R_.C._,
The Oriental Club,
London,
England
Dear Father:
Thank you so very much for the parcel of books. I am now quite reconciled to another five weeks of bed rest, she lied unconvincingly. The Wang Yang-ming, in particular, is gorgeous, and I cannot believe that you found it on sale in London. (Although Liz-Liz has her eye on it, so I must be vigilant in "preserving antiquity" against a three year-old's ever grubby fingers. )
As regards business, you will have heard that the New York price of silver is up on London demand. This is because most of the silver being moved in London for non-industrial purposes is ostensibly going to India, and that little Belgian stunt shows just how much money can be made that way, so I suppose that I should strike through the "ostensibly." Or not. Perhaps it is just feminine caution, but I don't think that we should be calculating on the price differential to hold. I am sure that we are not the only ones to have seized on silver as a way of moving money out of England and into the hard money countries.
It turns out that arrangements for showing your expert around were quite easy to make, as "Miss V.C." is eager to spend the summer on the coast, and thinks that she can fit a tour of ancestral locations into a search for good pulp-milling sites readily enough. I told her that Nootka is not likely to be a good location on account of water supply, but she points out that there are fast rivers running into all of the bays and inlets around the island that fit your ideal description.
This will place most of the younger generation on the old sealing triangle, with your son on Hawaii and Tommy Wong on detached duty on a radio survey mission for a potential radar network across Canada,
To round off this survey of your nearest and dearest, I am pleased to report that we are now using the iron lung only two or three times a week, less pleased to report that James has been persuaded to take a tour of Fontana next week while he is the south to meet with the principals of AiResearch and to seek out a doll that your grand-daughter absolutely must have. Uncle Henry will be there with a "very important client," and he has been uncharacteristically restrained about the identity of this mysterious benefactor of his business. I hope that we are not in the way of getting another "opportunity" to invest in West Coast steel!
"GRACE."
Rescue workers preparing to enter 5 Shaft, Centralia, Illinois, 25 March 1947 |
Flight,
3 April 1947
Leaders
“Atlantic Aircraft” Lord Balfour of Inchyre asked in the Lords about reports that BOAC was going to buy the
Constellations that Lockheed couldn’t sell. The rumour is based on talks
between Lockheed and Bristol about putting Centaurus engines on them; the paper
thinks that that is a good idea, but that it is impossible because it would
draw on the dollar loan. James says that this is a “The lady is washing her
hair tonight” lines, because while the Centaurus is being used on some commercial aircraft, they’re not Atlantic
runs, and that BOAC cannot be eager to maintain these engines in New York or Montreal or wherever. Which brings us to flying boats, since there are some Shetlands lying
around in “bits and pieces” at Rochester that could be put into service. The
paper airily says that passengers prefer flying boats, which they may well,
until it is time to disembark; and prefer them so much that they would put up
with an Atlantic crossing at a cruising speed of 185mph, which they would
absolutely not. Also, they have Centaurus engines, so quite the
two-for-the-price-of-one, there!
Flying boats tend to be huge inside, but because the size is due to the boat hull, the living quarters start halfway up, making for a great deal of underutilised space. |
“Helicopter Limitations” Dr. J. A.
J. Bennett gave a talk to the Philadelphia Forum of the American HelicopterSociety, in which he explained, once again, why people aren’t going to be
flying home from work in their own personal helicopters any time soon.
“The Silent Navy” The paper is
disappointed that there were not more details about the Fleet Air Arm in the
Naval Estimates.
W. Green, “Swedish Wings: An Account
of the Wartime Activities of the Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget” The original
draft uses the Swedish name for the Swedish aircraft making company It’s very
pretentious, not even taking into account all the accent marks there are in
actual Swedish that the paper can’t reproduce. The Swedes are very pleased that
they built a single-engined bomber, the SAAB-17, a twin engined bomber, the
SAAB-18, and went so far as to design and build a fighter prototype, the
SAAB-21. There were also two alternative fighter proposals, the -23 and -24, an
airliner, the -90, and a three-seat civil type. I’m not as clear about what was
done about engines. The Swedes were license-building a Pratt and Whitney
engine, put the Pegasus into some prototypes, and ended with a Piaggio. What I
am not clear about is whether the latter two engines were license-built as
well, although there’s really no reason why not.
Here
and There
Decca has set up an American
subsidiary and is hoping to build a master and three slave stations to serve
the area between Buffalo and Washington, approximately. Rateau is testing itsS. R. A. -1 jet engine, the paper sent a likely lad to take a spin on the
latest Short Solent, a Bristol Freighter is off to Australia and New Zealand,
Sandringhams are going to Norway more, there is to be a two-seater Meteor
trainer, and veteran aircraft designer G. H. Handasyde is 75.
“The Brabazon I: Part II –Structure
of Tail Surfaces and Mainplaine Described: Pressurisation Problems Solved” What
James calls the greatest English engineering achievement since the SS Great Britain is described in some
detail. (He was using his sarcastic voice, but I was in a contrary mood –bed
rest will do that to you—and didn’t ask him what was wrong with SS Great Britain.) From the sounds of
things, if it does actually fail, it will not be for being too heavy to take
off, as has been the more usual problem with very big airliners and bombers.
“Helicopter Design: Limitations
Imposed by Basic Problems Still Awaiting Solution: Torque, Vibration and
Stability” Three helicopter boffins from British European were somehow able to
wrangle invites to America to give talks, and did their best to enliven the
“Philadelphia Forum of the American Helicopter Society” by telling them that
their foolish dreams were castles in the air. I hope that they took cash in
advance! They ended by agreeing that gyrodynes are the way to go.
H. F. King, MBE, “Supersonic
Approach: Exploratory Models and Missiles of Four Nations: Physiological
Problems” It is almost impossible to get useful results from laboratory
explorations of transonic flight, though four transonic and supersonic wind
tunnels are under construction. So England, France, America and a fourth
country (Germany?) are (were?) flying models and such. Currently, researchers
are worried about providing for pilots who have to bail out at high speeds;
slowing the aircraft down in a timely way; flying very high in order to test
flying very fast; and the dangers of swept-back wings; the Germans had many
ideas, some of which seem likely to be worthwhile, but did hardly any testing. The Americans are further
ahead, helped out by the fact that they didn’t see the need for elaborate
escape arrangements on the XS-1. Unfortunately, they haven’t really got its
rocket engine working. The turbo-pump to compress the alcohol and oxygen
doesn’t compress yet, and they are using compressed nitrogen to charge the fuel
combustion chambers, instead. Only when the turbopumps are working will they
get their promised 6000lb thrust and theoretical 1000mph speed, perhaps this
summer. They are also firing off various rockets. The French, meanwhile, are
doing . . things with the Leduc ramjet, while Arsenal and S.O. have built
experimental aircraft around German turbines and rockets.
American
Newsletter
“Timetables and Prestige: Promising
Impossibilities: Red Tape at Air Ports: Politics and the Aircraft Industry” Kibitizer
thinks that timetables are just hurting the aviation industry, since it is
difficult enough to make the departure time for a transatlantic flight, and all
but impossible to make the arrival time. “Obviously” no-one cares what exact
time on Friday they need to report at the departures gate, or what time
Saturday they will arrive in London, when the competition is steamships. Not
unrelated are efforts by Customs, Public Health and Immigration to “cut through
the mass of red tape that surrounds the arrival of not only passengers, but
aircraft as well.” Also, Republicans are the
business party, Democrats are the labour party, but in spite of being for
business, Republicans might cut the USAAF budget and make Pan-Am the “chosen
instrument,” and that would be bad for business. Also, the Republicans might
try to roll back labour gains of the last fourteen years and cause labour
strife, which would be bad for business while being good for business.
I don't think that the Pan-Am chosen instrument story is serious. As we'll see in a moment, it is being floated with some other rumours that make me think that it is intended to push Congress to approve rate hikes. Also, this is a very interesting take on "Come Fly With Us" that the young folks today like.
“Turtle Data: Additional Notes on
the Design and Performance of the long-distance Record Holder” The Lockheed P2V
does not, contrary to reports, have a new wing section. It’s just a modified
NACA 2400, but the modification, aileron droop, gives full-span flap equivalent
performance, allowing the P2V to take off in 300 yards at its designed all up
weight of 45,000lbs, although it used a 6000ft runway and needed 4,720ft to
take off even with four JATOs, flying low enough over Australia that the
takeoff had to be timed for still, pre-dawn weather. 300 gallon wingtip tanks
were used instead of the designed 600 gallon, since the full-sized ones would
have made the structure critical on the ground, and the nacelles are clean
enough that the aircraft was able to climb at 475ft/minute with the gills
closed, even at 85,500lbs takeoff weight. Air distance was 11,665 statute
miles, average speed 211mph, fuel load 8,396 gallons, wing loading 85.5 lb/sq
inch, average fuel consumption 1.41 air miles per gallon.
