Saturday, April 30, 2016

Postblogging Technology, March 1946, II: More Work and Better Pay!



Fraternal Brother Liu Chu Wan!

Have received your latest. Please make arrangements have my cousin at the train station in Revelstoke this Wednesday. I will have  driver take him to a boat, which he will hopefully find less distressing than an auto trip to Galena, and from there to the usual place. Hopefully, his stay will be as short as his last. I am attending to the matter of having the other parties released from custody without press coverage. It is not the usual reason that our fraternal brothers approach police reporters, but it is not unprecedented, either. 

Now, as to patching up matters with the neighbour. I should think that it would be better that you approach him. Unless he be blinded by colour, this will be less rich in insult. If it be your mistress, one is reminded of the infidelity. If it be me, it is one rich old man covering up for another. Even another rich old man might find this offensive! As to the offer, I think little harm done to the girl herself, thank Heavens, and that money is not too crass for the circumstance. 

It is her friend, the neighbour's daughter who concerns me. Her reaction is frankly not normal. Shooting at people is rarely normal! Yet, whatever her father's reaction to these revelations, blood is still a bond. He may feel that he needs to support his daughter, however mad.

So what I propose, to put it baldly, is to take charge of her life by finding her a complacent husband while she is away at college. I assume that she is going away to college, and I am going to put Vassar forward. It is perfectly suitable, especially to a social climber like this man, and I have friends there. For the husband, you may assure the father that I have long experience in these matters of finding husbands who can be trusted to do their matrimonial duties as often as required, and otherwise stay well out of the way. If the diplomacy here seems beyond you, I will be in Vancouver by Friday, where I can make the terms clear.  And, I suppose, in the East after that, although this is probably not the place for self-pity. 

Your Loving Elder Brother, Tay Chao She

R_.C_.
Shaugnessy,
Vancouver,
 Canada.

Dear Sir:

I am so very sorry to hear of your recent difficulties, and will write you via G/D, Nakusp soonest. Now that exams are over, your son can be in Vancouver until he has to leave for Bikinni, and for greater convenience, "Miss V.C." has volunteered to drive him up.



"GRACE."




Time, 18 March 1946



I can’t see this week’s cover, because there are no Fascists on it, whatsoever.

Letters

Vic Kasper of Astoria and Ben Weinbach of St. Louis usefully suggest that the UNO set up shop in a Quonset hut and abbreviate itself “NOW,” respectively. 
On the one hand, Radio News is a half-assed effort in reprinting advertorial that would embarrass Buzzfeed. On the other hand, I didn't know that they were looking for oil in Point Barrow in 1946.

Mrs. Carol Tilden[?], of Evansville, Indiana, points out that “anonymous tips” telling farmers to plan conservatively aren’t very helpful when the world is starving. If someone has advice, they need to go on the record, she suggests. Tomas Confesor, the Chief Philippine Delegate of the Pacific Conference, has strong opinions about Manuel  Roxas. (He’s against.) John Kellogg, of Evanston, Illinois, thinks that shooting people isokay, I think? David Greene, of Altadena, California, accuses the paper of not liking  Modern Art anymore, while Mme. Martha Deweese Ivaldy, of La-Ferte-St. Bernard, France, doesn’t like Henry Miller. An OPA Administrator writes in to defend OPA administrators, while regular correspondent Roger Dennett says that G.I.s are prejudiced because they were raised wrong, right here in America, while Sgt. Dean Draper, in their defence, tells the paper about two English girls who are wild for Americans.

National Affairs

“From Mo. To O” The week has been “reminiscent of the week before Munich,” and the President ended it by opening a presentation to the Concerned Churchmen of America (not the organisation’s actual name!) with a line that I render directly as “Oh for an Isaiah or a St. Paul,” thanks to the unbelievably painstaking work of a whole assortment of Bible scholars. If only all that effort had been put to something useful. . .

“This Sad and Breathless Moment” The paper quotes from Churchill’s speech at length.

“Shoot If You Must” The President hung around the former Prime Minister for most of the week.

“Mr. Truman’s Balloon” The President probably had something to do with the speech, all things considered.

“Fun and Troubles” The President and Mr. Churchill did some fun things, too. Also, the President did not-fun things, back in Washington.

I would summarise at length, but, really, everyone else is talking about the speech, so why should I? I mean, perhaps if the President announced that he was going to buy 100,000 planes or some new battleships, it might be relevant here, but he didn’t.  I’m sure he will, if it’s as important as all that, but I can leave it until it happens! (Or a moon rocket! Now that would be exciting!)

“$60 Tie-In” A storekeeper in Oakland was fined $60 for “tieing-in” a candy bar sale to a purchase of penny bubble gum. It’s short right now, you see.

“Straight Man at Last” The paper finds Vic Meyers funny, has trouble explaining the joke.

“What’s George For?” The auto strike is in its 110th day, and people are starting to think that George Addes might have something to do with resolving it.
I seem to have misplaced my sledgehammer of subtlety.


“Why Talk About It?” Asked whether America should give the atomic bomb to other nations, Jesus Espinosa, a Mexican gardener in San Antonio, Texas, answered, “Why not?” Asked what would happen if people started a war with it, he brightened up and said, “More work and higher pay.” Asked by the interviewer if he and his friends discussed the possibilities of atomic energy, he “gave the interviewer a long, pitying look, and went back to shovelling dirt.” Other than West Coast “housewives” asking if the Bikini tests will cause a tidal wave, nobody wants to talk about talking about atomic bombs. I know the feeling, my fellow Americans.
Get it? He's trespassing through a wall. To steal cheese from the cheese factory. And like all Latinos from that part of the world, he's "Mexican." My childhood had such a subtext.

“Man with a Charm” Walker Kenney will run  in the Democratic primary against the Governor, because someone has to.

“Exit Cue” Ed Pauling’s confirmation hearings were a disaster for Mr. Pauley, to the point where the Committee offered him an official chop of good character if he withdrew. Can’t get more virtuous than that!

“Housing Pains” When the Patman Bill came before the House, an unrecorded voice vote struck out the six-hundred million subsidy and price ceilings on houses. The rest, whatever is left, is fine, it seems. And in defence of Congress, that includes a $128 million appropriation for veteran’s hospitalisation and old age relief, and first hearings on a billion dollar Agriculture Department budget. So even the House can spend money and do things if they can be persuaded that there’s a bit more sense to them than a house-price ceiling. (Said the girl looking to sell even more houses. I actually got a nibble on Spokane, if you can believe it! Someone has taken the lack of word on the fate of the airfield as evidence that it will not only stay open, but, since there’s no point to it otherwise, expand to accommodate atomic bombers, and all those atomic bombardiers will need to live somewhere.)

“It will Clear the Air” The London Daily Worker says that Churchill has returned to his “anti-Communist vomit,” while the paper thinks that his return to “Munich-style anti-appeasement” will as see above. Clearing the air with vomit? I had oysters once. . . Though I didn't clear the air, as such. Armies are manoeuvring. Air forces are manoeuvring. One country is interfering with another country while other countries complain. Iran! Bulgaria! Manchuria! Bornholm! “The arctic wastes of Canada!” It is a grand global tapestry of not-war-or-anything-like-it-as-long-as-the-other-ally-blinks-first. “More work and higher pay.”
Panzers North! (The caption says "snowmobiles," but they look like Universal Carriers to me.)

