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United States........................................................................................ 96
Antarctic Expedition—Faster Firing Ships to Join Fleet—Navy Acquires Cram]) Shipbuilding Property-—Fleet Reorganization— Torpedo Improvement Revealed—Five Cruisers to be Sold at Auction- Infra-Red Telephone
Great Britain........................................................................................ 10)
How the Navy Gets Its Aircraft—Flight Training for Sub-Lieutenants—Men for the Armed Forces—Mines Swept From Channel Near Albania—Mines Were Laid—Rocket Range in West Australia
Naval Schools
Rieckhoff on the Luftwaffe
Other Countries....................................................................................................................... Ill
Argentina—Egypt- -Portugal-—Turkey
“Thundcrjct” Fighter-—Navy Jet Fighters—Robot Aircraft to Fly at over 800 m.p.h.—First Jet-Propelled Air Liner—AAF Announces World’s Largest Reciprocating Engine-—B-36 Bomber Disclosed—
First B-50 Ready in January—Progress on Atom Engine
Merchant Marine.............................................................................................................. 116
51% of World’s Tonnage Flies Stars and Stripes—Liners Designed for Possible Conversion—The “Queen Elizabeth”—Cunard to Add 5 Ships
Miscellaneous....................................................................................... 118
Proximity Fuzes: A Challenge to Air Power
95
UNITED STATES Antarctic Expedition
New York Herald, Tribune, November 13, by Stephen White.—Twelve ships and four thousand men will leave early next month for the Antarctic, where Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd will lead them through exhaustive tests of the Navy’s fighting equipment under conditions of extreme cold.
The projected voyage, announced today by the Navy Department, will be by far the most elaborate journey to the Antarctic ever projected by this country. Current plans call for the ships, planes, helicopters, mechanized equipment and old-fashioned dog teams to leave the United States during the first week in December. They will rendezvous at Scott Island, on the Antarctic Circle, late in December, and pass the months of South Polar summer on or near the huge snow- hidden continent.
Some time late in February, when sumpier draws to an end, the ships will return to this country, arriving early in April.
Their efforts, plus those of other expeditions, will make Antarctica a much-visited place this year. Expeditions are planned also by the Russians, the British, the Norwegians, and a second American group, privately sponsored and headed by Lieutenant Commander Finn Ronne of the Naval Reserve.
The Navy strongly discounted reports that the voyage will be primarily a lap in the race for uranium. “When this expedition was first talked about, uranium wasn’t even mentioned,” Admiral Byrd said. “The statement that this is a uranium race for atomic energy is not correct.”
Any search for uranium will be merely a portion of the search for any characteristic of the great polar continent, the explorer continued. “The Antarctic Continent is a reservoir of natural resources,” he said. In one area, on a previous trip, enough bituminous coal to stock the United States for forty years was spotted, he recalled.
The trip is “a reasoned continuation of prewar activities,” Vice-Admiral Forrest P. Sherman, deputy chief of naval operations, said—a preparation for the day when “the Navy may be called upon to operate in cold weather.”
The weather will certainly be cold enough. Admiral Byrd, whose three previous trips to the Antarctic make him all but a commuter, predicted temperatures as low as 90 degrees below zero.
Beyond the testing of cold weather equipment, the voyage will follow the pattern of normal exploratory trips. Mapping and studies of natural resources will be of primary interest. Studies of the sea bottom will be made where glaciers enter the open sea, on the theory that the glaciers scrape a good sample of the polar continent with them as they slide toward the ocean.
Meteorology, oceanography, cosmic ray research, hydrography and other sciences will also be represented. The Army will send air and ground forces observers, and quartermaster corpsmen interested in the behavior of clothing and rations under frigid conditions.
For Admiral Byrd the venture will provide a welcome advance over his previous trips to the earth’s iceboxes. The best in icebreakers, developed during the war, will lead the way in. Fast Navy planes will fly over the area, replacing the 115 mile-an- hour planes on which he relied during his last trip south, just before the war. Mechanized equipment will replace dog teams to a limited extent, although the admiral repeated his faith in huskies as the most dependable form of transport over ice.
The vessels that will participate include two seaplane tenders, two ice-breakers, two cargo ships, two destroyers, a command ship and a submarine. The carrier Philippine Sea will stand off the main force after a land base has been built, and will fly in planes for use of the explorers. This ship, a new 27,000-ton carrier of the Essex class, is not listed as taking part in the actual voyage into the Antarctic.
The ships will proceed due south along the 180th Meridian—the International Date Line—to the area of Little America, where Admiral Byrd has been a previous visitor. The Admiral expected no conflict and perhaps some degree of support from British bases at Palmer Peninsula, some 1,500 miles east of the tip of South America, and considerably father north than Little America.
Whether there would be any meeting with the Russian expedition was something upon which Admiral Byrd expressed no opinion. His only knowledge of the Russian plans, he said, came from a broadcast, and little information was available.
Admiral Sherman made no reply to a question asking whether this country would claim territory on the basis of this voyage. He did point out, however, that the United States has no claims in the Antarctic region, and recognizes none.
Faster Firing Ships to Join Fleet
Chicago Daily Tribune, November 11.— Five new cruisers, six destroyers, and six submarines will join the fleet within the next five months, a survey disclosed today.
Built into some of them will be designs dictated by battle experience of the war, including the heaviest caliber automatic guns ever used—6 and 8 inches firing with almost machine gun rapidity.
The cruisers are bigger than preceding ships of the same class, some being virtually comparable to one-time battleship tonnage.
All the hulls were laid during the closing phases of the war and were among those selected by the Navy and approved by Congress for completion. Other ships of less advanced stages of construction were scrapped.
These ships, together with craft of late design which already are in commission, will compose the fleet upon which the United States will rely during the transition period between today’s more or less conventional design and tomorrow’s atom age warcraft.
While such ships carry on peace time patrol, the Navy will go ahead with development of future warships, starting with the guided-missile firing craft, the 45,000 ton battleship Kentucky and the battle cruiser Hawaii.
Discussing the transition period, Vice Adm. E. L. Cochrane, former chief of the Bureau of Ships, said: “Ships and weapons do become obsolete. Progress in any field presumes the gradual replacement of old equipment.... Fortunately, we do not abandon the time-tested weapons when the first crude prototype of a new and more powerful weapon makes its appearance.”
The new ships will include the light cruisers Worcester and Roanoke and the heavy cruisers Des Moines, Salem, and Newport News.
The navy publication All Hands reported that the major change in the two light cruisers is in their batteries, twelve 6-inch rapid-fire guns for use against surface or air targets and mounted in twin turrets, three forward and three aft.
The ships will abandon the dual-purpose 5-inch guns familiar as major aircraft defense on Navy and merchant ships during much of the war. The light cruisers displace 14,700 tons, compared with 10,000 tons for a similar class of previous design.
The Des Moines, the Salem, and the Newport News will mount nine 8-inch automatic rifles in three turrets. The heavy cruisers displace 17,000 tons, a drastic departure from 13,600 tons of the earlier class.
The rate of fire of the automatic-firing 6- and 8-inch guns is not disclosed, beyond the comment today by a Navy ordnance officer that it will be “several times” faster than the manually loaded guns of the main batteries of present cruisers.
Submarines to be commissioned before next spring are of the heavy-hulled types which served well in the Pacific undersea war and stood up notably under the atomic bomb blasts in the Bikini tests last summer.
Navy Acquires Cramp Shipbuilding Property
Maritime Reporter, November 14.—The Navy said recently it has completed negotiations to acquire the property of the Cramp Ship Building Co. at Pliiladelphia for $750,000.
The contract has been approved by the Secretary of the Navy, the House and Senate Naval committees, and the company’s board of directors.
The agreement is expected to be approved by the Cramp stockholders “within the next few weeks,” a Navy announcement said.
The Navy already owns some of the land and most of the facilities of the 65-acre yard, which includes four cruiser-size shipways. Under the agreement the Navy will acquire title to the remainder of the land, buildings and certain equipment now owned by Cramp.
The Navy said Cramp’s shipbuilding facilities are deemed essential to the national defense and must be held available for a possible future emergency,” but added:
“However, the Navy will consider leasing the yard to private interests, providing the essential characteristics of the yard are not changed. Such use would include the use of buildings, tools and equipment which are suitable for ship building or ship repair.”
The layout of the yard was such that Navy and privately owned manufacturing purposes other than land and facilities were completely intermingled.
The Navy said it negotiated the purchase “to facilitate a possible lease to other interests and at the same time protect the government’s $22,000,000 investment.”
Fleet Reorganization
New York Times, November 13.—The Navy said today that its operating forces would be reorganized, with “task fleets” established in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans capable of dealing with what it called any “fast-moving situation.” The present system of numbered fleets is to be abandoned.
The order is effective Jan. 1.
Besides consolidating the various operating organizations, the Navy will set up two task groups, the size of which will be variable according to the jobs at hand. Their chiefs will be responsible to the commanders in chief of the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets. The Pacific Task Fleet will be commanded by Vice Admiral A. E. Montgomery, the Atlantic Task Fleet by Vice Admiral W. H. P. Blandy.
Two flag commands—the Third Fleet, headed by Vice Admiral Howard F. Kingman, and the Fourth Fleet, by Vice Admiral Daniel E. Barbey—are to be abolished.
Admiral John H. Towers will continue as commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet and Admiral Marc Mitscher as commander in chief in the Atlantic, with their commands broadened to include other organizations for purposes of administration.
Vice Admiral Forrest Sherman, deputy chief of naval operations, told a news conference that economies would result through the reduction in commands with their staff systems.
The Pacific Fleet will have administrative control over these commands:
Naval Forces Western Pacific, commanded by Admiral C. M. Cooke and including forces operating along the China coast and ashore in China.
Naval Forces Japan, commanded by Vice Admiral R. M. Griffin and including forces supporting the occupation of Japan. This command is responsible operationally to Gen. Douglas Mac Arthur.
Atlantic Fleet will include also all other active naval forces in the Atlantic and in Europe for purposes of administration. Among these are:
Naval Forces Europe, commanded by Admiral R. H. Connolly. This command is to include all forces in European waters and in the Mediterranean. These forces are assigned from the Atlantic Fleet and are rotate at regular intervals.
Naval Forces Germany, commanded by Rear Admiral R. E. Schuirmann, and responsible operationally to Gen. Joseph T. McNarney, Military Governor of the American zone; will include forces supporting the occupation of Germany.
fnactive ships will be assigned to the Atlantic and Pacific reserve fleets, commanded by Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid and Admiral Richard S. Edwards, respectively.
Admiral Sherman said that the active fleets would hold maneuvers twice a year in the Atlantic and Pacific, probably in the first and third quarters, lie explained that these would not be mere training for reserve personnel but rather maneuvers for the active force.
In another reorganizational move, the Navy abolished the office of deputy chief of naval operations for special weapons, a post held by Admiral Blandy in addition to his recent duty as chief of the Bikini Atom Bomb Task Force.
The deputy chief for special weapons was responsible for development of guided missiles and naval application of atomic energy. The guided missile development now is assigned to Rear Admiral D. V. Gallery in the guided inissile section of the air section.
