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Heroic Gunner’s Mate—Test Air Defense—U. S. Joins European Maneuvers—Caribbean Missile Range—Manpower Shortage
Great Britain.............................................................................................................................................. 954
Modernize CV’s—Amethyst Story—Amethyst Held—“Jet” Gunboat Test Cruise
USSR.................................................................................................................. 958
Far East Transportation System
Aircraft for Armored Units—“Zero Reader” Flight Instrument— Electronics in Airpower—First British Jet Bomber—Russian Fighter Crashes in Sweden-French Transport
Merchant Marine..................................................................................................................................... 964
Shipbu i 1 d ing Yards—Su bsidies
Atom Bomb Guesses—Improved Lifejacket
West Europe Maneuvers—Weather-Ships Relocated—Crisis Brews in Orient
UNITED STATES
Heroic Gunner’s Mate Protects Crew
N. Y. Times, June 4.—Seattle.—A chief gunner’s mate hurled a blazing 20 MM. shell magazine overboard from the Navy destroyer Maddox yesterday, preventing serious damage to his vessel and possibly saving the lives of several of her Naval Reserve crew.
The Maddox and her sister ship, the Moore, were holding target practice off Cape Flattery when a 20 MM. shell primer exploded aboard the Maddox. The magazine, set afire by the blast, was wrenched loose and thrown into the sea by Chief Gunner’s Mate Sammie T. Neel of San Diego.
D. A. Hanson, 21-year-old Naval Reserve seaman from Portland, was struck in the leg by the exploding primer. The Maddox returned under forced draft to Seattle. There Seaman Hanson was taken to the Bremerton Naval Hospital.
A piece of casing pierced his leg just above the knee. His condition was satisfactory today.
Chief Gunner’s Mate Neel, 33-year-old veteran of nine years’ Navy service, insisted today his action was not heroic.
“I just did what it says to do in the book,” he said. “I was on the other side of*the tub. I turned around and saw the magazine was afire. Next, thing I knew, I was running across the deck. The kid was sitting on the ready box clutching his leg. I saw the blood running through his fingers. That’s the first time a man’s ever been hurt on my gun.”
Chief Gunner’s Mate Neel said he had nothing to grab the magazine with “except my bare hands.”
“I started thinking about the rest of the ammo and that’s when my knees started shaking,” he asserted. “Finally, I banged it loose with the heel of my palm and tossed it over the side. Lucky I didn’t get anything except a few small burns.”
Testing Our Air Defenses
N. Y. Herald Tribune, May 30.-—Bombers, fighter planes and radar services have been joined for the last three weeks in tests around the country in “Operation Blackjack,” seeking to determine effectiveness of the nation’s defenses against air attack, it was revealed here today.
The operation is being directed by Major General Gordon P. Saville, commanding the Air Defense Command, with headquarters at Mitchell Field. General Saville earlier this year told a House of Representatives subcommittee, in successfully seeking legislation for a radar screen around North America, that the then existing warning system had been “almost a blank.”
In the current tests, Strategic Air Command heavy bombers—B-29s and B-50s, anywhere from single planes to a group of twelve or fifteen—start a flight without advance notice. They may make an eight- hour strike through the territory of various fighter groups in the Air Defense Command.
They may work out to sea, and then start inland, and it’s up to radar personnel to detect them. Then pursuit planes—like the 52d All-Weather Fighter Group’s F-80 and F-84 jet craft and the twin-engine F-82s here -—must see how fast they can take off and get up to intercept the simulated attackers.
There’s no firing in the tests, but all sides work out the theoretical casualties or effectiveness. Then the bombers may ride on up to Boston, probing efficiency of fighters from Otis Field, on Cape Cod; to Portland, Me., where Dow Field should intercept them, and so perhaps turn on another leg to Detroit, where jet fighters from Selfridge Field should be on the job. It’s a politely drawn-out course no war-time attack is ever likely to follow.
Success of the tests so far has not been announced. But it was reported here they would go on for a considerable period, and would be the first of a series covering a five- year expansion and development of the defense warning system.
Army and Air Force Join West Europe Combined Maneuvers
N. Y. Times, June 9.—Despite the fact that the United States Senate has not yet ratified the North Atlantic pact, it is planned that United States Air Force units, and a small detachment of United States Army ground forces will join with France, Britain and the Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg), in joint
military maneuvers during the latter part of September.
The maneuvers are to take place in the Moselle Valley between Coblenz and Metz. French ground and air forces, stationed both in France and in the French occupation zone of Germany, will participate.
British ground and air forces from the occupation zone in Germany as well as detachments from the United Kingdom will also take part. Units from Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg will participate, but will remain within the geographical frontiers of the Benelux coalition.
United States Air Force units from Germany will represent the main aerial contribution to the simulated operations. Furthermore, it was stated by highest French military sources that at least one battalion of motorized constabulary from the United States zone in Germany is expected to take part.
This represents not only the first complete military maneuvers on a joint basis by the Western Union powers—those that signed the Brussels Pact—but also the first large- scale international maneuvers in Europe in which the United States is taking part since the termination of World War II.
In 1948 the United States Air Force joined with Britain’s Royal Air Force in limited aerial maneuvers in the United Kingdom.
The September maneuvers are the first large-scale coordinated tests of the efficacy of the Western Union defense forces. They will follow sea and air maneuvers by the Brussels Pact nations beginning at the end of June, maneuvers in which some United States planes are taking part. The naval movements will be staged at that time between the Bay of Biscay and the English Channel.
The purpose of the September maneuvers, which will be the first test of preparations on which Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery’s Western Union headquarters in Fontainebleau have been working, will be to see how efficient Western Europe’s defenses now are against an air and ground attack through Germany.
The “enemy” offensive will start from the east bank of the Rhine near Coblenz and seek swift penetration of Luxembourg and northeastern France, aiming eventually
at Metz, which is one of the traditional defensive bastions of this country, then coming down the vineyard-bordered course of the Moselle Valley.
Holding Operations
This will be met not only by holding operations but by the threat of a counterattack from bases in the battered Maginot Line east of Metz.
It is hoped by the French that their brand new twelve-ton tank, now in production, will be ready to play its role in these operations.
This tank is French-designed and French- built. It mounts a 75-mm. gun of exceptionally high muzzle velocity and penetrating power. It is fast and unusually low so that it will be able to benefit by maximum of camouflage merely from fields of growing wheat.
In military circles here, there is unusual interest in the forthcoming September maneuvers for several reasons:
1. They will be the first test of plans drawn up by Western Union headquarters at Fontainebleau.
2. They will be the first test of the coordinating ability in practice of the defense forces of five countries.
3. They will be the first test of the striking power of the United States Air Force in Germany, which has been built up during the period of the Berlin airlift.
4. They will be an indication of the ability of the United States forces in Germany, which are not bound by the Western Union pact, to coordinate and cooperate in the plans in whose drawing up the Americans had no part.
Montgomery will be present during the maneuvers, which will be actually supervised by the French commander of the Western Union ground forces, Gen. Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, and by the chief of the French General Staff, Lieut. Gen. Georges Revers.