“Breath of Life” Last year’s Bretton Woods conference was so much fun that they’re going to have another one this year.

“The Churches and World Order” The Concerned Churchmen of the World want everyone to know that they’re not keen on war.

“Embarrassing Fact” General Franco is this week’s cover story. Everyone agrees that General Franco is awful, and if the Spanish got rid of him, that would be nice, and that if he shot someone for trying to get rid of him, that would be bad; and, either way, all the rest of the world will do is make helpful comments.
Carmen Polo Franco, sacrificing for the people

“Indefensibles’ Defence” The Nuremberg war crimes trial is now hearing the defence, which is that it was all Hitler’s fault, and he's dead, so can we all just go home?

“Between the Green and the Yellow” Mr. Luce likes to drop his Chinese. He says that “Ching huan pu chieh" is the time between planting and harvest, which is upon us. The UNRRA, conscious of criticisms, has an “austerity menu” at its latest meeting, in a posh hotel in Atlanta. They will discuss the allegedly excessively high food allocations to non-self sufficient Italy and Austria, compared with Poland, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia; the use of relief food to feed DPs who are thus encouraged not to return to Russia; the spring floods-deadline for work to repair the dykes of the Yellow River, where US Seabees are supporting the work; and talks about the extension of the UNRRA’s charter.

Foreign News

“Wounds” The Russians are evacuating Mukden. General Marshall is touring the country, and is talking about a plan to provide concrete assistance, notably a loan to cover reconstruction. And the Chinese central bank has reopened, authorised to sell Chinese dollars to foreign traders, the price stabilising on the market at 2000 to the USD.
The Russians took all the factory's things! (Actual taking not pictured.)

“Complete Miss” General Hodges says that the conference with the Russians in Seoul was a failure, due to the Russians. The border between the American and Russian zones remains closed to travellers, although not trains and some cargo.

“WE, the Mimics” The Japanese like to imitate things, and their new Constitution imitates the American one. Also, they play baseball, and formally surrendered in Bali this week, which isn’t imitating anything, but is the next Japan-related story in order, and comes with a picture of a topless(!) native girl. Bali also has a food surplus! A painter named Adrien Jean Le Mayeur is associated with Bali.

“Hellship” An Australian attempt to repatriate 1,005 Formosans, Filipinos and Japanese POWs on the ex-IJN destroyer Yoizuki has come undone. The Australian army’s position that the hellish conditions aboard were “no worse than the Japs accustomed others to” was thought inhumane by some, including the Australian press, which was ignored, and General MacArthur, who was not.

“Cultured Pearl” The Russians are offering the province of Birobidjan in Siberia as a homeland for the Jews. This is not a new thing, apparently, and the Russians say that the region could accommodate 4 million inhabitants, but the “Pearl of the Far East” still has a population of 108,000 only, in spite of being a nice place to raise cabbages.
An image makes even the most absurd project seem a little more real. Not that there's any actual Jews left in the Oblast.
“Dahlias and Diamonds” The Aga Khan visited Delhi, was greeted by his Ismaili Muslim followers with gifts of same, even though other Indians are starving.

“The Pierrepoints’ Profession” The Pierrepoints are Britain’s last family of professional hangmen, and they really wish that the newspapers would leave them alone, except when they’re trying to drum up business for their new pub, “Help the Poor Struggler.”

“Criterion: Belsen” If you were wondering where the Belsen comparison came from, it was Field-Marshal Montgomery who pointed out that the new German 1000 calorie a day ration was still ahead of Belsen’s 800.

Latins are excitable, which is why the State Department will be cutting to Peron, only it won’t, because then other Latins will be cutting to us, so we will compromise by being cutting and not cutting. The banana business is back with peace. United promises to be much nicer to the peasants, and let them raise abaca on the land as a cash crop when it is in fallow to break banana diseases, and put all modern innovations and social services on others.

Canadians are boring, although the money they’re giving Britain isn’t boring at all. Also, a fellow named Robert Tinling volunteered to be a Hudson’s Bay clerk in the “arctic wastes of Canada,” which counts as news, in spite of the annual apprentice class being twelve strong.

Business and Finance

“The New Policy” Chester Bowles explained the new price stabilisation policy to business this week. It was something short of comprehensive, as GE complains that it is losing money on refrigerators, while textile mills got a significant price increase to keep them producing.

“No Stop at Chicago” Bob Young of the Alleghany is promising that trans-continental passengers will no longer have to change trains in Chicago if he is allowed to run his own Pullman’s service. Something called a “Book Find Club,” run by George BRaziller, is doing very well. Others are getting into the market.

“Coals to Newcastle” The British keep on trying to export autos to America: this week, the Standard Drop-Head Coupe, sold by New York’s Fergus Motors. Americans will buy anything on wheels, so it’s good business.

“Fair Fares” The IATA is now talking about New York-London for $360, one-way New York-Stockholm for $455.

“Quick Service for Henry” Uncle Henry gets more press, this week with the suggestion that production is delayed by a shortage of ingot aluminum, which is due to discrimination by a shadowy cabal of auto industry supplies against the K-F.

Science, Medicine

“Flying the Weather” The paper notes that the FAA has authorised VHF radio ranges and the new LORAN service. An island volcano off Japan is erupting, creating a new island, and Western Union’s Long Island laboratory reports a new “concentrated arc light,” for the most precise light source yet created, good for calibrating optical instruments, doing enlargement, and, perhaps, even everyday tasks like movie projecting.

“The Cancer Virus” Dr. Robert G Green and Dr. John J. Bittner of the University of Minnesota have discovered a “filterable virus” which definitely causes breast cancer in mice, and an anti-cancer serum that kills cells of the same, at least in the test tube. In a totally unrelated story that isn’t really a story, Dr. Stewart Duke-Elder is a famous and successful British ophthalmologist who is being congratulated by various worthies on a very successful career in eye doctoring.

“S.R.O” Campuses are crowded with veterans and their families, and they are living in all kinds of makeshift units that I think might be called “S.R.O.s” (good editing, paper!) Educators are distressed that the students are only going to large, good, four-year colleges which offer professional programmes.

People, Music

Lord Halifax couldn’t accompany Mr. Churchill around Washington because he got chicken pox. (Sure he did.) Lady Astor used to say that Savannah, Georgia, was “like a beautiful lady with a dirty face.” But it’s cleaned up now, so it’s fine, she thinks. General Charles P. Gross, chairman of New York’s Board of Public Transportation, says that New York is the dirtiest city in the world. Seriously? Lord Beaverbrook is rude to newspapermen. Viscountess Furness (otherwise Gloria Vanderbilt’s twin sister), has returned to New York. The paper implies that the women are awful. Maurice Chevalier is still famous, and Sacha Guitry is still not guilty of collaboration. Perry Como’s Till the End of Time was the best-selling single record of 1945. Bela Bartok is famous and successful now that he is dead. Red River Dave (Dave McEnery)* thinks that there aren’t enough jokes about Texas yokels yet. Charlie Chaplin has had a son, while world champion blood donor Edward (“Spike”) Howard has died, at 68, of a blood clot.
Press

“Journey into Fear” A press junket to Manchuria was treated very rudely by their Russian hosts. In not-entirely-unrelated military and press news, General Lee defended his treatment of Stars and Stripes in Europe this week. Some impossibly insider type “news” follows, wandering from “Colonel Guy T. Viskniskki” firing people at a paper in Oregon in the 1930s to a fellow named Edwin Hoyt not firing people at a paper in Denver. Clementine Paddleford writes about food for the New York Herald, and this week did it from Fulton, Miss! Ed Murrow has been promoted at CBS. Fred Allen is the most popular performer on the radio. The FCC thinks that there are too many commercials on soap operas, and too many soap operas on the air. A live-studio radio show in Mexico City is Latins are excitable. Fernand Leger and Charles Sheeler have had recent exhibits of Modern Art the paper likes. So there, David Greene of Altadena, California!
I didn't like the Leger piece so much.