To Rear Admiral Jerauld Wright responsi-
bility has been given for formulation of fleet requirements for new developments except those pertaining to aircraft, atomic energy and guided missiles.
Rear Admiral William S. Parsons, who was Admiral Blandy’s deputy at Bikini in charge of technical research, lias been made director of atomic defense in the office of the deputy chief.
Torpedo Improvement Revealed
New York Ilcrald-Tribune, November 15.
•—A major post-war improvement in torpedoes, chief weapon of submarine warfare, was revealed by the Navy Department today when it announced that one of its latest models sank a former German U-boat in ten seconds in a test oil Cape Cod yesterday.
The torpedo, described as “a standard steam-type containing a recently developed feature never before used,” struck the U-boat amidships and broke it in two. It was fired at 1,000 yards range by the 1,810-ton American submarine Atule. The tests were described as “highly successful.”
The nature of the feature which proved so devastating was not revealed. The Navy specified, however, that the steam-propulsion unit was similar to that used in torpedoes “extensively and successfully” against the Japanese during the war, and that no homing or remote control device was used. With these eliminations the new feature must have been within the warhead. The Navy Department had nothing to say about it.
Five Cruisers to be Sold at Auction
Maritime Reporter, November 14.—Five old cruisers, including the 7,000-ton Concord credited with firing the last shot of the war against the Japanese, will be sold in a public auction at the New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, Dec. 6, the Navy announced recently.
The cruisers, all veterans of shore bombardments and sea-air engagements during the war, are the Detroit, Memphis, Richmond, Trenton and the Concord. They will probably be scrapped by their purchasers,
although the Navy Department permits reconversion of surplus vessels in some cases.
With the exception of the Detroit and Trenton, the cruisers are at the naval shipyard, Philadelphia, where prospective buyers may make inspections. Now at Hog Island, the Detroit and Trenton will be moved to Philadelphia not later than Dec. 20, it was announced.
The Concord fired the final shell of the Pacific war on the night of Aug. 12, 1945. Cruising off the Kurile Islands with the Richmond and escorting destroyers, the Concord blasted the islands’ shore installations. The Detroit was one of the first American warships to fire at the Japanese, going into action against enemy planes in the Pearl Harbor attack.
The Trenton was among several cruisers and destroyers assigned to the Lisbon, Portugal, area in 1939 for the protection of American nationals at the start of the war. In 1940 she was chosen by the Navy to transport the exiled Luxembourg royal family to this country. In 1941 the Trenton was used to deliver plane parts and munitions to the Philippines.
All over twenty years old, the cruisers are of the four-stack type, mounting ten 6-inch guns and six 21-inch torpedo tubes. They are 556 feet long, fifty-five feet in the beam and have a mean draft, fully loaded, of twenty- one feet.
The Navy said that equipment still believed to be aboard includes two high- and low-pressure steam turbines and two cruising turbines, four condensers, twelve pressure boilers, four turbo generators and one emergency Diesel generator, and distilling and refrigerating equipment.
Infra-Red Telephone
New York Herald-Tribune, November 25.—A secret voice-ray telephone that works by invisible light was developed by the Navy during the war, it was revealed today.
Details still are shrouded by security restrictions, but an official explained that its source was infra-red rays. It has a “line-of- sight” range, the same as television.
It eliminates freak interception or interference by an enemy miles away as was possible with ultra-high radio frequencies.
Conversations can be held between nearby ships or from ship to shore. But the official explained that the invisible rays will not penetrate fog water or anything that stops a visible light ray.
The Navy disclosed last June that it had an infra-red searchlight for blinker messages between ships, but this is the first acknowledgment that voice conversation by infrared rays is possible.
Both the Germans and the Japanese had infra-red equipment, the Navy expert said, but American capture of this equipment in 1944 and 1945 did not aid United States research in particular. The line of our infrared work was well laid down by that time, he said, and our engineers went ahead with their own ideas.
The range of the infra-red telephone is limited to the horizon—about eight miles from the bridge of a destroyer. But, in a land campaign, messages could be relayed from point to point over country impassible for wire-stringing crews and where radio calls might be intercepted.
The Navy let production contracts for the equipment following successful tests in 1943 and 1944 but is still reluctant to discuss.
A number of universities and companies collaborated in research and development of the voice ray, including Northwestern, Ohio State, the University of Michigan, Cover Dual Signal Systems of Chicago, Westing- house, General Electric, and Polaroid Corporation.
GREAT BRITAIN How the Navy Gets Its Aircraft
The Aeroplane, October 18.—Readers both in and out of the Navy will find interest in this account of the steps in the evolution of Naval equipment and explanation of how each section of the Admiralty is brought into play. Basically, the whole process is simple. Briefly, a non-technical body, constituting the Naval Stall, states what they consider to be the requirements, and these are transmitted to a body of technicians, who, with the firms, try to meet these requirements.
In practice the officers of the Naval Staff are frequently changed. Usually they are drawn from men whose administrative ability has already been proved, and, equally important, they have just been serving in a position which enables them to see, first hand, the problems involved in a practical way. We see this working when, for example, a Commander serving in a particularly active Carrier of the British Pacific Fleet is flown back to a key position inside Admiralty. Such a man, just back from fighting himself, has the obvious qualifications to advise the Director of Air Warfare (who is head of the Naval Staff Requirement section) the best course to pursue.
they are offered or suggest another solution.
Of course, Staff requirements for a complete aeroplane—even in war-time, when development was on an unprecedented scale— were relatively rare events. Generally, the idea of a new aeroplane would either be thrashed out in a meeting at high level, or sometimes slowly materialize in the minds of several people together. Eventually, when a measure of agreement was reached, the basic Staff requirements could be drafted and sent to the M.O.S., where they would be edited
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The Director (Directors are usually Captains) then passes these views to his opposite number inside the Ministry of Supply, the Director of Naval Development and Production who has a Staff consisting of a few serving officers and the remainder civilians with a purely technical background. Their job is to interpret the Staff requirements so that individual contractors can get the right project designed and constructed. When the firms have had this information, it is the job of the M.O.S. to ensure that the claims of the firm to have met the requirements are, in fact, genuine. If the requirement cannot be met, or can only be half- met, then this must be explained; the Naval Staff are then forced either to accept what before issue as the specification of the aircraft. Then the contractors would tender designs to fit the specification.
Often in war-time the system worked the other way round, the M.O.S., perhaps in conjunction with the project office of the firm, under the guidance of the chief designer, would suggest a further application of an existing aeroplane. The firm would send this forward to the M.O.S. officially, who, in turn, would pass the idea to the Naval Staff as the possible basis of a conference to be held by the Staff, at which the technicians would be fully represented. The organization has proved so flexible that this reverse method of getting new equipment into service worked quite smoothly.
The Staff requirements, theoretically, should be made solely upon operational experience in close collaboration with the Operational Research team and the Director of Scientific Research (these two Directors are civilians). In practice under war-time conditions the shortage of material and labor was so acute that, in effect, all the Staff and the M.A.I’. could do was to assess priorities to the firms. This was done by a special committee[1] set up by the Naval Staff which made it clear to everybody, including the firms and the M.A.P. themselves, which equipment was regarded by the Staff as contributing towards the efficiency of the Service most directly.
The Staff were handicapped in war-time, since a new project could only be put in hand at the direct expense of another. Some agonizing decisions have had to be made in the past—sometimes the only way that, say, a drop tank could be fitted to an aircraft, was by taking draughtsmen off the installation of radio equipment or, perhaps, off a long-standing modification on a different aeroplane made by the same firm. This might, in turn, also delay the fitting of British equipment to an American aircraft. Indeed, the optimum arrangement of priorities is one of the outstanding problems of war-time and, for obvious reasons, the strain never relaxes. Yet, in spite of all the chopping and changing, ways have to be found of extracting the utmost work from the contractors.
This brings us to the main class of work occupying most of the efforts of those responsible—the tedious job of introducing modifications to existing aeroplanes. If a new piece of equipment is judged ready—for instance, the fitting of R.A.T.O.G.—a trial installation would be ordered on appropriate priority at the firm. Under war-time conditions, a main job of the M.A.P. production Staff on the spot was to ensure this priority was actually observed.
The Naval Staff representatives then attend the initial or mock-up conference. As a consequence, the Staff may, perhaps, recommend that the Board of Admiralty approve a limited number of R.A.T.O.G. sets for trial. In war-time the B. of A. rubber- stamped most projects; in peace-time they are more circumspect. The equipment lias then to be delivered to Admiral (Air) (who has his headquarters at Lee-on-Solent) for issue to the Naval Fighter Development Unit, the school of Air Warfare, as well as on M.O.S. issue to A. and A.E.E., Boscombe Down, and the R.A.E.
Upon the reports from these units, the Staff will be able to assess the practical possibilities of the R.A.T.O.G. installation. Production orders are placed upon the result of a final conference attended by the Staff and the technicans. This sort of action proceeds concurrently on a number of different projects.
Thus it can be seen that the vital departments for this work are, in effect, narrowed, first to a sub-section in the Air Warfare Division, the Naval Staff section responsible for the requirements of engines, airframes and equipment. Secondly, technicians at the M.O.S. who have to maintain constant liaison with the firm through the office of the Resident Technical Officer.
The normal procedure of a local Modification Committee is followed in the case of Naval aircraft. This is composed of resident M.O.S. representatives and of the contractor’s staff. It sits, as its name suggests, at the contractor’s factory. Its recommendations are ratified by the Aircraft Modifications Committee, which meets regularly in London, whereon are represented all the Service branches likely to be affected by the decisions and the financial branches that have to foot the bill. In war-time the A.M.C. struggled along behind, ratifying action that circumstances had necessitated. In peace-time conditions are, naturally, different.
Before the adoption of equipment, details of it must be presented to the Aircraft Equipment Committee (the A.E.C.), who examine and sift each item to prevent any possibility of two separate solutions to a problem being adopted where one would do. In peace-time the A.E.C. becomes a useful instrument for cutting down costs, work, and mods, generally. As soon as A.E.C. approval has been obtained, the Director of Stores (Air) at Admiralty and the Director of Contracts take up the question of supplies. In this they are guided by the Naval Staff, who know the scale on which the proposed equipment is to be used. The Air Organization Division are also concerned with the dispositions, and other detailed questions of distribution all devolve on the Director of Air Equipment and the Director of Stores (Air).
Working closely with the Naval Staff is the Director of Maintenance and Repair, who, at an early stage in the development, must take into account the question of maintenance and is able to advise technically on a number of different points. At a later stage the detailed work of keeping the equipment serviceable becomes a major task.
The whole system has worked very well, although here and there modifications to it have had to be made; for instance, the complexity of radio staff requirements made it impossible for the Staff to keep track of everything without the department becoming top-heavy (for the secret of the efficient working of the Staff depends upon its relative compactness). Therefore, the Naval radio section broke apart and concerned themselves with the latest radio technicalities, while the Naval staff kept a close contact with the Radio Equipment section on the one hand and the T.R.E. with the M.O.S. on the other.