More Data on Caribbean Missile Range
N. Y. Times, June 2.—Great Britain and the Bahamas government have agreed to let the United States build radar tracking stations in the islands as part of its Florida- based 3,000-mile test range for guided missiles, it was announced today.
The defense department confirmed in a “fact sheet” on the project, which eventually will cost §200,000,000, that its launching site would be at Banana River, Fla., and, that the range itself would extend “to the southeast over the Atlantic Ocean.”
The statement said it would be necessary to acquire 12,000 acres of land on Cape Canaveral adjoining the Banana River base to establish a “safety and security zone.”
The department said it hoped to begin extensive tests by July 1, 1951, but noted that construction could not be started until Congress appropriated the money. President Truman has signed into law a bill authorizing an initial $75,000,000 expenditure but has not yet supplied the funds.
The Bahamas observation posts will be erected along the first 500 miles of the range to keep track of the missiles in flight.
The department said that although more than 109 tests would be made when the project was in “full operation,” there would be no danger to residents of the islands and the firings should not cause “any inconvenience to normal civilian activities.”
All of the rockets would be duds and each would contain a special device to control them in flight, it said.
(Editor’s Note: See previous Notes.)
Manpower Short for War Industry
N. Y. Times, May 13.-—While the critical shortages of World War II were in machine tools and labor, if this country should enter another war its primary shortage would be in manpower, Col. George A. Harvey said yesterday. He made his statement to business executives and reserve officers attending an economic mobilization course given at 30 Rockefeller Plaza by Army, Navy, and Air Force officers of the Industrial College in Washington.
Planners of industrial mobilization must consider the use of a greater percentage of women in industry than was done in the last war, Colonel Harvey said. Women constituted 36 per cent of the total labor force at the peak of the war effort, but surveys have indicated that they could fill 80 per cent of all industrial jobs.
Extensive employment of women in industry gives the community a new set of problems, such as providing for child care centers and baby sitters, readjustment of shopping hours and community facilities, Colonel Harvey pointed out. On the basis of experience in the last war, he said, industrial employers of women may expect greater absenteeism, a greater accident rate, and higher labor turnover.
Better Use of Personnel
Both industry and the military must produce a better performance than in World War II, he continued, and he outlined the steps being taken by the services to attain more efficient use of manpower. These include development of methods to classify civilian jobs for corresponding military jobs, improved personnel accounting systems, job analysis and study and coordination of planning of the Army, Navy and Air Force.
Peacetime education and health programs are being studied because of the high rate of rejections for military service for illiteracy or inability to meet physical standards in World War II. Colonel Harvey said particular attention was being directed to Negroes, who comprise 10 per cent of the population.
Recalling that in the war 7.4 per cent of the white race was rejected for educational deficiencies as compared with 32.1 per cent of Negroes, he added:
“Since Negroes are 10 per cent of the population, they should be called upon to play an even greater part in our national defense than they were able to do in the last war.”
GREAT BRITAIN Carriers Modernized for Jets
The Aeroplane, May 21:—Recent developments in jet aircraft for the Royal Navy have meant that some of the Fleet’s aircraft carriers now in reserve would be unsuitable for the operation of such equipment. Consequently, a revised programme for the reconstruction and modernization of the carriers has been drawn up.
H.M.A.C. Formidable, laid up at Rosyth, will be reconstructed to take the most modern jet aircraft at present featured in the R.N. programme—allowing for designs which are under development as well as actual prototypes and production aircraft. The flight deck of H.M.A.C. Indomitable will be strengthened and her equipment modernized under a twelve-month programme, and H.M.A.C. Indefatigable has been surveyed with a view to receiving the same treatment.
Extensive testing of new weapons is being undertaken in the cruiser H.M.S. Cumberland, now being refitted as a weapons trials vessel. The weapons include guided missiles, anti-aircraft rockets and radar gunnery control systems, and the tests will last two years. Completion of the three 8,000-ton Defence-class cruisers laid down in 1942 is being delayed until the results of the tests are known.
An Amethyst Story
Manchester Guardian, April 22.—■ Shanghai. British sailors in the shell- battered frigate Amethyst armed themselves with rifles and prepared to fight it out if Communists tried to take the ship when she grounded in the Yangtze yesterday, it was disclosed here today. Chief Petty Officer David Heath, of Dartmouth, told of this “death or glory” plan when he led an evacuation party into Shanghai to-day from the crippled, grounded frigate.
Heath was mate to the Amethyst’s chief boatswain. In a graphic account of the attack on the frigate, he also asserted that two white flags were hoisted as shells whistled at the vessel but, he said, “the Communists must have been colour-blind, as they took no notice and carried on the attack.” He said that when his party were ordered to abandon ship they did so under heavy artillery and machine-gun fire.
Chief Petty Officer Heath said the Amethyst’s crew were sent to action stations about 8:30 a.m. local time yesterday, when some shells whistled overhead but did not hit the vessel. “We carried on,” he said. “Then the shore batteries fired again. The wheelhouse and bridge were struck and the captain, as well as several others, were hit. It was a bit of a haze from then on. The next thing we knew we were aground. The steering gear had either jammed or been badly damaged.”
Boat Was Shelled
Shore batteries carried on firing, Chief Petty Officer Heath declared, and it was decided that if the Communists tried to take the Amethyst the company would try to defend themselves with rifles. “Rifles were issued, but the Amethyst was again hit and the plan was abandoned. We hoisted two white flags but the Communists took no notice and carried on the attack.”
The ship’s whaler was then lowered, and Chief Petty Officer Heath’s party abandoned ship. Chief Petty Officer Heath added that the men were about two hundred yards from the shore of Rose Island, where the Amethyst had run aground, when “our friends then machine-gunned and shelled us in the water.” More casualties were suffered.
Chinese on the island pointed out a path which was not mined, and the men crawled along this for about thirty minutes. A Chinese mess boy from the Amethyst then swam across a small bay to the Nationalists, who later sent over boats and took the party to the mainland.
Consort’s Reply
The Nationalists looked after the men who, while waiting to go on, watched the British destroyer Consort “having a go, which made us all very pleased,” Heath said. The Consort, in going to the Amethyst’s aid, had herself come under fire. She sustained damage and casualties but, in the words of an official statement, “replied effectively.”
Chief Petty Officer Heath said that a Nationalist officer led the men to another point about seven miles away. The journey was made at night and some of the men walked barefooted, he said. They had two hours’ sleep while the Nationalists brought up three lorries. These took them to Chang- chow, where they arrived at 5 a.m. to-day. At Changchow a Chinese major looked after the sailors and provided medical treatment for the wounded. The men were given a special coach on a train which brought them to Shanghai. Chief Petty Officer Heath said two fires occurred on the Amethyst.
Amethyst Held by Communists
N. Y. Times, June 4.—Six weeks after she first became involved in battle with Communist shoreline batteries the British sloop Amethyst is still stranded in the Yangtze River off Silver Island about forty-five miles northeast of Nanking. Thus far the new captain, Lieut. Comdr. J. S. Kerns, has been unable to obtain a safe-conduct pass that would permit the damaged vessel to return to Shanghai.