The New Movies

Hollywood celebrated its best this week. The Lost Weekend won for having just the most enormous forrehead, with A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and National Velvet also doing well.

Actual new pictures include A Yank in London, “the most pro-American movie ever made outside the U.S,” and the paper is grateful. It finds Shock to be a “fair-to-middling” thriller, with AnnabelShaw threatened by Vincent Price. (If you ever meet a new person in your life who is for some reason played by Vincent Price, run!) Report on Greece is sobering, because Greeks are excitable.

Books

The Autobiography of William Allen White is a book about a man who is famous for writing about his opinions. A “black” Republican by birth, he is famous for What is the Matter with Kansas and for moving back to Emporia and making people come visit him there once he was famous. On the paper on Ilka Chase’s latest (I Love Miss Tilli Bean), I just quote the title: “In Bed We Snore.” Dorothy Wadworth’s Nicodemus is a book about someone who is in the Bible. Or a book about someone who is like someone who is in the Bible. Either way, no thanks.

Flight, 21 March 1946

Leaders

“Gas Turbine Assessment” The RAeS did a talk about gas turbines. It was very enthusiastic. The paper is pleased by all the enthusiasm.

“Debatable Details” Some people said things that might be wrong. Some people didn’t think as much of Harry Ricardo’s piston-turbine compound engine as they might have. RAF stations with jets need fewer fitters, because turbines are less complicated than piston engines. Until Harry Ricardo is done with them!
Napier Deltic, Napier Nomad, Napier Sabre. What if Rube Goldberg had a budget?

“The Air Estimates” The paper has concerns. For example, all spending on research and development will actually be under the Ministry of Supply, and what if the Ministry of Supply and the Air Ministry have a fight, and aren't talking?

R. M. Clarkson, “The Gas Turbine in Commercial Aviation: Increased Pay Load at Much Higher Speeds Foreshadowed” Four very interesting papers given at the RAeS to-do show that turbine engines are the cat’s meow. For example, with a piston engine, the rule of thumb is that maximum cruising power is 50% of takeoff power at 80% of rpms. For a gas turbine, it would appear to be 90% of rpms, 80% of power.  Fuel costs will be lower, first costs probably lower due to the greater simplicity of the engines, and vibration much less, although noise is a problem. A look at economics suggests that, granted a 5000 mile still-air range as a practical commercial maximum, turbine-airscrews have a decisive advantage, and it is unlikely that “advanced heat engines” will be economical even out to an 8000-mile range, about which Mr. Clarkson is dubious.

“Ministerial Creed” Ivor Thomas is quoted as saying that the ministry believes in flying boats, at the Knights of the Round Table Club in London on 11 March. He suggests that this is a “natural belief” for a maritime nation. You know, because flying boats land on the sea. Well, not the sea so much as closely policed, sheltered harbours. But there is sea water in them, so there! The harbours, not the flying boats. Though, actually, there tends to be sea water in the flying boats, too, now that I recall. It was a very swank affair, as you can tell from the fact that ViscountBennett, no less, was the master of ceremonies. (Apologies for the sarcasm if you voted for him.) He is also hopeful that “the outlook for Heathrow is not so black as presented.”

“Loss of Shetland I” The Short Shetland I flying boat prototype caught fire and burned at its moorings the other day, shortly after being doused with gasoline by several very short brothers. Or by an accidental fire in its auxiliary motor, because that could happen, too.
Per Wikipedia, the second prototype was fitted out as a "civilian Shetland," and lingered at Belfast until 1951. 
W. G. Carter, “Jet Propulsion and Military Aircraft: Abundance of Thrust Can be Used Effectively for Climb” Mr. Carter is the chief designer at Gloster, and points out that while compressibility issues make it unlikely that jets will be that much faster than the fastest piston-engined fighters, all the thrust likely to be available will be needed for climb, in order to intercept high altitude jet bombers.

Here and There

Air Marshal Wigglesworth has been knighted and sent off to be the AOC in Germany, because Germans haven’t the English to laugh at Air Commodore Ramsbotham’s name. Now that they have converted to peace production, some American aircraft manufacturers are increasing employment. Republic is up from 5000 to 8000. Airwork is offering Scone Airport to the Perth Council for £54,000. There will be an exhibition of the photographs taken by Aries during its flight over the North Pole. Did we ever get it sorted out where the Magnetic Pole was? 

 Taylorcraft Britain has renamed itself Auster. One hundred of the 650 grass RAF wartime airfields in Britain have been “derequisitioned” and “turned back to the plough” to help with the acute food situation. Another 195 are being used for agriculture without being derequisitioned, yet, with ploughing up to the edge of the concrete runways which cannot yet be given up. The RAF has found various Japanese aircraft in Indonesian markings at Surabaya. Chance Vought is working on a “jet fighter, and one of an even more revolutionary design.” Australia is testing a new fighter, “expected to improveon the performance of the Mustang.” 
The CAC-15 Fighteridoo.

 The Napier works in Liverpool held an auction for £200,000 worth of machine tools, with potential buyers queuing up at 6am for the 10am sale. The Boeing factory in Ottawa which produced flying boats and B-29 components, has been turned over to the Canadian Army and Department of Transport.

 “Britain’s Test Pilots: The Men who Make Flying Safe for Others: Some Interesting Stories Told: No. 1: Captain Cyril C. F. Unwins, Chief Test Pilot of Bristol Aeroplane Company” Captain Unwins, who appears in the illustration to be at least 800 years old,  instead of 50, has fascinating stories about days long gone. For example, when he went to demonstrate the Jupiter-engined Bristol Fighter to the Swedes back “in the 1920s,” he took along all the Vacuum R motor oil he could buy at the local shop, and with this light-grade oil, was off the ground seven minutes ahead of his competition, and “passed out” twice in one test flight of the Bulldog IV.

“Control Cabin Layout: An MAP Postscript on a ‘Flight’ Article: What is Being Done” The Ministry of Aircraft Production has convened all interested parties for some talking about talking! “No attempt has been made to achieve complete standardisation of cockpits, but rather to produce a functional layout presenting a cleaner and simpler general appearance, greater comfort and convenience for the pilot, and with the controls and equipment grouped logically in positions where they are accessible and where the pilot might reasonably be expected to find them. . .” I think that the colour schemes will be more in the mode of how we live today, too.
Grace is thinking about this dress right now, but can't find a way to bring it up.