D.R.E. at Admiralty were, in effect, technical advisors to the Staff. D.R.E. made out requirements for radio which were countersigned (but sometimes adjusted) by the radio section proper of the Naval Staff, which since D.R.E. could handle most of the work, need be no larger than other sections of the Staff. The Air Warfare section contained bomb, gunnery, and various tactical experts.
In some respects, the most tricky task of all is that of formulating air requirements for Carriers. In general, the officer in charge is a man with a pint-size tankard and has to resist various independent attempts to put in a quart. Space limitation is the primary issue in all Carriers, and equipment must be stowed aboard strictly on a priority basis. During the War he was often presented with an awkward fail accompli and simply had to improvise as best he could.
Although the people responsible for aircraft development know the basic dimensions of the Carriers, it needs an experienced man to influence the aircraft requirement section to provide aeroplanes and equipment which really can be operated economically by the greatest number of Carriers. The internal and external sizes of nearly all Carriers are different, so it is not surprising that the ability to build a modern aeroplane able to fit into every ship has eluded aircraft designers so far. Therefore, a compromise must be reached if the aircraft and ship constructors are not to move out of step.
This job has been so difficult that in the past, at best, a poor compromise only could be patched up. The advent of jet aircraft and large twin-engined types will increase the problems so that nothing but the greatest foresight and experience will avert a most difficult situation from arising in a few years’ time when such aircraft (at present only in the prototype stage) will have to be operated.
The Naval Staff have to lay plans several years in advance for aircraft and assorted weapons which will compete with the best shore-based aircraft, otherwise the performance of the ship-based aircraft will be unable to stave off a determined attack by shore-based aircraft. The plain fact is that it takes at least a year or two to develop a modern jet engine, it takes two or three years to introduce a new airframe, and it takes over three years to build a new aircraft carrier. Yet developments in the power unit immediately influence airframe design.
There is surprisingly little liaison between the pair of industries, and development goes ahead at different speeds. The Naval Staff have to form their plans and, at the same time, lake into account the practical realities. It is a mere waste of time to ask for the moon, yet Naval Aviation will suffer in efficiency if they do not ask for enough.
Provision of Naval interceptors capable of a top speed within 3 per cent of their shore- based counterparts has proved a most difficult task for the staff. Naval strike aircraft should be able to operate with a combat radius of 500 miles. All these high performance types must get off the 500-600 ft. of a Light Fleet Carrier if possible without assistance.
The First Lord said in his last Navy Estimates that the core of the modem Navy is the aircraft carrier. The responsibility is in the hands of a comparatively few men to mould the equipment in such a way that the best technical resources of the country can be turned to the task of providing Naval aircraft which will be really effective. It might be said that the future of the Service as a whole is bound up in the successful and rapid development of aircraft in the Navy. It is indeed upon the ability of the Fleet to wield the most modem aircraft that the new Navy will be judged.
This is a very heavy burden, resting squarely on the shoulders of those with the reins now in their hands. Indications are that the departments concerned are fully alive tc the implications of modem weapons. The results of Operation CROSSROADS and the potentialities of modem nuclea weapons now being developed will surely mean a revision of every known method of making Naval war. And the Naval Staff have to plan for that revision now.
Flight Training for Sub-Lieutenants
The Aeroplane, November 1.—Since the report (published in The Aeroplane of March 22,1946) that the Royal Navy was proposing to teach all Sub-Lieutenants to fly as part of their general syllabus, we understand that good progress has been made at the R.N. Air Course at Gosport.
The ground course is intended to provide every Naval Officer with an idea of Naval Aviation generally. The flying has two objects: first, to evaluate the pilot suitability of all regular officers, so that when they volunteer for aircrew duties selections can be made from those most likely to make the grade; second, to give all Naval Officers an introduction to flying.
The R.N. Air Course is under the officer in charge, Lieut-Commander N. R. Corbet Milward, R. N., and so far since the start of the scheme at the beginning of the year nearly 150 subs have taken the course. The average time taken at Gosport is about six weeks (thus the course is as long as the gunnery course in II.M.S. Excellent) and the average number of pupils in each course is 15.
Glancing through the list of pupils it is clear that those accepted are mostly Dartmouth and public school entries.
They are taught to fly the Tiger Moths which are operated by 727 Squadron under the C.O. Lieut. A. M. Dennis, R. N., with 10 other instructors. The average time taken to go solo is about seven or eight hours, and the aim is to give them about 16 hours altogether, bringing them to “A” licence standard. The licences are granted on the spot.
Ground instruction on navigation, reconnaissance, air weapons, ground assault and support as well as elementary instruction on theory of flight, jet propulsion and atomic disintegration and other useful subjects are given by instructors who fit their classes in with the flying programme. The chief instructor, Lieut.-Commander V. Ranee, R.N., has to organize and combine both the flying and the ground instruction to give all the pupils a good grounding of the basic principles of Naval Aviation.
The pupils come under the officer in charge for their term at Gosport and in turn under Captain R. Mills, D.S.O., D.S.C., R.N., the station C.O. When in the air they come under the Commander (Flying), Lieut.- Commander J. Corbett, D.S.O., R.N.
As a means of finding talent or sifting sheep from goats, the scheme has much to commend it. Indeed, it marks the great step taken since the not-so-remote days when all officers had to learn the mysteries of sail. However, acquisition of an “A” license is only a step and not a full initiation into Service aviation which takes a working life to comprehend.
Men for the Armed Forces
London Times, October 16.—The problem of obtaining sufficient men to maintain the strength of the Army and the Royal Air Force without reversing the policy of diminishing the period of service for conscripts is now a major preoccupation of the Government. Monday’s debate in the House of
Lords revealed afresh how disappointing has been the response so far to the voluntary recruiting campaign for the regular forces which began in May. Lord Pakenham, who spoke for the War Office, admitted that while it is too early yet to talk of complete failure, it was impossible to deduce from the figures he gave “any foreseeable prospect of achieving our aim unless some quite new factor or totally new atmosphere is introduced.”
The Navy is doing moderately well and the problem relates mainly to the Army and the Air Force. Lord Pakenham gave an assurance that the Government are under no illusions about its gravity and that the approach to voluntary recruiting is being studied afresh and intensively in the light of the results up to date.
Various plans are now under consideration and in due course Mr. A. V. Alexander, who is to be the new Minister of Defence, will submit the recommendations of the service departments to the Cabinet. Arrangements are being made to publicize more effectively the recruiting campaign. But not too much reliance will be placed upon this and, while volunteers are needed in the biggest numbers that can be recruited, fundamental changes in service organization are also being considered. One of several schemes under consideration is believed to be a proposal that after their two-year period of color service—to be progressively reduced to 18 months in 1948—conscripts should be retained for a further period of four years in reserve and that their reserve service should be in the Territorial Army, with a period of annual training. At present this appears to be the scheme that is attracting most attention, but no decision of any kind has yet been taken. In any event it is thought highly improbable that there will be any extension of the conscript’s period of full-time service with the forces.
Mines Swept From Channel Near Albania
Chicago Daily Tribune, November 3.— British ships, ready for any “incident,” were reported by British spokesmen tonight to have begun minesweeping operations in the channel between Corfu and Albania. They acted despite Albanian protests that the action was a “premeditated violation” of its sovereignty.
It was in Corfu Strait that two British destroyers had their bows blown off Oct. 22 when they struck mines which killed 38 sailors and injured 45. In an earlier incident British cruisers in the channel were fired on by Albanian shore batteries.
A foreign office spokesman said the minesweeping operations were indorsed by the central mine clearance board. Representatives of Britain, the United States, Russia, and France make up this board, which has its headquarters in London. The Mediterranean zonal mine clearance board, which includes Yugoslav and Italian representatives, also recommended that the British sweep the straits, the spokesman said.
An Albanian protest against the operations, however, charged that the British decision to sweep the channel was “unilateral” and suggested that a joint commission be set up to examine the whole question of the strait.
After the Oct. 22 incident involving the destroyers Saumarez and Volage, Albania protested against “repeated provocative interventions” by the British navy in Albanian waters.
The British spokesman said today that international law allowed warships and merchant vessels the right of passage in the strait, because it is considered an international waterway.
Mines Were Laid
Digested in Military Review, November from an Article in The Navy, June, 1946, by Comdr. Kenneth Edwards.—Modern developments have completely changed the character of certain weapons. This is probably more true of the mine than of any other method of inflicting loss or damage on an enemy. The mine is a very old weapon, but until very recently it has been regarded almost entirely as a defensive weapon. The reason was that it was immobile and could only be laid in waters to which one’s own ships had free access. In those circumstances it was considered pre-eminently the weapon to bar the approaches to harbors or to coastal waters to enemy raiding craft.
The mine still performs this function, and by far the largest number of mines laid during the recent war were laid in “defensive” fields such as the great mine barrage which extended off shore the whole length of the east coast of the United Kingdom.
In the recent war, however, mining became an exact offensive science for the first time in history. During the 1914-18 war a small number of mines were laid “offensively” in clumps off t he entrances to enemy harbors by British submarines, but these were more in the nature of hopeful gestures than planned operations of war.
In 1939-45 things were vastly different, and the mine became a potent offensive weapon. This was simply because the ability of aircraft to lay mines made it possible to place these weapons in enemy waters—and even harbors and rivers—to which the ordinary mine-layer could not hope to penetrate. Aircraft have, in fact, completely changed the strategical and tactical form of mine warfare.
The British minelaying effort during the last war can be divided into two distinct parts. There was the purely defensive minelaying, which was by far the greatest undertaking and demanded 186,388 mines of the total of 263,088 mines laid. The greatest part of this defensive minelaying was concerned with the laying of the great East Coast Barrage which extended off-shore from the north of Scotland to its junction with the Dovcr- Barrage. There were other big defensive minefields, notably the Dover Barrage and the mine barrier laid between the northwest of Scotland and Iceland.
These big fields were composed of moored mines designed and laid in order to deny, or make dangerous, the passage of surface ships. In addition to these there were extensive fields of “deep” mines laid with a view to destroying U-boats. These areas were normally safe for the passage of a surface ship and consisted of tiers of mines laid at different depths in order to trap U-boats. Two of the largest of these ‘‘deep minefields” were those laid off the north coast of Ireland and at the southern entrance to the Irish Sea. There was a small minefield of this sort off the Isle of Wight which had to be swept before the big liners could again use Southampton, since these large ships drew enough water for the minefield to be dangerous to them.
The whole of this great task of laying the defensive minefields devolved upon surface ships. Most of these were converted merchant ships, and they included large freighters, train ferries, and car ferries.
These defensive minefields not only acted as a strong deterrent to, and circumscribed the movements of enemy forces, but also inflicted some casualties. By far the majority of the casualties inflicted on the enemy by the British mining campaign were naturally caused by our offensive rather than our defensive minelaying. These offensive mine fields were laid in enemy waters, and frequently even in enemy inland waterways. For such a task, of course, aircraft had to be used as minelayers. Ships were, however, also used, particularly submarines, fast minelayers, motor torpedo boats, motor launches, and destroyers.
About 76,700 mines were laid in these offensive fields, and of these, 56,300 were laid by aircraft.