The Amethyst was proceeding to Nanking from Shanghai April 20 for possible evacuation use here when she was fired upon by Communist batteries primed for the start of a general Yangtze offensive.
Three other British naval vessels—the cruiser London, the destroyer Consort and the sloop Black Swan—eventually were drawn into the battle with total casualties reaching more than forty-two dead and 100 wounded.
The Communists have placed their own casualties at 250.
New Captain Goes by Jeep
Commander Kerns, who held the post of assistant naval attache here, was dispatched to the scene by jeep April 20 and assumed command of the Amethyst following the death of the wounded skipper, Lieut. Comdr. B. M. Skinner. The ship surgeon, Lieut. I. M. Alderton, also was killed.
A new Air Force doctor managed to get aboard the Amethyst after a Royal Air Force Sunderland flying boat made a daring landing near by amid the fighting. The original ship complement was about 160. The present crew isolated on the Amethyst is said to number sixty-eight, including five officers. Crew members are permitted to barter such ship provisions as fuel for fresh food ashore and morale is said to be good.
According to reports reaching Nanking, negotiations for obtaining a safe conduct pass have been snarled by unknown conditions raised by the Communists and by overall difficulties of all embassy officials here in trying to deal directly with responsible Communist authorities.
Relations between the crew and the local Communist, commander at Chinkiang, the nearest major center, were characterized as cordial during the first few weeks after the incident. The commander there was said to have staged a dinner ashore for eight Chinese-British ratings aboard the Amethyst and to have escorted them personally on a sightseeing tour of Chinkiang, which was the capital of Kiangsu Province under the Nationalists.
Since then, however, relations are said to have become “more frigid” and no progress has been made in attempts to get the sloop away from Silver Island.
A British source here said that investigation showed that damage to the sloop was heavy but that she still was able to proceed under her own power and still was “habitable.”
British “Jet” Gunboat Starts Test Cruise in Baltic Sea
By John Allan May, The Christian Science Monitor, May 21. London.—Nine men and a boat of the Royal Navy are off on a summer cruise—with a difference.
They are showing seafarers of northern Europe the likely shape of things to come in the way of ship propulsion—as well as showing themselves the sights of the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
These men are the crew of the first seagoing ship of its kind in the world. It is a gunboat fitted with a gas turbine—marine development of the very jet motors which give modern aircraft supersonic speeds.
The present normal operational complement of such a vessel would be around 30 officers and men.
First Trial in 1947
His Majesty’s motor gunboat 2009—■ measuring 116 feet long and with 100 tons displacement—had its first gas-turbine trials late in 1947 and its full “acceptance trials” at sea almost exactly one year ago.
After prolonged research tests, it now is being given a heavy schedule of work to do in order to help determine just how long a high-speed though elementary type of gas turbine can stand up to continued use at sea.
The MTB-2009 has one gas turbine and a pair of 1,500 horsepower American Packard gasoline motors instead of the three Packards which are normal in this type of British small craft,
The turbine develops the equivalent of 2,500 horsepower, yet weighs 5,000 pounds less than an orthodox motor. Although of the “jet” type, a gas turbine does not drive the ship by means of a jet, but transmits power to an ordinary propeller.
New Designs Needed
Well, not exactly an ordinary propeller.
Seafarers and ship-builders have known nothing like the power for its size of this engine. Consequently, new designs of screw are necessary to enable gas-turbine types of motor to make use of their full power.
Larger types of gas turbines, designed from the outset strictly for ships, now are being installed in much bigger experimental craft of the Royal Navy.
It is predicted by experts that gas-turbine motors in escort vessels of the eoryette or frigate type will annul all the advantages gained at the close of the war and since by superfast submarines.
In a recent statement in the House of Lords, the British First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Hall, declared: “Plans for the future will enable us to cope with any of the types of fast submarine that are likely to come into existence.”
Gas turbines figure largely in those plans, it is thought. At present, similar motors are impractical for submarines because they need a vast amount of air. They would “breath” more air in one minute than is available in any submarine when submerged.
About the cruise of the MTB-2009, its' ports of call are: Ymuiden, Wilhelmshaven, Kiel, Copenhagen, Oslo, Gotenburg, Nyberg, and Portsmouth. The Admiralty states that the ship won’t just be flag waving but “demonstrating to north European countries one of the outstanding achievements of British engineering.”
(Editor’s Note: See Notes, Proceedings for September, 1948.)
U.S.S.R.
Far East Transportation System
Revue de Defense Nalionale, April 1949.— The far-eastern Soviet communication system, sparse in rail and automobile transport, is building a network of air-lines. Numerous aerodromes serving both commercial and military aviation are now in use, seconded by a series of emergency landing fields. Their number is a function of the lack of other means of communication, and frequently the airplane serves areas where no other vehicle has ever penetrated.
Regular lines actually known to exist in the vicinity of the Chinese frontier are as follows:
the Samarkand-Tashkent line toward the Afghan frontier and toward Andijan Och; the Alma-Ata and Frunze network toward the Sin Kiang frontier: Karakol and Djarkent, with an extension in Chinese territory toward Kouldja, Wu Su, Dihua; the Irkutsk lines toward Ust-Kut and Yakoutsk; from Ulan-Ude to Ulan Bator; from Tchita toward Lake Baount; from Roukhlovo toward Nezametnyi and Nijne Stalinsk; from Blagovecjitchensk toward the branching of the Ekimohan; the line of Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Kom- somolsk toward Nikolaevsk and Okha and Alexandrovsk doubled by the coastal line from Vladivostok, Sovietskaya Gavan, Nikolaevsk toward Aian, the coast of the Okotsk Sea and Kamtchatka.
All these lines and networks are linked with Moscow, either directly for the networks of Central Asia, or by the aerial “magistral” that follows the Trans-Siberian railway, and are united in the Far East to the great line of the 60th Parallel.
The importance of communications for Russia is clearly indicated by the attention devoted to them by the successive 5-year Plans: construction, reconstruction, doubling, increase of traffic, additional rolling stock. The 3rd Plan, interrupted by the last world war, provided for an increase of 44% in the merchandise traffic over rail lines and
11.0 kilometers of new highways, as well as an increase of 200% in the total number of automobiles. The 4th Plan, begun in 1946, goes beyond these provisions. It seeks at once to decrease the need for long and costly hauls and increase the possibilities of communication networks for especially strategic reasons. In order to “increase still more the defense potential of the U.S.S.R.,” the plan provides “increase of great construction projects in all the Federated Republics and economic regions of the U.S.S.R. and especially in Siberia and in the Far East.”
11.0 kilometers of new highways and 7,000 kilometers of new railways are to be in use by 1950.
AVIATION
Light Aircraft for Armored Cavalry
Armored Cavalry Journal, May-June. 1949.—Armored cavalry has something new! Something it has never had before; something it has always had to borrow; something challenging! That something—light aviation!
The recently published Tables of Organization and Equipment for the armored division and the armored cavalry regiment (light) contain this seasoning ingredient for the team recipe. Armored Cavalry can put its hooks into a valuable medium.
