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To January 23, 1948
United States....................................................................................................................... 370
Finletter Report—Review Research Plans—Military Strength 1948 •—Mediterranean Fleet—Argentine Visit—Torpedo Tests—Sandia Base—Various
Great Britain........................................................................................................................... 377
Antarctic Sites—Demobilization—Polar Research—Air College—CV for Canada—Indian Navy—Ships Scrapped
France......................................................................................................................................... 381
Polar Explorations—National War College
Other Countries...................................................................................................................... 382
China—Netherlands—T urkey
Aviation...................................................................................................................................... 385
Obsolete Types—New Navy Contracts—Increase P2V Orders—New Army Contracts—Jet Fighters to Arctic—XB-47 Dives at 720—In
creased Span for Jet Engines—British Flying Wing Lancaster Bomber in Arctic
Merchant Marine................................................................................................................ 392
War Built Ship Sales—Weather Service—S. S. Sealtle—Ship “Arrested”—Ship Mined—Waterman Lines—Grace Lines.
Miscellaneous..................................................................................................................... 394
Mineral Reserves—Review of 1947 Science—Stratosphere Balloons— Sweden Seeks Sea Uranium.
UNITED STATES Extracts from Finletter Report
New York Times, Jan. 14.—
Section I
The United States must have a double- barreled policy abroad. It must work to achieve world peace through support and development of the United Nations. And at the same time it must prepare to defend itself for the possibility that war may come. Not being able to count on absolute security under law, it must seek the next best thing—positive security under the protection of its own arms.
To Be Able to Smash Assaults
Relative security will be founded only in a policy of arming the United States so strongly (1) that other nations will hesitate to attack us or our vital national interests and (2) that if we are attacked, we shall be able to smash the assault at the earliest possible moment. .
For strategic purposes we must divide the future into two parts—the present Phase I, during which we may assume that we have a monopoly on atomic weapons, and Phase II, the time when other nations will have atomic weapons in quantity and the equipment to deliver them in a sustained attack on the United States mainland.
It would be an unreasonable risk for our present planning purposes to assume that other nations will not have atomic weapons in quantity by the end of 1952.
Biological weapons are undoubtedly being studied in all parts of the world. In an all-out attack on the United States the possibility that they may be used should not be overlooked. They may be delivered by the air or by preplacement by enemy agents.
On first impression it might seem that a major war during Phase I is unlikely; and this opinion has been expressed to the Commission by high military authorities. There is, however, such a thing as blundering into a war, and we must be prepared for war during Phase I. In Phase II we need an even stronger force. An attack during Phase II would be extremely violent.
What we must have and can support in Phase II is a reasonably strong defensive establishment to minimize the enemy’s blow, but above all a counter-offensive air establishment in being which will be so powerful that if an enemy does attack we shall be able to retaliate with the utmost violence and to seize and hold the advanced positions from which we can divert the destruction from our homeland to his.
The Air Force is inadequate even for this Phase I when we are relatively free from the danger of sustained attack on our homeland.
The Air Force is hopelessly wanting in respect of the future Phase II period when a serious danger of atomic attack will exist.
Must Start Air Force Increase Now
The Air Force in being must be increased from its present level to a minimum regular establishment of seventy groups with 6,869 first-line aircraft, an Air National Guard of twenty-seven groups with 3,212 first-line aircraft, and an adequately equipped thirty- four-group Air Reserve. The level of procurement of new aircraft must be high enough to keep this force modern at all times. An adequate reserve, now estimated by the Air Force at 8,100 aircraft, must be created and kept in a proper state of modernization. We must start now on this program and complete it before the end of 1952.
The Navy Air Arm as presently constituted is adequate. The Navy needs, however, additional funds for the procurement of new aircraft to replace the World War II aircraft which are rapidly becoming obsolescent.
The commission recommends that the increase in the Air Force to seventy groups be started at once and be completed by the end of the year 1952. This will require an increase in the Air Force budget from the present level of §2,850,000,000 to $4,150,000,000 for the calendar year 1948 and $5,450,000,000 for the calendar year 1949.
The Navy must immediately contract to increase its annual procurement of airplanes in order to equip properly the present fleet with modern planes as World War II reserves are exhausted. The Navy budget should be increased by $192,000,000 in the calendar year 1948 and by a further $310,000,000 in the calendar year 1949.
The Air Transport Command and the Naval Air Transport Service should be consolidated into one military air transport service which would handle all scheduled transport work for the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
Section II
The Aircraft Manufacturing Industry
A strong aircraft industry is an essential element in the nation’s air power.
As the minimum level to which the industry must be held to provide a safe base for expansion in an emergency, we have adopted the general range of requirements of the Air Coordinating Committee in its report of Oct. 22, 1945. The Air Coordinating Committee adopted two levels. The lower level was an estimate that the aircraft industry needed military purchases of 30,000,000 pounds of airframe weight annually. This lower level was on the assumption that the maintenance of world peace was well assured and that a substantial degree of disarmament had taken place.
The second level proposed by the Air Coordinating Committee was for 60,000,000 pounds of airframe weight annually. This second level was on the assumption that world conditions were such that the United States needed a substantial striking force ready at all times to cooperate in the maintenance of world peace. We believe that military purchases of aircraft of 30,000,000 to 40,000,000 pounds annually in addition to demands for commercial and private planes would provide a sound basis for expansion in an emergency.
