Shaughnessy,
Vancouver,
Canada
Dear Father:
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| Norah Docker for woman of the year, 1953! |
I guess the day had to come when I wasn't done writing one of these until after I was snug in my room and waiting for whoever it comes on the Twenty-Eighth. The ghost of the Park Royal Boxing Day Sale? Anyway, I'm going to drop this in the courier box so that everyone else can see it. Now this is the part where I mention a winsome event in my life and that of your grandchildren. So did I mention that I saw Field-Marshal Montgomery on the plane? I did? In giddy tones when I got here a week ago? Drat. I've got nothing else.
Your Loving Daughter,
Ronnie
Letters
Ben Gray, who is the National Director of something (probably the National Epilepsy League), wants us to know that that great picture of the Eisenhower grandchildren with a diorama of something was actually about fighting epilepsy. Laura Alvord points out a mistake in Newsweek's coverage of the Atom Peace Plan speech. Kenneth Day leads four correspondents pointing out how dumb it is to line up your fighter jets on the runway like that, instead of dispersing them, and how that led to trouble with surprise attacks. Sure, but only for really cheap air forces that decided not to pay for dispersals, like Eighth Air Force in Korea! Stanley Lehrer points out that during the New York paper strike, people actually read Newsweek, which he seems to think is a compliment. Several correspondents point out that the giant stadium where the University of Houston plays, actually belongs to the Rice Institute[!], which is smaller, older, and richer. For Your Information has nailed down the question of whether Air Force Lieutenant General Leon W. Johnson was wearing his Medal of Honour upside down for his Newsweek photo shoot: Yes, but not intentionally.
The Periscope reports that Ike is referring to himself as a one-term President, and expects Nixon to succeed him, although personally preferring Everett Dirksen. A McCarthy "spy" in the Administration was able to get away with passing on classified information the other day by threatening to denounce the superior who caught him at it as a "Communist." The network is calling itself "the Loyal American Underground," and its latest triumph is a discovery of a "flag" on General Telford Taylor's civil-service form, relating to Philip Young's appearance before McCarthy's committee somehow, the sentence isn't very clear. Democrats are upset that Tom Clark didn't come to Truman's assistance on the Harry Dexter White file. Perle Mesta might "turn political" due to being upset at the GOP for turfing her from the Luxembourg gig. Clarence Manion's report on state-Federal scholarships is expected to be a bombshell, calling for the end of all Federal aid to schools. He's also expected to get the next nomination to the Supreme Court. An unspecified law firm involved in an unspecified lawsuit going before the Supreme Court is afraid of being charged with conflict of interest, after Brownell and the FBI came sniffing around. US trade with Red China was actually more valuable than Britain's last year, with the difference that American trade was almost all imports, giving the Chinese valuable dollar earnings to spend. The Bermuda Conference has finalised the NATO rifle ammunition standard as the U.S. .30-calibre T-65 cartridge, because the British .280 is "inferior." Secretary Dulles was upset that the French delegation to Bermuda had more, smarter men than his, so he sent to Washington for Henry Byroade and Walter Robertson. Army reservists are going to be able to deduct their expenses, while the Air Force is getting rid of KP to keep more recruits. Russia is said to have 400 turboprop bombers which can reach US cities and return without refuelling. British agents in Hong Kong are convinced that the Red Chinese are getting ready to invade Formosa by first taking some 50 islands as "steppingstones." Princess Margaret has a way with a quip, Treasury Secretary Humphry is so taken with the phrase "habit of extravagance" that he's going to use it all the time in '54, people in Western Poland are resisting collectivisation with clever tricks. British-Iranian oil negotiations are under threat from the violent and fanatical followers of Mullah Kashani, who doesn't like the British. Why ever not!?
CBS is going to start a three hour morning news show starring Walter Cronkite to compete with David Garroway at NBC. Arthur Murray will pay the Marx brothers $35,00 each to reunite on his show. Charles Coburn is going to do a thirteen-episode TV film series based on A. J. Cronin stories about a country doctor, set and filmed in Britain. Samia Gamal will be in Valley of the Kings, Alec Guinness will play Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days, Elizabeth Taylor will be in F. Scott Fitzgerald's Babylon Revisited, Ava Gardner and Lana Turner will be rival TV newscasters in Intimate Friends. Where Are They Now reports that Edith (Mrs.) Wilson is living in retirement in Washington at 81, while Grace Coolidge is 74 and lives in Northampton, Massachusetts. Both women receive $5000 government pensions.
4/6 this week depending on an entry in the Coburn filmography. We've seen the Youtube clip of Gamal dancing in Valley of the Kings, so here she is from Zenobia instead.
National Affairs
"The Latest Look" The Defence cuts are supposed to hold uniformed strength to 3.1 million, hold defence spending under $40 billion, and a a better (the Super Sabre makes 700mph!) and bigger Air Force.
"Arabic Ears Are Long" Did you know that there is an Arab-American community in Michigan? Newsweek listens to Lebanese foreign student Maurice Zakhem, who was denounced as pro-Israel in Lebanon based on comments reported back to family by "an American girl of Lebanese descent." This doesn't sound good!
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International
"Dulles on Europe's Future: EDC or U.S. 'Reappraisal'" Dulles is hoping that Europeans are harder to push around than McCarthy. Meanwhile, France something or other Russia. The peace talks in Panmunjom have broken off, which you might think would be bigger news than a quarter-column in the middle of the page, but we were the ones who broke off, so it's not that bad. And family visits to "pro-Red" UN POWs have been cancelled because the Reds might demand them for their POWs, and there are a lot of them. Pfc Richard H. Tenneson's mother travelled all the way to Korea to see him, and is very upset.
Selwyn Lloyd has a guest column/interview in which he tells America to "Face the Fact of Red China." That's nice, dear.