There is a wealth of experience with light aviation in many sources on which the arm may draw in adapting this tool for its use. Planes are now provided at headquarters level, separate and distinct from those assigned to the artillery units, and are there for allotment as needed to combat commands, the reconnaissance battalion, and the tank and armored infantry battalions. Keeping that in mind, let’s put the eye on equipment and personnel. Some of the facts are startling and revealing.
A light aviation section normally consists of two or more light aircraft, an officer pilot for each plane, and sufficient mechanics and equipment to keep the planes operational. The planes are the light single-engine type which are characterized by their maneuverability and ability to land in short fields and on roads. The pilots for armored cavalry units are Armored Cavalry Officers. They are not Air Force officers, and they are not Artillery officers. They are Armored Cavalry officers who have been trained by the Armored Cavalry, and they know and understand the technique, tactics, personnel, and materiel of Armored Cavalry. They are first of all officers of their arm; secondarily they are pilots of organic light aircraft.
New Flight Instrument
Mechanical Engineering, June, 1949.—In the opinion of experienced pilots who have used it, the zero reader, a new and revolu- •tionary type of flight instrument, can lower ceilings from 400 to 100 ft., members of The American Society of Mechanical Engineers were told recently at a Metropolitan Section meeting at the Engineering Societies Building, New York, N. Y.
Although developed and designed particularly for aircraft use by the Sperry Gyroscope Company, its principle is adaptable for simplification of the manual control of many complex mechanisms, Spencer Kellogg and C. F. Fragola, of the Sperry Company, said in a paper presented to the engineers.
The practical performance of this instrument has been demonstrated in hundreds of flights, including flights by the U. S. Air Force and most of the commercial airlines. Many of these demonstrations were conducted entirely by the Air Transport Association.
Explaining that the zero reader is a “synthesizer,” the authors stated that by appropriately combining data from basic flights and navigational instruments in its control unit, it reduces the most complex simultaneous demands of attitude, altitude, heading, navigational and instrument-landing requirements to a net demand of simply maintaining attitude.
By separating the “plan of flight” from the “mechanism of flight,” flying with the zero reader consists of once setting the plan and then following it by merely making indicated attitude changes as dictated by instantaneous deflections of the zero reader indicator.
They pointed out that the great simplification of aircraft control which the zero reader provides, permits the pilot much more freedom to monitor proficiently all other conditions pertinent to safety of flight. It enables the pilot to achieve greater accuracy and performance with less expended skill and effort.
Use of the zero reader was not advocated as a primary flight instrument because it does not give any fundamental data of the aircraft or what it is doing. It only tells the pilot that he is flying “according to plan.” The indicator, in general, shows neither pitch, roll, heading, altitude, nor departure from the radio beam. For this specific information, the primary instruments, such as the attitude gyro, gyrosyn compass, altimeter, and conventional radio deviation indicator must be relied upon.
Although automatic approach, developed and proved before the zero reader, has been providing excellent performance, it is expected that the zero reader can serve as a good stand-by, the authors stated. They said that the reader should encourage pilots to accept automatic approach more readily.
To be an effective stand-by, the zero reader should give the pilot confidence that he could consistently make manual approaches with it, they continued. To serve this function, the zero reader has been kept absolutely independent of the gyro-pilot or automatic approach equipment.
The zero reader consists of a source of gyro stabilization in the form of a vertical gyro for pitch and roll signals, and a stabilized compass for yaw or heading signals. To this source is added various control functions such as altitude and radio-beam signals. These signals are carefully combined such that roll, heading, and radio beam control the vertical pointer, while pitch, altitude, and glide path control the horizontal pointer of the indicator.
Electronics in Air Power
The Engineering Journal, May 1949. By Wing Commander C. B. Limbrick, Director of Air Plans (Scientific), R.C.A.F. Headquarters, Ottawa.—It is necessary to understand what is meant by “Air Power” and “Electronics” before attempting to discuss the role of electronics in air power. With the advent of guided missiles there has been, inevitably, considerable controversy and discussion as to the present exact meaning of “Air Power.” The writer’s personal definition
compass loop ant.
INDUCTIVE LIAISON AlNl\
COMPASS SENSE ANT.
\ FF A NT.
_^VHF COMMAND ANT. VHP HOMING ANT.
AN/APS-IO ANT. GLIDE PATH ANT._ LOCALIZER ANT
AN/APN-34 ANT/ AN/APN-65 ANT,
^ WING TIP LIAISON ANT. ALTIMETER ANT.
MARKER BEACON ANT.
Official U. S. Air Force Photograph
ELECTRONICS ARE A REQUISITE FOR AIR POWER
An Air Forces C-S4, showing the relative locations of the fifteen different but vital antennas required in its operation. To reduce “drag,” all these antennas are being “flush mounted” under the aircraft skin.
is: “An armed force, and its ancillaries, that normally utilizes air as the supporting element for the manoeuvres of its principal military equipment.”
It seems that the descriptive word or term “Electronics” is now often used to classify most, if not all, devices using electricity, for operating power; for instance, advertising signs, toasters, toy trains, etc. For the purpose of this paper “electronics” may be defined as the application of thermionic tubes or valves to devices used in air power. Other electric apparatus employing tubes, such as diathermy machines, movie sound machines, etc., could be classified as electronic devices and as components of air power. This, because human beings are necessary for some part of the operation and maintenance of all military functional equipment, and such electrical devices not generally included under the classification of “military electronics,” are necessary in the general maintenance of health and morale of air force personnel.
The air power of today, employing aircraft flying at velocities close to the speed of sound, and guided missiles travelling at supersonic speeds, require precision senses for their efficient and safe operation. So we may well define electronics when applied to air power as the “central nervous system” tying together, and stimulating, as required, all the varied equipment that requires activation with great rapidity and accuracy of timing, to ensure efficient operation of the whole system or force.
Human Senses Too Slow
The time is rapidly approaching when even the relatively concise and speedy coordination of brain and muscle by a healthy young man is not good enough to ensure the necessary operation of aircraft controls. Brain and muscle may not provide the rapid complicated aerial movements of transonic or supersonic aircraft in combat operations. Precision is limited and affected by re-action time and fatigue, errors of muscle co-ordination, detection and correction of minute variations without appreciable time lapse, and errors of judgment.
Sensory requirements of functional equipment employed in air power are almost fantastic, certainly far beyond the limits of present human accomplishment. They are even greater than certain amazing powers possessed by many birds, and also beyond the possibilities of training human senses. We humans cannot see or hear far enough or well enough; we cannot speak with sufficient volume to reach any great distance nor with any degree of security against eavesdroppers, we cannot say sufficient words per minute to convey the required amount of information fast enough for high speed operations. Practically all the main sensory powers of man must be improved beyond the limits of human acuteness or training, if air power is to make full use of modern high speed aircraft and contemporary equipment.