No artificial stimulation to achieve this result is necessary. If the program outlined in Section I is carried out, the necessary base for expansion of the aircraft industry will exist. The rate of procurement recommended in Section I would increase the present military procurement (which is now at the rate of about 21,000,000 pounds annually) by contracts for an additional 13,000,000 pounds in the calendar year 1948, and for 22,000,000 pounds in the calendar year 1949 more than in 1948.
There follows, in the report, an analysis of the present state of the aircraft manufacturing industry.
We recommend that the Armed Services plan their aircraft procurement as far in advance as possible and that Congress provide the legislative base for such planning. We recommend the placing of orders for planes for delivery over a five-year period whenever possible.
Section III
Aeronautical Research and Development
Intensive research and development in aeronautics is essential to the national defense and to the national welfare. During World War II we concentrated on the development of existing types of aircraft for production and practically abandoned fundamental research in the aeronautical sciences. By VJ-Day our reserve of research information was largely exhausted.
Our fundamental knowledge of aerodynamic phenomena must be extended in all speed ranges, particularly in the supersonic. The provision of additional funds will not of itself solve the problem—the most serious shortage is in personnel.
(Editor’s Note: The foregoing paragraphs of the President’s Air Policy Commission report are the more pertinent for general Naval interest. The entire report should be read. Sections IV and V concern Civil Aviation and Government Organization.)
Review Research Plans Annually
New York Herald Tribune, Dec. 22.—To keep the United States ahead in the weapons race, the Research and Development Board has been ordered by James Forrestal, Secretary of Defense, to submit at least once a year a new master plan for military research.
The instructions appeared tonight in a directive defining the duties and authority of the board, the membership of which was completed recently under the chairmanship of Dr. Vannevar Bush. On the board are two representatives each of the Army, Navy and Air Force.
To gear the whole field of research with the strategic planning of the armed forces, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (the military heads of the armed forces, plus the Chief of Staff to the President) is instructed to provide general guidance for the board. In doing this, the directive said, the joint chiefs must “determine the relative importance of achieving military effectiveness of various possible weapon systems under envisaged combat
Actual Authorized Service Strength Strength
Army.................................. 575,000 670,000
Air Force............................ 335,000 401,000
Navy................................... 454,499........ 552,000
Marines............................... 90,486........ 108,200
conditions” and give the research board their opinions.
The Munitions Board, co-equal with the Joint Chiefs and Research Board in the national military establishment, is instructed to keep the board posted on the types and availability of critical materials and substitutes needed in the scientific search for new weapons.
The board, the directive stated, will have “authority to resolve differences among the several departments and agencies of the military establishment.” This appeared to be a move to settle disputes such as have arisen in the past over research programs.
Notable among these disputes was a prolonged contest between the Army Ordnance Department and the Air Force over guided missile development. In this connection, the board is given the definite authority to allocate responsibility for specific projects among the services and other agencies.
Military Strength for 1948
New York Times, Jan. 11.— By Hanson Baldwin.—The year 1948 opens with United States’ armed forces strong and definitely on the “upgrade” after two destructive years of post-war demobilization and reorganization.
There are weaknesses, actual and potential, some of them major. The greatest of them is the lack of a comprehensive over-all plan for our future military policy. There are air weaknesses; we need a continuing program of aircraft construction and replacement. There are manpower weaknesses; the ground forces, in particular, have not met their full needs in the past year by volunteer recruiting.
Nevertheless, the United States today has 1,454,985 officers and men in uniform in all its regular armed services, and 2,243,387 more in the Coast Guard (which becomes part of the Navy in time of war), the National Guard and the reserves of all services.
It has the largest navy in the world, probably the largest air forces (including both Air Force and Navy planes and personnel), and a ground army—backed up by the National Guard and Organized Reserves—small in relation to Russian land forces, but bigger than ever before in American peacetime history. The actual numerical strength of all the regular armed forces—officers and enlisted men combined—is about 85 per cent of the authorized strength. Each service is below its authorized strength, but only in the case of the Army are the so-called shortages of real importance. The figures, actual and authorized, follow:
Totals............. 1,454,985 1,731,200
The authorized strengths represent goals or objectives which Congress has approved in principle. Authorization does not, however, mean appropriation. In some instances, particularly in the case of the Navy, the services set as their goals numerical-strength figures considerably higher than minimum needs. Congress authorized 552,000 officers and men as the post-war strength of the Navy and 108,200 as the post-war strength of the Marines but appropriated for this fiscal year only enough funds to support a projected naval establishment at the end of the fiscal year (June 30, 1948) of 435,000 and a Marine establishment of 82,000. The Navy and the Marine Corps, therefore, are actually engaged in reducing their strength today.
To avoid too great a reduction to maintain the Navy at the reduced figure approved by Congress and to replace those men whose enlistments are expiring, the Navy must enlist or re-enlist about 15,000 men a month, the Marines about 2,000. Naval re-enlistments have been gratifyingly high—even higher than expected—but total enlistments have been running slightly less than the desired 15,000 figure, and Marine enlistments in November were about 63 per cent of their quota. Nevertheless, the Navy and Marine Corps personnel problem is neither acute nor serious.