Air Chief Marshal Garrod is going to the Military Staff Committee of the United Nations. Robert Alexander Frazer of the NPL and Louis Rosenhead, a professor of applied physics at Liverpool, are to be named Fellows of the Royal Society.

 “R.Ae.S. Debates the Gas Turbine: Its Application to Aircraft Propulsion by S. G. Hooker,” Dr. Hooker of Rolls-Royce summarises the debate. (“Gas Turbines: Amazing or Super? Discuss.”) One way of looking at is that a 1000hp piston engine produces 400bhp per pound of air consumer, while a Derwent does 60bhp per pound of air, which would be bad if anyone cared about conserving air. Another way of looking at it is that a Derwent does 1 bhp per 0.125lb engine weight, which is eight times better than the best conventional engine, which goes to show that by this measure, jet turbines have regular engines beat at speeds above 500mph and higher than very low. Which we already knew, but which means that we’ll be flying jets across the Atlantic in ten years or so, which we already knew. The fuel consumption argument is a red herring at these speeds, although that doesn’t mean that the problem shouldn’t be worked on. Multi-stage compressors, for example, will help a great deal. He throws out some conjectural numbers for a jet Lancaster, which looks very frightening if you are a Berliner, or whatever city is up for bombing now. If this hypothetical bomber had the fuel range to reach a hypothetical city located where the real Moscow is. Because of fuel consumption.

“Indicator,” “In the Air, XI: The Westland Lysander: Flaps and Slots in Excelsis: Impressions of a Flying Observation Car of the Early War Years” For a change, I get the experience that many readers must have. I find out what “Indicator” thinks of a plane that I’ve flown, and, I like to think have put through its paces more than a little bit. As “Indicator” begins, the Lysander, when flown by people who knew it, could do remarkable things in the way of helicopter takeoffs and dead-stop arrivals, and those demonstrations led less familiar people astray. Not to boast or anything, but I once put one down on a tennis court; but I was very definitely one of those pilots who knew that it could be done because I had seen it being done, and I am very lucky that I didn’t break a bit off the plane. “More than once, too-clever pilots have attempted over-autogyroptic landings and have found, at the very last moment, that more power was needed than could possibly be offered. The result was that the whole outfit disintegrated noisily around them while they sat, looking more than silly, in what was left of the fuselage.” Good thing I saw the Turkish air attache do exactly this the week before! The wings were slotted and flapped the whole leading edge, with the slots on the inner, high lift section, operating the flaps. So between 95 and 105mph, at virtually any speed dependinging on angle of attack (hence throttle), the flaps on one or another section would go down and the nose would go down, speed would go up, the slots would close, and the nose would rise, etc.
Now that, I remember. I’m just glad Uncle George never saw me doing it. A girl has an image to maintain! He goes on to mention some of the Lysander’s other, less forgiving characteristics that you just had to learn (and the biceps you had to develop) before you were really comfortable with it. That last is why I would never have a Lysander. They're just so much work to fly! No serious rider will need to "develop" the necesary biceps (so I suppose that “Indicator” is no equestrian, which I could also guess from the fact that he doesn’t compare its incredible visibility to riding a horse), but that doesn't mean that they don't get tired!

Civil Aviation

“Mails by Air: Using Night Air Services to Speed Up Internal Delivery” The GPO is going to experiment with it, but the paper is skeptical. Regular but slow delivery, it says, is better than irregular but fast.
"There's something different about this Dubonnet. What's in  it?" "POL."

“Atlantic Talks: Slow Progress in Dublin: Difficulties Over Communication Systems and likely Traffic Density”

Also, a technical mission is going to India, Mr. Miles is going to Argentina to see if they’d like some aeroplanes, talks on civil aviation have invited Turkey to join the interminable fun, there might be a Scottish branch of the British European Airways, just to make the Scots feel better, and there has been an “agreement” (whatever that means –surely not an end to talking about talking!) with Eire. The paper clarifies that the Portsmouth Aerocar’s undercarriage is by Messier.
Some Turks getting on with it.

American Newsletter

“Kibitzer” tells us that American politics is important to understanding American policy. Then he goes on to predict a brokered GOP convention in ’48. Sorry. “Kibitzer” is no Elliot Janeway, and will wait until March of 1948 before spinning that into a column. Instead, he does the other thing, where he gets upset about opinions people have in the newspapers. Then he talks about strikes. Specifically, the TWA strike, and talks on pilot pay which have resulted. The ALPA has proposed a maximum salary, with eight years’ experience, of $16,000/year; $18,000 for foreign service. Everyone except the airline pilots think that this is unreasonable. He has also read that there are 600 airliners in service in America, with 400 more on order, which shows how much larger is the American market than the everywhere else market. Finally, United has ordered some kind of turbine-driven airplane from Glenn Martin, which has promised to make delivery in 1947, which should just about wrap up the market, in the unlikely event that it actually happens.

“The Air Estimates” Are released. We still don’t know how big the postwar air force will be, but we do know that the English will be spending 255 million making it as large as it is, although less than 17 on technical supplies and services. The Secretary of State for Air also reads some choice comments from Albrecht Speer and Eduard Milch on the subject of the way that bombing destroyed German industrial production. But what do they know? They were only the production ministers!

“England-New Zealand Records” The RAF’s Lancastrian completed the return trip in 6 ½ days and brought along a hitchhiker on its return trip. (Two, actually. A girl who showed her legs on the tarmac, and her lad, who hid behind a pylon until the plane pulled over.) The round trip record had more to do with a fast servicing turnover than airspeed.

A facsimile machine failure has deprived us of the vital opinions of the paper’s correspondents, I am afraid. From the mangled leftovers, I see that W/O. Wakeford is a little upset with “Indicator” regarding the Havoc.

The Industry

Bristol’s Light Engineering Division, which started out making gun turrets, is good with electrics and plastics, it wants everyone to know. Fairchild cameras will be used to photograph the Bikini tests. Two Wellworthy Piston travellers are back from America, and have brought sweets for the children, which they will pretend to pull out of the adorable little tykes’ ears, while exclaiming about how much they’ve grown in the last three months.
Wellworthy staff outside the gates in 1990.
Time, 25 March 1946

General Marshall is on the cover. “We must not waste the victory.”

Letters

Sam Krupnick of St. Louis[?] reads a copy of Harper’s Monthly from April 1857, and discovers that it was a gloomy and fateful month for history then, too, with Latins being excitable, Russians being expansionist, Asians being insidious. He has a moral! Several correspondents have opinions about Andy Rooney’s Bronze Star, and not nice ones, either. Reagan McCrary, former editorial writer of the New York Herald, writes to explain that he really didn’t mean to insult Herald readers’ intelligence. Several correspondents write to defend the OPA against the paper’s criticisms. James P. Vail, of Jersey City, has a stick where the sun doesn’t shine. John C. Green, Jr., of Glen Head, N.Y. demonstrates how to Concerned Churchmanise. Norman Rates of Mount Hope, W.Va thinks that Fletcher Pratt is spot on about the Navy’s lack of public relations.