"What's Behind the Trade War with Canada?" Congress is out of control, and when Congress is out of control, it slaps random tariffs on imports; Canada exports lots of stuff to America. Thank you, I just saved you a page of reading! (But not a headache over duties on lead and zinc exports from Trail.)
Business
The Periscope Business Trends reports that the recession that definitely wasn't going to happen is pretty mild and will probably be over by spring thanks to government action including a big tax cut. It turns out that deficits aren't a big deal and certainly don't cause inflation! Foreign tradewise, the big markets for next year are Canada, the Philippines, and South America, but watch out for Japanese and Soviet competition. 
"High Fidelity: Next Year a $300,000,000 Industry" About a million Americans will buy $70 million in high fidelity equipment this year, rising to the quoted figure next year, says Henry G. Baker of the Radio Corporation of America. While no-one can agree on what hi-fi is, it has to capture the 30 to 15,000Hz variation of orchestra instruments compared with the 100 to 6000Hz of the average radio phonograph. Hi-fi has been around since the Thirties when it was developed for the movie industry, but has become a major market with the return of electronics-savvy GIs from the war. Companies like Radio Shack have seen sales increases of 15--20% this year, with speakers, amplifiers and tuners going for up to $350 ($550 for speakers), record players up to $125, and cabinets for as much as $850. The recording industry hopes for a similar boom in record sales, and so do FM radio stations. While some say that this is just frustrated money waiting for the advent of the colour television, others hope that the industry has legs.
Speaking of everyone getting mean with their money, unions are fighting over just how loyal employees have to be to their boss. (You can't fire Studebaker employees for driving GM cars, but you can fire them for picketing to protest the quality of the company's offerings), and freshman Senator Kennedy of Massachusetts is taking the fight for fair business practices to the South, which is luring plants from New England with tax subsidies. Lockheed Aircraft in Marietta, Georgia, is hiring blind people to do blind people jobs like salvaging small parts, and air conditioning companies are selling air conditioners, which makes sense!
Notes: Week in Business reports that "Widely circulated but scientifically inconclusive research on the relationship of smoking cigarettes and lung cancer" caused a brief dip in tobacco stocks on Wall Street, while this year's Collier Trophy went to Leonard S. Hobbs, the principal developer of the J57. Union Pacific is introducing 5 Challenger streamline trains on the Chicago-LA route, and Philco is entering the washing machine line by taking over Dexter Co., of Fairfield, Illinois. GM's new cars are nice, but, uhm, voluptuous. 
Products: What's New In-Furn-O has an igniter that can be sprinkled on coal or even firewood and garbage fires to improve ignition. Jamestown Corporation's "protean office" can be assembled from wood, steel, and glass partitions with a screwdriver. Edco's delayed-timer switch for auto lights will let you get from the car to the house at night before the headlights die. Towmotor of Cleveland's special mast allows loads to be lifted up to 18ft from the beds of trucks. D and D Specialty Company has a contour chair for kids, who obviously need the most exacting lumbar support for their reclining needs. As opposed to being able to fall asleep on a bed of nails any time you don't want them sleeping.
Which brings me to this week's Business Tides. I bet you're wondering what Henry has to say about the recession he did his best to bring on. That's right, you keep on wondering, you crazy kid, because he's going to spend the column explaining how our labour laws have gone wrong since 1863.
Science, Medicine, Education
"Voyage of the Baird" The Spencer F. Baird, an oceangoing tug commissioned by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, not only charted the Emperor Seamount chain more accurately with a new depth sounder, investigated the Kuriosho and Oyashi currents, and poked around the deadly Miojinsho water volcano, but nearly persuaded the emperor of Japan to run away to the sea with them during a presentation. (Not that the poor man needs much prompting, probably.)
Science Notes of the Week checks in with Howard T. Orville of the new Presidential committee on the weather. It turns out that Orville is keeping in touch with the mad scientist crowd, including some "American scientists" who envision using cloud-seeding as a weapon of weather warfare, inflicting terrifying droughts on the Reds, who, being downwind, would have a hard time retaliating. Also in mad, George Hunsdorfer of Seattle has told has told a meeting of Pacific Northwest apiarists that a good dose of laughing gas is ideal for mind-controlling bees. The two scientists who knocked out the last props of the Piltdown Man hoax have shown that, if not the bones, the flint chips found with them were artificially aged with chromate.
"The Mettle in Men" The results of the Navy's simulated study of nuclear submarine service are in. It turns out that mature men are good, and you select for that by picking candidates who don't move around a lot and have bank accounts. Also, they have psychological tests. There are flu vaccines now.
Medical Notes reports that there are B12 inhalers to treat pernicious anemia now, which is definitely better than intramuscular shots. Gastric cancer patients have twice the five year survival rate of ten years ago thanks to gastroenterological surgery, and Bonamine seems like a pretty good motion sickness drug.
"Billions Aren't Enough" The new Commissioner of Education, Samuel Miller Brownell, points out that enrollment is skyrocketing, desegregation may break the back of public education in the South, and Congress thinks that somehow now is the time to cut the budget of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. He has no time for opposition to desegregation, "progressive" education, draft deferments, or attacks on teacher loyalty. He's for better teacher training and more Federal aid to the states. Sounds pretty sensible for this Administration, but he's the Attorney General's brother, so maybe that explains it!
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| Acee Blue Eagle, Untitled |
Art, Press, Radio-Television, Newsmakers
Thomas Gilcrease is a mild-mannered Oklahoma oil millionaire who is 1/16th Creek, and therefore collects Indian art philanthropically. Acee Blue Eagle is pictured with Gilcrease, but, unusually for the feature, there are no art photos. It does seem to be the case that Gilcrease has a museum that charges admission and that he is negotiating with towns for a bond issue to cover the cost of relocating here. And, given the tone of the article, it falls under my disapproving glare as partaking in the advertorial line of things. But if he is paying good money for "Indian" art, that's a good thing!