Air power, due to the speed.and complexity of modern aircraft and weapons, and to operations in an element unnatural to the normal activities of humans, requires extraordinary powers of mental and physical skill or effort. Systems for ground control of air operations also require special qualifications to fully exploit the operational potential of modern aircraft. The brain functions of normal men are not sufficiently fast or proficient to fulfil all the stringent demands. Physical effort is required beyond normal human capacity and endurance. In addition to the necessity of providing devices to assist the human powers, means must be available to deny to opposing forces the use of similar devices. Air power employs many ingenious electronic countermeasure equipment designed to annoy the enemy and to offset enemy counters to our electronic material.
Aircraft may be divided into three categories: those manned and operated by aircrew which normally rely on the human senses unaided by any extra devices; aircraft operated by instrument assisted aircrew; and flying machines which normally are flown and navigated entirely by automatic devices.
The first type is rarely encountered in military formations; the second is the normal situation in modern air forces; and the last is partially in being and will perhaps be in general use by say 1955 or 1960. In addition to aircraft and guided missiles, air power utilizes many devices and weapons which require automatic or semi-automatic operation and control. This automatic operation is nearly always provided by electronic equipment.
In Military Operations
It is, then, quite evident that man has dreamt of, designed and produced military aircraft, flying machines, and weapons, so complex and fast that his normal senses, though highly trained, are not suited to adjust themselves to this new conception of air power. Here electronics in many forms has taken over the task, permitting man to produce, and operate efficiently, modern air machines, and to cope with the exotic air power of the future. Without electronics, air power would be almost useless, and any country or nation that does not maintain progress in the development and use of electronics can not compete with those nations whose air power utilizes to the full the assistance provided by electronic devices.
As a result of new concepts of “Blitz Krieg” and “Superblitz,” movements and operations must be timed with extreme precision. Those responsible for planning and operation of air power must now consider space in terms of time rather than of miles, with aircraft flying at six to seven hundred m.p.h. and guided missiles with velocities of over 3000 m.p.h., all operational movements and communications must be both rapid and accurately timed. Electronics have demonstrated what supervelocities can do to shrink our world. It matters little to people at each end of a radio telephone terminating at Ottawa and London that the space between terminals is 3500 miles. To the conversing parties there is no perceptible time lag, and therefore no space between the parties. However, the tremendous speed of electromagnetic waves is barely high enough to cope with modern air power requirements. Automatic equipment, more efficient operating techniques, and new terminal equipment must be employed to overcome delays which would cancel the advantages of radio velocities. Considerable effort is being expended to find a solution to limitations in the use of micro-wave devices, due to relative short ranges of line of sight transmission.
There exist no mechanical timing devices which can provide the accuracy necessary to ensure rapid activation and operation of defence and attack forces, and to collect and integrate all the information that must be available to ensure the optimum use of air power at the disposal of a commander. Electronic methods of timing use the highest speed available to man, that of light. This speed, together with an accuracy of better than one quarter of a millionth of a second, provides a timing device unequalled by any mechanical device. Electronic equipment will accept and reject matter from many sources of information. It will integrate, compute and display the final complete answer. If necessary, it will automatically encypher the information, despatch it to many centres and there automatically decypher and display it. Such necessary operations may be carried out without help from humans except to start, stop and maintain the electronic equipment.
In Research and Development
Many are familiar with the more spectacular aspects of electronics used by air forces; such devices as early warning radar, controlled interception, automatic pilots, navigational aids, etc., are well known. Essential devices to ensure precision timing and rapid computation are often overlooked. Electronics not only fill requirements for accurate timing and rapid calculation for operational uses. It also provides similar methods to assist in accelerating research and development of new aircraft and weapons. Electronic computers can do in one hour the same amount of work that could be done by an experienced mathematician in six months. The nation which can produce “the best the fastest” usually has the better chance of success. Electronic calculators, telemetering devices, industrial controls, simulators and many other instruments assist in the speedy production of new airborne and associated ground equipment for military use.
Perhaps the best way to illustrate the size and complexity of the electronic role in air power is by the use of a chart showing the various functions of electronics in the different departments of a modern air force. The chart shows the breakdown without much detail, for example, “Navigational Aids” could be further broken down into its many functional aspects such as: Long Range Navigation, Ground Controlled Approach, Distance Measuring Equipment, Homing Beacons, Airfield Surveillance Radar, etc.
Electronics have become so indispensable to air power that the old practice of stowing the electronic gear in spare spaces has disappeared. Modern procedure is to include in the original aircraft layout properly sized spaces in correct relation to the function of each piece of electronic equipment. Space requirements for electronic devices are given a high priority and serious consideration is necessary before electronic gear is discarded to make room for something else. In this atomic age the atomic bomb is, and must be, associated with air power. Research on atomic power and actual construction of atomic bombs is not possible without electronic control and measuring equipment. The basic research into atomic fission was carried out with the aid of complex electronic equipment. Precise and delicate measurements must be made with remote control, and this is only possible through electronics.
It is certain that electronics will steadily progress in value to air power. As the speed and versatility of aircraft and missiles increase, automatic control will ensure defense and offense with a minimum of human loss to the air power with superiority in electronic development.
In Civil Aviation
In our ever decreasing time-sized world, rapid and accurate communications are essential both for military and civilian purposes. This will be accomplished by the development of micro-wave relay, airborne and ground based. It can be accomplished by the increasing use of co-axial cable which, in an emergency, might well be laid by aircraft. Telephone cable has already been placed in position from aircraft flying at over 100 m.p.h.
Professional Notes
Fig. 2
FUNCTIONS OF ELECTRONICS IN AIR POWER
OPERATIONAL
Early Warning
Ground Control of Interception
Tail Warning
Gun Aiming and Ranging
Navigation
Automatic Control
Communications
Safety Devices
Blind Bombing
Countermeasures
Search and Rescue
Air Interception
Rocket Ranging Operations Room Devices Computers Magnetic Recording Television (Control) Facsimile (Weather) Proximity Fuses
Supercharger Control Altimeters Identification Submarine Search Missile Guidance Bomb Control
Cloud and Collision Warning
TRAINING
Synthetic Trainers Demonstrators
Sound Movies Magnetic Recording
Link Trainers Communications
Gunnery Devices
ADMINISTRATIVE, MAINTENANCE, RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT, MISCELLANEOUS
Meteorological Devices
Computors
Test Gear
Medical Instruments Welding Control Statistics
Photo Electric Devices Intercommunications Power Supplies
Communications _ Measuring Devices Industrial Controls
Cypher and Code Machines Survey and Mapping Aids Simulators Ionosphere Measuring High Frequency Heating Telemetering
Infra Red Detection Timing
Heat Detection
The use of electronic devices by civil aviation is equally important. Peacetime development of military equipment is of course slower than under the stimulus of war, but fortunately electronics is one of the arts serving both military and civilian functions. Therefore, development may be coordinated and carried out with economy. For example, development of unattended radar beacons or micro-wave relay stations would be of great value to commercial airways or for military use.
In conclusion we can recapitulate by stating briefly that the role of electronics in air power is to extend limits of the human sensory system; to assist and augment human physical effort; to increase the capacity of the human mind in time/quantity terms; to reduce loss of life and equipment; to provide rapid and secure communications over any distance; and to furnish a versatile tool for the use of scientists and engineers.