National Affairs

“The Presidency: No Cause for Alarm” Mr. Churchill gave a speech. WWIII./No WWIII! Please add your own words at discretion, as long as you do not come to a conclusion, because that is not how this is done.

“To Knives and Forks, Loyal Men” Responding to the coalition of Republican and southern Democrat Congressmen who are frustrating the President’s agenda in the House, which culminated this week in the “shredding” of a minimum wage bill setting it at 65 cents an hour. DNC chairman Robert Hannegan organised some …”unity dinners.” The paper’s tone is skeptical. Or naked ridicule. It’s hard to tell. No, actually, it isn’t. Unfortunately, the outbreak of common sense cannot sustain itself through a whole three columns, and the paper moves on to discuss the implications for this of the reception for Secretary Byrnes on his return from Moscow on the WWIII/No WWIII front. (If you can't tell, I'm of the opinion that the whole "Iron Curtain" thing is Truman and Churchill angling for a military alliance that will make the inevitable American-bailing-out-of-England palatable.)

“Work Done” It is nice to see this feature continue, with some concession to the point that the House does accomplish things, authorising 250 millions for veterans’ housing (now up to 410), and rushing through General Smith’s nomination as ambassador to Russia.

“Ebb Tide” Minnesota’s Progressive Party, which has for a generation sent Robert LaFollette to Washington, decided to close up shop this week, which means that LaFollette will officially be a Republican from now on. Is Progressiveism over? Not if the Governor has anything to say about it!
Check out his Dad: the hair is inherited.

“Two-Year Plan” Harold Stassen is the new Wendell Willkie. Mayor Ed Kelly of Chicago is (apparently) an idiot.

More strikes and labour trouble, this week featuring Harry Bridges. And a settlement in Detroit!

“Will I Succeed?” The nation’s 250,000 astrologers are reporting booming business.

“Fascism, He Says” “Like many another left-winger, Commerce Secretary Henry Wallace has a tactic which is standard operating procedure from Union Square to the Kremlin.” Which is to call someone a Fascist or imply that he is. You know, like communists do. The story, such as it is, is about the atomic commission being considered by the Senate. Senator Vandenberg disagrees with the Secretary, and when someone of Vandenberg’s insight and integrity disagrees with you --!

“Too Big” Frank Toscani, the war hero who inspired John Hersey’s Bell for Adano is suing for damages.

“For a Jury” A jury will consider the case of John Edwards Byers of Chanute, Kansas, who held up banks to pay for his son’s medical treatments.

“Account Closed” The last pension payable on the War of 1812 was closed this week with the death of 88 year-old Esther Ann Morgan, daughter of a soldier who fought in the Battle of New Orleans.

Army and Navy

“National defence” The Army and Navy are still fighting over unification, but at least they can agree that they’re not getting enough money.

“Secret of Victory” Mr. Churchill visited the Pentagon this week. It being a Saturday, it was otherwise deserted as he shared his secrets with a rapt audience of generals and admirals and whatever the Americans decide to call airmen. (I think it is to be “generals.”)

International

“Stalin Takes the Stump”; “Churchill Takes the Challenge” Speech! Counter-speech! WWIII/No WWIII!

“The Foundations of Peace” Meanwhile, the UNO goes on talking about talking. Didn’t Mr. Churchill also once say that “jaw-jaw is better than war-war”? Sensing that it is all a little vapid, the paper pastes in a picture of Wendell Willkie, in case we forget that he never did anything, but if he had, it would have been a fine thing that he did.
For lack of a better explanation, I am going with Henry Luce having a crush on Willkie.

“Marshall’s Mission” The cover story about how the General is wandering around China seeing if money will help. It will help –Help the Soongs buy a very nice place in New York. It’s expensive, you know!

“India: This is the Time” Well the time is officially rather late for dinner, but it is also time when we have to be ready for the next stage of getting ready for India being independent, although possibly not too independent, and also Pakistan, somehow.

“Dolorism” Someone named Julien Teppe thinks that Latins are dolorous, not excitable.

“Haushofer’s Heritage” 76-year-old Major General Karl Ernst Niklaus Haushofer was Germany’s prophet of geopolitics. This week, he poisoned himself, and the paper squints to discern the faintest outlines of irony. H. R. Trevor-Roper, the British intelligence officer who followed up on Hitler’s papers says that he was awful. U.S. Army Captain John P. Simoni thinks that Triestans(?) are awful. It’s important  because he is in charge there.

“Surplus Heroes” General Anders was called to the Prime Minister’s office and told that he has to disband the Polish Army at once, because they have become an embarrassment on account of the Russians being mean, and also maybe because the war has been over for almost a year.

Eire is not embarrassed at not being in America’s war, Bermuda is having troubles with gas rationing, Latins are excitable (mainly Peron), Canadians are boringly communist, in the case of Fred Rose, Communist MP who was spying for Russia. It turns out that a scientist named Raymond Boyer gave away the secret formula to “RDX,” while Dr. David Shugar revealed secret anti-submarine devices.

Business

“Retreat into Battle” The OPA is now about price stabilisation, which the paper thinks is picking battles. Price ceilings are about to be removed on all petroleum products, with a 10 cent increase in the price of a barrel of oil on top of that. The auto industry gets a boost in car ceilings to take care of rising costs. Price ceilings for new manufacturers of consumer goods will be lowered, because established manufacturers are complaining. Finally, as noted, the ceiling is off raw cotton. The idea is that this may cost us an expansion in textiles production; but, on the other hand, what about the growers? Have they won the day on the merits, or the votes?

“Fuller’s Fancy” Buckminster Fuller’s aluminum house gets some more publicity.  He has retreated from the full Dymaxion, in that it no longer heats with sewage, but it is still cheap ($6500 –so much for the “$5000 house”), and light enough to ship anywhere in America. It’s one drawback, the paper says, is that it doesn’t meet building codes. I would have thought that its “one drawback” is that it is not doing anything a trailer doesn’t.

“What to do with Jumbo?” That is, the synthetic rubber industry. The latest proposal is for government to run the plants until such time as private enterprise expresses an interest, in case World War II happens again.

“Apartments for Sale” Apartments aren’t sold! Except for this thing with “cooperative apartments.” These are not new; people invested heavily in them in the 20s, the story says, and lost their shirts. But this time will be different! The story is set in Manhattan, with an excursion to Chicago, but the idea is catching on in San Francisco, too. Less as an investment, however, then as a place to live.

“Machine Maker for the West” John and Steve are looking to make California Shipbuilding into a viable peacetime business to pad out their Bechtel portfolio. That I could have told the paper, which breaks the story that they are buying out their partners in the Joshua Hendry Iron Works, the “machine makers to the West.”  A name the works had inherited, with little else, as of 1940, when their employment was down to 60 people.

“Bring ‘Em Back Alive” Louis Ruhe, Inc, is the world’s largest wild-animal dealer. Its business peaks in March, the beginning of the circus season, and this year they are back in the market for wild animals in a big way, with the supply limited by the war and worldwide famine conditions. If you want to show an elephant this summer, get down to Louis Ruhe right away.