This recital of statistics brought to you by the Lund Foundation to Demystify VLR |
I was going to talk about the difference between making metals and making pieces, but how many times have I gone on about that here? |
In shorter news, Aluminium Wire and
Cable Company, Ltd, a joint stock company owned by Hawker-Siddeley, British
Aluminium and Tube Investments, Ltd., has bought a factory at Port Tennant,
Swansea, from the Ministry of Supply for a new aluminium factory.
Civil
Aviation News
“American Aircraft, British Engines”
The paper gives a little more coverage to the story about Centaurus engines
going into the Constellation. The Centaurus is a bit more powerful than the
Wright Cyclone at takeoff and through full power altitude, but has better
altitude performance and fuel economy. In shorter news, there is something
about flying clubs, a Greek national airline that currently exists as a kind of
subsidiary of Trans-World may soon take on a more “flag carrier” role, and even
though Stansted was opened as London’s freight airport in December, it is not
actually operating as such because it doesn’t have a Customs detachment. The
Government says that it cannot justify assigning Customs officers there until
there is need, and the freight airlines do not want to use it until they can
clear their cargos, which makes it a “chicken and egg” situation. Apparently
English people say “hen and egg.” Lord Knollys is retiring as chairman of BOAC.
Captain Dudley Travers, of BOAC, is retiring after 30 years of air force, taxi,
and airline flying, having been with BOAC since 1926, or since I was 6 years
old(!) “Some concessions have been made” with regards to Navigation Licenses
for older flyers. The Consolidated Vultee 240 made its first flight last month.
Correspondence
“Wooton Struck” writes to praise the
paper, and especially artist Frank Wooten. J. E. Odle sends in your unit’s
badge as an example for those interested in a PRU photographer’s badge. Peter J. Crofts is convinced that Northolt Airport is overstaffed.
Frank Wolton is not a famous man, even if his art is. |
The
Economist, 5 April 1947
Leaders
“Members and Electors” The paper takes two
pages to say that Labour might lose the next election, because you need to say that Labour is awful in a long-drawn out
way that shows that you’re above the fray.
“Asia and the Truman Doctrine”
America has all the money, which makes it “the world’s banker,” and Asia needs
lots of money, because it is undeveloped and primitive, except, to some extent,
Japan. Capital has not flowed to Asia in sufficient quantity to promote
development, and what has flowed has come from imperialist powers, because they
get to own Asia. This should change, but cannot change on a profit and loss
calculation. The Truman Doctrine, under which the American government invests
in Greece and Turkey, should be extended to Asia. It might be political
lending, with political aims, but it will still promote development.
“April School Days” As from 13
April, all English school children will have to stay in school for an extra
year. I seem to recall that the paper used to be in favour, but now there are
all sorts of reasons (lack of facilities, inexperienced new teachers, changed
from “not enough teachers”) why it is a noble-except idea that should be put
off for a year.
If The Economist didn't tell me differently, I'd be beginning to suspect that it wasn't actually "Liberal." 1947--67 is a little longer than "crayons to perfume," but close enough.
Notes
of the Week
“Turning Point in Moscow” The
Russians now seem to realise that there will be no German surplus out of which
to pay reparations before the mid-60s. Also, it seems increasingly likely that
the western sectors of Germany will be united and allowed free movement and
released from production limits. IN related but separate news, the Allies are
still squabbling over Austria, and the paper is getting a bit impatient with
the way that “the Anglo-Saxons are being squeezed” “from the Baltic to the
Aegean” by demands for aid with the alternative of “economic catastrophe.”
Scots, Cypriots, Spanish Latins and German coal miners are excitable. Palestinians are about as excitable as
ever, due to no-one being willing to put a new plan forward, and Jewish
terrorism continuing. The paper points out that nay future Jewish state will
suffer for having congenital “saboteurs” in its midst. Channel Islanders are to
get a new Constitution, which is the opposite of exciting. English
parliamentarians are excited about the National Service Bill. Worthy recent position papers
about economic planning, targets and goals that are very, very worthy, indeed.
The paper thinks that the cut in interest paid on National Service Certificates
is not likely to have much effect, because they are mainly a savings
instrument, and people save to smooth out spending, more than for the returns. (People are only right to get excited about low rates on gilt-edges.) United
Nations delegates on the Security Council enjoy birthdays, further bulletins as
events warrant.
“Freeze-out of Houses” Due to the
snow, then the rain and flooding, and the fuel crisis, home completion has
ranged from 8500 permanent, 4800 temporary in in January down to 3800
permanent, 2400 temporary in February and is presumed to have continued at
lower rates into March and April due to production of concrete falling from
550,000 to 192,000, and of bricks from 379 to 247 million over the same period.
“University Scholarships” State
scholarships will now be on quota, so that Oxford, Cambridge and London cannot continue “creaming off the intellectual talent of the country.”
“Part-time Nursing” The Government
is looking to solve the problem of the nursing shortage by extending a
part-time nursing scheme that is working in a place with the unpronounceable
name of “Gloucestershire.”
In shorter news, the last three of
the five West Africans sentenced to hang for ritual murder have had their
sentences commuted to life imprisonment, as sufficient terror has now been
applied. The Registrar-General’s quarterly return shows 221,891 live births in
the last quarter of 1946, or 20,5 per thousand of population, the highest for a
December quarter since 1941, with a mortality rate of 43 per 1000, 2 per 1000
below the previous low. The net reproduction rate for the year was 1102, the
first time it has reached replacement level since 1922. (I assume that the
higher war rates are balanced off against higher death rates.) The paper’s “This
is just a passing fancy” attitude begins to slip. The 1951 Exhibition will have
“Britain Can Make It” as a theme.
Letters
Nicholas Kaldor, of Houghton Street,
thinks that there is too much egalitarianism, and that the need for economic
planning goes beyond the limits of the free market to balance of trade issues.
R. F. Harrod, of Christ Church, Oxford, thinks that open coal fires are very
nice, and that Mr. F. B. Cope’s proposal for an urgent programme to replace
open fires with stoves is therefore all wrong. P. B. Moon explains that the
Security Council is promoting “de-natured” uranium for the same reason that the
Excise promotes methylated alcohol. That is, hopeless alcoholics will blow
themselves up in atomic explosions and leave the rest of us alone? Richard Deckwitz, of Hamburg, thinks that Jan Smuts’ arguments in favour of South African race policy sound just like Nazis on Jews. Beatrice King, of Aldbourne Road, London, appeals for old copies of English newspapers for German libraries, and Gerard Tallack, of Gravesend, for a tax on advertising, because there is too much of it.
From
the Economist of 1847
“Shall the State Educate the
People?” No, because the English are bad cooks. (This isn’t the gist of the
argument, but it is what the old paper leads with. The main argument is that a slippery slope leads from public education to full
communism, so you can see why it leads with cooking.)
Books
The paper did not like Peter Drucker’s book, Big Business, which
it found superficial. Professor C. S. [sic] Northrop, of Yale, has written The Meeting of East and West, which is
about how Easterners and Westerners have different views on things, insofar as
the professor understands Easterners, which isn’t very well. Nonetheless, the
paper likes it because it is typically American.
Professor Northrop was a crank, whose career passed without much incident. But by a wild coincidence of pure meritocracy, this fine figure of political academia went from being professor at Yale to President of the University of Minnesota, where he was legendary for encouraging Arthur Upson to revise "Hail Minnesota" in 1910. |
Josef Schechtman and Geoffrey
Cumberiege have a study out on European
Population Transfers, 1939—45, which is unfortunately based on German
newspaper reports, and very flimsy. J. P. Mayer has published Sociology of Films with the earnest
English left wing publishing house, Faber and Faber. (Who says I haven't learned anything about the artsy life from doing these letters?) His point is that science
shows that films have a bad influence, but since it is hard to get scientific
statistics on the subject, he has to carry out his scientific analysis on what
he has, which consists far too much of his own impressions. K. B. Smellie has
written a book on A History of Local
Government that will be inflicted on everyone who has ever made fun of his
name. L. G. H. Horton-Smith, having heard that the boy that he used to make fun
of, was coming out with a book on the history of local government, decided to
one-up the lad with The Furnished Houses
(Rent Control) Act, 1946.