The Air Force also is well off. It is the only one of the services that is actually increasing its numerical strength. It is enlisting monthly more than 9,000 men, as many as its training program can handle, and it has built up its strength from a post-war low of 301,000 in June, 1947, to 335,000 by the year’s end. It expects to reach the present maximum authorized strength of 401,000 officers and men by the end of the fiscal year, June 30, 1948.
The Army, however, which has the major responsibilities overseas, is still shrinking in size. Its manpower goal (officers and men) as long as occupation duties continued, was set at 670,000, but its present strength is 575,000. Moreover, the Army’s recruiting program has failed steadily, except in the first month of the year, to produce the 21,000 recruits needed to maintain the strength of the ground forces. Enlistments have been decreasing since June, although the November enlistments of almost 9,000 were larger than those of last May.
The Army, more than any of the other services, must maintain the strength of the occupying forces in Austria, Germany, Trieste, Japan and Korea; yet it alone of the services has failed to meet its recruiting needs. The problem of obtaining enough men for the ground forces is, therefore, one which must be faced in the coming year.
Civilian Components’ Status
The status of the reserve, or “civilian components” of the armed forces (officers and men), and of the Coast Guard follows:
Organization | Actual Strength | Author ized Strength |
Coast Guard............ | 18,717 | 20,250 |
National Guard (Army and Air Force)................ | 201,041 | 682,000 |
Reserves, Active (Army and Air Force)................. | 158,010 | 876,000 |
Reserves, Inactive (Army and Air Force)................ | 971,278 | (no limit) |
Naval Reserves, Organized ............ | 150,723 | 223,737 |
Naval Reserves, Volunteer ............... | 717,118 | 951,623 |
Marine Corps Reserve, Organized... | 12,500 | 44,000 |
Marine Corps Reserve Volunteer. . . | 14,000 | 188,250 |
Totals.................. 2,243,387 2,985,850 +
Thus, the United States’ regular armed forces are backed up by 2,243,387 more men in the reserve components. The bulk of the civilian components are, however, in an inactive or unorganized status, and the National Guard and Organized Reserves are still in the process of post-war organization and recruiting. In addition to the forces itemized, there are thousands of additional youths in training in the Army and Navy ROTC programs and as students at West Point and Annapolis.
If all the regular and reserve forces were increased in size to the “goals,” or authorized strengths indicated, the forces would total more than 5,000,000 men.
Mediterranean Fleet
New York Times, Jan. 3.-—The Navy, commenting in response to questions, disclosed today that in addition to the Midway and three cruisers, there were ten destroyers in the total Mediterranean area. This Mediterranean fleet is commanded by Vice Admiral Bernhard Bieri.
Two of these destroyers are in Greek waters—the K. D. Bailey at Piraeus and the Hyatt at Salonika.
The Leary is at Trieste; the Sleinaker at Leghorn; Vogelgesang at Genoa; the Dyess at Venice. At Naples are the H. J. Ellison, the Gearing, the E. A. Greene and the C. R. Ware.
The Navy declined to say whether it contemplated sending additional detachments of marines or any other naval ships to the Mediterranean.
New York Times, Jan. 10.—Comdr. Morton Sunderland of the United States naval attache’s staff here announced today that the United States Mediterranean Fleet under command of Vice Admiral B. H. Bieri is now holding training exercises in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Ionian Sea off southwestern Greece.
Athens comment links this news with the announcements by Washington of the dispatch of United States Marine complements to the Mediterranean for training with the Fleet.
The announcement by Maj. Gen. William G. Livesay, military chief of the United States Mission for Aid to Greece, that from now on Rear Admiral John A. Snackenberg, the Naval Attache, would work in close col-
laboration with Navy and Army groups of the mission, advising upon amphibious operations, has made for added interest in everything to do with the United States naval units, including the Marines in or near Greek waters.
May Be “In Sight or Greece”
The United States Fleet maneuvers, Commander Sunderland said, were “routine.” They began Jan. 7 and will continue until Jan. 16. The Mediterranean Fleet includes the aircraft carrier Midway, of 45,000 tons; the cruisers Portsmouth, Providence and Little Rock and several destroyers and other craft.
“During the course of the naval activity, ships and planes of the Fleet may possibly come in sight of Greece and her islands,” Commander Sunderland’s announcement noted.
At the conclusion of the exercises Commander Sunderland said the Fleet will disperse to various Mediterranean ports for leave and recreation for the personnel.
The Portsmouth and the destroyers Leary and Dyess will visit Greek ports. Admiral Bieri, aboard the Portsmouth, will visit Suda Bay, Crete, which is associated in Greek minds with visits in time of danger by powerful units of the British Navy, on Jan. 17-19.
Fie will be aboard the Dyess at Candia, Crete, Jan. 19-21. Then he will return to the Portsmouth and be at Piraeus and Athens Jan. 21-24, and at Salonika on Jan. 25-26. United States Navy units are also expected at Kalameta and Volos and the island ports of Rhodes, Leros and Samos.
New York Times, Jan. 19.—The United States transports Bexar and Montague, carrying 1,000 Marines with full battle equipment, made rendezvous in Maltese waters today with the aircraft carrier Midway and the cruisers Providence and Little Rock.