Science, Medicine, Education

“Seeing With Heat” Detecting infrared radiation requires a “bolometer,” a device consisting of metal strips, whose electrical conductivity is altered by heat falling on them. Two weeks ago, Dr. Donald H. Andrews of Johns Hopkins developed a bolometer consisting of a surface of columbium nitride cooled to -432 Fahrenheit with liquid hydrogen. This is cold enough for “superconduction,” an inexplicable phenomenon in which all resistance to electricity vanishes, making this “superconductive bolometer” uniquely sensitive, able to detect the heat from a man’s body 500 yards away in total darkness. He thinks it has a future in astronomy. (And blowing up Communists, of course.)
Searching for Dr. Andrews doesn't turn up very much, but it does turn up the "Chem ballet" of 1939

“World War III Preview” Speaking of blowing up Communists, seventeen scientists have just published One World or None, a book describing what World War III would be like. Awful, as it turns out. One of the authors, Dr. Oppenheimer, points out that while a single Hiroshima-type atomic bomb going off over Gramercy Park in New York would kill 300,000 people, new and more destructive bombs would be powerful enough to destroy all of the city. Dr. Edward Condon, of the Bureau of Standards, says, never mind the B-29s evoked by General Arnold’s chapter, or Dr. Ridenours’ atomic missiles: atomic saboteurs could hide a bomb in a house, and use it to destroy targets a mile away. To prevent this would require a police state more rigid than any in history.  Hans Bethe thinks that the Russians can have a bomb in five years: Irving Langmuir of GE says three, and scoffs at General Groves’ 60. Dr. Urey repeats that we are going to have either a world state, or a police state.

“Clever Little People” It turns out that even the Japanese had some better weapons than the U.S. Reporting from Tokyo last week, the navy’s Captain Allan L. Dunning says that the Japanese naval torpedo was superior to any developed by the U.S. or Britain. Dismissing the idea that it was given to them by the Germans, Captain Dunning said that the Japanese “had technical horizons as great as our own, but they were unable to coordinate production with their findings.” The paper's correspondent asks, as a follow up question, whether Japanese are very short people with buckteeth and speech imediments. Captain Dunning puts his hands to his forehead and groans.

“Stones and Bones” Dr. Hellmut de Terra, a geologist turned archaeologist, has been poking around construction sites in Mexico City when he is not getting free publicity from the paper’s Mexico City bureau. He thinks he has found evidence of prehistoric hunters similar to the ones at Folsom in the digs for the new bull ring, and suggests that, since the climate then seems to have been wetter and cooler, this was during the last glacial period.

“Pictures While You Wait” Kodak is working on a new film stock. Resisto, which takes only nine minutes to develop.

“Spring Fever” Spring fever is epidemic! Traditional medicine calls for molasses and sulphur, or sassafras tea and rhubarb, while Dr. William F. Petersen, professor of pathology at Illinois University and coauthor of The Patient and the Weather, thinks that spring fever, the “irregular cycle of alternating days of elation and fatigue,” is due to climate. Or diet. Or ultraviolet light. Or all three!

“Death by Gamma Ray” The aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has seen many people who were exposed only to radiation from the bombs, die, with the leading cause being blood disorders brought on by the radiation killing white blood cells. Only a little less important were flash burns.

Press, Radio

“Speak Up” Austria’s President, Karl Renner, urged Vienna’s eight dailies to be more outspoken, mainly about the effects of the Potsdam Declaration on the country’s economy. In Atlantic City, the Russian UNO delegation’s press secretary was confused by the conventions of off-the-record talks.

“I Write As You Please” Walter Duranty is promising a personal (mimeographed) newsletter for a subscription of $1/week. I know that people make a lot of money doing this with stock tips, but small stock investors tend to be a bit thick and so that is like taking candy from babies.  Who is Duranty’s audience?

The paper likes Horizon, and makes fun of William Philip Simms of Scripp-Howard, whose “prediction of the week” is, more-or-less, “As goes Stalin, so goes Russia.”

“Expensive Product, Cheap” After a huge publicity pressure campaign that involved Seattle school kids decked out in Gay Nineties costumes, Seattle this week passed a $10million bond issue to fund school renovations. Will other cities follow suit, the paper asks? There is a huge teacher shortage, which is due to the American people wanting to “buy an expensive product, cheap.” Says a professor of education at Case Western University. Fair enough, but there’s a labour shortage everywhere, and GM’s board is not out there dressing in bloomers and frock coats! The paper goes on in an unrelated news to tell the story of American soldiers studying at Cambridge.

“Be-bop Be-bopped” Be-bop started with Dizzy Gillespie, but the big-wig of be-bop, the paper says, is Harry Gibson. (I am imagining Henry Luce saying this in his Ivy League accents right now, because it is hilarous.) Harry “the Hipster Gibson,” with Bulee “Slim” Gaillard on the sideboard. “Who Put the Benzedrine in Mrs. Murphy’s Ovaltine?” They musically ask, leading Los Angeles’ KMPC to ban Gaillard and Gibson records, as they “tend to make degenerates out of young listeners.” Gaillard, who has actually been in a high school in the last twenty years, is not impressed, and Uncle’s friend has invited Gaillard on his show. If there’s one man I know who doesn’t need Benzedrine in his Ovaltine. Not that he drinks Ovaltine,unless they started putting alcohol in it when I wasn't looking. 


 The paper is also impressed by the “pretty mulatta,” Philippa Duke Schuyler, who has won a composing prize. Her parents attribute her genius to her diet of raw meat(!), although Philippa is now a vegetarian for “esthetic reasons.” Her parents seem a little eccentric.

People

Fiorello LaGuardia, in his new role as “scold-columnist” for PM, is tired of having his columns spiked. Ezra Pound’s poems have been reprinted in a Random House anthology, even though he is an insane traitor, which the editor is careful to point out,. Joan Crawford is getting divorced. Madeleine Carroll, Legion of Honour winner for Red Crossing, is getting divorced from Yugoslav partisan gun runner Stirling Hayden. Jane Russell is getting cold feet about going out in public the way that Howard Hughes wants her to dress. We all have our crosses to bear, girl. Rita Hayworth has been judged the “most seductive woman in America.” Gloria Vanderbilt is poor. General Eisenhower . . . had dinner? Harold Callender, of the New York Times, wires from the south of France that he has found the best restaurant in the world, or at least since Hitler attacked Poland. He is keeping the location secret, which hardly seems fair to anyone. Senator Kenneth McKellar caused a stir by availing himself of “one of the cozier privileges of his pro-tem presidency of the Senate” by kissing Gwinn Barnwell, the South’s “Cotton Maid.” 
The Honourable Senator from Tennessee.

 William Hearst has built an atomic cellar in the basement of San Simeon into which to “disappear” when the next great war comes along. Judy Garland has had a daughter, Liza. George Arnold, 24-year old law-student son of “sardonic trust-buster Thurman Wesley Arnold,” has married Ellen Cameron Pearson, daughter of Drew Pearson and granddaughter of newspaper publisher Eleanor Medill Patterson. It would be helpful if Americans could just give these people peerages so that we can keep them straight. Ernest Hemingway is also marrying, as is Waldo Pierce. Field Marshal von Blomberg has died in Nuremberg. Marjorie Relyea Stokes, one of the “original ‘Florodora’ sextet,” has died at 76 in Manhattan, having married a wealthy man (Andrew Carnegie’s nephew, William D. Holmes), and presumably lived a quiet life of fabulous wealth and privilege, much like also recently dead Mabel Thorp Boardman, but with less public service.  