Not only is "Smellie" a real name, there's a stock photograph. |
American
Survey
“Farm Surpluses” (From a
Correspondent in Iowa) Americans are worried about farm surpluses again.
Farmers want price supports, but that leads to concerns about hunger. The same
small-town conservatism that lobbies for price supports, opposes food aid for
the poor; nevertheless, the school programme seems to be here to stay. Hopes
for new industrial uses for agricultural goods continues. Perhaps nylon couldbe made of corn cobs? Unfortunately, the tide seems to be going the other way,
with products like rayon and nylon taking markets away from cotton, wool and
leather, and the market is uncertain due to technological change.
“Anti-Trust Activity” The recent
completion of long Commerce Department anti-trust actions against Pullman and the A and P (although the paper is far too snooty to name the stores instead
of referring to “the nation’s largest grocery chain”) show that ant-trust
actions will continue under the new Congress, because even though the GOP is
business-friendly, everyone can see that there is too much concentration in
American business.
Any time that HTML could learn to parse ampersands, that would be great. |
American
Notes
The big news is that the President
is backing and filling over his Plan, which is either about developing Greece,
or arming Greece and Turkey against imminent Communist aggression, depending on
whether he needs to blow hot for Senator Pepper, or cold for those who would
like him to carry an A-bomb around the town –propping it up on the next stool
over at the lunch counter, putting it in a little crib on the negotiating table
where Comrade Molotov can see it--. Also, he is blowing hot and cold over prices. The talk is that
he might go with deflation through debt redemption and “defrosting” short term
money rates.
There's a picture of Spaatz standing beside a Spad in a raccoon pelt coat. Atomics for everyone! But especially Commies. |
“The Controls Behind the Loans”
Congress is moving slowly on the Greek and Turkish loans, but also
decontrolling prices, especially of agricultural goods and railway rates. These
controls are needed if America is going to meet its obligations to the world
food pool, but Senator Taft and his faction are eager to see the end of this
interference in domestic markets, and do not care about world food pools.
“Return of the Tourist” The burning
of the SS John Ericsson means that it
is time to think about how tourism might help the English balance of payments
if enough liners can only be found. With only 20% of pre-war liners, 155,000
can cross the Atlantic east by liner, and 200,000 by air, but the backed-up
demand for western passage means that only a fraction of them can return, which
is why the US government is only issuing a few thousand tourist visas, and the
lines have agreed not to set standard fares this summer. In other words, you need friends to grease your path (I am having something extra put in
the mail for Mr. Acland at Cunard right now. I gather he likes the ballet?).
The
World Overseas
“Ghosts of Vichy” The French are
agreed that the Annamese can have independence as one of the free peoples
freely associated in the French Union,” the only questions between left and
right in the cabinet being how much you can freely beat free peoples with a
truncheon if they don’t bring in enough rubber, cotton and rice. The extreme
right, as represented by Aurore and Epoque, are strongly in favour of more
beatings, which is taken to imply their support of freely beating all free peoples. The paper thinks
that the next few months will be critical, as determining whether there will be
free beatings for all, or whether, on the contrary, Socialists and Communists
will ally to freely beat the beaters, perhaps leading to a free Annam with no
(French) beatings. My tongue is only so far in cheek because I’ve read this
article so many times before –I’ve even spared you the obligatory de Gaulle
sightings.
“Jewish Camps in Cyprus” Ten
thousand Jewish refugees, detained on their way to Palestine, are now being
held in Cyprus. The camps are run by the English, they are not nice, the
Cypriots do not want the English there, and the Jews don’t want to be there,
either. The English found it appropriate to sneak the first batch of refugees
onshore, it being thought that the less rioting, the less Americans would be
offended. Whether American opinion or the over a million pounds already spent
on the project is more important to the continuing health of the project will
be decided in July of this year, if the Government does not back down on free
conversion; or at the drop-dead moment when the dollars run out, if they do.
“Spitsbergen” Spitsbergen is a
horrible little island to the north of Norway, where there is coal, and,
according to a globe, a compelling Russian interest in a naval base. The
Russians have been pressing the Norwegians for a revision of a treaty of joint
occupation that would allow them to build a base, and the Norwegians are now
publicising the negotiations.
Why does The Economist have relevant file art for Spitsbergen and not, say, Southeast Asia? |
“Garrison Prosperity in Palestine”
The English garrison in Palestine spent £2,841,000 in 1939, more than
twenty-five millions in 1945, and, probably thirty in 1946. This is a very nice
return on the national rebellion, and the paper proposes that after the
rebellion is successful and the English are driven out, they will be invited back to
build military bases so that all that English money spent on vegetables, citrus
fruit, dairy products, textiles, chemicals, light engineering and diamonds(?)
can continue to flow. The paper supposes that that will not really happen, and
that independence will lead to housing boom, due to all the immigrants to be
housed, only a shortage of workers will lead to increasing wages, and, etc.
etc., a “great depression.” Which is fine, because everything, everywhere is (always, we know now, thanks to the "1846" feature) is leading to a great depression.
The
Business World
“When the Dollars Run Out” Speaking
of. . The paper supposes that the English balance of payments will be balanced
in four or five years, and that the dollar loans will run out some time in
1949. This is, of course, at variance with the Earl’s expectation that the
crisis will occur next year, but I am not seeing the reason for the difference
very clearly, as the paper thinks that its job is to fight excessive optimism, derived from the rapidly
declining overall adverse balance of trade, which is overweighted to the
sterling area. I think it is because the
paper is hoping for a fall in the price of imported agricultural and other
goods?
“Base Metal Boom” The ongoing
manufacturing boom has led to increased demand for base metals. The Ministry of
Supply cannot get enough lead, copper, tin and cadmium. Prices are up, supply
is not responding quickly, in part due to labour problems or shortages in
Australia, Chile and Rhodesia and slowing rehabilitation in Malaya and the
Dutch East indies.
Business
Notes
“Coal for Business” After some
blather about stocks, the paper moves on to coal and the five-day week. It
notes that a five-day work week might lead to an increase in the number of
shifts, since, right now, face workers are putting in 4 ½ a week, on average.
Labour recruiting is also going well, and it is beginning to look as though the
200-million-ton target is in sight. The problem is that it won’t be enough, and
since the Government is committed to laying in a 10-million-ton stockpile in
the summer, there maybe coal rationing for industry in the summer, as well as
winter. There is even some talk of importing American coal.
“The Fiscal Year” The final returns
for the last fiscal year show that it went surprisingly well, with a deficit of
£569
million compared with the original estimate of £726 million, and revised
estimate of £940
million, although the paper goes on to explain that, including “below line”
figures such as the repayment of war credits brings the true deficit over a
billion pounds. That said, it really is below expectations, and the reason for
that is buoyant revenues, and the paper thinks that this calls for an
anti-inflationary budget. The paper then rounds up news about ICI, IFCC, BCFC
and English Electric that explains this buoyancy. The middle two are financial
intermediaries, not terribly important to us, but ICI has been paying large
bonusses on its stocks, and English Electric has had a “disappointing” year
because it has only been able to add 300 to its staff, where it needed
thousands more workers (and more materials) to take advantage of all the
opportunities open to it. Sir George Nelson, of EEC, thinks that “the national
effort needs to be compressed,” as England’s productive capacity has been
“oversold.”
Besides the big iron, the postwar English Electric product that Wikipedia chooses to highlight is the company's new igniscope, developed for the REME during the war, and sold "in the thousands" to garages after the war. This is not an igniscope, nor is it by English Electric, but it is that kind of old-timey analogue engine diagnostic rig. By NJR ZA - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7245311 |
“American Ships for Britain” The
government has agreed to sell England 137 of the 271 American ships currently
on bareboat charger to the Ministry of Transport at a cost of £18 million in
dollars. Private shipowners will be allowed to buy 106 Liberties and just one
of the short-sea types, with 30 of the remaining smaller types being kept by
the Government to bring sleepers and pit props from the Baltic. The other ships will be
returned to the Americans and laid up, as much because British owners don’t
want them as for any other reason. All eyes now are on the 40 Victory ships the
Americans will lay up if an English offer is not accepted.
Actual Germans actually launching the DM
1948. It must be hard to be so pessimistic
all the time.
|
Flight,
10 April 1947
Leaders
“Aids to Air Safety” Lord Nathan
made a statement in the Lords in which he offered all comfort to FIDO
enthusiasts such as Lord Cherwell short of promising to use it. As for all the
radio and radar stuff, it’s all a bit up in the air, but there is to be a
committee, chaired by Watson-Watt. Lord Nathan is also to appoint a scientific
advisor, and the paper warns that he needs someone who knows what he is doing.