These offensive minefields inflicted a great deal of loss and damage upon the enemy. They also played an important part in helping to disorganize the whole of the enemy’s transport system, as well as absorbing a very appreciable portion of his war effort in minesweeping. The area in which most casualties were inflicted was, of course, the Elbe estuary, the southern part of the Baltic and the Baltic approaches. In all, a total of 1,050 Axis warships and merchant ships were sunk by our mines during the European war and a further 540 ships were damaged. Some of these casualties were imposed in strongly protected inland waterways such as the Kiel Canal and the Danube. All the main river estuaries of enemy occupied Europe were also mined.
An analysis of the losses inflicted on the enemy by our mining campaign reveals the extent to which it was directed against the enemy’s transport system. No less than 144 lighters and barges fell victim to our mines. More important still, forty-seven tugs were sunk and six more damaged, thus immobilizing a further large number of barges.
In considering the whole effect of our mining campaign it must be borne in mind that most of the losses inflicted by our offensive minefields were in narrow waters, so that a casualty often meant the blocking of a channel for some time in addition to the loss of the vessel. It was probably the bitter experience of the Germans in this regard that determined them to pul all their effort into a mining campaign against the assault area off the Normandy beaches just after D-day. It is known that the Germans vyere forced to keep in being a large and highly mobile wreck disposal organization, thus absorbing war effort and again increasing the strain upon transport.
One type of vessel, the loss of which had an effect on the dislocation of transport out of all proportion to the loss of one ship, was the train ferry. Germany suffered the total loss of five of these craft and had four others seriously damaged by our mines.
The train ferry forms the main transport link between central Europe and Scandinavia, and most of them are specially built to serve particular points of embarkation and disembarkation. This makes them non-interchangeable, so that a casualty on one route cannot be replaced by a ferry from another route.
The losses among German mine-sweepers are eloquent proof of the effectiveness of our mines and antisweeping devices, and of the enormous minesweeping effort which our mining campaign imposed upon the enemy. No less than 143 ordinary minesweepers were sunk or damaged by our mines. Still more interesting is the high casualty rale inflicted upon the German spccrbrcchcr—vessel spe-
dally designed and built by the Germans for dealing with our magnetic mines. No fewer than 108 of these highly specialized craft fell to our mines, and thirty-one of these were sunk outright. Thus a total of 251 enemy minesweepers were sunk or damaged by mines—rather more than double the casualties suffered by British minesweepers.
Rocket Range in West Australia
New York Ilerdld-Tribune, November 24. —The British Empire is establishing a 3,000- mile rocket-testing range across barren western Australia and over the Indian Ocean.
Radar equipment will be installed in a chain of observation stations along the desert line of flight to trace the course of the missiles, according to present plans disclosed by sources close to the Australian government.
Establishment of the rocket range across the desert advanced a stage further with Federal Cabinet approval of the proposal to set up the world’s longest shooting gallery in collaboration with the British government.
Government sources at Canberra estimate that £6,000,000 Australian ($21,000,000) will be spent on the range before the first rocket is fired and that the tests will cost an additional £3,000,000 a year.
While no indication has been given as to when the range would be in operation, preliminary moves for its speedy establishment were made here even before Canberra approved the scheme. For several weeks, a government expedition with about fifty heavy trucks has been preparing at Alice Springs in central Australia for the trek into the red, rocky desert.
Radar recordings will enable scientists to prepare precise statements of the behavior of each rocket. The plan adopted by the Federal Cabinet is understood to envisage construction of a launching base at Eucla with rockets directed towards Christmas Island,
3,0 miles off in the Indian Ocean. In addition to radar stations on the Australian mainland one or two radar-equipped ships probably will be used along the line of flight.
Present plans provide for rocket shots of a few hundred miles at first, with gradual extension up to 3,000 miles. The main objects of the tests, as indicated by government sources, will be developing of rocket propulsion units, increasing “rocket pay load” efficiency, and radio control of flight and ultimate descent of rockets.
Precise information on plans for the range are still top secret, but the government sources indicate that the project likely will provide for:
(1) Manufacture of rocket bombs at the big explosives factory at Salisbury, fourteen miles from Adelaide, built during the war at a cost of about $12,000,000;
(2) Establishment of a testing range probably extending from Eucla, a coastal town at the West Australian-South Australian border, northwest over Christmas Island;
(3) Construction of observation posts over the land section of the range and living quarters for scientists and other workers;
(4) Removal of nomadic aborigines from the path of rockets to safer hunting grounds.
Several alternative range-testing sites have been examined but the one most favored is the Eucla-Christmas Island line. If this is adopted, a base for scientists and technicians probably will be established at Ooldea, a small town 180 miles northeast of Eucla on the transcontinental railway line.
FRANCE
Naval Schools
La Revue Maritime, September.—The reestablishment of naval schools in the metropolis was begun at the beginning of 1945.
The new organization, entrusted to a general officer who directs the ensemble of schools and training centers, was conceived with a view to adapting their methods and programs to the needs of tomorrow and to providing cadres and crews the unity of training necessary for the cohesion of the Navy as well as union with the nation.
To this end it was considered indispensable to:
Reserve a prime position to general, civil, and military and maritime training;
Base out methods on the experience acquired in modern pedagogical centers (civilian or military, French or foreign);
Provide as far as possible the adaptation of personnel to materials in planning or testing;
Finally, to make the younger elements
of the Navy airminded, since such a mentality will henceforth be necessary to the complete maritime vocation.
The reform of study programs and methods of instruction in Navy schools was thus situated in the general school reform prepared by the commission under Prof. Lange- vin and in close contact, on the other hand, with our technical schools which furnish the Navy an excellent recruitment from their graduates of practical schools. Moreover, higher courses for bos’n’s, secretaries, welders, and metal-workers have been created in Paris with the cooperation of private specialized companies.
Finally, thanks to the confident liaisons maintained with the British and American admiralties, whose schools are generously opened to our men on foreign station and officers on mission, the navy is able to profit by the experience acquired by our Allies in these fields.
From the material point of view, everything had to be rebuilt, redone, the old schools had been grouped around Brest and Toulon, today in ruins. Henceforth, the principle of lodging students in barracks at various ports has been abandoned. Training centers will be set up in open areas grouped campus-style, as far as possible in the vicinity of a port, but away from urban crowding. Vast fields will be devoted to sports, and amusement will be provided in recreation centers, libraries, and cinemas.
The technical equipment has been partly restored by virtue of materiel from Germany. In addition, the photo-cinema section of the Ministry has created a bureau to produce training films which will be supplemented by charts and animated drawings. Aids will be provided in the form of illustrated manuals, small models, etc. . . .
The Preparatory Schools.—The Ecole des Pupilles (Boys’ Navy Prep. Schools) was established at the end of 1944 in the vale of Bertheaume, where there were a number of barracks in fair condition. Since that time it has developed, taking on the appearance of a modern school in a setting of greenery, sport, and sea air. There are now 400 students, and the bugle and drum corps, so popular with the Bretons, has been restored.
The Ecole des Mousses (Boy Attendants) has been reconstituted in the domain of Dourdy, at Loctudy. It shelters also, as did formerly the Armorique, the Ecole de Mais- trance. By dint of incredible effort it was possible to accept 450 students in October 1945; 700 students were received in April, 1946.
The port, for which it will be necessary to build a slip and landing, shelters more and more craft of various types, both sail and motor, as well as the cutters Mutin and N.D. d’Etel.
Outside of Sunday liberty in Pont-l’Abb6, the mousses find plenty of amusement in the school recreation center which has a library, game rooms, and a cinema to which will soon be added a model shop (ships, building planes). Athletic fields, still inadequate, will be improved as soon as possible.
The School for Apprentice Machinists (1,400 students), to be mentioned later, is at Saint-Mandrier.
The Specialists’ Schools.—The number of specialities is constantly increasing with new techniques and weapons: there are now thirty of them. The “certificates” intended to complete in certain branches the “ratings” have multiplied likewise.
Specialists’ school courses usually last six months.
The Gunners’ School and the Firemen’s School are the only ones that operate on board ships, where they have the necessary training materiel.
Nonetheless, part of the gunners’ training is conducted aboard the Lorraine, the rest ashore at Bormettes (near Ilyeres), where a center will later be established for the training of ordnance personnel (officer, petty-of- ficer, and enlisted) as well as armorers, opticians, telemetristes, centralists.
The Lorraine, which has several annexes {Toulonnais, Vigilant, Attenlif), makes a 15- day cruise every month on the coasts of Provence and sometimes as far as North Africa.
The School for Apprentice Machinists, installed at Saint-Mandrier, annually receives
1,0 students 16-18 years of age. The instruction, lasting 18 months, entails manual apprenticeship in all branches and the study of naval matdriel completed by military, nautical and athletic exercises which are particularly favored by the geographical location of the school.
Nevertheless the workshops still lack some of the materiel and modern ship’s apparatus that they should have.
The Electricians’ School is operating at Querqueville, near Cherbourg, the instruction being supplemented by visits, work, and sometimes short cruises on ships stationed at Cherbourg.
The School for Fusiliers (Marines) or Commandos, has been reorganized at the Siroco centernear Algiers. Here they have the use of athletic fields of the Monitors’ School and various grounds suitable for training and for A. A.C., of the ‘dome teacher,’ and the help of fighter planes based in the region. The little port of Laperouse, which shelters boats, pneumatique craft, landing-craft, etc. . . . permits the organization of amphibious drills day and night.
The School for Helmsmen and Quartermaster Chiefs is located at Cape Brun. Its annexes (P.T. chasers, patrol boats) are based at Toulon.
The School for Yeomen, Secretaries, and Clerks operates at Rochefort in the Martron Barracks in the outskirts of the city. An annex for the maritime training of students has been established on the Isle of R6, where camping trips are organized during the summer.
The Torpedomen’s School has remained temporarily at Casablanca, where it uses the torpedoes of the base. Training is supplemented by visits and cruises on submarines and P.T. boats, with drills on the use of all modern weapons of submarine attack. This school will later be brought back to France, where it will be established at Porquerolles (present location of Radio-Telegraphists’ School), along with School of Submarine Detection (now at Casablanca) and the Radar School (now at Oran).
The Ecole dcs Transfilistes is at La Crau, near Hyeres.
Schools for Petty Officers.—Selection and training of under-officers has been provided after the grade of quarlier-mattre via entrance courses which entail 4 months technical work in special schools and 2 months Command training in centers where all specialties are unified.
The courses for the brevet suptricur of sec- ond-maitres will be continued.
Lastly, we mention the establishment, at Centre Siroco, of an important Ecole dc Moniteurs (Instructors’ Mates), now being expanded, part of which work is being carried out by the moniteurs themselves.
GERMANY
Rieckhoff on the Luftwaffe
Revue dc Defense Nalionalc, July 1946. Lieutenant-General II. J. Riekhoff devotes a 296-page volume (“Trump or Bluff”), Interavia, Geneva) to the history of German aviation between 19.13 and 1945. General Rieckhofi belonged to the Luftwaffe. He had a brilliant career; during the war he commanded in Russia and led the only division to fly over the city of London.