The transfer of men and equipment to the warships was expected to begin tomorrow.
Visit to Argentine
New York Herald Tribune, Jan. 12.—Two American combat vessels will tie up in Buenos Aires harbor Jan. 20 at noon for a seven-day visit as the United States intensifies its efforts to establish most cordial and co-operative relations with the Argentine armed forces.
On this mission the United States Navy is sending Vice-Admiral Lynde D. McCormick, commander of battleships and cruisers of the Atlantic Fleet. He is equivalent in rank to Lieutenant General Willis D. Crittenberger, commander of American forces in the Caribbean, who represented the United States Army here in the first overture on Argentine soil two months ago.
Admiral McCormick’s flagship will be the heavy cruiser Albany, named for New York’s state capital and “bought” by residents of that city through subscriptions of $40,000,000 in war bonds. Accompanying the Albany will be the destroyer George K. Mackenzie. Captain John McClellan Ocker commands the Albany, while Commander George K. Williams is skipper of the Mackenzie.
With the return of normal diplomatic relations between the United States and Argentina and the signing of a defense treaty, there has been a move to treat the Argentine armed forces with respect and equality. American military men who know the Argentine Army actually admire it and rate it highly, without jealousy or fear. They are as desirous that Argentina and other South American countries remain militarily strong during this troublesome period as for the United States to remain prepared and alert.
American Tactics Followed
Eighty per cent of the Argentine Army’s officers and men are believed to be proUnited States now. The Army, in translating every unclassified United States Army manual and document it can get hands on, is following American tactics. The United States has replaced Germany as a model. Argentine second lieutenants are rated as good as the West Point variety, although they are trained in a different manner. The Argentines specialize from the beginning, but American lieutenants go into artillery, infantry, engineering and aviation after graduation.
The Argentine Navy also is preponderantly pro-United States, but this cannot be said of the Argentine Air Force. The leadership of the Air Force is still strongly national-
istic and Fascistic. It can be taken for granted that a visit by a United States Army Air Force general, following up the Army and Navy, will not be forthcoming. There just will not be an invitation.
Recently fourteen Argentine Army officers toured Army bases in the United States. This was followed by General Crittenberger’s visit here. On the basis of these two events, the Argentine military and naval publication “Army and Navy,” which reflects official opinion in the armed forces, went overwhelmingly overboard recently in editorial praise of the United States armed forces and the benefits of the visits.
Torpedo Tests in Reservoir
New York Herald Tribune, Jan. 11.—• Rising from the shore of a mountain reservoir north of Azusa, Calif., is a huge concrete- and-steel secret of war so well kept that after two years of peace its function up to now has been known only to the scientists and Navy men responsible for its operation.
The secret is a 300-foot-long steel tube, nearly two feet in diameter, which angles from the top of a bluff down almost to the surface of the waters impounded by Morris Dam.
Through this tube hurtle, with aircraft speed, torpedoes which may well become the prototypes of underwater missiles to be used in any future war. From studying the behavior of these projectiles as they split the water at extreme speeds, scientists are evolving strange-shaped missiles which are a far cry from the torpedoes of the last two wars.
Down the other side of the bluff ranges an even more weird structure—a towering, 45- degree concrete ramp, even longer than the 300-foot tube. Rails on this ramp, still incomplete, will permit raising and lowering of the breech of a similar tube, so that torpedoes may be fired into the water at almost any angle.
There is nothing like either of these compressed air “cannon” anywhere else in the United States. The “fixed angle” launching tube, which was built by the California Institute of Technology under the auspices of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, is credited with an important role in World War II. It launched its first “fish” in 1943.
“When we started the war,” said Commander II. D. Hilton in the first interview the Navy has permitted about its Morris Dam underwater ordnance project, “we had much the same torpedoes with which we ended World War I.
“Improvements in ballistic design, made as a result of studies at the Morris Dam torpedo range, had resulted in greatly increased accuracy. This, coupled with structural improvements as a result of operations of the fleet and other naval research activities, made our aircraft torpedoes the most effective of those of any nation.”
Cameras, underwater sound recorders and huge nets with footwide mesh help these scientists observe the behavior of new torpedoes. Some of the cameras are under water, some are suspended from pulleys on ropes high overhead, and some are housed in splash-proof buildings on the banks of the reservoir. .
Sound recorders, submerged alongside the torpedo run, “listen” to noise makers incorporated in the “fish” and thus track the course. Four huge nets, one behind another and twenty-five to fifty feet apart, provide an accurate check on the trajectory during the first 100 feet of the one-mile run. Breaks in the net show depth and direction. A secret device clocks the missile’s speed.
Some of the torpedoes are designed to bob to the surface when exhausted. Those which do not are recovered by Navy divers. None of the torpedoes is ever a total loss, because none carries explosives in these tests. The 200-foot-deep reservoir, leased by the Navy, is still used for its original irrigation and drinking water functions and is also held available as an emergency water source in case of drought.
Since joining the Morris Dam project during the war, Chief Engineer Saylor has reached some definite conclusions about the potential of underwater warfare.
“The high-speed submarine is emerging as one of the major weapons of the future,” he says, “and is the only vessel against which there is yet no adequate defense. It’s hard to detect and hard to stop.”