“Naval Helicopters” The New York Herald Tribune reports that the
US Navy is to replace destroyers with helicopters as “plane guards,” which the
paper thinks is “somewhat staggering.” It seems to have worked well in a recent
exercise in the Caribbean, and the day is unquestionably coming, and perhaps it
is here.
“The Price We Pay” Civil Aviation
will cost the public well over £24 million next year, which is staggering,
and includes more than 7.5 million in subsidies for airlines
and 3 millions for Heathrow, out of a projected total of £26 million when all is said and done.
C. B. Bailey-Watson, “Airspeed (A.S.57) Ambassador: Refinement of Design Down to Smallest Detail: Integral Tanks”
Orthodox form, advanced design, etc., etc. Amazingly enough, the designers have
chosen a low-drag wing and aimed for economy, all that is missing is a comment
about the unexpectedly luxurious cabin, and the later insert about how the
integral fuel tanks were replaced with insert cells, with an oblique reference
to that horrible fire of last year. (I shall be very cross with you if there is a tragedy and you remind me of this
comment!)
Here and There
“Crimson Airport” Canada built
airports in its far north for the “Crimson Route” ferry to England, and now the
RCAF is to retain some of them. In other Canadian news, Viscount Alexander is
going in for a pilot’s license, and Mrs. MacGill Soulsby, wife of Mr. E. J.
Soulsby, the “first woman in the world to receive a master’s degree in aeronautical
engineering,” is to be one of the Canadian representatives on the PICAO
committee. I wonder if that could have been me, if you had been able to
persuade Father that I be allowed to attend the Institute? “Too scandalous,”
“Your Great-Uncle’s regrettable reputation,” “unwelcome publicity . . .” Hmph.
In shorter news, there is yet another Bristol Freighter touring the Americas,
two-thirds of England has now been photographed from the air, the airship isn’t
dead, because someone in America is testing one, Russian air transport is
growing by leaps and bounds, some long range radar stations will be built in
Canada’s far north this summer, supporting stations in Alaska that help with
“air and marine navigation." They will be staffed by Americans until Canadians
are ready to help them. W. S. Shackleton is expanding, and
taking on the proprietor’s son as head of the “newly formed marine department.”
It is claimed that electric power is the coming thing in airport transport
vehicles.
John W. R. Taylor, “PhantomDevelopment: The Story of the Birth and Evolution of the First Jet Fighter for
the U.S. Navy” The McDonnell Phantom started “a few weeks after Pearl Harbour,”
when the Americans learned about jet propulsion, and decided to put
Westinghouse on the case, making an axial engine, since the English hadn’t any
on offer, and it seemed as though that would be a better bet than centrifugal
ones in the long run. In 1943, they put McDonnell on the case of building an
aircraft to wrap around the engine, on count of having several aircraft
companies that weren’t making aircraft.
(And they talk about American “efficiency”!) An all up weight of 6600lbs
and a wing area of 230sq ft was expected, with twin engines, each giving
between 275 and 340lbs thrust. Unfortunately, the airframe turned out too
heavy, it is not clearly said for what, but the article goes on to say that the
Navy asked for six, eight and ten-engined versions on the same wing area, with
11” or 13 1/2” diameter engines, before reverting to the twin-engined format
with 19” engines, which turned out better than a naval fighter with ten(!)
engines. In the next phase of developments, it was found that the fuselage was
too small to carry the necessary fuel, which resulted in a redesign of the
wings that made them too heavy until the engines were finally brought inboard
and stowed away in wing fillets. NACA then did wind tunnel tests to prove that
the fillets did not affect air intake at high Mach numbers –I am not sure how
they did this, given the difficulties with getting good experimental results at
these Mach numbers, but I am sure that rapid, wartime testing overseen by a
second-rate design house worked out fine, because the Phantom is a stunning
success, only 100mph slower than a Meteor.
McDonnell FH Phantom |
“Short Nimbus Sailplane: Exclusive Flight Air-to-Air Photographs” The
technical staff at Short Brothers have built a glider. In shorter news, the
Navy will be conducting bombing trials over the Easter holiday, and Air Marshal
Robb has given a talk at Fighter Command headquarters in which he reported that
all but one day interceptor squadron is now equipped with Meteors, and that the
Meteor IV will be in squadron service this year.
“Per Ardua at Halton: Soviet
Delegation at No. 1 School of Technical Training: jet and Helicopter Flying
Under Difficulties” Air Marshal Sorley, Lord Tedder, and P. J. Noel-Baker
showed a large Soviet delegation (including “a poet, doctors, professors, a
cotton worker and a locomotive engineer from Sumi Oblast” around the school,
which they all found fascinating. After all, it has turned out 18,500 aircraft
apprentices through the end of 1945, and has a fine fife-and-drum band,
complete with a goat mascot. Afterwards, there were flying displays with the
usual lot of Lincolns and the like, and including a brief appearance by a
Meteor IV and Sikorsky Hoverfly.
"Is it always this cold in England?" |
Radial Review: A Stock-taking of the
Newest Bristol Hercules and Centaurus Engines: Important Installations” James
remains stuck in his opinion that the sleeve-valve radial has no commercial
future, but they are on the Viking and Freighter, will go into the Handley Page Hermes IV, and are being tested on a Tudor II airframe.
Basil R. Clarke, “Radio Equipment in
the Solents: Comfort and Convenience in the Operator’s Compartment: Full Range
of Aids to Navigation” This is presumably what the paper’s photographer was
doing in Rochester. Hmm: Articles about Bristol radials, Short flying boats,
McDonnell fighters and the Airspeed Ambassador. I guess that the moral is, sell
Airspeed stocks short? As for details, the Solent has MF, HF, VHF radios, a
direction finder, a radio altimeter, an intercommunication system, and an ASV
radar. A Rebecca-Eureka homing radar aid was originally intended for the place
occupied by the ASV Mark IV. The radio altimeter is the new American AYF
frequency-modulated type, which is more accurate.
“Dual at 585mph: Meteor Trainer
Details: Mark IV Fighter Demonstration” The new dual-control Meteor trainer is
based on the Meteor IV, with a slightly longer fuselage, allowing pilot and
trainer to sit in tandem. The load factor is 9gs, and it is the first Meteor IV
variant to be shown in such detail.
American
Newsletter
“Politics and Payment: Wild Press
Statements: new Types from the West Coast: G-suits for Air Battles” Congress is
investigating air accidents, from which no good can come, since politicians
will just sensationalise everything. A good example of the no-good-coming is
the rush to install GCA and ILS at major airports, to be followed by FIDO. This
is not to suggest that “Kibitizer” thinks that this is bad, but just that he is
not very good at making the transition from the standard journalistic “Take my Congress. Please!” to talking about details. He then goes on to point out that pilots want accident investigation taken away
from the CAA, which sounds as though a bit more sensationalising might be a good idea. On the other hand, Americans
are down-at-mouth over the English piling-on the Dakota, as they think that the
problem is the weight limits allowed by some European operators. Various West
Coast types such as the Cloudster, Pioneer, and new Boeing liaison type might
appear, as well s the North American XB-45, said to be held up by lack of
engines. G-suits will help jet fighter pilots push
their aircraft to their Mach limits in violent manoeuvres. Also, “Kibitzer”
liked The Best Years of Our Lives
because it is a nice slice of Americana and has some flying.
In shorter news, the paper’s own W/C
M. A. Smith, son of G. Geoffrey, has married Vivienne Margaret Nugent-James.
The reception was at the RAC Country Club. INTAVA, the joint operation of
Standard Oil (New Jersey) and Socony-Vacuum, will terminate operations by the
end of 1948. Air Vice Marshal Addison gave a nice talk about “the war in the aether” to
the Institute of Civil Engineers[!] this March. It was about radio
countermeasure. But why the ICE and not the IEE?
I hope the library hasn't lost the Proceedings of the ICE. |
Civil Aviation
News
“Neglect No Means” The paper covers
the Lords debate at greater length. The Ministry is looking into FIDO, and has
ILS and SCS 51 installed at two English airports, with SBA at 11, soon to be
increased to 40. There were eight M/F beacons installed, and six Eureka beacons
at airfields, with four more to follow soon. There are radio ranges at
Prestwick, Northolt and Bovington, and two to three more contemplated. Three
“G” chains are in operation, covering
England and wales, and LORAN and CONSOL are being installed.