First Jet Bomber
The Aeroplane, May 20.—Britain’s first jet bomber, the English Electric A.l, built to the Air Ministry’s B3/45 specification, made its initial flight on May 13 at Warton, Lancs. Powered by two Rolls- Royce Avon axial-flow turbines, the A.l is the aircraft to which Mr. Arthur Henderson, Secretary of State for Air, referred when he presented the 1949-50 Air Estimates on February 23 (reported in The Aeroplane for March 4). The development of other jet bombers of “exceptionally high performance” was disclosed at the same time.
On its first flight the A.l was piloted by Wing Cmdr. R. P. Beamont, who had done extensive taxi-ing and preliminary “hops” with it the day before. These trials were completely satisfactory and on the subsequent maiden flight the aircraft was flown for about 20 mins, and taken up to 8-9,000 ft.
No details of the English Electric A.l are available at present, but it is clearly intended as a medium-range medium-size type. The designers have not attempted anything in the way of unorthodoxy in general configuration, but have confined themselves to a straightforward layout with exceptionally clean lines. The “single” tail unit has a tailplane with a small dihedral to clear the twin jet exhausts.
Naturally, the question that is foremost in most people’s minds is that of production and availability for Service use. Here again no details are available, but from the date of the specification there has been plenty of time for tooling up production.
Russian Fighter Crashes in Sweden
Manchester Guardian, May 20, Stockholm.-—Experts from the Royal Swedish Air Force to-day began investigating the Russian fighter which yesterday afternoon crash- landed on the military airfield at Tullinge, just outside Stockholm. It is a Lavochkin XI, one of the very latest types of propeller- driven Russian planes, of which very few, if any, have fallen into the hands of aviation experts of another country.
The plane is 30 ft. 3 in. long with a wing span of 34 ft., and its 1,800 h.p. radial engine gives it a speed of 375 miles an hour. Rumor says there is another auxiliary engine which can increase the speed to 470 m.p.h. The Swedish experts also expect to get highly interesting results from a study of the instruments and constructional details.
Embassy Refused
The Russian pilot, a 27-year-old lieutenant, who was alone on board, made a very bad landing, and one wing was torn off when it hit a small hill on the edge of the airfield, but otherwise the plane was undamaged. The pilot, questioned at police headquarters, is reported to have said he started from somewhere in Byelorussia and had left because he was dissatisfied with conditions in Russia. He asked to be treated as a political refugee, and it is expected his request will be granted.
The Soviet Embassy last night telephoned the Swedish Foreign Office demanding permission to interview the pilot, but this was refused until the police report had been studied. Embassy officials were refused admission to the airfield. The plane will be handed over to the Russian authorities if they ask for it, but not until all its secrets have been studied.
Giant French Transport
Aviation Week, May 30.—Two behemoths ■—the U. S. Boeing Stratocruiser and France’s even larger SE 2010 Armagnac—set the pace for transports at the 18th Paris Air Show. But they left visitors with the feeling that the race for size in commercial aircraft had just about ended.
The Stratocruiser, belonging to Pan American Airways, convinced some air experts that it comes too close for comfort to the point of diminishing returns. Airlines however, judging by their orders, seem to think otherwise. So do some manufacturers, both American and European, who seem to be pegging future plans on anticipated widespread use of huge transport aircraft.
Prototype Has Flown
The Armagnac is the first long distance commercial plane of international class produced in France since the war. While only the prototype has flown, Air France has ordered 15 for its Paris-New York run. The Armagnac is the French counterpart of the Constellation—but much bigger.
Gross weight of the craft is 73 metric tons (about 161,000 lb.) and payload is eight metric tons (about 17,500 lb.). Span is 164 ft.; height, 44 ft.; length, 129 ft. It carries 94 passengers.
Cruising speed fully loaded at 18,000 ft. (at 1750 h.p. per engine at 2375 r.p.m.) is 300 m.p.h. Range is 2500 miles. Power is supplied by four Pratt & Whitney R-4630s, developing 2650 h.p. at 2550 r.p.m. at 6000 ft., and 3200 h.p. at 2700 r.p.m. at takeoff.
MERCHANT MARINE Shipbuilding Yards
N. Y. Times, June 9.—A Navy admiral said today it is not in the interest of national defense now to divide the building of Navy ships among shipyards of the various coasts.
Such a distribution of work said Rear Admiral Charles D. Wheelock is desirable only if there is sufficient work to be spread out among the yards of the East, Gulf and Pacific Coasts.
But he cautioned against reducing below a minimum the work of certain East Coast yards which he said are the only ones now capable of turning out “complicated combatant ships.”
He said he was referring to private shipyards and not to Government-owned yards. Admiral Wheelock testified before a House Merchant Marine subcommittee studying legislation to require allocation of Navy and Maritime Commission shipbuilding work to yards of the three coasts on a percentage basis.
The admiral, who is attached to the Navy’s Bureau of Ships, said there now are about 31,000 workers employed in East Coast yards and that the Navy is particularly interested in those yards which now are employing about 19,000 of that total.
Subsidies
Another House Merchant Marine subcommittee was told today that cheddar cheese has received a bigger Government subsidy than has American shipping.
Frazer A. Bailey, president of the National Federation of American Shipping, Inc., made the comparison, he said, to dispel “a distorted idea that shipping is the recipient of disproportionate favors.”
Supplementing previous testimony given the committee on long-range shipping legislation, Mr. Bailey said there had been in the hearings “continual inferences concerning subsidy payments which intimate that shipping holds a highly preferred position in its dealings with the Government in this respect.”
He said figures of the United States Bureau of the Budget show that for the fiscal years 1934 through 1948 the Federal Government paid subsidies to business and farmers of $14,525,217,000 and added: “Of this amount the United States Maritime Commission paid out in operating shipping subsidies the amount of only $49,368,000, or three-tenths of 1 per cent thereof, and for construction subsidies—which are designed to offset the high wage cost in American shipyards—the sum of $341,013,000, or 2.3 per cent thereof.
“When recapture profits (a portion of shipping company profits the Government gets back by law) are credited against the operating subsidy the net amount becomes only $24,127,000 for the fourteen-year period, or seventeen one-hundredths of 1 per cent.”
SCIENCE
Guesses on the Atom Bomb
Infantry Journal, June, 1949.—From data in the Smyth report and elsewhere, J. A. Campbell of the Severance Chemical Laboratory, Oberlin College, came up with some educated guesses in the Armed Forces Chemical Journal about the atom bomb and nuclear energy.
“It can be deduced,” he says, “that the size of the explosive charge is about 30 pounds with about the same diameter as a softball. Any size smaller than this would allow neutrons to escape on the average before colliding with fissionable nuclei so that this is known as the critical size. No smaller atomic bomb can be made, and any larger piece will explode spontaneously. Thus there is no possibility of a weakly explosive atomic bomb. One either creates a city destroying blast or no blast at all.”