“The Navy has the finest facilities in the world at Morris Dam, and the knowledge we are gaining here is an important step toward combating tactics to be employed by the super-submarines of the future.”
Sandia Base
New York Herald Tribune, Jan. 4.—The highly secret operations at Sandia Base, New Mexico, were referred to for the first time by the Army today as a “guided-missiles project.”
The reference appeared in an announcement of the departure of Secretary of the Army Kenneth C. Royall on an eight-day, 6,000-mile inspection tour of defense and scientific installations in the West and Southwest. The announcement said that on Jan. 9 Secretary Royall “will inspect the guided- missiles project at Sandia Base, remaining there overnight.”
Until today the military had restricted its description of the project at Sandia to the terse statement that it was “the principal field installation of the armed forces special- weapons project.” The chief of this project is
Maj. Gen. Leslie R. Groves, atomic bomb expert for the Army.
When rumors were published last summer that a $10,000,000 super-secret project was under way on a mesa a dozen miles east of Albuquerque, including the excavation of huge caverns, the Army merely repeated its original description of Sandia as the principal base for special weapons and added:
“Construction and operations at this base fall into the category of restricted data under the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 and are also classified military information. Therefore, amplification of the above-quoted statement is considered undesirable.”
Disclosure is Unexplained
There was no further elaboration of today’s disclosure that the base was a guided- missiles project nor was any reason given for the official description.
New Floating Dry Dock
Military Etigineer, January.—The Bureau of Yards and Docks’ newest floating dry dock, and the only one of its type, went into action recently at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, when it took its first ship in dry dock. Months of planning, construction, elaborate launching ceremony, a long tow down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico, arid arrival at Guantanamo Bay, were all climaxed when the United States Army Transport Round Splice slid between the wing walls of the giant AFDL-47 and was lifted out of the Bay.
The AFDL-47, owned by the Bureau of Yards and Docks, but operated by the Ship Repair Department of the Bureau of Ships, was built by the Dravo Corporation. The dock was launched in August 1946 at the Company’s Neville Island Yard, near Pittsburgh, and is unique in that it is the largest dry dock ever built on inland waters. Lifting capacity of the dock, which is in the auxiliary repair dock class, is 6,000 tons, enabling it to handle most of the Navy’s Tender or Auxiliary type ships.
Built at a cost of $4,500,000 the dock is self-contained, with its own distillation plant, sanitary disposal facilities and diesel- powered generators for light and power. Since vessels of this type are moved infrequently, no propulsion machinery is provided. It could, however, operate for long periods with limited tender service.
Recently the AFDL-47 has been undergoing extensive deep submergence and inclining tests, all of which have proven entirely satisfactory.
The Round Splice, a 5,000-ton, 338-foot transport, is undergoing routine cleaning, painting, and minor mechanical repairs.
Periscope Camera
Mechanical Engineering, January.—A
new type of periscope camera for the U. S. Submarine Service was disclosed recently by Eastman Kodak Company. It is stated that the new camera can take close-up beachhead pictures at a speed of better than one per second.
Kodak also reported that it has supplied the Navy’s underseas force with a device by which a sheet of film from the new camera can be processed in daylight in less than 60 seconds.
The company said that the first models of the new camera were delivered to the Navy late in World War II and were designed to get detailed views of Japanese shorelines and possible invasion spots.
The pictures it takes are about four inches square. They can be snapped in quick succession and pieced together to form a mosaic of a shoreline. This method often proves more suitable for beachhead planning than does the use of photos from fast-flying planes.
The rapid, “minute-method” of film development is possible when single-exposure sheets of film are used in the camera. The film is in a special case. When removed from the camera after exposure, the film case is dipped into fast-developing, washing, and fixing solutions. The resulting negative is immediately available for study by the submarine’s captain.
Generally, though, the camera uses aerial film in 20-ft. lengths. This permits 50 exposures. Standard development times are required.
GREAT BRITAIN Antarctic Sites
New York Herald Tribune, Jan. 10.— SYDNEY.—The recent Australian landing on Heard Island and the South African occupation of Prince Edward Island, both in the Antarctic, were widely interpreted here today as part of an over-all plan of British Empire defense devised by Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery, chief of the imperial general staff, on his recent visits to the dominions.
Both sites appear to be parts of an “Empire lifeline” ringing the South Polar seas. Australia purchased two aircraft carriers recently from the United Kingdom, and these may be used to police the route.
Prime Minister J. B. Chifley has just spent two days with leading army, navy and air force men in Melbourne. The Daily Telegraph said details of Australia’s new Empire defense responsibilities are expected to be announced “in the next three or four weeks.”
It was understood that one purpose of Mr. Chifley’s talks with military leaders was to ascertain the cost of service requirements in the next two years. Persons close to the government said that Great Britain no longer could pay the bill for defense of the vast Empire trade routes, and that the Dominions of South Africa, Australia and New Zealand had been asked to fill the breach.
These informants said that, because of the changed political situation in India and the uncertainties in the Mediterranean, it probably was felt that a South Polar route for air and shipping lanes would be the safest and easiest to defend in war time.
Demobilization
London Times, Dec. 12.—The aircraft- carrier Illustrious arrived at Portsmouth to-day from the Mediterranean. She brought 1,704 naval ratings who are due for demobilization under the Government’s accelerated naval demobilization scheme.