"Battle of the Networks" The networks are locked in deadly battle! Garroway versus Godfrey! Red Skelton versus Milton Berle! Joan Davis versus My Little Margie! It's very exciting, unless you're ABC. Also, the reason that Ed Sullivan is still on TV is that he is very, very good at picking acts. TVs are showing "ghosts" due to cathode tube burns, which isn't news, but the effects on some kids of seeing Francey Lane burned into a screen during Ding Dong School apparently are.
Senator McCarthy, the first successfully-separated conjoined twins (Nancy and Ellen of Cleveland, no last names, please but pictures are fine), Dorothy Lamour, Kay Williams, and Arthur Godfrey are in the column because they are famous. Pamela Martin is in it for a world-record round-the-world commercial airline trip. Samia Gamal and Sonja Henie are in it because their divorces are news. Anthony Zilbauer and the Greenlease killers (and ransom stealer) are in the news because they are very bad people.
The New Pictures
The New Pictures
Books
We've already had a taste of Holmes Alexander's Tomorrow's Air Age, in the form of the notice about "ionic" engines, which achieve a far higher specific impulse than chemical rockets by accelerating heavy ions with electrical motors, but which are super-duper secret. There is also the possibility of a solar "sail," and the unlikeliness of commercial rocket planes considering just how uncomfortable it is to be rocketed aloft and to fly at the edge of outer space. We're told that Air Force recruiting is in decline, that so are engineering enrollments, that a jet plane puts out enough heat to "kill a fur-bearing animal" warming up, that a Comet's noise creates a "disturbance zone" for 25 miles, that the noise from planes might be enough to knock down buildings one day, that parachutes are "out of date," being replaced by capsules, that in the future air passengers might be kept drugged for easy handling. Passenger jet helicopters are on the way, personal airplanes will be as common as cars in 1990, and that 5000mph airliners are seven years away. Uhm, okay.
Clarence Tracy's The Artificial Bastard: A Biography of Richard Savage makes Other Books, as well as Charles Bracelen's new novel, James Street's Civil War memoir, James Hanley's"macabre" new novel, which is different from a regular novel, I guess; and a pictorial history of the automobile by Philip Van Doren Stern. Jealous of the attention, Ray Moley turns his Perspectives column into a review of a new biography of Robert LaFollette. It turns out that the life of the Great Reformer shows that McCarthy isn't as bad as all that.
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| Eisenhower has finally hired someone vaguely competent. Does that count as news? |
"Washington Staff" are credited with this week's Washington Roundup, which reports that, well, nothing of very much relevance in the grand scheme of things.
"Study Favours One Regulatory Body" Dr. Robert L. Johnson of Temple University has led a survey that recommends combining the CAB and the CAA. There are some more fiddly details, but that's the gist of it. Rumours of a PAA-NWA merger are denied. Leonard Hobbs' Collier Trophy is mentioned.
"U.S. Jetliners" Skipping a lot of stuff about regulatory frameworks (and Los Angeles Airways starting an Air Express service, which wasn't what they were already doing somehow), we come to the Flight Safety Foundation's recommendation at its annual conference in San Bernardino that we should have another look at commercial jet turbine safety. Generally. And the Rotterdam Helicopter Syndicate is planning to build a helicopter industry in Rotterdam, because that's something you can just whistle up.
What's New reviews the DoAll Corporation's Science of Precision Measurement, which explores the use of wavelengths of light as the basis of precision measurement nowadays and gets down to the details of the design of optical equipment. Puritan Compressed Air, American Optical, John R. Cassell, Plastics, Incorporated, Southco, and many others have catalogs, manuals, and even "folders" out. Optical comparators, and optical references for three-dimensional drafting seem interesting this week. And since the feature has some extra space, we get a Publications Received section to describe another eight books received, including one on tax planning, Keyhoe on flying saucers, and Kenneth Gatland on Space Travel.
"Details of Fairchild Jet Transport" We've already heard about the M-187 in Flight, but I can't recall if that article mentioned the proposed $1.7 million price. It does note industry objections to the small passenger complement, high tail, and problematic fuel storage next to the engines. The crew, and, to a lesser extent, passengers are also an awfully long way from the centre of gravity, which will cause discomfort in bad weather.
Philip Klass reports for Avionics that "New Coupler Expands Autopilot Utility" UAL's DC-7s will be equipped with a Sperry radio coupler with automatic features and expanded ILS capability to allow the planes to fly the Victor omniranges up to fifty times more closely. (In other words, the autopilot will weave around less.) The automatic features turn on the localiser as soon as the plane enters the beam, and puts the plane nose down as soon as it intersects the glide slope. The coupler is needed along with the localiser because the coupler tends to overcontrol as it approaches the source of the beam (usually the destination airfield.) There is also a "magnetic beam" to provide heading, which may be different from a magnetic compass, and it also gives the autopilot a heading to follow when it enters the "zone of confusion," that is, when it reaches the source of a given VOR range and, instead of landing, crosses over it into another range.
Well, that was a bit short, and we've a bit to go to the next feature, so here's a brochure from Winslow, Incorporated, about its new lab tools, probably only here because Filter Centre came in late after the Christmas party and can only manage to bang out three bits, about the new AEEC secretary, Airtron's new waveguide handbook/catalogue, and a "Glide Slope Test Set" from Boonton Radio. Also, Stanford is buying a new MW antenna on top of Hollywood hill (and the company that owns it) to facilitate all the things that the Stanford Research Institute is doing with its existing radios. (Spying on Marilyn Monroe? Sending the details of numbered Swiss bank accounts back to Formosa? I got nothing.)
George L. Christian reports for Equipment that "Sensor Controls Airflow, Liquid Level" Detect-a-Flow is based on the Thermoswitch, from Fenwal. It's a thermocouple that picks up changes in airflow because they are thermodynamically related to temperature. But the fine details that make the design so accurate are worth at least five pages of filler between the ads.