In shorter news, the resignation of
Lord Knollys leads to musical chairs at BOAC and BEA., BOAC has a mobile
testing house for maintaining engines, especially the Hercules 100, which is on
the Viking fleet. F. N. Hillier, of BOAC, gave a talk to the Institute of
Export in Liverpool, where he forcefully expressed the opinion that air travel
is good for business, and plans for 13 North Atlantic weather ships are going
ahead. The ships will have homing beacons to improve mid-ocean rescue. Canada
will have eleven far-northern weather stations operational by next year, one
only six hundred miles from the North Pole. (James-James asks if they can see Santa.) Pan American will be increasing its scheduled North
Atlantic operations this summer again. The current ten flights New York-London per
week will increase to fourteen by June, there will be a weekly Boston-London
flight, services on the New York -Lisbon route will double on 15 April, La
Guardia-Brussels will go up to three a week in June. Last year, 27,000
passengers crossed the Atlantic either way on Pan-American, the busiest month
being June, with 4,246 passengers on 116 flights.
Correspondence
“Ex-Adjutant” reports that the
Ministry seems to have lost all the war-time personal log books. L. I. W.
Liquorish, the publicity manager for Alvis, reminds everyone that “universal
power plants” were not a wartime innovation, since Alvis was showing one off at
the 1936 Paris Aero Show, for one. Henry J. Manners[?] thinks that infra-red
illumination of runways may be the way to go.
The Economist, 12 April 1947
Leaders
“Failure of a Mission?” The Moscow
Conference has failed to settle the German question.
“The Road to Paris” France is in an
uproar. There are Rightists, Communists and Socialists. General de Gaulle has
said some things, and done some things. The next few months will be critical.
It all seems a bit like classic farce, but that's because it's the English press covering France. And because it's the Fourth Republic.
“Food Policy and Subsidies” Rationing
must go on forever due to the balance of payments and the fact that the English
want to eat a disgraceful amount of food, and “protective” food, at that.
However, they can’t, and food price subsidies, or, on the other hand, price
controls, are terrible. Therefore, everyone will starve, because the Government
is awful. And that’s all there is to it,
because the rest of the front matter is taken up with an extended, hilarious
joke about a historian of the future looking back on the establishment of the
international Tobacco Standard.
Notes of the Week
“From Eighteen to Twelve” The
squabbling over the National Services Bill has led to a reduction in proposed
English national service from eighteen months to twelve. The paper explains why
this means that the Government is awful, but is even-handed enough to point out
that the Conservatives were also awful about it. James says that eighteen or
twelve months, it is all one to the Engineering Branch, which does not want any conscripts.
“Coal Output and Miners’ Hours” The
government is awful for not making the miners work six day weeks. It is the
fault of nationalisation, so the Government is extra awful.
“Back to the Atom” Uno delegates like
to talk about uranium mining. Further bulletins as events warrant. In other
international talk-shop news, “horse-trading” has begun at Geneva. This is the
international conference about tariffs and trades, so they are not trading actual horses, but, rather, tariff
rates. It turns out that everyone is in favour of free trade, but everyone else
is not. Following on this are notes about Sir Stafford Cripp’s publicity
office, the government’s aid bill for farmers, public meetings to debate the
Planning Bill, and the paper pointing out that the world’s Displaced Person
problem could be resolved by our taking the number of immigrants America has theoretically agreed to take. (America hasn’t used spaces for 914,000
persons over the last three years.) This, of course, in aid of England
complaining about the much smaller number that it is taking, and the coming end
of the Unrra, which may or may not be replaced by an international refugee
organisation.
“Missing Prisoners” Russia is holding
700,000 Japanese prisoners still, and claims to have less than 900,000 German.
The Italian government has stated that some 80% of Italian prisoners of war
taken in Russia have perished, and Germans and Japanese now fear that the
causes of these statistics are now engulfing their POWS, and that few will live
to return. It is suggested that perhaps something should be done about this.
Also missing is the King of Spain, who has declined to return to that country
on General Franco’s terms, and any resistance to Aung San’s Anti-Fascist
People’s Independence League in the Burmese elections. AFPIL is expected to be
an economically right-wing government of independent Burma.
This is in 1946, admittedly; but the Russians are being their own worst enemies here. |
“Reparations from Japan” Our
government has directed General MacArthur to made 30% of Japanese industrial
equipment available as reparations for China, the Philippines, Dutch, English and
Americans. Everyone else on the Far Eastern Commission opposed this idiotic
idea; and General MacArthur has also set his face against it because the
precarious economic situation in the country. However, America cannot give
foreign aid except through Congress, and the President does not want to go to
Congress for aid to China, and he can dispose
of Japanese booty for the benefit of the Koumintang, so there you are.
“Free Speech in the Civil Service” The
latest figures show the civil service up 8000 to 772,000 in England, leading to
pressure to revise old restrictions on their political activity; the paper
thinks that it should be left to departments to decide what is, and is not,
acceptable political speech, after the fact. It cannot possibly be that naïve,
can it? Also in the news is a break down of all Government aid to research, a
real improvement on the old days, when only the Air Force did it, and you could
not even detect Fleet Air Arm research. It turns out that there will be £60
millions spent in the Ministry of Supply on research, and nineteen millions in
all other ministries --£12 million by the universities.
Letters
T. Barna, of Houghton Street, Aldwych,
thinks that the government is not publishing enough statistics. William Foster,
of Southwick Place, London, thinks that income taxes and death duties are far
too high, and are suppressing all investment, and that socialism is terrible.
J. E. Allan, of Cambridge, has ideas about reforming pay as you go taxation.
George G. Olshausen, of 790 Bay Street, San Francisco, writes that England
could stop worrying about its labour shortage if it were only as mechanised and
automated as America. The fact that buying power exceeds available goods is a
further argument for automation, not deflation.
Speaking of, F. J. Atkinson, of 107 Underhill Road, points out that the
paper is being self-contradictory when it argues for lower taxes, a balanced
budget, and against cheap money,
since this will increase the Government’s debt burden. He hopes that deflation
is not the paper’s idea of realistic financial policy. Chas Bates, of Flanders
Mansions, Bedford Park, points out that it is illogical to think that
workingmen cannot afford to buy their own products (which are for export), when
they can, and do buy the imports they fetch in. D. A. Higgs, Engineering Sales manager of
Hymatic Engineering Company, is upset with correspondent H. A. Fieldhouse for
suggesting that American manufactures are invariably better and more nearly
designed than English. Helmar Stranck, of 4 Hohenstaufernstr., Berlin, points out
that if Canada and Australia need more labour, and English emigration cannot
supply it, perhaps Germans should be allowed to emigrate there.
From The Economist of 1847
No title this time. The old paper is
upset that England is expected to pay eight million pounds to buy food for
Ireland this year, besides more food to cover that sent to Ireland from other
parts of the United Kingdom. This is because there is no prospect of increasing
exports paying for it all, and this must soon lead to hard times due to “the railway undertakings,” for some reason.
Books
Ronald Russell’s publisher chooses the
week that the Geneva talks open to issue his book on Imperial Preference. The paper thinks that it is a silly book. K.M. Panikker has the Basis of an
Indo-British Treaty, in which he imagines a security treaty between England
and India, and the rapid industrialisation of India. Lloyd J. Hughlett is only
the editor of Industrialisation of Latin
America, because he has cheated and assembled a book out of seventeen short
articles written by numerous experts on different industries and countries, so,
really, this should be seventeen reviews, shouldn’t it? Kenneth Ingram’s Years of Crisis: An Outline of InternationalHistory, 1919—1945 is a terrible book because he is a socialist, and says
cruel things about the propertied classes of England, who, in fact, are good
patriots and take the paper. Shorter notes cover off a book on Argentina by Norman Mackenzie, issued by Gollancz (it turns out that Peron is a Nazi), and on
economic research and Keynesian thinking, by Arthur F. Burns. He concludes that
“Keynesian thinking” is too simplistic to explain the facts revealed by
economic research.
American Survey
“Coal Hazards and Politics” The paper
is not about mere news, so this is its response to the Centralia disaster. They
are only the latest, as 974 miners died in 1946; only lumbering is more
dangerous in accidents per man hour. The resulting UMW-called “mourning period”
has cost 8 million tons so far, and now that Secretary Krug has ordered 518
mines closed until they are certified safe, an additional 600,000 tons a day
are being lost. The paper seems to think
that this is grandstanding on Lewis’ part, and that his support for Governor
Dewey (and the fact that Republican-appointed inspectors in Illinois were apparently
bought off) means that Congress will be reluctant to intervene. So, in short,
the real consequence of 111 men slowly asphyxiating in the dark is that it is a
ticklish business politically getting the miners back to work in unsafe mines.