To-night the men for the Devonport depot whom she brought home were sent to their depot by train. The Chatham men will be similarly dealt with to-morrow, when the Portsmouth and Lee-on-Solent men will also be disembarked. All the men are to be demobilized in time to reach their homes by Christmas. They have been relieved by men drafted from the Home Fleet and other ships temporarily laid up.
The light fleet carrier Theseus, on her return from the Pacific, is expected to anchor in Plymouth Sound on Sunday with 370 officers and men of the Royal Navy on board. Many of the men are due for demobilization before March 31.
London Times, Dec. 24.—Because of the reduction in naval strength the training establishment H.M.S. St. George at Gosport was closed to-day, and new entrants to the Navy will now go to H.M.S. Raleigh at Devonport and other establishments. In 1940 the Admiralty took over barracks at Gosport which had been occupied by the Army for more than 100 years, and in 1945 commissioned them as a training establishment for new entries. The barracks are to go back to the War Office.
On Boxing Day the destroyer Contest is due at Portsmouth and the destroyer Cockade at Plymouth. Both are from the Pacific Fleet and have been delayed at Aden.
Polar Research Ship
London Times, Dec. 16.-—A. ship recently acquired by the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey for work in the Antarctic was named John Biscoe at Deptford yesterday by Mrs. Creech Jones, the wife of the Secretary of State for the Colonies. This name was chosen in memory of John Biscoe, who discovered the southern part of Graham Land in 1833.
British research in the Falkland Islands Dependencies goes back many years, and during the period between the wars expeditions to this part of the world became almost an annual event. At the beginning of the second world war, the Discovery committee, who had formerly been in charge of most of the British exploratory work in this area, were compelled to suspend their activities. In 1943 a most ambitious programme was launched by the Admiralty, under the name of Operation Tabarin, whereby the United Kingdom became the first country to establish a series of meteorological stations within the Antarctic. During the war this Operation remained secret, as it was not in British interest that the enemy should know where such posts were located, but at the end of hostilities the official cloak of secrecy was lifted and the F.I.D.S. was formally set up to continue to carry out this policy of perma-
nent settlement. Departmental responsibility was at the same time transferred from the Admiralty to the Colonial Office.
Expansion of F.I.D.S.
The F.I.D.S. have hitherto chartered a variety of ships for their work, but it has become plain that the still expanding scope of the survey’s activities demands that it should possess its own ship, properly fitted to carry out its specialized work in the exceptional climatic conditions of the Antarctic. The m.v. John Biscoe was supplied to this country under lend-lease during the war, when she bore the name of H.M.S. Pretext and took part in net-laying operations. She was afterwards returned to the United States, but was subsequently reacquired for use by the F.I.D.S. by direct purchase. She is a wooden vessel of 1,000 tons, driven by Diesel-electric motor and capable of a speed of 14 knots.
With the improved facilities offered by the acquisition of this ship the F.I.D.S. are embarking on a more ambitious programme than ever before. The new occupation party includes geologists, meteorologists, surveyors, and biologists, and Dr. V. E. Fuchs, the leader, is himself a geologist, who has had previous experience of exploration in east Greenland and in East Africa.
Air College
London Times, Dec. 9.—The State-owned College of Aeronautics at Cranfield, near Bedford, was opened to visitors for the first time to-day, when the Minister of Education, Mr. George Tomlinson, made an inspection.
The creation of the college was first suggested by Sir Stafford Cripps when he was Minister of Aircraft Production in the Coalition Government. It is designed to provide engineering, technical, and scientific training to fit students for leadership in the aircraft industry, civil aviation, the Services, and education and research. A two-year course is given to selected students of graduate standard, the first year being devoted to a general study of the branches of aeronautics and the second year to specializing in the subject which the student will make his career.
The college’s three main departments deal respectively with aerodynamics, aircraft design, and aircraft propulsion. The propulsion department embraces reciprocating engines and jet propulsion, as well as rockets. The inclusion of electronics in the course indicates the important part which radar and radio now play in aviation.
German Equipment
The college has been open since October, 1946, but it is still far from being fully equipped, partly because of the economic difficulties and partly because more time is needed to assemble some of the larger equipment. Much of that now in use has been brought from Germany, including some of the wind-tunnels.
Most of the 85 students taking the current course are from the aircraft industry and the forces, a few are direct entrants from the universities, and there are three from oversea—two Poles and one Czech.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Edgar Ludlow- Hewitt, chairman of the board of governors, welcomed the Minister and said that in the event of another war we should be dependent for our welfare on technical developments, and would need the highest qualified technicians. Recent experience had shown that we had insufficient; hence the college.
New Aircraft-Carrier for Canada
London Times, Dec. 24.—OTTAWA.— Mr. Brooke Claxton, the Minister of National Defence, announced to-day that the aircraft-carrier Warrior, hitherto operating under Canadian authority, is being placed in reserve in Britain, and her place will be taken by her sister carrier Magnificent, which is nearing completion at Belfast, and is expected to arrive in Canada next June.
The Warrior will sail from Halifax to Bermuda before going to Portsmouth on March 1, where, before being paid off, she will act as depot and accommodation ship for her successor after the Magnificent is commissioned in April.