The author asks the following question: “Was German aviation a trump card in Hiller’s strategy, or was it only a colossal bluff?” The author leans toward the second suggestion. He does not deny the fall which led (1941 to 1943) German military aviation from its power to such a rapid and complete decadence that it contributed largely to the defeat of the national-socialist Reich. While striving for objectivity, the former German general attributes the phenomenon to the domination of the national-socialist policy and the absolutism of the Ftihrer on an organization which should have remained primarily in the hands of technicians.
He gives us an example of this dangerous method: In September, 1943, the Ftihrer received details of the new German pursuit plane Messerschmill M.N. 262, which German industry was prepared to produce in quantity. Hitler, enthusiastic, asked if the machine could carry a bomb. The engineer, caught by surprise, answered: “Yes, my Ftihrer, a 1-ton bomb.” Thereupon Hitler ordered the plane made into a pursuit-bomber. This change required 15 months’ work, and the transformed plane came out in driblets by November, 1944. This not withstanding the recriminations of technicians and the objections of aerial strategists like Marshall Milch.
Another cause of the decadence of the Luftwaffe was the lack of organization at the rear, which made it impossible to operate for whole months thousands of kilometers from its industrial bases during the Russian campaign.
Finally, General Rieckhoff reproaches the leaders of German aviation, especially Marshal Goering, for not having set up a plan for recruiting and training personnel comparable to that adopted by the British in 1938 and which enabled them to satisfy the ever-growing needs of a five-years’ war. This, together with the waste of materiel and personnel in Russia during the supplying of pockets surrounded by the Russians, and the senseless use of A.A. batteries sacrificed in anti-tank combat, explains the disappearance of the elite personnel on hand at the beginning of the war.
OTHER COUNTRIES Argentina
A contract has been signed between Vick- crs-Armstrongs, Limited, and the Argentine Government, for the State Merchant fleet, for the building of three 18-knot passenger and cargo ships of 18,000 tons. The order will provide work for about 6,000 men. It followed closely on the visit to South America of the Board of Trade mission, representing the British shipbuilding industry. Vickcrs- Armstrongs, Limited, sent a panel of experts, headed by a director, to Argentina by air immediately their tender had been submitted. This panel was able to deal with all technical queries arising during the consideration of the tenders.—London Times. November 1.
Egypt
An Egyptian Ministerial Committee is examining surplus United States vessels in ports in Egypt with a view to acquiring some of them for Egypt’s proposed merchant and naval fleets.
The Council of Ministers recently agreed in principle to the creation of two such fleets and created a committee to examine United States ships. There are fifty or sixty vessels at Alexandria and Port Said, most of them transport and auxiliary units.
The Government also has allot ted £100,000 to buy planes for its air force.—Maritime Reporter, November 14.
Portugal
'J'hc first ship of the great reorganization program of the Portuguese merchant marine —the Benguela, of 9,000 tons—is being delivered to Portugal by the Swedish builders and will arrive in the Tagus in the month of September. It is destined for the fleet of the “Companhia Colonial dc Navigagao.”
The great tanker Samciro, of 14,500 tons displacement, will be launched at the Arsenal d’alfcitc (Lisbon) next month. It also is destined for the “Companhia Colonial de Navigagao.” This is the largest ship built in Portugal up to the present time.—La Revue Maritime, Paris, September, 1946.
Turkey
The Turkish navy has recently acquired in England 4 minesweepers, 105 feet: Nos. 63, 65, 88, and 150; 8 II.D. mine-layers and 3 'barrier’ ships: Barbarian, Barbette, Barf air. —La Revue Maritime, Paris, September, 1946.
AVIATION
“Thunderjet" Fighter
U. S. Air Service, November.—Since the Army Air Forces has postponed until next year any attempt to break the existing world speed record of 616m.p.h. held by Great Britain, the following information on the Republic XP-84 is released:
The Thunderjet was developed and is being manufactured under the joint supervision of the Army Air Forces Air Mat6riel Command and Republic Aviation Corporation, Farm- ingdale, Long Island. It was originally conceived when the AAF asked Republic to redesign a P-47 Thunderbolt in order to conduct tests on General Electric’s newest and largest engine, the TG-180, an axial flow-type engine. After conferences between Republic and the Air Matfiricl Command, the decision was made to design an entirely new airplane which would house the TG-180. This was in November, 1944. AMC gave Republic a contract for the experimental plane. Changing tactical requirements and production plans were responsible for revisions of production and delivery dates and World II ended before the XP-84 had an opportunity to show its merit.
Col. Marshall S. Roth, the original AMC project officer for the XP-47B, became engineering officer for the XP-84. Assisting Alexander Kartveli, Republic’s vice president in charge of engineering, in the design of the new jet fighter were engineers F. Mulholland, W. O’Donnell and C. H. A. Hartley. Capt. Don Flinn served as project engineer for the AMC. Tactical Requirements officer on the project was Col. Bruce Holloway, AAF, Washington, one of the first pilots to fly the earlier jet-propelled American planes.
In addition to the speed performance of the Thunderjet, its service range is in excess of 1,000 miles and service ceiling above
40,0 feet. External dimensions are as follows: wing span 36 feet, 5 inches; overall length 37 feet, 3 inches.
In outward appearance the Thunderjet is a midwing type of exceptionally sleek, clean design, with retractable tricycle landing gear. Its most striking difference from that of such other jet fighters as the Bell P-59 and the Lockheed P-80 is the location of the air scoop in the nose of the fuselage rather than on the sides. Actually, however, the XP-84 achieves new standards of aerodynamic cleanness as its exterior surfaces are completely free from protruding equipment of any kind. Not only is it flush-riveted and specially treated for skin smoothness, but all radio antennae and armament are internally concealed so that even the guns are so mounted that no part of the muzzles shows beyond the surface. By the unique location of the air scoop, the Thunderjet's fuselage becomes one giant tube through which passes the air into the axial flow engine, located behind and below the cockpit, and the jet nozzle sweeping back and out the tail of the plane makes for a direct straight flow of the expelled air. The jet nozzle is a controlled, variable exit tail pipe which provides ability to adjust for different speeds which may be required.
The airfoil sections of the wing and tail of the XP-84 are designed by Republic’s engineers to almost exactly the same formula for low drag in level flight as those of Republic’s 450 m.p.h. XF-12 Rainbow. The maneuverability of the Thunderjet at all speeds and altitudes is increased by the use of an automatically adjusted booster aileron control system, which varies in the application of force to the air speed at which the pilot is flying. Thus, even at the highest speeds, the pilot controls his airplane with ease and does not have to exert unusual pressures in maneuvering the ship.
The Thunderjet is equipped not only with a fully pressurized cockpit for extreme altitudes, but with automatic air conditioning for the pilot at all altitudes of operation. Other features include a pilot ejection seat and full-vision bubble canopy, the latter a feature first used on American planes with its adaptation by Republic to the D-25 model of the P-47.
The P-84’s maximum performance is still a military secret. However, unofficial tests made at Muroc Army Air Field, Calif., put it in the 600 m.p.h. class. Production is underway on an undisclosed number of these fighters at the company plant near Farmingdale, N. Y.
Navy Jet Fighters
New York Herald-Tribune. November 21. —The Navy announced tonight that two new jet-propelled carrier planes have been test-flown successfully and have speeds “well over 500 miles an hour.”
Described as the latest development in the Navy’s shift to jet propulsion in the fighter field, the XFJ-1 was built by North American Aviation, of Inglewood, Calif., and the XF 6U-1 by the Chance Vought division of the United Aircraft Corporation, of Farming- dale, L. I. They are the Navy’s fastest planes.
They were designed for both carrier and land operations, taking off from a carrier flight deck by means of a catapult and from a landing field under normal jet power.
The Navy said the planes “will put shipboard fighters on a par in performance with the newest landbascd fighters,” presumably meaning the Army Air Forces’ Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star and Republic P-84 Thunderjet.
The fighters were built to exceed the speed and match the combat range of carrier fighters now in use. The XFJ-1 is powered by a General Electric jet engine, the XF 6U-1 by a Westinghouse unit.
The North American fighter has the appearance of a “stubby-winged flying bomb,” the Navy said.
The Chance Vought XF 6U-1, prospective successor to the famed Corsair, is made of a new material called metalite, two thin sheets
of aluminum bonded to a balso-wood core. The smooth finish will result in decreased resistance at high speeds, the Navy said.
Both planes have tricycle landing gear and disposable wing tanks. They will join the Navy’s other all-jet fighter, the McDonnell FD-1 Phantom, and the Ryan FR-1 Fireball, a combination jet and conventional-engine plane.
Robot Aircraft to Fly at Over 800 m.p.h.
London Times, October 19.—Experiments in flight at supersonic speeds, which may have an important bearing on the future development of British aircraft, are shortly to be carried out on behalf of the Ministry of Supply.
Before the end of the month Vickers-Arm- strongs, makers of the Spitfire and Wellington aircraft used by the R.A.F., will deliver to the Ministry the first of 20 or more pilotless machines which have been designed for a speed of between 800 and 880 miles an hour.
The first robot machine is now being completed at the company’s Weybridge works.
All the machines will have bi-fuel rocket motors fed on T-Stoff and C-Stoff, chemicals which the Germans used in the V-2 rockets fired at England. The aircraft will be of the same size, about 12 ft. in length with a wing span of only 8 ft., but the size and shape of the wings and tail surfaces will be varied so as to test the behavior of the different aircraft under the influence of compressibility, the condition encountered approaching sonic speeds, when the air ahead of the oncoming aircraft compacts and forms an apparently solid “wall.”
The robot aircraft will be delivered in small batches of similar machines and will be tested in flight over the North Sea. Mosquito aircraft fitted with special attachments for carrying the small pilotless machines will take off from an aerodrome in the West oi England, climb to a considerable height over the sea, and then release the rocket-driven aircraft.
The whole of the robot’s flight will occupy only about a minute, but during that time a telemeter, a device which records the readings of all the instruments, will transmit to a ground radio station details of the aircraft’s performance. The aircraft will also be tracked by radar.
First Jet-Propelled Air Liner
London Times, September 28.—Lord Win- ster, Minister of Civil Aviation, Mr. Ivor Thomas, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry, Mr. Arthur Woodburn, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Supply, Lord Knollys, chairman of the B.O.A.C.,Sir Henry Self, Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, and Air Chief Marshal Sir Frederick Bowhill, Chief Aeronautical Adviser to the Ministry, today made their first flights in a jet-propelled aircraft. It was the experimental Lancastrian which is powered by two Rolls-Royce Nene jet engines in the outboard position and two Merlin piston engines in the inboard position, It is the first jet-propelled air liner in the world.
Taking off from London Airport, they flew over Surrey, Middlesex, and Buckinghamshire. The take-off was made with all four engines running, but after gaining height the pilot switched off the two piston engines and most of the flight was made with only the two jet engines working.
Lord Winstcr said the flight had been a wonderful experience. Noticeable features of jet flight were the absence of noise and vibration—features which would appeal particularly to air travellers making long journeys.
The purpose of fitting Ncnes to the Lancastrian is to form an assessment of the efficiency of jet-propulsion engines under flight conditions in a big aircraft. The different fuel required for jet-propulsion engines—kerosene —is carried in auxiliary tanks mounted in the lower part of the fuselage, as well as in permanent tanks in each wing. The total fuel provision amounts to 2,385 gallons of kero- sine and 740 gallons of petrol, so that the weight of fuel carried is about 11 tons. The still-air range of the Lancastrian with the modified tankage exceeds 800 miles when flying on the two Nene engines only.