Quicker and Cheaper
“It is safe to say that atomic bombs will not do much that cannot be done with other weapons, but the destruction can be wrought so much more quickly, so much more cheaply, and so much more unexpectedly as to raise this weapon into a class far more powerful than the past weapons of war.” Einstein summarized it neatly when he said, “The atomic bomb has created no new problems; it has merely made it more mandatory that we solve some of the old problems.”
Despite the fact that it is “safe to say that a guided missile, powered by atomic energy, carrying an atomic bomb to any spot in the world, is in the foreseeable future” there are many who predict that no atomic bomb would be used against cities were another war to start. This is not from any desire to save civilians but only because other weapons may be considerably more effective.
In Fourth Place
“In fact, a high official recently stated that atomic bombs now rank fourth in our arsenal of weapons. We shall leave one of the four weapons in the secret class and suggest that . . . biological warfare will almost certainly outrank atomic bombs in effectiveness . . . the other one is a radioactive dust or spray.
“The atomic bomb is too effective. Much of our present trouble in Europe and Asia is due to the effectiveness of explosive bombing and the consequent destruction of property. It would be much better if the property could be rendered useless for a specified period of time at the end of which it could be rehabilitated. Such possibilities are latent in radioactive clouds.”
Secrecy
Concerning the secrecy about atomic weapons, Mr. Campbell points out that there are four kinds of secrecy dealing with weapons: (1) the fact that you have it; (2) the method of using it and its effectiveness; (3) how many you have; and (4) how you produce it.
Pointing out that secrets 1 and 2 are no longer secrets, he goes on to deduce, from published reports, that we are manufacturing about one bomb a week, which would give us a maximum stockpile of about 200 bombs. Secret 4, how you make an A-bomb, “has been kept quite well . . . but it should be clearly noted that it is only the details of the method which are secret . . . any feeling that secrecy here guarantees a monopoly of this weapon is bound to be wrong.”
In addition to these guesses and conclusions, Mr. Campbell rounds up very neatly in layman language, everything that has seeped out about nuclear energy. His account makes absorbing reading, and right or wrong, he does no more than any intelligent foreign agent presumably has done.
Improved Lifejacket
N. Y. Times, June 10.—A lifejacket that will hold the face of a man upward and out of the water is under development by the British Navy. It is one of several improved devices to increase the chances of survival of persons forced to abandon ship.
The jacket is designed to replace earlier types of lifebelts and jackets in which many men have died because unable to breathe. It will automatically turn even an unconscious man face upward and support him high enough to keep mouth and nostrils clear of the water.
A lifefloat has been developed which is somewhat similar to the rubber aircraft dinghy used by the Royal Air Force for pilots downed at sea. In comparison with the liferafts of the British Navy, it is lighter and is £quipped with a tentlike covering for protection against all types of weather. The equipment carried by it will include food, water, signal lights, fishing line, sea anchor, first-aid kit and a radar reflector.
(Editor’s Note. The U. S. sea services have long led in the development of life-saving apparatus.)
INTERNATIONAL
French Admiral Runs Armada of West Europe
N. Y. Herald Tribune, June 11.—Fontainebleau, France.—A landlocked admiral, seated at a desk 125 miles from the sea, will have nominal command of the first Western Europe fleet maneuvers, to be held in the English Channel this month.
For the first time in naval history, British, French, Dutch and Belgian ships-of-war will sail for one week under a single command. They aim to show that, on sea as on land and in the air, the forces of the Western European Union are capable of fulfilling their tasks as a unit, should need arise.
As nominal commander of the combined armada, Vice Admiral Robert Jaujard, of France, has his biggest and most responsible duty since his appointment as admiral, Western Europe, in October of last year.
Admiral Jaujard at present has only a small staff of co-ordinating officers working with him in the annex of Napoleon’s chateau at Fontainebleau.
Must Unify Efforts
Like a kind of chairman of a board, he must check and co-ordinate the various plans and information submitted by the national admiralties, ironing out rough spots, soothing any ruffled sensibilities, trying to forge a unified weapon to protect the Western nations on the sea.
Admiral Jaujard himself knows what it is to sail his ship under foreign orders.
Soon after his promotion to rear admiral in 1944, he took command of the French cruisers Georges Leygues and Montcalm at Scapa Flow in Scotland. Under British higher command, he directed his ships in the Normandy landing at Omaha Beach and later in the Southern France landing at St. Tropez.
Again Admiral Jaujard had British destroyers under his orders as commander of the inter-Allied naval task group which blockaded the sea approaches to the Gulf of Genoa in the closing phases of the war.
A thin, wiry man of fifty-three, with close- cut gray hair and neatly trimmed mustache, Vice-Admiral Jaujard looks more like a British colonel than a naval man. But he wears his gold-laced cap at a jaunty angle, set far back on his head, and his eyes have a sailor’s look.
Behind the big oak table of his whitewashed office Admiral Jaujard finds himself mainly a desk admiral today.
At an interview he said his various coordination problems were “absorbingly interesting,” but added: “Of course, whenever I see a ship, I want to get to sea again.”
“Our main problem,” he said, “is the problem of getting ships, whose crews speak one language, to co-operate faultlessly with other ships, whose crews speak a different language. We are, however, studying the internationalization of signals and naval procedure. Here in Fontainebleau my staff have to speak French one day and English the next in carrying out their work.”
Unlike many French sailors, Admiral Jaujard was born far from the sea, in Poitou.
He was studying at the naval school at Brest when World War I broke out and the school was closed.
As an able seaman aboard the armored cruiser Jeanne D'Arc, he was present at the Dardanelles landings in April, 1915. When the naval school reopened later that year, he returned to his training, but later served two more years aboard destroyers on convoy escort in the Mediterranean.
Helped to Shell Genoa
Between wars he had a long series of commissions as a junior officer and later as a second-in-command.
When World War II began in September, 1939, Admiral Jaujard was commanding a destroyer, which escorted convoys between England and Gibraltar and between Bordeaux and Casablanca. He took part in the bombardment of Genoa when Italy entered the war in June, 1940.
When the Americans landed in North Africa, he was in command of the cruiser Georges Leygues, which sank the German blockade-runner Dortland and brought ninety-one prisoners to Dakar. After being naval commander at Algieis for a short while, he was promoted to rear-admiral.
After the war, he cor. manded the French 4th Cruiser Division, then raised his flag as a vice-admiral on the new 45,000-ton battleship Richelieu, pride of the French fleet, He left the Richelieu last October for his desk at Fontainebleau.
(Editor’s Note: See Professional Notes, June Proceedings.)
New Weather-ships Agreement
The Aeroplane, May 20.—A new I.C.A.O. agreement for the positioning of Ocean Station Vessels, signed in London on May 11, provides for 10 stations in the North Atlantic. To date 11 of the originally proposed 13 positions have been manned, but unlike the old agreement which specified the number of points in the North Atlantic to be filled, the new arrangement more specifically lays down the number of ships required from each country.