The other major matter before the
paper is Mr. Ford’s death. The paper clearly did not know the man even as well
as I did, and my acquaintance was limited to escorting Uncle Henry to a few
soirees at which I mainly formed a terrible impression of his cronies. Anyway,
the paper thinks that his passing marks the end of an era of personal
domination of large American corporations in favour of the “machine manager”
and the “managerial revolution.”
American Notes
“The Telephone Strike” The combination
of the telephone strike and Mr. Lewis’ crudely transparent manoeuvre in
presuming to mourn the Centralia accident have naturally led Congress to take a
second look at Senator Taft’s version of the new labour bill. So, it is all the
fault of operators for aiming for a $12-a-week increase on an average salary of
$43; which is a lot, I know, but a big increase on a small base, and I hope you
do not roll your eyes at the page when I remind you that they are mostly women.
Anyway, curse those Centralia miners for dying and telephone operators for
being born of the wrong sex, and thereby leading to harsh anti-labour
legislation! In other strike news, Governor Dewey continues to fight possiblet eachers’ strikes by finding more money for teachers [probably not stable urrl], instead of searching for
reds under beds, as some would prefer.
In less relevant notes, Congress has
agreed to not be too outraged over the compromise that sends the Truman Bill
past the UN, and the University of Chicago/Encyclopedia
Britannica report on A Free and Responsible Press is out. It concludes that the American press is
dangerously short of talking about talking about the low tone of things these
days; and that this might be fixed by changes in taxation, libel laws and
anti-trust legislation. Congress will get right on that!
“Pulp and Paper” Meanwhile, in the real
world, newsprint is so short that papers are having trouble printing. And by “short,”
one means that even though production of pulp is up from 11 million tons in
1929 to 19 million in 1946, the increase in the number of daily papers has more
than absorbed all that paper.
Base metals, not pulp (because I didn't get that image), but the same point: the price is rising because demand exceeds supply. Fancy that! |
The World
Overseas
“Reparations and the Russian People”
The average Russian is expecting a wealth in war booty from Germany some time
soon. Politics, etc. Speaking of politics, Sweden’s new socialist government,
and particularly its Finance Minister, Ernst Wigfors, is awful, in a mealy-mouthed,
this-or-that sort-of way.
The Business
World
“Transport Amended” This is the bill
to nationalise the railways, which has been amended to satisfy its
critics. More amending will follow, and
the paper has ideas, which no-one needs to be bored with.
The Fortune article has lots of nice photos. The problem is fitting them in. |
Business Notes
The paper leads off with complaints
about the Government. Dalton’s cheap money is too cheap, and Sir Stafford
Cripps’ stop on agricultural machinery exports (to allow the farms more
machines to complete seeding in time) is just grandstanding.
It also manages to get outside of
England while talking about awful governments, since Canada has just
recontrolled Canadian US dollar holdings. In case you were wondering, it is the
fault of Canadian workers, for making too much money. (Although Americans are
not helping by failing to loan enough money in soft-currency areas to make
dollars available.) About production and American dollars, there has been an
Anglo-Spanish money pact, and that the English are still looking to import
yarn. It is hard to be anti-Fascist when you need to make sure that no dollars
are being squeezed out of the country by Spanish oranges and the like, and the
rise of Germany’s unlikely wool industry continues.
“Coals from America” In 1939, America
exported 11 million tons of coal, and Europe took 27,000 tons. In 1946, it
exported 46 million, and Europe took 17 million. By the third quarter of next
year, it aims to ship 3 million tons a month to Europe, and England has been
looking into this, offering to provide the ships to meet the 3-million-ton
target, in exchange for being cut in for some of it. This will not happen due
to a shortage of wagons, but England is likely to get 400,000 tons a month via
the European Coal Organisation adjustments. For a change, the paper urges
optimism, because assuming it will get the full 400,000 next winter means that industry
can be kept on the blast in the summer.
There follows a variety of financial
news, of which the most interesting is the current trend to rising corporate
profits. In case the Chancellor has his eye on them in the upcoming budget, the
paper hastens to add that dividends have not risen in line with profits.
In the real world of things that
people make and use, it turns out that British aluminium making is not very
competitive on a world scale, and that the profits of the industry depend on
working the product efficiently, that wages are up in building and trades, that
the tea ration may have to be tightened due to a dockers’ strike in Calcutta
and because the price is rising as Ceylon and India exploit their position s
monopoly sellers. (The paper chides them for not realising that they want to
promote tea consumption by holding prices down, instead.) In America, the
synthetic rubber industry is as saved as it is going to be, and Americans will
be allowed to start importing rubber privately on 1 April. American textile
consumption is up dramatically. Cotton is even more dominant than it used to
be, despite a doubling(!) of wool use, all of it, sadly, two-thirds of it foreign.
Aviation, April 1947
The paper continues its sad decline,
as Ernest Stout’s series on how flying boats and floatplanes float, is ended,
while a newer and presumably cheaper writer is arranged for the helicopter
series. If there is not a third world war soon, this paper will be as boring as
Radio News! I have given these series
short shrift for months, and that won’t change in this number. Helicopters are
complicated, and floating (the right way up) is harder than it looks.
If you're wondering what happened to Radio News, UBC library lost the entire 1947 run. |
Aviation
Editorial
“Procurement Legislation Must Be
Prompt” Congress must pass new procurement legislation before the war emergency
legislation expires, or the whole industry will expire, and America will lose
war-winning weapons like the B-17, which would have been lost, along with
Boeing, had there not been . . . Actually, the parallel is not very close, but
it does allow Leslie Neville to make a stunningly ignorant comment about how
Britain “neglected” the heavy, long range bomber until “the war was well
advanced.”
He's probably thinking of the early-30s trope about the RAF not ordering any four-engined bombers. |
“Applying ‘Copter-Quickened Economies”
Helicopters might do their work too quickly to justify a company buying them,
in which case they should possibly be leased.
What’s New in
Products and Practices
This feature continues to make Radio News look good. As far as I can
tell, Aviation is selling its issues
to aircraft mechanics these days, although a limited-input welder sounds
marginally industrial. And General
Electric’s “Automatic Flight Recorder” for recording the details of crashes, sounds
interesting. It has selsyns to repeat flap and aileron movements to pens that
trace a record of the flight inside a box that is robust enough to survive in
salt water for several days, and which is in the tail section, so hopefully
safe from the worst of crash and fire damage.
Aviation News
The story of Pan-Am as flag carrier
just will not die. This version of the story pretends that Army, Navy and State
resistance is “cooling,” although I think that that is less important than
floating a rumour that Pan-Am and TWA, and possibly also American, are talking about
merging, which would give America a flag carrier in practice, if not
legislation. Since I cannot believe that the story is serious, I guess the main
point is to let Congress know that the airlines really are in trouble financially.
Having perhaps not been subtle enough, that is the next story. All airlines are
in the red, except for Eastern.
The next story says that the “row”
between ILS and GCA is cooling. The services are in trouble for exaggerating
the scale of their success with GCA, the CAA is in trouble for not pushing
radar hard enough, and ILS remains the paper’s favourite. A push for better airfield lighting is leading to a regular battle of the lumens
(Did you know that there was an official unit of measurement for light illumination?
I didn’t. The maths all seem straightforward until you arrive at colour, at
which point things get fascinating.. . )
American Gas Accumulator, Sylvania, Bartow and Westinghouse have all entered
the airfield illumination field. Bartow, which has the business now, is conducting
tests at the Arcata Landing Aids Experiment Station this fall, while
Westinghouse is talking up its super-high intensity lights, which are still in
development. The President has recommended a $4 million allocation, which
Congress may increase.
“Unification Picture” At least as far
as the air goes, it is not so much a unification bill as an Air Force Bill. The
Navy will keep its planes, and its ships, and also its land bases, and its own
transport aircraft; so we shall have a sea air force, a land air force, and a
land army, “and much of the land army will fly.” In effect, we will have
unification, but only at the price of having three services instead of two. I
shake my head. Though there might be some standardisation between the services!
“Just Push the Button” On the bright
side, the air force-to-be may not need any men, since the AAF now has a robot
flying its All Weather Airline, having completed 133 of 135 scheduled trips.
In other research news, United
Aircraft/Pratt and Whitney has broken ground on a multi-million-dollar gas
turbine and rocket engine laboratory, and someone is experimenting with a helicopter
that turns into an aeroplane in the air.