The New Pictures

New in international movies is, or will be, Teheran, a spy-soaked thriller-in-progress, being filmed in Rome by a British producer because of a shortage of studio space and personnel in England.

Jane Russell, a twenty-four year-old “talent,” is so far famous for being chesty and being built up by Howard Hughes. This week, she finally has a movie, or actually two: Hughes’ The Outlaw and Hunt Stromberg’s Young Widow.

In new movies this week, Ziegfield Follies of 1946 is “calculated to send cinemaddicts reeling home in a state of dizzy satisfaction.” Esther Williams is in a bathing suit! Fanny Brice is funny! Judy Garland is in it! Fred Astaire dances with Gene Kelly! Others are seen, and “the Technicolored verities of the half-naked female form.”


Kitty is out. You would never know that most of the audience of the Ziegfield follies, when I go (my attention tends to wander), are female, and Kitty, which is about one of those old-time English girls, is the same sort of thing. Paulette Goddard falls out of her dress, first for a painting, and then for various rich and powerful men, and melodrama ensues. I don’t think the paper likes this sort of thing as much as it likes The Ziegfield Follies.

Books

Edmund Wilson’s Memoirs of Hecate County is a collection of short stories of “semi-suburbanites” of the fictional Hecate County, which is near New York City. They are awful, and very smutty. But in a high minded and serious way, so that you don’t have to be ashamed of reading it. The author hopes.

Theodore Dreiser’s the Bulwark is out, even though he is dead, and it is the first book that he has published in 20 years, for most of which he was alive. It’s about smut. And religion. So high minded!


Philip Woodruff’s Call the Next Witness is a murder story set in India by an anonymous British writer who has spent a long time in India. It turns out that Indians are terrible!
Flight, 28 March 1946

Leaders

“Turbine Maintenance” You know how everyone says that turbine engines are easier to maintain than piston engines? At the Aero-Turbine Debate, they said it more! Air Commodore Worstall would like better fuel linkages and starter engines, though.

“Powerless Helicopter Landings” This number has an article about this claimed helicopter safety feature. It turns out that they are possible, but trickier than boosters would have you believe.  

“Ethics or Logic” The suggestion of a few weeks ago that one member of an airliner crew could be equipped with a parachute and a dinghy so that he could bail out and tell everyone what happened could be met with either the mocking it deserves, or a tortuous conversation. Guess which option the paper goes for?

Lt. (A) C. T. D. Hosegood, RNVR, “Helicopter Landing Technique: A ‘Dead’ Engine Does Not Mean a Crash: Using the kinetic Energy in the Rotor Blades” This does not seem to merit summary, unless you are taking up helicopter piloting.
Lt. Hosegood burks a Bristol 173 at Filton, 1952. Picture nicked from the The Telegraph's obituary.
“Power for the Tudor II” Will come from the Rolls Royce Merlin 102, a civil-rated two-stage model for good performance at between 15 and 20,000 feet. Taking up the rest of the half-page is a short blurb about Princess Elizabeth launching the new 40,000t Eagle aircraft carrier. Because the paper is the paper, it reminisces about the old HMS Eagle, formerly the aircraft carrier on the China Station.

Here and There

Australia is building Lincolns more. Also, Tudors. The Empire Air Armament School’s Lancaster, Thor, is flying down to Australia and New Zealand to . . . do something. Lord Portal is to be England’s new atomic energy chief. The minister responsible, Mr. Arthur Henderson, also said, incidentally, that the government will control the disposal of the “atomic metal, thorium,” found in Travancore, India. Which really seems like an unfortunate thing to say, as I've heard somewhere that India might be independent soonish. Dowty Equipment is busier than ever, Dowty says. The Reverend Elsie Chamberlain will be the first woman chaplain in the RAF, ministering mainly to WAAF personnel. 5022 Squadron, the RAF’s first airfield construction squadron, which took 500 men to the continent “soon after D-Day,” is being disbanded, as the problem is now too many airfields, not too few. Except for Heathrow, which needs to be much, much bigger, lest its future be dark.

“Commentator, “Eternal Triangle: London Airport, Prestwick and the Ministry of Civil Aviation” Did you know that there is an airfield in Scotland called Prestwick? It’s where transatlantic liners land. Some people think they should continue to do so. Those people are called “Scotsmen,” and they are quite mad. No-one knows whether it is all the oatmeal, the constant drizzle, or the taint of bad heredity, but they are.

“Night by Day: Semi-synthetic Night Landing and Instrument Training: The ‘Day-Night’ Scheme: Sorting Out the Spectrum” The paper can now reveal the RAF’s secret night flying training equipment, which is “semi-synthetic.” That is, the training takes place in the air, and so is not fully synthetic, but is synthetic in the sense that the trainee doesn’t control the plane. Also, various filters on a headpiece are used to do night flying training during the day with more variable light conditions than the old blackout hoods. (Which allowed The Daily Mail to do its horrible trash about how the RAF wasn’t training for night flying because almost all training hours were during the day.) Equipment on the ground is used to imitate (“synthesise?”) the flare path.

The ”Britain’s Test Pilots” feature introduces us to Captain J. H. S. Broad, senior production test pilot at Hawker.

“Designer’s Forecast” Roy Chadwick says that a 100,000lb all-jet airliner that could cruise at 500mph for 2500 to 3000 miles at 50,000ft is a “possible British achievement within about the next four years.” Which I suppose tells you what Mr. Chadwick might be designing for the RAF in way of blowing up a city hypothetically located very, very near Moscow.
Wikipedia says that Chadwick started thinking about the Avro Atlantic in 1955, but clearly not. By Photo: RAF/MOD, OGL, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40740275

“Tyres for Tomorrow: Introducing the Squat Dunlop: Brake Testing in the Grand Manner: gun Gear and Flame-proof Pipes” Dunlop has solved the problem of making undercarriages for giant planes which are not gigantic. It is to make the tyres squat instead of round. This also greatly improves braking.

C. B. Bailey-Watson, “Design for Comfort: The Avro Tudor II: A Notable Contribution to Britain’s Civil Air Power” You certainly won’t be ashamed to have your in-laws across the Atlantic in this relaxing yet posh design! It has a bar, and night cabin arrangements, just in case you can sleep with a Merlin in your ear. This is a very long article, which will certainly be justified because of all the reasons that exist for buying the Tudor II instead of the DC-4 or Constellation, such as . . . .

Sqdn Leader R. M. Cracknell, “Keeping Them Running: The Maintenance and Servicing of Gas Turbines for Aircraft Jet Propulsion” No oil changes, no spark plug changes, no piston ring changes. What do you even do? Check the instruments and controls and inspect the engine every flight, clean the fuel pump every once in a while. I  hope they don’t end up firing the Air Force. What will their families do?

“Utilizing Test-Bed Energy” A few years ago, someone wrote into the paper suggesting that all of those engines in testbeds be hooked up to the electrical grid. Well, it turns out that that was done! There is an article about it in this month’s sister magazine, Aircraft Production. Which you should buy.