New Aviation Products reports that Shur-Lock has a keen new fastener, while United-Carr Fastener has a damper for fasteners. Globe Industries has a mini-electric motor that is even smaller and more responsive than the one from two paragraphs/pages/issues ago. Dow Corning is obviously out to find the shame point of the feature by letting us know about its new silicon glue. Too late, the column has already done boxes! Van Straaten paid extra for its own headers about a liquid aluminum cleaner, and Rubber Teck for its ducting, while sad little Skydrol and Stillman Rubber don't pay up and get pushed down below Also on the Market. Speaking of embarrassment, Sabena is not afraid to mention that it is cancelling the latest hair-brained rooftop heliport scheme, Captain Robson is by with a new Cockpit Viewpoint Christmas story in lieu of even more advertorial content, which is the best Christmas present in this issue. Robert H. Wood's Editorial explains that if Admiral Radford says that airpower is keen, airpower sure is keen! And the best way to keep Our Airpower aside from investing in airpower) is to do something about the poor feeder airlines, which can't seem to make money, which is Congress' fault for legislating them into existence in the first place.
Letters
Joseph Korkin of Shenectady asks who designed the Winter White House. It was Eves and Stubb, of Atlanta. Two correspondents liked the article about the Austen Riggs Centre. Jack Webster writes to tell a personal memory of one time some other person said something about Eisenhower. Burr Tillstrom liked his reviews. Edward Megay and Sergeant Kenneth F Story write (Storey auf Deutsch) that that East German newspaper isn't calling Marilyn Monroe an "artistic," but an "artificial" star.
Nanette Fabray is being courted by CBS, while two networks are trying to sign Marlene Dietrich. New shows are being built around Jo Stafford, Benny Goodman, and the Andrews sisters, while Jerry Colonna is working on a sit-com, and NBC will be moving some of its biggest shows to Chicago and Miami to free up studio space. The success of Crazylegs is likely to lead to more sports bio films, starting with Bob Mathias. Julius de La Rosa is likely to get a one-picture deal with Columbia, opposite Rosemary Clooney. Where Are They Now tracks down Theda Bara, gardening at her Hollywood home, because, at 63, she is retired. So is Colleen Moore, who is active in Chicago-area charities.
3/6: Periscope is on a roll!
Periscope Washington Trends reports that the President is a middle-of-the-road President! Democrats, who are angry at the attempt to paint the entire party as un-American, will push back, by Lyndon Johnson in the house and Southern senators Albert Gore, Mike Monroney, and John McClellan.
National Affairs
"First, Short Step to Peace?" The Russians are ready to talk, so maybe!
"Mr. Republican" The President has invited all the Republican leaders to talks at the White House and has sworn them to secrecy about the talks until the Administration talks are done, and consequently he is the only Republican talking right now, which, Ernest K. Lindley says, means that he is "dominating Washington." Good to know!It's all so important and vital that by the time Newsweek is done with it it is already time to move on to the crime stories that usually end National Affairs, because, honestly, who is going to care about a mass escape from Southern Michigan Prison or "off-beat, thick-lensed intellectual type" Harlow Fraden poisoning his parents in fifty years? Oh, and in case you thought that was subtle, Fraden was planning a "gay life in Paris."
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| There are two different versions of the story in the linked website, one with conspicuously less Hayward in it. Also, Lieutenant Keenand was still in residency at the time, had two children, and there is no mention of his wife having already lost four children. |
"Washington: Under Alteration" The original Republican intention to fire all the Democrats in government because they're communists and also revenge has gone slightly to the wayside once it was realised that they were causing a recession in Washington, where the Republicans are also making waves by pressing ahead with desegregation. Also there is probably going to be some slum clearance soon.
Telford Taylor gets a guest column/interview to "answer McCarthy." McCarthy has not found a single witness from Fort Monroe who will invoke the Fifth Amendment; he is conducting hearings without the press, then giving his summary of the testimony in exclusive press conferences, which is just ridiculous; and he has not been able to explain his original statements about a "flag" on Taylor's file. McCarthy has not subpoenaed Taylor, in spite of threatening to do so, and speaking of "flags," let's hear about the Senator's file!
"You Need An Elephant's Hide" Ambassador Dean explains the breakdown in talks at Panmunjom, but not why Secretary Dulles decided that a senior partner at Sullivan and Cromwell with no diplomatic experience was the right man to head the talks.
Business
The Periscope Business Trends reports that the Federal Reserve is going to continue its easy money policy until the recession that isn't happening is over. If you're worried about the not-happening recession (the latest news is that the concrete industry is pulling back and that unsold televisions are a drug on the market), The Periscope assures us that easy money is most effective in January because the banks are flush with money to lend.
Notes: Week in Business reports that another government board or panel is reminding us that tariffs are stupid. Shoe companies and nonskeds are among the new merger partners this week. American Woollen shareholders will vote on closing 11 of the company's 23 plants. Several national stock exchanges will stay open on Lincoln's Birthday, Columbus Day, and Armistice Day this year. Philadelphia's new airport terminal is pretty swank, and Robert G. LeTourneau is a missionary and he makes bulldozers! The fact that he has to do his missioning in Liberia makes me wonder about the success rate of missionaries, but what do I know? It's only been an American colony for 130 years, which is hardly time for a few Bibles to work! 
Products: What's New reports that Avco Manufacturing has refrigerators with cold water taps on the doors, General Cable's compressed magnesium-oxide electrical cables are guaranteed nonflammable, New Holland Machine's new tractor rake is the gentlest leaf raker yet, while Sonotone's new storage battery, previously only available to the military, is half the size and has five times the life of a conventional lead-acid storage battery.