Worlddata
The paper is impressed with the
Theseus and the Rolls Royce Eagle, and notes that Don Bennett has promised to
buy no American planes, since the Lancastrian is the fastest of airliners, and
there are plenty of surplus stocks. The French are continuing to test fly the
SE-1200, 140 ton flying boat, currently equipped with two 8000hp Arsenal
engines, but to get Rolls-Royce Clydes at first opportunity. Irish Airways has
hired John Kelly-Rogers away from BOAC to organise its Constellation service
this summer. General Chennault may go to Chungking soon to “aid in
reorganisation of civil aviation,” while CNAC flew 110 million passenger-miles
this year. .
Fly across the Atlantic in a flying boat suspended between two 8000hp engines? Yes, please! |
Scholer Bangs, “Design Details of the
Northrop XB-35” Scholer is not one to waste words, as he barely has any. There are enough
photographs to hold the covers apart, and this article consists entirely of
pictures and fairly wordy captions.
There is literally no text in this article except for the captions. Is Scholer Bangs the least famous he can possibly be, given his job and name? Discuss. |
“French and British Turbines Show New
Features”
Editorial can read Flight! The interesting features in
question are the split airflow of the Rateau SRA Axial flow turbojet, which produces
2200lbs static sea level thrust, but, importantly, does so while sending much
of the air that enters it through a low-pressure diversion around the working
parts of the engine. Warmed by combustion waste heat, it contributes to
propulsion without costing energy, and so fuel, to compress. While the
resulting engine is heavier than others in its thrust class, French engineers
think that it will more than make up for this with its improved fuel
efficiency. They think that an even higher air intake, with higher temperatures
and higher pressures, may be possible, giving a 7700lb thrust engine with a
specific fuel consumption of 0.75, which, I think, is the first time that I
have heard a figure of merit discussed in the literature. I assume that it is
quite low. The interesting English engine is the de Havilland Ghost, which
follows on the Goblin. It is even wider, increasing diameter by 3” to 53”, but
has some plumbing improvements that fall well short of split airflow in terms
of interest.
John H. Cantlin, C O Two Fire
Equipment Company, “Smoke-Spotting ‘Eyes’ Give Plane-Fire Alert” The CAA now
requires smoke detectors in both passenger cabins and cargo holds. Our company’s
detector might be impractically large for aircraft installation, but it is
light, and we’re proud of its infrared detection technology, which Cantlin will
explain in some detail. It needs a blower to force air through the detector? I
can see why this kind of thing is useful on steamships, where it must down on
false alarms something awful, but on planes?
It's like editorial was thrown a crumpled fifty and told to get an issue out. |
George P. Sutton, Aerophysics Laboratory, North American Aviation, “Gaging Rocket Engines Forces and Flows”
Sutton describes a testing rig for measuring rocket propulsion force,
especially ones that vary with high frequencies, and propellant flows.
Madden W. Bradley, Strength Test
Engineer, “Improved Static Testing Helped Prove DC-6” The Douglas method of
loading structural members of the DC-6 for static testing is described at
length. Hydraulic loading, from the city water system, was used extensively.
Francis C. Byrnes, “Radio ‘Fix’ Device
Enables Pinpoint Avigation” The Duggar Radio Fixer is a proprietary indicator (invented
by Colonel L. G. Duggar) that combines the inputs of a flux gate compass and
two standard radio compasses into a course indicator that even the author admits doesn't actually indicate.
Francis Mass, Ernest F. Frock and
Robert A., Grosselfinger, of the Naval Air Material Centre, National Bureau of
Standards, and Laval Steam Turbine Company, worked on liquid oxygen injectioninto engines to improve power without causing predetonation. It cannot be usedbelow full rated power, but does increase engine output without increasing fuelconsumption at higher altitudes.
H. J. Woods, Project Engineer,
AiResearch Mfg., Co. “Air Conditioning Turbine-Propelled Aircraft, Part II”
This series, too, comes to an end with this issue. Turbine engines do not have
convenient supplies of exhaust to operate auxiliary turbines, and often lack auxiliary
powershafts as well. Bleed air can be used, but the company has reservations
about current standards of bleed air flows, and finds that, anyway, ram intakes
are often badly located. It is better to look at the engine just as a source of
horsepower, either mechanically and electrically, and using a powered air
conditioner of either a regenerative or simple type. If a turbine run by the
bleed air is wanted, care must be taken not to reduce the pressure of the
airflow too much, and to be sure that there is proper circulation, so that
aircrew don’t find their heads roasting and their feet frostbitten.
For Better Design
“Surface Discharge Plug Featured in
Low Tension Ignition Research” Beru thinks that the low-tension route is the
way to go.
“Propeller Electric De-Icing System
For Wide-Range Operating Conditions” Hamilton Standard builds a hollow, steel
airscrew, so it is natural to put a heating wire through the inside of the prop
bladed. It covers 75% of the blade and 25% of the leading edge in the latest
installation, and has recently been installed on the Martin 202.
Line Editorial
“Our Teachers: They Need the Help of
Business Now” Governor Dewey’s legislative initiative to allow local
authorities more power to allocate funds to education has been in the news of
late. It is his response to the rising tide of teachers’ strikes. You can guess
what the other one is, which is to blame it all on communists. James H. McGraw,
Jr., takes the interesting perspective that business does not want to alienate
teachers and turn them all into communists. At least all the ones that are left,
considering the rapid turnover that is leading to urgent teacher and librarian shortages.
That just will not end well for business! McGraw-Hill likes business, but its
business is selling textbooks, so it likes teachers, too, and it assures its
non-teacher readers that teachers are not communists, that they have as little
time for unionism as your average, red-blooded (not Red) American.
Russia is spending twice as much as we, per capita, on education, and America
needs to do the same, because this is a crisis! An emergency crisis! That has
nothing to do with textbook sales!
“High Performance Plane Planned by
Delanne” Maurice Delanne, who has a classy French accent, dropped by our
offices to show off models of his planned plane, and explained why it is
wonderful, and the paper lunch. Explaining this article.
“North American Develops New Trainer”
Remember last year at this time, when there would be a new plane in every
issue, probably several? All the people who used to work for the paper do! This
year, it is just the North American XSNJ-6.
Except that it's not a new plane, just an AT-6 Texan with a clear rear canopy. |
W. L. Whittier, Chief, Service Section
Engineering, Douglas Aircraft Co., “Designed-In Maintenance Ease Keynoted in
Douglas AD-1” Like the claim that a given transport aircraft is a conventional,
yet economical and innovative design with a surprisingly large cabin is the
claim that a new military aircraft is easy to maintain. That said, Douglas has
had a war and more of practice to get good at “designing-in maintenance ease.”
Frank Rockett, Electronics Editor, Aviation “How’s and Why’s of Aircraft
Electronic Tubes” Did you know that when you heat the cathode of an electronic
tube, it emits electrons? This is, in all seriousness, a four page elementary
introduction to vacuum tubes. The closest it comes to relevance is in noting
that aircraft tubes must be very rugged, which is tricky, since you don’t want
them to be too heavy. Googly Eyes! I make them!
L. Raymond Hoadley, “Argentina Seen as
Prime Export Market” With all these new-come authors phoning in blithe articles
it took five minutes to right, you would think that Hoadley would want to show
them how it is done, and here he comes! Argentina is a large country with a lot
of money, and probably wants airplanes. It has a large, blocked sterling
balance, so you might think that it would buy English planes, but there are
ways to get around that, and maybe they will. There’s a million people in
Buenos Aires! The Andes are very high mountains! In conclusion, I think I’ll
have a drink.
Leading Articles
“Dangers to Press Freedom” The paper
covers the report of the Commission a Free and Responsible Press, which I
summarised, a few pages ago, as a contribution to talking about talking about
how the tone is getting low these days. (James adds, “And making a case for
hanging Charles Moberly Bells for treason!”) The Commission might answer that I
haven’t bothered to read the seven(!) books that came out of their research,
but Fortune has, and Fortune thinks the same thing.
The Fortune
Survey
“Survey Pitfalls” The paper is a
pioneer in using expensive public opinion surveys to turn out cheap articles.
This one is devoted to showing that, by phrasing the questions correctly, you
can get highly misleading results. There’s politics here –American enthusiasm
for the United Nations, Stassen, and anyone-but-Wallace are examples of things
which can be underestimated by the right set of questions, but the point is
good.
Fortune Letters
Fortune has a letters
column! And H. L. Mencken is in it! (The tone of radio is too low these days.)
Also in it is Chester Bowles, who defends his record on forecasting changes in
the cost of living, and a lawyer named Herbert Wechsler, who defends the
Nuremberg Trials at some length. Professor Wechsler, at least to my reading,
takes the paper out to the woodshed and back, but the paper is not convinced.