Civil Aviation

The Dublin Conference is talking about talking about there not being enough talking about liaising. BSAA’s regular service has now begun, with Star Trail’s departure for Montevideo. For the comfort of relatives of passengers, it is next noted that a BOAC Lancastrian is reported overdo on the trans-Indian Ocean leg, with J. Dobson, son of Mr. Roy Dobson, aboard. Scottish Aviation has been given its allowance out of pocket, and can now afford to continue chartering Douglas planes. The War Assets Administration wants everyone to know that it has some nice deals on surplus American aircraft. Buy a Catalina and get an extra Pratt and Whitney thrown in, absolutely free! Many airlines are planning trans-Pacific services, and it has been suggested that there be one British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines, instead. Canada and Australia have volunteered first, before India and South Africa can express their enthusiasm. Or to be less sarcastic, this is a dumb New Zealand idea.

Civil Aviation News

Sweden is buying some civilian versions of the B-17, since it has any number of spares from the old unescorted daylight raids days. Thirty six houses will be demolished to extend the runways at Filton. Dunlop has exciting news about reducing wheel weight. Write the Air Ministry for details of its astronomical navigation tables. Exciting plans for Mascot Field!
Sydney's national airport is in the suburb of Mascot, but is named after Kingsford Smith. By Mathieumcguire at the English language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17610815

Correspondence

RTS makes fun of an article that might be construed to be discussing a jet-propelled locomotive, as opposed to a gas turbine one. Someone named Hector Soutter writes to say that Prestwick should be Britain’s Atlantic airport of the air (“Clapham Junction of the Air”), on account of its excellent weather. Scotland? J. C. Elkins writes on whether the Wellington could have set a world distance record. He is skeptical. “Mixture” writes to consider whether, given two B-24s, otherwise identical, one loaded to 52,000, one to 62,000lbs on an identical distance flying course, the heavier one will consume more petrol in the flight. He thinks it will not, increased flying time balancing out lower airspeed, while his old flight engineer thinks that it will. Which one is right? W. G. Harrow writes with an easy way to check C.G. on a cargo plane. Grahame Gates, the original author, disagrees that it is so simple. F. C. Hunt calls for airliners to have parachutes for all passengers. This week’s bookshelf is by Miss Bailey-Watson, and much more technical than when Robertson does it. She notes Jane’s, and books about gyroscopes and scientific instruments. I have heard somewhere (I get nice letters from the editor, who wants to know why I have to have the issues telexed to me) that Captain Robertson is ill. Now if only someone would tell me what is happening with Ladd Haystead and Blaine Stubblefield.

Radio News, March 1946

Editorial

The paper thinks that people looking for work in the industry should carry a brief resume of their experience, because experience counts for as much as official education.

Spot Radio News

F. D. Walker reports that a survey conducted by the FCC shows that most FM equipment now being sold woks on the new 88—108 mHz band, and that a new station will have to pay somewhere between $6500 and fifteen grand for a 3 kw station. Delivery dates are almost a year from first orders. The War Department has noticed that a German magnetic tape recorders were nice, although it is not sure what the material of the tape is. 
If you're having trouble understanding the history of magnetic tape recording, it's because it was retrospectively rewritten by patent trolls. As usual. By George Shuklin (talk) - Own work, CC BY-SA 1.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2969527
They could ask us! It is also impressed with its “Sterephon” system. The FCC has set a tentative pattern for assigning TV channels and radio frequencies in different areas.  A community channel will be reserved in each broadcasting area. It is reported that high frequency direction finding posts played an important role in the Battle of the Atlantic, locating submarines by their brief, high frequency broadcasts. The paper goes on to explain what TV channels will be available to commercial broadcasters at greater length.

John H. Roberts, Radio Engineer, Alaska Communication System, “Arctic Oil Exploration” They use radios in Arctic Oil Exploration! Because there is oil in north Alaska, and we are looking for more, and radios are helpful for this. Also useful: dog sleds, Quonset Huts, planes. See what I mean about slim pickings this month?


Alvin Kaufman, “Low Power Aircraft Transmitter” Small aircraft could use these, and I suppose they represent an investment opportunity of a kind, but they are certainly not glamorous, and given what we know, I would prefer to look at RAF equipment.

Albert Goldbert, “VHF Heterodyne Frequency Meter: Practical Application of Split Concentric-Tuned Oscillator Used in the Construction of a Highly Accurate Frequency Meter” This is, technically, a “ham” article, but it might be interesting to some.

Donald F. McAvoy, “R.F. Probe Design” Another service tool.

C. J. Sheridan, “Service Considerations in Megacycle Bands” FM and TV are coming. Service shops need to buy all new equipment, part one million.

S. R. Winters, “Spotting Hurricanes and Thunderstorms by Radar” It is old news by now that you can pick up atmospheric disturbances with high frequency radar. Now that peace is on us, NACA is trying to do this in a systemic way, so that we can use more science to know if it is going to rain on our picnics.

Lt. Robert Lamb, “Radio Teletype in the AACS” There might be something new here about the use of radio teletype in the Army during the war. This is actually an account of the Gypsy Task Force that supported the B-29 effort against Japan with radio teletypes actually sent to the planes, from weather reconnaissance B-29s.

Edward Noll, “Synchronising and Separation Circuits, Part 12” This is the latest on these circuits, “widely used in television receivers.”

What’s New in Radio
Superior Flux Company of Chicago has a new solder flux on the market. I’m going to make a bet that it is superior. Godwin Manufacturing Company is introducing its new Motorola “Navigator” radio, a new private radio for aircraft. Its new features include a brand new reeling antenna, which indicates that it is one the old-fashioned trailing aerial radios. Much simpler and cheaper than a modern plane’s short and thus heavily resistance-loaded aerials, but a safety risk for a number of reasons. Precision Apparatus Company, of Elmhurst, New York, has a vacuum tube voltmeter, which is probably very versatile, but has the same reliability problems as all vacuum tube equipment. Westinghouse has its new AY2 relay for DC operations, which protects against magnetic overloads and jamming relays. Cambridge Thermionic Corporation offers its new Midget Lugs, which are . . . smaller than other lugs? (Not lug nuts?) Standard Electrical Products of Dayton, Ohio, has a variable transformer for radio amateurs and experimenters. The James Knight Company of Sandwich, Illinois, has what it advertises as a midget, shock-proof quartz crystal, type H15. Weighing a fiftieth of an ounce, it comes already tinned for fitting into a circuit. Radio City Products Company offers a new model pocket multitester, perfect for those service house calls. Pickett and Eckel, of Chicago, offer a “revolutionary” new slide rule. I like mine just fine, thank you. Jefferson Travis Corporation has a new radiotelephone. Commercial Products Corporation has a portable signal tracer.

John C. Hubel, “New Radio Dispatching System” Radio dispatching systems for city police and fire departments are not new, but this one, used in Minneapolis, is. This is because the new board divides the work between three men, automatically. Also, the new broadcasting antenna is quite nice, for wide reception and legible transmission.

The paper also has a feature on recent American trials of their own and German equipment. A magnetic mine detector that can be mounted in front of a Jeep is shown, as is a German Mannheim radar set for controlling AA batteries.



*Amelia Earhart's Last Flight" 1937
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