AAF Announces World’s Largest Reciprocating Engine
U. S. Air Services, November.—The world’s most powerful reciprocating aircraft engine was shown recently by the Army Air Forces at the Lycoming Division of The Aviation Corp. at Williamsport, Pa. Designed and developed under supervision of the Air Materiel Command, the Lycoming XR-7755 develops 5,000 hp. at takeolf, power equivalent to that produced by a modern railway locomotive. It has 36 cylinders in four banks of nine each.
Developed to answer the need for powering long-range bombers and transports, the liquid-cooled engine, designated the X-7, combines high power output necessary for takeoff with low fuel consumption necessary for range. It is estimated that installation of the X-7 in AAF aircraft designed for 1 (),()()() mile range with 10,000 pounds payload would: (1) increase the range to approximately 11,500 miles; or, (2) increase the payload range to 50,000 pounds.
Design of the Lycoming X-7 incorporates several unusual features to effect economy of operation. The X-7 will give the pilot an additional control over speed and power with an arrangement similar to shifting gears in an automobile; the pilot shifts to low for takeoffs, landings, and climbing operations, and shifts to high for cruising.
Fuel consumption of the X-7 at cruising conditions is considerably lower than that of contemporary engines at equivalent power. This is accomplished through a high ratio between engine displacement and horsepower delivered. This utilizes the economical effects of high compression while cruising and at the same time requires compression of a relatively low volume of air for ground operation. 'Flic coolant in the X-7 is circulated at a rate of 750 gallons per minute, dissipating at takeoff 95,600 BTU’s per minute.
B-36 Bomber Disclosed
Chicago Daily Tribune, November 7.— The Army Air Forces said tonight its new six engine B-36 bomber “could carry an atomic bomb to any inhabited region in the world and return home without refueling in the event of an enemy attack.”
An official statement giving details of the bomber, which lias been described as the world’s largest, said production had started at the Consolidated-Vultee plant at Fort Worth, Tex.
The plane is designed for a normal range of
10,0 miles with 10,000 pounds of bombs without extra fuel tanks. At lesser range, the air forces said it could carry 36 tons, more than three times the capacity for the same distance of the B-29.
A new type landing gear is expected to distribute the bomber’s 278,000 pound weight over eight wheels. Six 28 cylinder pusher type engines developing a total of 18,000 lip. will permit the bomber to attain a ceiling of 40,000 feet.
First B-50 Ready in January
New York Herald-Tribune, October 8.— By James G. Simonds.—The Army’s first new B-50 super-heavy bombers, especially designed to carry atomic bombs, will be delivered early in 1947, it was learned today.
Although Army Air Forces officers refused to comment on the mission for which the new plane was built, it was learned that its bomb bays are adapted for carrying the atomic weapon.
The B-50 is similar to the B-29 heavy bombers used to destroy Japanese heavy industry and fly the atomic bombs to Nagasaki and Hiroshima, as well as in the first Bikini atom test last summer.
1 fowever, the new four-engined bomber will be powered by 3,500-hp. units instead of the 2,200-lip. engines similar to those which carried the United States Army’s B-29 Pacusan Dreamboat from Honolulu to Ciro, a distance of 10,925 miles, in 39 hours and 36 minutes, last week end.
Disclosure that the Army would soon receive the first of a group of sixty B-50’s ordered some months ago, following as it docs just after the Pacusan completed its over- the-Arctic flight, emphasized the growing importance that the Army is attaching to long-range bombers. An order for another substantial number of the atom-bomb carrying planes was placed recently by the Army, and delivery will start on those as soon as the first order is completed.
The only visible external differences between the B-50 and the B-29 bombers are that the B-50’s tail fin is five feet larger, and it has larger engine housings to contain the more powerful Pratt 8: Whitney water injection engines. It has the identical length, ninety-nine feet, and a wing spread of 141.1 feet, only a few inches longer than the B-29. It carries an eleven-man crew.
The interior of the plane has been radically modified, however, with approximately 600 changes being made in the original B-29 design. No information was made available as to what the changes arc.
In order to give it greater carrying capacity, the B-50 will have reverse pitch, sixteen- foot, eight-inch propellers, thus allowing it to carry an increased fuel load. The weight of the bomber, 120,000 pounds, is the same as that of the B-29.
While the A.A.F. has been giving a great deal of publicity to its six-engined giant, the B-36, little has been said about the B-50, indicating the desire of the Army to keep it under wraps as long as possible.
Meanwhile, Robert P. Patterson, Secretary of War, declared that there was “no truth whatsoever” in reports by radio commentators that the United States has shipped or is shipping atomic bombs to Great Britain.
Progress on Atom Engine
New York Herald-Tribune, November 11.
•—Army Air Forces scientists have made such progress on an atomic aircraft engine that a development contract has been awarded a large airplane company, it was revealed today.
The corporation is carrying on experimental work, but there has been no indication when the engine will reach the test stage. It will resemble the rocket type of power plant.
The scientists admit that their toughest problem is providing a shield to protect the crew from the atomic rays. They arc trying to overcome this by encasing the engine in lead. This would be unnecessary if the engine were used in pilotless aircraft or guided missiles.
Atomic warheads for guided missiles also are on the experimental line as part of the A.A.F.’s $300,000,000 research and development program for 1947. As of now the A.A.F.
plans to ask for $347,507,000 for research during 1947-48.
The A.A.F. has these other projects in the making:
The XB-45 North American four-engine jet bomber and XB-46 Consolidated Vultee jet bomber, expected to be ready for flight by the end of this year.
A modification of the Northrup flyingwing bomber equipped with jet engines, expected to be off the assembly line early next year. Experimental models of new types of guided missiles and rockets. These are undergoing tests at the A.A.F. proving ground at Wendover, Utah.
MERCHANT MARINE
51% of World’s Tonnage Flies Stars and Stripes
Maritime Reporter, October 31.—Fifty-one per cent of the world’s merchant fleet deadweight tonnage now flies the Stars and Stripes, as compared with 14 per cent in the pre-war days of September 1939, the United States Maritime Commission announced this week. The only other major fleet to show an increase in its share of today’s total world tonnage was that of Russia which rose from two per cent to three per cent.
While the world’s post-war merchant fleet shows a drop in the total number of vessels, from 12,798 as of September 1, 1939 to 12,445 as of June 30, 1946, the deadweight tonnage increased from 80,601,000 to 99,220,000 or approximately 23 per cent. The increased tonnage is a reflection of the large number of Liberty and otherships of greater carrying capacity than the average for pre<-war ships.
The British Empire fleet decreased from 30 per cent of the world’s deadweight tonnage to 24 per cent, and from 3,319 vessels to 3,159. The United Nations’ fleets showed smaller reductions than the Axis, Norway from nine per cent to four, Netherlands from four per cent to two, France from four per cent to two while Japan dropped from nine per cent to one, Germany from six per cent to one, and Italy from five per cent to one.
Another feature of the report, prepared by the Commission’s economics and statistics division, showed that on June 30, 1946, some 526 United States-owned vessels were under foreign flag and control, and counted as such in the summary tables, including 341 under British, 95 under Russian, 23 under Norway, 14 to Greece, 13 to France and 11 under China control.
Liners Designed for Possible Conversion
Maritime Reporter, November 7.—Even with the war over, the big new passenger liners this country plans to add to its merchant fleet will still be built with an eye to any military eventuality.
The 1936 merchant ship act requires the Maritime Commission to outline specific defense standards that must be incorporated in all vessels built with the aid of Federal subsidies. These standards before the war related principally to speed and such construction features as reinforcements to permit heavy gun mounts.
Other considerations are basic design characteristics such as compartmcntation, stability, strengthening and speed capacity.
At present, relatively little private shipbuilding is being carried on due chiefly to the government’s economy and anti-inflation program. However, the commission still hopes to get a White House go-ahead for a number of big, fast passenger liners for the Mediterranean, South African and Pacific trades. These ships would be built with the aid of Federal subsidies for operation by private firms.
The Queen Elizabeth
Engineering, October 18.—On October 16, under the command of Sir James Bisset, C.B.E., Commodore of the Cunard White Star Line, the Queen Elizabeth sailed from Southampton for New York, on her maiden voyage as a passenger liner. The occasion was also noteworthy for the fact that she is the first post-war British passenger liner to operate on the North Atlantic run and the first ship of the Cunard White Star Line to resume a normal passenger service since the war. Launched by Her Majesty the Queen on September 27, 1938, from the shipyard of Messrs. John Brown and Company, Limited, Clydebank, the Queen Elizabeth began her remarkable war service on March 2, 1940, when she left the Clyde on a secret voyage to New York. From then, and for a period of six years, she was engaged in trooping in the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans, during which time she carried 811,324 Service personnel and steamed 492,635 miles; she was released from military transport service on March 6, 1946. On March 30, the Queen Elizabeth left Southampton for the Clyde and while she lay at anchor opposite Greenock, her builders, Messrs. John Brown and Company, Limited, commenced the work of converting her from a transport to a passenger liner, stated to be the greatest ship-refitting job ever undertaken away from a shipyard. The preliminary work of dismantling and removing all the fittings installed for the accommodation of the
15,0 troops which she was able to accommodate, had been carried out at Southampton, previously. Heavy equipment was ferried down the river from Clydebank. The work of refitting progressed so well that on June 15 the ship was able to leave Greenock for Southampton, where all her furniture, woodwork, etc., had been assembled. Of this material, 90 per cent had been made before the war and had been stored in various safe areas, as far away as Australia and the United States, and this high proportion of her total requirements was therefore available for immediate installation in the ship. On the completion of refitting, furnishing and decoration, the Queen Elizabeth sailed from Southampton on October 6 to undergo her official speed trials in the Firth of Clyde. It will be noted that the whole of the conversion work was carried out between March and October, a period of only six months.