Pro-tip: If you're ever thinking about arguing international law with Herbert Wechsler, don't. |
“The Republicans” It’s half past
April, and well past time that every decent paper was filled to the brim with
speculation about who will be the GOP’s candidate in ’48. (The paper throws
General Eisenhower’s name into the mix, interestingly, pointing out that while he is steering away from a party label, come on, he's from Kansas.) When that gets boring, it goes on to list all the important Republicans it can think of, which names I won't repeat because I only have so much time in the day to match characters to letters. (Hickenlooper??) I will point out that Alf Landon is in the article, but the Engineer isn’t. Ha! It's enough to make a lunch date just to mention the article.
"So-Krates! Dude!" |
“Britain’s Railways” The paper
summarises the Transport Bill. With the doom and gloom of The Economist fresh in my mind, it is good to be reminded that the
four big railways of England never came close to the kind of disaster that
America’s railways flirted with in the Thirties. They have nice hotels, with
big but cold rooms, and quiet trains. However, they’re quite slow, due to an
increasingly severe sleeper shortage. They’re also surprisingly efficient, when
their short routes and high density (which means that each train serves a very
small area) are considered. The point of all this praise is that a nationalised
single railway company might find it harder than expected to improve on private
practice. It’s a little oversold, suggesting, for example, that diesels are not
going to push coal-fired steam out of English service without even mentioning watering.
(Or coal gasification, but I’ll leave that madness to the next article.)
It turns out that it's easier just blowing the top of the mountain off. |
“The Fuel Revolution: Coal-By-The-Lump,
With All Its Miseries, Now Stands on The Verge Of A Great Conversion For Use As
Gas And Oil; An Event As Important To Consumers As The Electric Generator, Or
The First Model T” This article had James lamenting that he’d lost so many of
his papers during his journeys around the world. Fortunately, Uncle George’s
office in Oakland turned out to have a complete run of the Transactions of the naval architects, and so he was able to treat
me to some crank’s fever dream of a coal-fired battleship of modern design
circa 1937. I can’t remember if it was that one or another article from the
same file that imagined powdered coal used as a liquid fuel, as in the turbine
locomotive in this article, but it certainly was of a piece with that. This isn’t
to say that Karl Konnerth (of U.S. Steel’s H. C. Fricke and Company)’s
mechanical-mole coal digger isn’t practical, or that the ever-increasing
efficiencies of coal hydrogenation imagined for the future, won’t come to pass.
I just can’t get past the point where we’re heating up coal –a lot—to turn it
into a different kind of carbon. The chemical energy released is the same
whether you burn coal or oil; we’re just talking about hurrying Nature through
the transition from coal to oil, and somehow making money from it. It is going
to depend on how much coal there is, vis-Ã -vis oil, and the fact is that there’s
a lot of oil in the ground in shale and sand that we can’t get at mainly
because of cost.
So that's how technology progresses/ With lots of sidetracks. |
If you are wondering about what
mysterious enemy might motivate articles like this, look no further than the
Big and Little Inch. There is now talk of repurposing them as natural gas
pipelines, which would bring the gas that Texan fields now flare off all the
way to the East, and knock off downhome coal gasification. The industry
advocates that the paper interviews think that this makes no sense, is
impractical, compared with in-ground gasification (they grow mushrooms down
there, too!), and, generally, should be stopped right now before the other guy
gets hurt.
“Food Machinery: A Study in Growth” A
nice profile of San Jose’s own Food Machinery Corporation. The neighbours down the road got their start
with spray pumps, and their fame from producing 11,000 LV(T)s for the Navy
in the last war. They also do canning equipment, sprayers, and now farm
chemicals, too. Including DDT! I’m relieved to hear that they make that in Niagara, New York, and not San
Jose.
Actually, it has been on a bit of a buying spree lately. In the main line of business, it has developed several high-speed orange juicers, just in time for the frozen concentrate business, if it takes off. It has sales of $50 million a year, expects a plateau at $665 million, and is in the market for up to $10 million in credit to finish its growth plans. It is probably difficulty with that which has led to this publicity push. By the time you get to the end of the article, the reader is treated to the Company’s Seven Principles of Business, which does not sound to me like Fortune journalism so much as something dictated to the reporter.
Oops. |
Actually, it has been on a bit of a buying spree lately. In the main line of business, it has developed several high-speed orange juicers, just in time for the frozen concentrate business, if it takes off. It has sales of $50 million a year, expects a plateau at $665 million, and is in the market for up to $10 million in credit to finish its growth plans. It is probably difficulty with that which has led to this publicity push. By the time you get to the end of the article, the reader is treated to the Company’s Seven Principles of Business, which does not sound to me like Fortune journalism so much as something dictated to the reporter.
“The Guaranteed Wage” A bit about
industry-wide wage negotiations, which might be a good idea in some industries,
though not others.
“Confucius: The Great Philosopher of
the Age of Bronze is Still the Prime Obstacle to his Country’s Reform and
Change” Since your father neglected your classical education so, you probably
haven’t your teeth on edge quite as much as I do at reading the title. It does
not get any better. Confucius is the author of all the bad mental habits that
have held the Chinese back, only he isn’t, because he is not nearly so
important to the Chinese mind as people say. Also, Confucius was really a
research scholar, so the Chinese should transfer their love of Confucius to the
modern scholar. I’d like to sit this man down with the Poor Clares and let them talk the classics over with him –and
perhaps Sister Benedicta’s razor strap!
It's a terribly superficial article, but the effort put into finding the art was extraordinary. It also accidentally makes the point that the Southern Song and Ming Neo-Confucians were probably the most rigorous intellectual historians in Chinese history. |
Shorts and Faces
“Now if Only We Could Get a Tariff”
America has tariffs on Christmas trees, agar-agar, and ping-pong balls. This is
silly. Therefore, there should be free trade.
“Wow at WNEW” The paper wants to go to
Milton Biow and Arde Bulova’s parties, and maybe see all the WNEW radio
personalities, although it won’t do to appear to eager, as that would be low
class.
“Contacts for Sale” There are people
in New York who can get you in to see people even without printing short
articles about them in the back of their paper. They include Norman Davis and
Albert G. Boesel, and many other people who, you would think, the paper wouldn’t
want to go to parties at; but what do I know?
“Waiting on the Main Line” The Main
Line is where rich Philadelphians live, and they expect a coming-out party to
be catered by John W. Holland Co., says
the paper.
“Britain’s Crisis” “The
Battle of the Power Stations last February caused many persons to declare that
Britain was through.” I heard that –of course, everyone heard it. The end had
come. Yet it is a curious end, when England has never produced more autos,
electrical appliances, clocks, staple fiber, aluminum, and many other things,
too. Electricity may be short, but the country uses far more of than in 1938,
and coal is short because utilities, coking ovens and manufacturing is using
17% more. The problem is not so much that coal production is down, although it
is, as that power generation and heating demands more than the country can
supply.
(The article isn’t very clear on what’s making up the difference, but I imagine that it is all the hydroelectric schemes of the last decade and the increasing efficiency of generating equipment.) And while the mines are not out of their doldrums yet, the biggest reason for the coal shortage of last winter was weather, not lazy miners, and the country needs more new electrical generation equipment more than more coal, although it needs that. So if industry is surging forward, what’s the problem? Lord Keynes reckoned on a £750 million adverse balance of trade, but in a year, that has narrowed to £450 million on the strength of booming industrial exports, buoyed by rationing and substitution to reduce imports, and a steady reduction of overseas military commitments –although imports were also held back by an inability of the world to supply them. However, the paper is quite murky about the dollar situation, which is what had the Earl worried in the first place. It also points out that England could help alleviate its labour shortage by bringing in “thousands” of immigrants, and isn’t, because the trade unions would feel that their wages were threatened.
(The article isn’t very clear on what’s making up the difference, but I imagine that it is all the hydroelectric schemes of the last decade and the increasing efficiency of generating equipment.) And while the mines are not out of their doldrums yet, the biggest reason for the coal shortage of last winter was weather, not lazy miners, and the country needs more new electrical generation equipment more than more coal, although it needs that. So if industry is surging forward, what’s the problem? Lord Keynes reckoned on a £750 million adverse balance of trade, but in a year, that has narrowed to £450 million on the strength of booming industrial exports, buoyed by rationing and substitution to reduce imports, and a steady reduction of overseas military commitments –although imports were also held back by an inability of the world to supply them. However, the paper is quite murky about the dollar situation, which is what had the Earl worried in the first place. It also points out that England could help alleviate its labour shortage by bringing in “thousands” of immigrants, and isn’t, because the trade unions would feel that their wages were threatened.
Let's look at beautiful ads to distract ourselves from the fact that Everyone is Doomed. |
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