extended. The company also expects to stay in
the big-bomber business, while finding its way into the airliner business once
it figures out whether the public wants a 2.5 cents/passenger mile economy
200mph “feeder,” or an 8 cents/mile luxury nonstop transatlantic plane.
Whatever happens to Boeing, however, I am sure that Mr. Beall will do well.
William B. Benton, “The Economics of
a Free Society” America needs free enterprise, unions (as long as they are not
too powerful), social spending (as long as it is not excessive), etc, etc.
The
Farm Column
Ladd Haystead’s working year is
coming to an end. Or perhaps it is just beginning, as he finds things to write
about in the off months. This month’s column is on the possibilities of
industry on the farm. This might mean milling soybeans for oil with cooperative
mills,or making brassieres in small towns, as in a factory at Cherokee,Oklahoma, or distilling alcohol from livestock feed residue and using it to run
farm machinery. Or perhaps companies will buy farms to run, because reasons. In
Georgia someone in the state government is experimenting with this. The scheme
seems to be something that Haystead has mentioned before. At least, I remember
the words “kudzu,” and “lespedeza,” suggested forage crops to rotate with small
grains on these farms that for some reason corporations will run. Also, corn
cobs might be used as raw material for industrial alcohol production, and
manure removal might be mechanised. It's going to be a long winter for Mr. Haystead.
Source |
Business
at War
Uncle George’s beloved Mr. Janeway
is absent again and without his peculiar gifts, we are left with a review of
the business of “Previews, Inc.,” a national real estate broker which claims to
have transformed the way that real estate is sold, and United Wall Paper
Factories, which markets its patented “Ready-Pasted,” an adhesive that stays
wet fifteen minutes to allow amateurs to fiddle with the paper set. That is, if
you want to hang your own wallpaper, it will be easier with this product, although, as critics in the industry
point out, it will still be quite hard.
Fortune
Survey
The real point of the survey is that Roosevelt has a strong lead at the polls. An election isn’t much fun if it is a foregone conclusion, and so we need to find reasons to imagine more GOP voters coming out. Since the Party seems to have mobilised all the reactionaries it can without cutting into the Democratic Party's lead, I still hold out hope that it will be a California Republican who finally breaks the Southern hold on Washington.
What can I say? Uncle George is not convinced that Governor Warren is the man to carry the banner. As a former District Attorney, the thought is that he carries too much of the persecutor's air about him, but I quite like him. And if all else fails, Uncle Henry has certainly cultivated the Democrats enough that I can turn to him . . . if he will just leave off asking for our money for that steel mill. I hope that at least the Earl has seen through the Engineer's hypocrisy in urging us to fund it.
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