At Portsmouth, the Magnificent will ship stores and equipment from the Warrior before starting working-up programmes and deck-landing trials. Air crews and maintenance crews of the 19th Carrier Air Group, who have been training at the Royal Naval
Air Station at Eglinton, Northern Ireland, will join the Magnificent soon after she is commissioned, and the men serving in the Warrior will be transferred to her sister ship after their arrival in Britain.
India Needs a Navy
London Times, Dec. 18.—Lord Mount- batten, addressing officers and men of the Royal Indian Navy at the Castle barracks to-day, said that India’s new international position demanded a great and powerful navy, in which every man in the service would have a role to play. The Governor- General added that at a recent meeting of the defence committee, in which the future of the Royal Indian Navy was discussed, he, as a sailor, strongly pressed for at least one cruiser for India. One of the most famous cruisers in naval history had been turned over to the new Dominion by the United Kingdom, and men of the Royal Indian Navy would be shortly leaving for Britain to attend advanced training courses. '
London Times, Dec. 29.-—-The cruiser H.M.S. Achilles, which took part in the River Plate battle in which the Graf Spee was sunk, is to be bought from Great Britain by India. It is expected that the Achilles will reach Indian waters in the autumn of next year.
R.A.F. Marine Branch
London Times, Jan. 2.—A marine branch of the R.A.F. has been created to take charge of the Air Force’s vessels and marine units and marine engineering posts. Its “fleet” includes a flying-boat depot ship, two auxiliaries which serve as radar and torpedo targets, high-speed target-towing craft, and many smaller types of craft for bombing ranges and flying-boat stations.
Most permanent officers for the new branch will be drawn from regular n.c.o. coxswains, but, if necessary, additional officers will be recruited from other branches of the R.A.F. or from the Merchant Navy. For the moment, permanent officers will be selected from marine officers holding emergency or extended service commissions. Most of the marine, engineer posts will be filled by officers of the R.A.F. technical branch. Posts which require Ministry of Transport marine engineer certificates will be filled by recruitment of fully qualified Merchant Navy engineer officers or ex-naval engineer officers on a short service commission basis for five years’ active list service, with a gratuity at the rate of £100 a year.
(Editor’s Note : Any Captains U.S.N. (Ret.) want a position with the AAF “Fleet”?)
Scrap Capital Ships
New York Herald Tribune, Jan. 22.-—Four of Great Britain’s famous old battleships and a battle cruiser will be scrapped, and seven cruisers and many smaller naval vessels will be either scrapped or sold, Viscount Hall, First Lord of the Admiralty, announced today. Britain’s first-line battleship strength will thereby be reduced to five.
The four battleships to be scrapped are the Queen Elizabeth (32,700 tons), Valiant (31,520 tons), Nelson (33,950 tons) and Rodney (33,900 tons); the battle cruiser is the Renown (30,750 tons). The Queen Elizabeth, Valiant and Renown have been in service more than thirty-one years, and the Nelson and Rodney were completed more than twenty years ago.
Strength Seen Adequate
“The Admiralty is satisfied that these reductions do not reduce the effective strength of the navy below that required to meet any emergency which is likely to arise in the foreseeable future,” Lord Hall told the House of Lords.
“Our decision,” Lord Hall said, “has not been influenced by the possibility of atomic warfare. We shall retain battleships—we consider them still to have fine fighting value.”
Britain’s battleship strength now comprises the Vanguard (42,500 tons) and the King George V, Duke of York, Anson and IIowe (all 35,000 tons).
Four other old battleships—the Malaya, Ramillies, Resolution and Revenge—are being used as accommodation vessels.
Later today an Admiralty statement on the scrappings was read in both houses of Parliament. It said that the battleship strength of the Royal Navy had been under
review for some time and that as the useful life of a battleship was about twenty years it had been decided the five doomed ships were likely “to be of the least value as fighting ships.”
The statement said it would be too costly to maintain the five ships in reserve, and went on: “Moreover, if they were to be of any value in a future emergency they would need extensive refits and modernization, which, in view of the heavy cost and labor involved, could not be justified during the next few years. Even if the work was done, the vessels would fall considerably short of the standards and capabilities of modern construction.”
Not a “New Departure”
“This action does not represent any new departure, but is a continuation of the process which has been going on since hostilities ceased, under which redundant and outdated warships have been scrapped, or sold if a market could be found.”
Scrapping of the five ships, it was said, will free about 5,000 officers and enlisted men for other duty or demobilization.
FRANCE
Explore Both Polar Regions
Chicago Tribune, Jan. 6.—New York.-—-A three year program of French exploration of the arctic and antarctic regions was outlined today by Paul-Emile Victor, head of the projects, who is here to obtain American help in his venture.
If all goes well, one expedition will leave France for Greenland in May and another for Adelie Land in the antarctic in September. They will use considerable American war surplus equipment, including aircraft and tracked vehicles. The French government
will pay two-thirds of the cost, making it strictly a French venture, and private individuals are paying the remainder, Victor said.
Acquire 16 Vessels
Victor has acquired 16 vessels, amphibious equivalents of the army jeep, for the operations. They can skim across ice and snow many feet deep without sinking more than a couple of inches.