Within the scope of our notice, it is impossible to describe adequately this magnificent example of the British shipbuilders’ art, and only a brief outline covering main dimensions and principal features can be given here. The overall length of the Queen Elizabeth is 1,031 ft., her breadth is 118 ft., and the height from the keel to the superstructure is 135 ft. The height from keel to masthead is 234 ft. She has 14 decks, the length of the promenade deck being 724 ft., a gross tonnage of 83,673, and a draught of 39 ft. 0$ in. The bridge is 125 ft. long and is over 90 ft. above the waterline. The main propelling machinery consists of four single-reduction geared turbines of 160,000 shaft horse-power, driving quadruple screws 18 ft.
in diameter and each weighing 32 tons. Steam is supplied by twelve oil-fired water- tube boilers, at a pressure of 425 lb. per square inch and a temperature of 750 deg. F. With the exception of the main engines, the Queen Elizabeth is an all-electric ship, the electricity supply being generated in two separate power stations having a total capacity of 8,800 kw. There are 30,000 lamps and
4,0 miles of wiring in the ship. The hull of the vessel contains 140 watertight compartments and the weight of the hull and machinery exceeds 50,000 tons. Each of the two funnels has a cross-section of 44 ft. by 30 ft. The forward funnel is over 70 ft. in height from the sun deck, and internal stiffening in the construction of the funnels has eliminated the usual external guys and stays. The ship carries 26 Diesel-driven life-boats, each having a capacity for 145 persons, and each boat can be lowered fully-loaded under the control of one man. The Queen Elizabeth has accommodation for 2,288 passengers, comprising 822 first class, 668 cabin class, and 798 tourist class. There are 35 public rooms, a cinema with seating capacity for some 380 people, three gymnasiums, two swimming pools, and a squash rackets court. The medical arrangements include general and isolation hospitals, an operating theatre and a dispensary, and 35 lifts serve all parts of the accommodation. Navigation equipment includes three radar units, one with a range of 50 miles, one of 10 miles’ range, and another for the detection of aircraft. Radio-telephone equipment enables passengers to call any country having a telephone service connected to an international exchange. Decorative schemes throughout the ship have been carried out in unique wood veneers, leather, plastics, glass and metal, and leading artists and craftsmen have contributed marquetry, tapestry and statuary, in works of great beauty and skill.
Cunard to Add 5 Ships
New York Times, October 22.—Frederick Allan Bates, new chairman of the Cunard White Star Line, said at Liverpool today that there would be no more “Queens” because the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth were sufficient to maintain the company’s weekly Atlantic service. Mr. Bates is the brother of Sir Percy Bates, the company’s chief until his death last week.
The company hopes to have five new vessels in operation in the Atlantic by the middle of next year, Mr. Bates said. One will be similar to the Mauretania, two will be cargo ships and two passenger-cargo ships.
Mr. Bates said the company regarded air and sea travel as complementary forms of transport rather than as competitors. The Queen Elizabeth will not challenge her sister ship for the Atlantic speed record, lie added.
MISCELLANEOUS
Proximity Fuzes: A Challenge to Air Power
Excerpts from an article by James Phin- ney Baxter in The Atlantic Monthly, September. Reprinted by special permission of Dr. Baxter, The Atlantic Monthly Press, and Little, Brown and Company, publishers of Dr. Baxter’s book, Scientists Against 'Time, in which this material on proximity fuzes will be published in book form.—When the National Defense Research Committee was established in 1940, the problem of proximity fuzes had already been under consideration for some time in the United States Navy, whose Council for Research was then headed by Rear Admiral Harold G. Bowen, the first Naval officer to serve as a member of the NDRC. It was clear that the airplane constituted a growing threat both to surface ships and to ground forces and installations. Late in July, Charles C. Lauritsen of the NDRC learned that the Western Electric Company and the Radio Corporation of America were manufacturing 20,000 miniature tubes for the British Army. He drew the correct inference that they were desired for experiments with proximity fuzes.
On August 12, Lauritsen and Richard C. Tolman, also of the NDRC, conferred with Commander Gilbert C. Hoover of the Bureau of Ordnance as to work which their division might undertake for the Navy. Radio and other proximity fuzes were discussed. Captain (now Vice-Admiral) W. H. P. Blandy, Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, was from the first interested in this problem. After further conferences with officials of the Bureau of Ordnance, the first research contract drawn up by the new agency was concluded on an actual-cost basis between the NDRC and the Carnegie Institution of Washington, for “preliminary experimental studies on new ordnance devices” to be undertaken at the Institution’s Department of Terrestrial Magnetism. The DTM became the base of operations of Section T of the NDRC, whose chief, Dr. Merle A. Tuve, had performed with Dr. Gregory Breit in 1925 the celebrated measurements of the height of the ionosphere which led to important consequences in the development of radar.
In September, 1940, it was revealed to the American investigators that the British, in anticipation of air attacks, had been working on proximity fuzes for bombs to be dropped on hostile aircraft by interceptor planes. The British were also working on proximity fuzes for ground-to-plane rockets, and had considered their use as a plane-to-plane weapon. They were experimenting with various types of fuzes, but regarded radio proximity fuzes as the best of all, both for rockets and for bombs. They had thus far, however, had little success, and they deemed the shell problem extremely difficult.
In the United Slates, as in Great Britain, the early emphasis was on the development of proximity fuzes for bombs and rockets, rather than for shells. A wide range of approaches was considered. The Bureau of Ordnance stressed the fact that unless the triggering pattern were properly related to the fragmentation pattern so that the target was included within the cone of fragments, the fuze would have no value for combat and would simply, in Captain G. L. Schuyler’s phrase, be “the world’s most complicated form of self-destroying ammunition.”
During the first year much of the extensive research work was spent on the elimination of ideas and projects which were shown by laboratory and field tests to be impracticable for quick military application. This was true of the extensive studies of both acoustic and electrostatic fuzes.
Meanwhile the work of Section 'J', under increasing pressure from the Navy, shifted more and more to the radio fuze for shells. It would be hard to overstate the difficulties of the problem. Open the ordinary radio set on your table and try to imagine how you would
lit it, equipped with a power plant and a transmitter as well as a receiver, into the nose of a 5-inch shell in a space about the size of an ice-cream cone. Remember the “setback” or translational force exerted on you when you are standing in a buss which starts suddenly. A bomb dropped from an airplane starts gently enough on its descent. When a rocket is launched, its various components arc subject to an initial acceleration of some hundred times the force of gravity (100 g). The translational force applied in firing to an anti-aircraft shell, on the other hand, is approximately 20,000 times the force of gravity. An electronic tube weighing less than an ounce must be subjected to a force of over 1,000 pounds during the acceleration of the shell in the gun. Most conventional tubes available in 1940 gave a high percentage of failures when accelerated merely to 50 times gravity.
To make the story complete, picture to yourself the immense centrifugal force applied to the radio set when the shell spins at speeds as high as 475 rotations per second. It is not simply a matter of producing tiny tubes whose glass or metal envelopes will not break when subjected to these tremendous forces; their delicate cathodes, plates, and gridscannotbe thrown out of alignment without impairing or destroying the performance of the tube.
To meet the Navy requirements, the fuze would have to be sensitive and rapid in operation, but not subject to being triggered by the passage of other shells or by the reflection of radio waves from ground, water, and clouds. It must also be safe to handle and not subject to serious deterioration in storage. Somehow, by some miracle of design supplemented by another miracle of production technique, a radio set compact enough to fit in a shell must be made rugged enough to stand these tremendous accelerations, and it must be manufactured in large quantities.
The first requisite, as Tuve put it to his fellow workers, was to conquer their fear of the gun. The first tests of the ruggedness of some existing vacuum tubes proved surprisingly encouraging. A .22-caliber bullet fired into a lead block, on which was mounted a standard small tube, produced approximately 5000 g without damaging the tube. Several types of miniature radio and hearing- aid tubes, mounted in wax, were dropped from the roof of the three-story Cyclotron building at the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism to the concrete driveway below, with less damage than had been expected. Others were tested in centrifuges, and dropped in steel containers against lead and steel blocks. The experimenters then constructed a homemade smooth-bore gun out of steel tubing and fired electronic components from it. Contracts for the development of rugged tubes were placed with the Western Electric Company, the Raytheon Company, and the Ilytron Corporation. By February of 1941 three types of miniature vacuum tubes had been developed which were rugged enough to withstand firing inside a 5- inch star shell.
For testing these improved handmade electronic components, Section T acquired from the Navy some 37- and 57- millimeter guns and the use of a field at Stump Neck, Maryland, until it could obtain a testing field of its own at Newtown Neck. At first the projectiles were equipped with parachutes which opened after firing. When these proved unsatisfactory, the shells were fired vertically so that they would land base down and could be recovered by digging.
The first experiments were confined to testing an oscillator alone (radiosonde), to see if it could withstand the acceleration of a 37-millimeter naval gun. When fired vertically at Vienna, Virginia, on April 20, 1941, it could be followed in flight by means of a radio receiver.
The fact that they could still hear the radio signal after the shell landed puzzled the listeners. The matter was cleared up within ten days by the discovery that the ruggedness of the elements tested and the sensitiveness of the receiver were such that the oscillator could be heard half-buried in the ground. When seven 5-inch shells were fired at full velocity at Dahlgren, Virginia, on May 8, over water, Tolman, Lauritsen, and Tuve, listening in a boat, were able to hear signals from two of them as they passed overhead.
The success of these tests, and the progress being made in designing successful circuits, led the late Captain S. R. Shumaker, then Director of the Research and Development Division, Bureau of Ordnance, to request
[January
October the photoelectric fuze they had developed for rockets was superior in many respects to their successful fuze of that type for bombs. They had been aided in both developments by information concerning previous British efforts.
The transfer of its own work on fuzes for bombs and rockets to Ellett’s section at the Bureau of Standards enabled Tuve’s section to drive ahead faster with the program of radio proximity fuzes for shells. It gave them more space for their work at the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, just at a time when progress in the development of rugged components permitted their project to gain
speed. ,
It was one thing for a physicist or an engineer to produce a handmade tube at a laboratory bench, and another thing to teach unskilled women the art of assembling small, rugged tubes on a pilot line or large-scale assembly line. Since the circuits called for four or five tubes, and the failure of any one would destroy the usefulness of the whole system, a standard of 98 per cent performance was indicated. The first attempts to produce the tubes by assembly-line techniques at Sylvania led to a marked drop below this standard, till a campaign of instruction and inspection raised the quality to the required level. t
This story repeated itself again and again in the production of VT (“variable time”) fuzes, indicating the necessity of follow- through from the laboratory to the last step in large-scale manufacture. No matter how perfect the laboratory models might be, the whole effort would have come to naught without mass production of a usable device. And never, perhaps, in the history of assembly-line methods have the standards of performance been more difficult to meet.
These requirements of extreme ruggedness applied not only to vacuum tubes but to batteries, condensers, resisters, and the setback switches which kept the dry-battery voltages from the components until the shell was fired. It proved necessary to assign a large part of the staff of the section to the problem of developing suitable batteries and to maintaining satisfactory standards of quality once they were placed in production. The first approach was to develop a minia-
120 U. S. Naval Institute Proceedings
that Section T place a first priority on the development of a radio proximity fuze for shells*
Meanwhile, in November, 1940, Dr. Alexander H. Ellett of the University of Iowa had come to Washington at Tolman’s request, and, after working for ten days with Tuve’s group, had organized, at Tuve’s suggestion, another NDRC group to work on proximity fuzes for bombs and rockets at the Bureau of Standards. This group started work on both radio and acoustic fuzes, but dropped the latter in April. _
The development of a radio proximity fuze for bombs at the Bureau of Standards had meanwhile progressed rapidly. Ihe first model, fixed at the top of an 84-foot radio tower at the field station of the Bureau of Standards at Camp Springs, Maryland, indicated the passage of planes which came within 50 feet of the fuze. Other tests were conducted with the model carried in tethered meteorological balloons which were then shot down with a rifle. At the Naval Air Station at Lakehurst, New Jersey, fuze models were suspended beneath a blimp and the waveform of the fuze signal as shown on an oscillograph was photographed as fighter planes dived past. After two earlier tests in February and March at the Naval Proving Ground at Dahlgren, six bombs containing fuzes of a new model were released separately on April 26, 1941, by a plane flying at 3,000 feet. All six functioned properly at heights of from 150 to 300 feet over the water, which corresponded closely to their predicted performance as indicated by the previous laboratory tests of the responsiveness of the fuze. A few weeks after this outstanding success, work began on similar fuzes for rockets.