This is definitely the week that Henry Hazlitt apologises for his recession --no, sorry, Business Tides complains about picketing some more.
Science, Medicine
"How Fast is Fast" The (incredibly obnoxious) Chuck Yeager gets some long-yearned for press by flying the X-1A quite fast. Someone in Utah has Newsweek's number, as Archie L. Christiansen gets in the paper for fifty years of promoting scientific farming in north Utah. 
"The Mysterious Enzymes" A team of scientists at the University of Utah led by Dr. Emil L. Smith have a theory that the rare condition called glycogen storage disease is caused by a problem with the enzymes that break down glycogen, which leads Smith to suppose to Newsweek that many hereditary diseases are related to enzymes, and that understanding these mysterious chemicals will lead to cures for diabetes, muscular dystrophy, gout, some forms of bone disease, schizophrenia, "some forms of cancer," blindness, deafness, gout, the dancing sickness, leprosy, and mild cases of death. I made up a surprisingly small number of the items on that list, by the way. Newsweek went to see a presentation to anaesthesiologists about "The First Hour of Life," in which they learned that you have to be very careful with anaesthetics in child birth because they can easily kill the baby. The details involved an X-ray film showing the rapid rush of blood into the baby's lung at their first breath, so there's some science involved in the story. Over in Cincinnati, another New York doctor, obstetrician Dr. Carl Javert, told a conference that spontaneous abortions may be caused, in part, by stress and worry, and recommends the obvious solution, which turns out to be vitamins, and not more money. (I know people worry about other things, but!)
Radio-Television, Newsmakers
"Colour, Yet No Colour" The FCC has given final approval to colour television broadcasting using the compatible-colour system championed by RCA and NBC. Now there's a new competition, as CBS and NBC rush to put more colour television broadcasts on the air. The only, tiny little problem is that there are only a "trickle" of colour televisions on the market. The President is depositing on off his video appearances in the national archives, and has established that they can be quoted without previous approval. The White House is still looking for an appropriate format for televised press conferences. And in news that no-one but me cares about, Athlyn Deshais (from Chicago, so no making fun of her name!) of The Daily News is going to crown Chicago's new "queen" on the basis of an open reader's ballot: Will it be Mrs. Chauncey McCormick, Mrs. Edward L. Ryerson, or some dark horse? I'm breathless with anticipation. No, actually. I am! Paul Clifford Smith is a west coast newsman.
Danny Kaye, Jacques Monard, Marlene Dietrich, Frank Erickson, Fulton Sheen, the "uraniumaires," and The Women's Home Companion's "six most successful women of the last year" get in the column for being famous, Giovanni Papini for being vehemently suspected of heresy. ("Universalism," if you were wondering. Just the word sounds Communistic!) The women are Marianne Moore, Mary Pillsbury Loris, Mildred Carlson Ahlgren, Dr. Frances Horwich, Peggy Wallace, and Dr. Helene Wallace of the Sloan-Kettering Institute.
Gordon Dean, who is somehow only 47, has remarried. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, George White, Isabella Greenway King, and Dr. Robert Milliken have all died, in a very prominent section of Transitions compared with the usual "Died" paragraph. Lois McCaskill is inheriting the oil fortune of her long-divorced husband after all, the courts decided.
The cover story, about Norman Vincent Peale, which is in Religion, which I never cover, and I'm not starting now! I'm sorry. I mean, I'm POSITIVE I'm not starting now.
The New Films
Miss Sadie Thompson is the latest interpretation of the play of the short story (Somerset Maugham!!!) to be a movie, from Columbia, with Rita Hayworth playing Sadie this time around. It's been banned in Memphis, Tennessee, so they're doing something right. Probably not the movie, though. From jolly old comes The Passionate Sentry, which fails to keep the "British comedy" streak alive. Fox gives us Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, a cinematic treasure from Cinemascope with a story involving a fairly long list of consecutive male leads and a barely mentioned Terry Moore.
We'll skip Books this week, which is entirely devoted to the cocktail parties in New York and Chicago where books are sold; and we always skip Ray Moley, this time on about Edmund Burke along the traditional "I am not a stupid reactionary, I read a philosopher once --well, Edmund Burke-- and here are my deep thoughts about him." Thanks, I've hear it from B. and as low as my opinion of that man-boy stands, he's at least smart enough to read Burke and not rush on to some bog standard "Ooh, government bad!" bullshit. Hey, Ray, Gladstone wasn't a desegregationist. You can relax!
Aviation Week, 28 December 1953
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| You could have had a Britannia. If the Proteus had been any better than the Turbo-Compound, that is. |
Katherine Johnsen's Washington Roundup reports that airpower advocates on the Hill like Stuart Symington are still pushing, that the machine tool reserve is still lagging, that the Office of Defence Mobilisation has no time for the Air Force's titanium production expansion programme, that Senators McCarran and Edwin Johnson will have civil aviation in their sights when Congress resumes, that the Budget Bureau is still pushing for programme cuts, that the USAF is not getting civil air defence, amd guided missiles are still a muddle.
Aviation Week has "U.S. Unveils New Defensive Missile System" Once again scooped by Newsweek, we hear about the Army's radar beam-riding Nike missile. With a range of only 18 miles it is not going anywhere, but that doesn't mean the Army won't build it anyway,, because it is the best continental air defence system we have. Also filed under slightly dubious are William B. Stout's plan to revive the Ford trimotor, and confirmation from Edwards that Yeager's 1650mph flight mainly proves how much research is needed before we have a real 1000mph plane.