The three stations which have been withdrawn are in the Southern half of the North Atlantic, but to close the gap five existing positions will be re-located. In reducing the number of ships the technical justification for 13 stations was outweighed by limitations of finance. The deletion of positions in the Southern region was largely dictated by the presence of island observation posts; for example, the Azores, and the more stable weather in that region.
Twenty-five ships, compared with 33 under the old arrangement, are to be provided: 14 by the U. S.; Canada, one; Britain, four; France, two; Netherlands, two; Norway two. Belgium has dropped out as a ship operator but will pay £26,000, mainly to Norway. European commitments on the stations show a very slight increase, with one of the Netherland’s ships assisting the U. S. on position “A.”
Certain financial adjustments between European countries directly relating their contributions to the benefits derived by their air services are provided in the new agreement which will run for three years from the termination on June 30, 1950, of the original contract. In addition to the countries running air services across the North Atlantic, Portugal and Ireland are to provide funds towards the stations’ general upkeep.
No overall cost of maintaining the 25 ships was available but a rough guess would put it in the region of $12,500,000 (£3,100,000) each year.
To reimburse Denmark for providing meteorological facilities in Greenland and operating a Loran station in the Faroes, a decision was reached to pay £425,000 towards the total current costs and £185,000 or 90 per cent of the annual cost each year. This arrangement covers the financing of 10 meteorological stations, representing by far the largest proportion of the expense, and the master Loran station in the Faroes. Other stations are at Vik in Iceland and Mangerstar in the Hebrides.
Payment for the meteorological facilities for the current year is based on each country’s volume of traffic across the Atlantic in 1948. Belgium will pay 1.7 percent., Canada
9.8 per cent., France 5.3 per cent., Iceland
1.8 per cent., Netherlands 6.3 per cent., Norway 1.6 per cent., Sweden 2.2 per cent., U. K. 9.6 per cent, and U.S.A. 51.7 per cent. These proportions are to be adjusted from year to year.
Payment for both the weather services in Greenland and the Loran facilities is purely voluntary, for I.C.A.O. puts no pressure on its members. New transmitting equipment is to be fitted to the Loran stations following complaints from fishing vessels that the navigational aid was interfering with their communications radio.
Atlantic Weather Information
Plans for increasing the speed and efficiency of meteorological telecommunications facilities on the North Atlantic Ocean Region have been drawn up by I.C.A.O.
Central clearing points to be operated for the collection and distribution of weather data on each side of the North Atlantic, one at Paris and the other at New York, have been recommended. European weather data will be collected at Paris and transmitted by duplex radio teletype via Santa Maria, Azores, to New York. Weather da'ta from the North American continent will be collected at New York and transmitted to Paris.
A number of other recommendations have been made, aimed at speeding up the handling of weather messages across the North Atlantic, including the adoption of a new set of abbreviations. Changes are expected to be in full effect by October 1.
Crisis Brews in Orient
N. Y. Times, June 11.—By H. W. Baldwin.—The slow but steady advance of the Communist armies toward Hong Kong and the impending withdrawal of the last United States troops from Korea may precipitate another crisis in the Orient.
Hong Kong, for more than a century a Far Eastern outpost of British power and prestige, may soon become (ideologically as well as physically) an island in the midst of a Red Sea. When the Communist tide engulfs Canton, the connection of Hong Kong by rail with the rest of China might be severed effectively. The island’s subsequent complete isolation—except by sea—will then be only a matter of time, if the Communists will it.
Hong Kong will be, in other words, the first major test of the policies of the Chinese Communists toward the Western world. Will they revive, with a new twist to fit the party line, the old slogan, “China for the Chinese?” Will they attempt to isolate or blockade, or even to attack the little island, ceded to Britain by China in 1841, an island that has long been a haven of order in a turbulent land?
British Taking No Chances
Armed attack seems highly unlikely, but the British are not taking chances. Sizable reinforcements, including infantry, artillery and armor, sailed from England in the first half of May and should soon be debarking in Hong Kong; others followed a few days ago. The ultimate strength of the reinforced garrison will consist of two brigade groups (each approximately the equivalent of a United States regiment), plus supporting troops totaling about 6,000 men. Ancillary formations, including air and naval units, may bolster the total strength of all of Hong Kong’s armed forces to some 12,000 men.
Hong Kong’s strengths and weaknesses were underscored during the Japanese assault in December, 1941. In seventeen days, the Japanese, attacking with 40,000 men, overran the entire Crown Colony, defended by about 6,000 men. The loss of thq colony’s only airfield on the mainland, and food and water shortages quickly proved decisive; a
bastion which it was thought could hold out for three months was quickly conquered.
Some of the weaknesses—but not all— revealed in 1941 have been remedied today.
Hong Kong is really three areas. The island of thirty-two square miles is fundamentally dependent for any protracted or successful defense upon the adjacent mainland, from which it is separated at Lyemun Pass by only half a mile. The 3j-square-mile Kowloon Peninsula on the mainland, which is British territory, lies directly opposite the town of Victoria on Hong Kong. The defense of these areas is dependent in turn upon the successful defense of the leased territories (leased from China until 1997) of some 355 square miles—a mainland area, embracing two hill ranges, surrounding Kowloon.
The colony’s only airfield, which is grossly inadequate for modern air operations, is not far from Kowloon on the mainland. A fighter squadron of sixteen planes has been dispatched from Malaya to base on this field. Hong Kong, with its important naval dockyards, is one of the bases of the British Commander in Chief in the Far East, Sir Patrick Brind, whose naval forces include two cruisers, five destroyers and five frigates. An additional cruiser is on the way.
The deficiencies in water supply and in ' food storage, which handicapped the defense of Hong Kong in 1941, have been at least partially rectified; there are new water reservoir tanks on Hong Kong Island and water pipelines run under the bay from Kowloon. Large stocks of rice have been stored for Hong Kong’s 2,000,000 population. The British police have been well trained in antisubversive and anti-sabotage action.
But Hong Kong, geographically, is an isolated bastion of British power, which can
be cut off from the China mainland by the simple expedient of blockade, and its defensive capabilities must be measured, at least in part, by the concepts of 1898, when the leased territories on the mainland were acquired to keep Hong Kong and Kowloon out of the ranges of mainland guns. Hong Kong will be a test case of Chinese Communist intentions.
Southern Korea Indefensible
But Southern Korea, soon to be evacuated by the few remaining United States troops, is in no sense a test of Communist intentions. The North Korean Communist-dominated puppet government already has made its intentions toward South Korea quite obvious. Those intentions are plainly disorder, subversion, riots, bloodshed, and eventually conquest and domination.
Southern Korea has been—strategically— indefensible since the Communist conquest of Manchuria. We have never been able to guarantee a free and independent Korea, and should never have made such a promise; the Yalta terms, exclusive of other factors, made the keeping of such a promise practically impossible.
The presence of United States troops in Southern Korea has been the real major deterrent to domination by the north. With the departure of the last of those troops by July 1, there will remain only the relatively, weak military and police forces of the Southern Korean government, forces which are none too reliable politically. The appropriation of $150,000,000, therefore, for Economic Recovery Administration aid to Korea in the coming year could well mean money down the drain; this request should be evaluated carefully.