By May, 1941, Section T had achieved a basic design for a radio proximity fuze for shells, which separated the components into an oscillator and amplifier circuit, battery, safety device, and detonator. The pressure from the Navy for this fuze had grown so great that it was decided to confine all of Section T’s attention to it, and to transfer all work on fuzes for bombs and rockets to El- lett’s section. L. R. Hafstad’s group, working on photoelectric fuzes, consequently moved from the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism to the Bureau of Standards in July. By
ture dry battery able to stand the shock of being fired from a gun. The first completely assembled batteries, in essentially the same form still used for the Navy’s Mark 32 fuze, were delivered on June 20, 1941.
Two limitations on the effectiveness of this battery forced Section T and the National Carbon Company to a more radical approach to the problem. The first was its short shelf- life, limited to six to twelve months under normal conditions or to three or four in the South Pacific. The second was the difficulty in making dry batteries still smaller for use in smaller shells. Extraordinary ingenuity and long periods of experimentation were required to overcome these major difficulties.
Long shelf-life, possibly reckoned in terms of years, could be obtained if one could eliminate the dry-battery “mix” and substitute a liquid electrolyte stored in a suitable container, such as a glass ampoule, to be released at the time of use. The problem was to get an ampoule strong enough to withstand the shocks incident to normal handling of the fuze, yet not so strong that it would fail to break when the shell was fired. The spin of the rotating shell would spread the electrolyte after the container was broken, and the short delay before the battery began to deliver power would constitute an additional safety factor. The road to success was almost as long and difficult as that leading to satisfactory rugged tubes, but the efforts of National Carbon Company engineers and production men and Section T personnel were at last crowned with success, both for 2-inch and 1.5-inch models. Special studies were required to find an electrolyte satisfactory at low temperatures. .
When the first complete fuzes were tested over water at Dahlgren during the late summer, much trouble arose from prematures and duds. This difficulty kept Section T members under heavy pressure throughout the autumn, during which the Erwood Company of Chicago undertook the production of experimental models of fuzes and components, and Sylvania and RCA were brought into the tube program. In November, 1941, Captain Shumaker concluded a development contract with the Crosley Corporation for pilot production of radio proximity fuzes
and for preparation for full-scale production.
It was decided to detach Section T from Division A, place it directly under the Office of Scientific Research and Development, taper off the contract with the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and conclude a new management contract with the Johns Hopkins University, as of March 10, 1942.
Under the new arrangement the Bureau of Ordnance transferred $2,000,000 to the OSRD for expansion of the research on proximity fuzes for shells and assigned Commander (now Rear Admiral) W. S. Parsons, USN, to act as special assistant to Dr. Van- nevar Bush in charge of Section T activities. Tuve continued as Chairman of the Section, reporting to Bush through Parsons, with Ilafstad as vice-chairman.
The staff of the Applied Physics Laboratory they created at Silver Spring, Maryland, grew from fewer than 100 in April, 1942, to over 700 two years later.
The Navy-OSRD-Johns Hopkins team enjoyed many advantages. It was able to attract well-qualified technical men for the work, and to maintain flexibility of assignments within the group, thanks to freedom from Civil Service requirements. Purchase of technical equipment and materials could be made without the delays inherent in government purchasing methods. The Bureau of Ordnance not only furnished funds and distinguished personnel but permitted prompt and full access to all necessary information. Thus the technical staff of Section T was kept currently posted as to the immediate needs of the Fleet.
A milestone in ordnance history was passed in April, 1942, at the Marine Corps base at Parris Island, South Carolina. Here a Taylor cub plane covered with aluminum gauze was suspended from a Navy kite balloon in such a way that it would swing with the wind through an arc of perhaps 100 feet in the course of a minute. Against this target were fired 182 5-inch Navy shells with reduced charges equipped with standard VT fuzes made by factory methods. These tests, under conditions approximating service use, were highly encouraging. But before more elaborate tests could be undertaken from a ship at sea, much hard work was required on safety devices, over and above those normally provided for the conventional time and contact fuzes.
A single burst of a VT-fuzed shell close to the muzzle in the early days of the project would quite likely have meant the end of the research as well as the death of some or all of the gun crew. Tuve figured that if personnel and equipment were to be reasonably safe, muzzle bursts should not occur more than once in a million rounds. To get this degree of safety, the fuze had to be provided with both mechanical and electrical safety devices, all subject to severe limitations of space and requiring a high degree of ruggedness.
The safety devices, incorporated in a separate unit known as the rear fitting, went through a long and difficult evolution. The natural attack was to start with the standard clockwork time fuze, and to adapt parts of it to the VT fuze. This was done with shells, but the clockwork mechanism proved too bulky for smaller projectiles. For these a switch was eventually developed consisting of two chambers separated by a porous diaphragm. In the inner chamber, mercury maintained an electric short which acted like the safety mechanism of a revolver. When the shell was fired, the spin of the projectile forced the mercury out of the inner chamber through the porous diaphragm into the outer chamber, removing the short so that the primer could fire. By this means the fuze was “armed,” just as a pistol is made ready to fire by cocking. A wealth of ingenuity was lavished on the device, which represented, in its later models, the highest degree of control yet achieved in the field of powder metallurgy.
A further safety device is incorporated into the auxiliary detonator at the base of each VT fuze, in which the rotation of the shell is relied on to move misaligned explosive charges into alignment. Another highly ingenious device, known as the reed spin switch, serves as a safety device prior to firing the gun, and provides a means of self-destruction for the projectiles that miss their target. A vast amount of effort on these safety features was expended by the personnel of Section T and of various subcontractors—and to such good purpose that the VT fuzes have been the safest ever furnished the armed services.
Satisfactory progress with safety devices paved the way for the first tests of the VT shell fuzes under conditions essentially like those of battle. These took place on the cruiser Cleveland in Chesapeake Bay on August 10 and 11, 1942, with spectacular results. Shells fitted with fuzes produced by Crosley, Sylvania, and Erwood were fired against drones (radio-controlled target planes) which were knocked down one after another with an expenditure of very few shells. These results gave a great impetus to the work, and increased the desire of the Navy for fuze deliveries in quantity at the earliest possible moment.
By September, production had reached 400 per day. As rapidly as possible 5,000 rounds of VT-fuzed ammunition were accumulated at the Mare Island Ammunition Depot, from which samples were flown daily across the country to Dahlgren to make sure that nothing had gone wrong in transit and loading. By the middle of November, 4,500 shells were on their way across the Pacific, and by Admiral Halsey’s orders they were distributed at Noumea to the ships most likely to see early action.
When the fuzes simplified so greatly the work of the men behind the Navy’s 5-inch guns, the desire of the Army for prompt deliveries naturally grew more intense. Proximity fuzes appealed to the Ground Forces not merely for anti-aircraft fire, for which the targets were less numerous than formerly, but primarily for howitzer fire against troops on the ground. It had long been realized that air bursts would inflict many more casualties on troops in trenches and foxholes than would shells fuzed to explode on contact. The difficulty was to set time fuzes with sufficient accuracy to ensure bursts at the exact range and height desired. It was hard to time, precisely enough, a projectile traveling several hundred feet in a tenth of a second.
The danger, however, was that, despite the self-destroying features incorporated in the VT fuze, the Germans might recover a dud and be able to duplicate the fuze in time to use it against us. If they did they might blast the Eighth Air Force and the RAF from their skies. If they gave their discovery to the Japanese, it was possible that we might lose one of our greatest advantages. So, though the Navy began production of fuzes
for the British and United States Armies in November, 1943, the Combined Chiefs of Staff ruled that VT fuzes could be fired only over water, where there would be no risk of compromising the device.
The arrival, in the autumn of 1943, of secret intelligence that the Germans were preparing to use robot bombs against London and the ports in southern England where the forces destined to invade Normandy would eventually be gathered threatened the success of the great cross-Channel operation. Activity in the OSRD reached fever heat. With the cooperation of Allied intelligence services, a Section T member brought back from London detailed information concerning the buzz bomb six months before the first one was launched at England.
A complete mock-up of the robot bomb or the V-l was hastily constructed, and was suspended between the two towers on the Section T proving ground operated by the University of New Mexico group near Albuquerque. Full-scale tests proved that the buzz bombs would trigger the VT fuzes, and indicated which model of proximity fuze would function best against them. Under the compulsion of necessity the Combined Chiefs of Staff relaxed their security restrictions to permit the use of VT fuzes against the new German menace. Three months before the first buzz bomb fell on British soil a shipment of VT fuzes arrived in England.
The problem of hitting the robot missiles, traveling at 350 miles or more per hour, was solved by relying as little as possible on the gunner’s skill of hand and eye, and trusting as completely as possible to the accuracy of the new devices which had been developed for anti-aircraft fire. The laurels went to three new weapons, all developed by the NDRC, and all manufactured in the United States. They were the SCR-584 radar, the M-9 electrical predictor, and the radio proximity fuze.
In the four closing weeks of the eighty days of V-l attacks, the shooting steadily improved. In the first week, 24 per cent of the targets engaged were destroyed, in the second 46 per cent, in the third 67 per cent, and in the fourth 79 per cent. On the last day in which a large quantity of V-l’s were launched against British shores, 104 were detected by early-warning radar but only 4 reached London. Some 16 failed to reach the coast, 14 fell to the RAF, 2 crashed, thanks to barrage balloons, and anti-aircraft accounted for 68.
General Lear, Chief of our Army Ground Forces, who regarded the VT fuze as “the most important innovation in artillery ammunition since the introduction of high explosive shells,” pressed strongly for release of the device to the Army. Careful estimates had been prepared as to the shortest possible time in which Germany or Japan might duplicate the fuze, for it would have been a most formidable weapon indeed against our planes in bomber formations. Finally on October 25, 1944, the combined Chiefs of Staff agreed to its release for general use, on a date which was later moved ahead to December 16 to counter the German break-through.
Dr. Bush visited General Eisenhower’s headquarters for conferences on the introduction of the new fuze into general Army use. On December 16, von Rundstedt launched the last great German drive of the war. The VT fuze did deadly service that day against German planes, and two days later was first used in howitzers to stem the German advance toward the Meuse and the threat to Liege. Observers close to the scene of action agreed that “the terrific execution inflicted and the consternation resulting from night and day bombardment” had contributed materially to halting the advance and hastening the reduction of the salient.
The VT fuze proved its worth repeatedly in the days that followed, notably in the crossings of the Rhine and in the defense of the all-important Allied base at Antwerp, against which the Germans laid down a heavy barrage of V-l bombs. It was used with great effect in the Mediterranean theater and in the heavy fighting on Okinawa and Luzon. Although the Navy continued to control the procurement of VT fuzes and on December 1, 1944, took over the Johns Hopkins contract from the OSRD, by far the largest share of production since the close of 1943 has gone to the United States Army.