President Eisenhower's address to the Wright Jubilee celebrations said that airpower is great. General Doolittle made word sounds. Glenn L. Martin promises "25,000mph interstellar space ships and giant 200 passenger jet liners." Also, atomic planes, all regional and feeder services by helicopter, flying boat jetliners, fully automatic airliners, and air tickets cheaper than busses and trains. Billy Parker (Pilot Certificate 44) remembers the old days, before the war. The one thing we can all agree on, General Doolittle points out, is that Communism is bad. The F4D is trying for the Canberra height record. Mergers everywhere! The Convair R3Y-1 Tradewinds is undergoing its first flight tests. Now. Today. December 1953. So even though you probably remember the Sister talking about the Tradewind in nursery school, this is when it is happening. The new Brantly helicopter is flying. Eddie Rickenbacker is looking at Piasecki helicopters for a requirement for 40--50 passengers flying at 200mph for local services, predicting copter services flying 5--6 million passengers on inter-city flights by 1960. Atlas has told the CAB that the recent sale of 5 Convair 240s to Northeast Airlines was in no way a stock swindle to transfer Post Office money to Convair and cover the cost of Convairliner tooling. The RCAF is building an atom-bomb proof concrete warehouse at RCAF Downsview, while TWA's Super-Connies are flying LA-New York just as fast as American DC-7s if not faster, with only one engine failure so far.
Aeronautical Engineering has "Martin Viking Engineer Presents: A Guide to High-Altitude Rocket Design"
Our Correspondent at Martin-Viking (Richard C. Lea) points out that the engineering is hard. If just 100lbs of the Martin-NLR Viking could be shifted from structure to propellant, peak altitude would be increased by 10 miles! The rocket, nine of which have been fired off in the "past several years," is powered by a 20,000lb alcohol/liquid oxygen engine. It is 42ft long, 45" diameter. Tankage is now integral to the structure instead of in separate pressure vessels, like in the V-2. Material is mostly aluminum alloy with some steel and magnesium. We get a rundown on the Loading conditions (flight and ground) as design criteria, fatigue loads, since the rockets are tested many times before launching, deflection loading, and the problem of smoothing out axial acceleration so that the instruments can function properly without being tossed around by surges. Despite that, internal deflections can occur, producing noise in the directional gyros which cannot always be avoided. Instrument designers also have to worry about proximity to a burning rocket engine, and the rocket designer may be called in to help. Temperature variation also leads to length changes, which are a problem from multiple perspectives. So is flame resistance. Aluminum works well for the rocket right now, but magnesium, steel, impregnated cloth, plastics, titanium, and ceramics all have potential. Fins are fine for the aerodynamicist but very hard to design, and Lea would like to get rid of them. Finally, given all the constraints, Lea emphasises that it is vital to get all the bits right. It turns out that rocket science is hard!
Our Correspondent at Martin-Viking (Richard C. Lea) points out that the engineering is hard. If just 100lbs of the Martin-NLR Viking could be shifted from structure to propellant, peak altitude would be increased by 10 miles! The rocket, nine of which have been fired off in the "past several years," is powered by a 20,000lb alcohol/liquid oxygen engine. It is 42ft long, 45" diameter. Tankage is now integral to the structure instead of in separate pressure vessels, like in the V-2. Material is mostly aluminum alloy with some steel and magnesium. We get a rundown on the Loading conditions (flight and ground) as design criteria, fatigue loads, since the rockets are tested many times before launching, deflection loading, and the problem of smoothing out axial acceleration so that the instruments can function properly without being tossed around by surges. Despite that, internal deflections can occur, producing noise in the directional gyros which cannot always be avoided. Instrument designers also have to worry about proximity to a burning rocket engine, and the rocket designer may be called in to help. Temperature variation also leads to length changes, which are a problem from multiple perspectives. So is flame resistance. Aluminum works well for the rocket right now, but magnesium, steel, impregnated cloth, plastics, titanium, and ceramics all have potential. Fins are fine for the aerodynamicist but very hard to design, and Lea would like to get rid of them. Finally, given all the constraints, Lea emphasises that it is vital to get all the bits right. It turns out that rocket science is hard!
"The Case for Constant-Speed Rotor" John Mazur of Doman explains why Doman's gimbaled rotor is just great and is better than all the other constant-speed hinged schemes. Speaking of helicopter entrepreneurs, Heinrich Focke is down in Rio working on a convertiplane. Stuck on the same page as these hucksters is a new plastic chemical filter from Porous Plastic Filter Company, Glen Cove, NY. Not on this page, but should be, is S. Tebbs Chichester's patent for a rooftop heliport. It's got cables and tackle for hauling the helicopters around, which apparently solves all the problems with the scheme.
Avionics is scooped on Volscan by Newsweek. Poor Philip Klass! At least he got to spend the afternoon with Phyllis Barnes, who gets no recognition from Aviation Week for her stellar sales job! He does, however, report that Volscan started out as a project for "three dimensional" radar, giving surveillance and height-finding in the same radar system. Automatic traffic control was added later, and proved easier to implement than 3D radar, which is still to be achieved.
Klass doesn't carry on long enough, Filter Centre is still hungover, so we fit in all the lab equipment from the competition this week. Filter is at least feeling up to five entries this week; Minneapolis Honeywell is setting up a jet flight centre, Stanford Research's subcontract to develop automation for avionics factories has a machine that can align and insert resistors onto circuit plates very accurately, Bendix has a new, premium vacuum tube, NBS has a tape resistor ideal for automated avionics factories, and they're sending Harold Talbott to Binghamton to "give a talk." He knows what he did!
Letters
Lieutenant Warde of the USAF has a good word for GCA. Howard Hasbrook and George Evan's have thoughts about "Designing for Safety," specifically cabin strength specifications. Several correspondents are upset about the "no raiding" covenant among aviation employers. John H. Wintersteen, PR for Kaiser Metals, points out that they have hardly anything to do with Uncle Henry these days, so don't think they do! T. P. Fox of Associated Airways really liked the article about Associated Airways.
The McGraw-Hill Linewide Editorial explains "What Are Profits Used For?" Investment! So they're good, and you poor people should just shut up!
From Air Transport, a precis of Miles Thomas' annual financial report for BOAC that notes major savings from retiring the Hermes and replacing it with DC-4Ms, which have high profitability.
Captain Robson is on the hook for a second Cockpit Viewpoint in the back end of the month because all the staffers are off for Christmas. Since he can probably drop it off at the office and slink away and unnoticed for the same reason, he drops a little bomb: "More on Lost Airplanes," which complains that far too many light plane pilots are taking off in winter conditions in which no-one in their right mind should be flying, and he calls for some rules. Wood, on the other hand, isn't going to touch a typewriter (or more likely, dictaphone) over the holidays, so as sometimes happens, a second Letter column occupies the last page. A. Carlton Smith points out that the Comet 3 cannot be seen in the open, and Nat concedes the point. The tail wasn't poking out when he visited Hatfield. He was invited to poke his nose in. J. V. Micchio of Curtis-Wright's flight simulator side liked the article about safety through flight simulation. Richard Gompertz, chief of rockets at Edwards, writes to correct a misspelled name, about which he might know a thing or two, although he is writing on behalf of a subordinate! James F. Scheer of North American also has a correction: there is no such thing as "titanium-magnesium." Aviation Week's article about the Air Force's Runway Arresting Gear elicits angry letters from Navy men about it being just a redesigned "Davis Barrier" and no grand invention; and from C. Dreyfuss, "L'Ingenieur des Ponts et Chaussees, Chef de la Section Documentation et Etudes Scientifique," to the effect that the French are working on something similar, and if it is not secret, he would be interested in getting more information.
I don't know if Richard Gompertz the rocket scientist is related to Richard Gompertz the piano composer, and I am not sure why Youtube directs searches for Gompertz to Richard Clayderman and Richard Glazier, but it's not like these guys get a lot of publicity for their hard work, so here it is for what it is.
The Engineer, 18--25 December 1953
(Not) The Seven-Day Journal reports that it went to see a nice film, "Flight, The Story of the Century," is sad to report the death of Charles Grey Grey (which is a real name?), "which occurred suddenly after his arrival at an Admiralty reception." Heart attack. AHEM. He was editor of The Aeroplane from 1911 to 1939, and of Jane's All The World's Aircraft from 1916, and has been the aviation correspondent of various papers since he was turfed from the editorial offices by his syndicate in 1939, and that is it for C. G. Grey at The Engineer. (Flight's obituary dwells on what a nice and engaging man he was in person.) The University of Nottingham just got a giant cheque from the Cripps family to start an Institue of metallurgy, Parliament has passed a bill allowing the Board of Trade to give would-be inventors money to invent, which can't possibly go wrong. The "Road Haulage Disposal Board's" report is out. It doesn't seem to be about garbage trucks, but it's hard to tell from the text, which is all about the "disposal" of "property." I think maybe HMG has gotten into the used truck business? Speaking of, the British Agricultural Engineers heard a nice talk about "fertiliser distributors" last week.
For Christmas week, we hear about some awards for industry worthies, concerns about whether there is enough credit available for shipbuilders, the British Productivity Council throws itself a party, which isn't much fun because British hosts are all unionised and won't work very hard, the report on rail accidents in 1953 passes in a blur of statistics, Mr. MacMillan explained in the house that pollution in the Thames has complex causes, and that fundamental research needs to be done, which will then be applicable to other rivers. The Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation offered a blizzard of reasons for why there is not more work being done on British roads against Ellis Smith, arguing for the Opposition for a fundamental programme starting in industrial areas, especially "if road transport is to be allowed to move cargo."
Iron and Steel Institute this week has "A Symposium on Sinter, part III," which heard papers on sintering as both a physical and chemical process, and is now well along into the discussion. The major issue coming from these papers is the progression of sintering with time, which seems to be cumulative, allowing for the rate of air flow, and so of fan power, to be reduced in the early stages of sintering, and leading on to another session hearing papers on the rate of sintering and the effects of permeability of sinter beds on the rate of air flow. It is a serious matter, since currently there is installed capacity for over 5 million tons of sintered iron, with the total to rise to 8 million tons by 1956. This is a huge change in blast furnace practice and leads to much discussion of the ideal form of sintering beds.
T. C. Angus, "Industrial Hygiene Engineering" Keeping factories clean is important to the workers, and engineers have to be trained to do it.
"Mahandi Valley Development (By Our Indian Correspondent" India's Five Year Plan allocates £461 million to irrigation and power projects, and one of these involves drainage along the Mahanadi River, which on the basis of the sketch map seems to be an inland basin drained by a river cutting through a coastal mountain range into the Bay of Bengal. There is a near ideal location for a really big dam to take care of the entire flood/drought problem with a giant reservoir and it will also generate 48 MWh of electricity. The article gives a detailed treatment of the runoff and impoundment issues. Part II, Christmas week, discusses the building of the recently completed Hirakud Dam.
"Australian Secondary Industries" Secondary industries are more important than ever for Australia today, which is why the hydroelectric power generated by the Murray Basin project is good for a steel rollig plant here and a wire drawing plant there.
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| By Neil Muir - Emailed to the uploader by the author, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29279632 |
F. H. S. Brown, "Semi-Outdoor Power Station at Ince" Building the plant "semi-"outdoors according to methods developed in the American South (I see no problem!) may save as much £1 per kWh. Semi-outdoor construction is also expected to speed construction, although the author checks the figures. The article comes up a bit short for word count, evidently, amazing considering how long it is, so The Engineer sticks a retrospective of the early October ruling against GE in the "U.S Electric Lamp Trust Case" in at the end of the page. Which, trust me, doesn't even scratch the surface.
Leaders
The Engineer believes that aviation is a good thing. J. E. Holton's talk on engine noise to the Diesel Engines Users Association is worth mentioning because it proves that noise, while a nuisance, is also complicated. Letters gets stuck into the question(s?) of locomotive valve gears with five letters, and then on top of that gives space to W. L. Lowe-Brown on "Shaft Sinking Accidents" and O. S. Nock on [SNORE locomotives SNORE]. Two engineering practice textbooks, on preparing for the National Certificate in Production Engineering and instruments, get short notices. G. W. Tripp goes down to Southampton to look at two steam tugs. Advertorials for a heavy duty mercury switch contactor from Londex, an aluminum boat(!) and a magnetic brake for electrical motors from Brook Motors makes up a page, followed by Kenneth R. Evans on "Practical Training in Industry for the Graduate in Mechanical Engineering." British Standards lays down the law for cast iron flanged pipe and flanged fittings this week, followed by a much more substantial and significant advertorial for two-stroke marine diesels from Gebr. Storck and Company of Holland. They decided on two-stroke working to use high viscosity oil and to produce exhaust gas hot enough to operate auxiliaries, which sounds like a terrible idea to me due to corrosion, but what do I know? Etc. Dow Corning must agree because it does the same thing to The Engineer as it did to Aviation Week, paying it (I assume) to run a long advertorial on silicon rubber in the spirit of throw-a-quarter-in-the-gutter-and-see-who-fishes-it-out. Unless they're serious? Armstrong-Whitworth's new induction wind tunnel leads off four short advertorials that are beyond me to summarise, and poor R. F. Sims gets his "Wear of Carbon Brushes at High Altitude" research paper buried at the end of editorial for 18 December!
In Christmas Week The Engineer noticed the railway wages dispute again and checked in with King's College scientists who are trying to get rid of London smogs with cloud seeding. Does it work, well, no. But it might! And it would be a lot easier than stopping all of that coal burning! Literature reviews Alfred W. Bruce, The Locomotive in America: Its Development in the Twentieth Century, taking a good two columns to explain why it didn't like it, which is because [SNORE]. Letters is not done with locomotive valve gears. Not done at all. J. R. Patterson, Commander (E), ret., writes to point out the shortage of naval engineering officers, which is because they are not being promoted (especially from Commander to Captain) at nearly the rate they should be. The Chartered Mechanical Engineer writes to point out that it is a magazine now.
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| By RuthAS for Wikipedia |
"'Sherpa' Tailless Aircraft" Short's Sherpa "small-scale tailless aircraft," built to test "the properties of an aero-isoclonic wing" is described.
Lord Sempill, "Productivity: Are We On The Right Track?" Is the tack blaming low wages on workers not working hard enough? Then yes, we are! Lord Sempill points us towards newer and better ways of blaming, mainly involving comparing apples and oranges. (If Canadians can load a thousand tons of iron ore in an hour, why can we only load 10 tons of general cargo?)
Fairbairn Lawson Combes is going to sue The Engineer for putting "Shell Moulding Machine" below the fold and the one about the x-ray machine in a car above. It has a picture of a comely lad in overalls and everything!
G. J. Pearlman, "Practical Applications of the New British Standards System of Limits and Fits" The author explains how, say, a grinding machine, can be set to work to the new system etc. Five pages! With a statistical analysis of "hole-basis clearance." Maybe that's when bolt holes don't quite line up? And maybe it's not! The Fire Protection Year Book is out. 
Industrial and Labour Notes for the 18th updates the tortuous story of engineering wages, reports that the British work force is up by 23,000 (6000 men, 17000 women) to 23,506,000, while unemployment is up to 323,000. Trade figures are good, and the Coal Board is showing a profit before interest on debt. A railway wage dispute is on Christmas week we're on about railway wages, looking at the TUC's bellybutton, noting a decline in infra-sterling zone trade, and quoting Sir Bernard[!] of BSA's annual speech on the subject of getting rid of government controls to bring in a new age of prosperity,. Three Launches and Trial Trips for the 18th, two steam, one motorship, all tankers; five for the 25th, three steam ships, two motor ships, with all steam ships being tankers, all motor ships being general cargo.
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| MV British Corporal leaves Belfast, 1954. Courtesy of https://www.shipsnostalgia.com/media/british-corporal.443493/ |
Christmas week sees coverage of the Second Conference on Aircraft Production by the Institution of Production Engineers, held the previous weekend. G. H. Dowty explains the fundamental problem as one of finding cheaper machining methods to produce the thin skins and heavy structural members required for modern high speed wings. The Americans are building large skin milling machines at a cost of £100,000 to £150,000, a troubling outlay especially when a changeover from steel to titanium might be imminent. The Americans are developing the German trend to use large forging presses to save machining costs, which, he says quite incorrectly, the Germans started. He is right that the Germans built the first 15,000lb press, and were working on a 33,000lb press at the end of the war, and now the Americans are working on a 50,000lb press, and by gosh we need one too! It seems that one would likely cost around £2.25 million. Meanwhile, copy machining, controlled elecronically or by steel templates, is advancing by leaps and bounds, and electronic tracers controlled by numeric data entered by tape would be even better. Integral milling seems to be better than American skin milling; polishing machines are great. Conventional vertical and horizontal mills might benefit from numerical control, too.
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| "Tiltman" is a funny name in this context |
Metallurgical Topics has precis of papers on cemented tungsten carbide for bearings, notched tensile tests, oxidation hardening, a precis of an entire conference proceedings on "the rarer earths and metals," and an issue of the Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute that even the magazine gives up and describes as having "a large number of papers dealing with the heating and treatment of irons and steels." Then it takes a gulp of fortified coffee and soldiers on with one sentence summaries. In the tradition of extraction, I now summarise the sentences with one word each: Slack transition boron non-martensite nickel inclusions pearlite brittleness comparison tempering alloy grain "fish-scales" papers interstitial hypothesis commercial case-hardening nitriding carburised nitrogen ferrite dendritic. There! You're reading to start your own steel plant!
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