The French fisheries service has lent the oceanografic ship, President Theodore Tissier, for use up north. Victor has found here a wooden ship that he thinks can be converted to break through the antarctic ice pack.
France has no strategic interest in either region, Victor asserted. The observations planned are purely scientific, he said, and in the antarctic a general geological survey will be made, without any specific quest for uranium or oil.
Operations in the antarctic are to proceed along the same general lines. If a polar ship can be outfitted in time, an advance party will sail next September; otherwise the whole operation will be postponed a year.
Named for Explorer’s Wife
For the first time since Dumont D’Urville set foot in 1840 on Adelie Land and named it after his wife, Frenchmen will return to this coast, which they have claimed ever since. A suitable anchorage for the ship will be sought and a place to set up a hut ashore. There will be six or eight men in addition to the ship’s crew. As many as 12 may man the station during subsequent years.
While weasels will be taken along and probably a small plane, greater emphasis will be placed on dog teams for use in the rough terrain.
Victor said the navy hydrografic office gave him a set of mosaic photos of the Adelie Land coast, taken last year by a United States naval expedition.
Rather than a race for claims, he pictured the United States, Britain, and France as co-operating closely in antarctic enterprises. Two members of the projected French expedition, he said, are “guests” of the British and Australian groups now down there.
Ships to Skirt Coasts
The ships in both the arctic and antarctic will skirt the coasts, make soundings and attempt to fix control points for surveys inland.
Douglas transports or Catalina flying boats are planned for air support in the north, with a smaller plane in the antarctic. Personnel for the base and the mobile group in Greenland will number between 20 and 25.
A National War College
New York Herald Tribune, Dec. 26.— France is planning today the creation of a new war college, in which not only her military leaders but her diplomats and high- ranking civil servants will receive instruction.
The school, patterned in part after the recently reorganized National War College in the United States, will be known as the Institute for Advanced Studies of National Defense and War Economy. Instructors as well as students will be drawn both from the armed forces and from various civilian ministerial staffs.
According to General Charles Emmanuel Mast, general of the armies, and director of advanced military studies, the French plan is to create a kind of national “brain trust” fully instructed in the interrelation between warfare and the national economy as a whole.
General Mast, who recently returned from a visit to the American War College in Washington, and the Industrial War College, said it is his intention to borrow extensively from these programs of instruction.
OTHER COUNTRIES China
Buy 150 C-46s
New York Herald Tribune, Jan. 2.—The Chinese Air Force, it was learned today, has bought 150 troop-carrying C-46 Curtiss Commando planes from the War Assets Administration, with State Department sanction. They are to be flown across the Pacific in the spring to Generalissimo Chiang Kai- shek’s Communist-fighting armies, according to present plans.
A total of $750,000 is involved in the deal, the planes having been sold at the open market “scrap” price of $5,000 each, “as is
and where is,” which the W. A. A. set on this type of war surplus aircraft some time ago.
However, the Chinese government is negotiating with W. A. A. officials for 400 to 600 new and used surplus extra Pratt & Whitney engines and other spare parts for the big, twin-engined transports which may easily quadruple the price paid for the fleet of planes.
In addition, Colonel V. S. Hsiang, who is handling all arrangements in this country for the Chinese Air Force, has started negotiations with American air-ciaft overhaul concerns to rehabilitate the 150 Commandos and prepare them for their long flight to Shanghai. It is probable that the agency awarded this contract also will supply American ferry pilots to fly the planes to China. Industry estimates are that this part of the program may cost as much as the over-all equipment purchase itself.
All parties concerned in the deal emphasized that it was a cash-on-the-barrelhead transaction between the Chinese Air Force and the W. A. A. and was not being financed out of the Administration’s $18,000,000 Chinese emergency interim aid program approved by Congress on the last day of its recent special session. The W. A. A. officials said Colonel Hsiang had been referred to them in the first place by the State Department, but the latter said its only role in the transaction was to assure the Chinese government that this government had no objection to the “open market” purchase and export of the planes desired.
The W. A. A. spokesmen said the Chinese contract was the largest single purchase of war surplus transport aircraft they could recall. All the planes concerned are of the C-46 A and C-46 D series and are in “pickled” storage at Walnut Ridge, Ark. Colonel Hsiang said he had been granted permission to leave them there until necessary arrangements are made to inspect and prepare them for flight to the base where they will be overhauled and conditioned for their transpacific ferry trip.
Flights to Start March 1
Meanwhile, Major General P. T. Mow, deputy chief of the Chinese Air Force, has requested the Air Force’s Air Transport
Command to prepare necessary route data for the proposed Commando mass movement across the Pacific. He has indicated that the ferrying operation will begin about March 1 and be carried out at the rate of twenty to thirty planes a month.
If the planes are flown over the A. T. C.’s regular Pacific route they will go from Fairfield-Suisin Airport, near San Francisco, to Honolulu and thence via Johnston and Kwajalein Islands to Guam and Shanghai, with a possible intermediate stop at Okinawa. An alternate plan under consideration is to send them over Pan American World Airways’ Pacific route from San Francisco to Honolulu and thence to Midway and Wake Islands, Guam and Shanghai.
Called Most Efficient
A. T. C. headquarters here is now preparing the information requested by General Mow, including distances between stops, refueling maintenance and repair facilities en route and over-night accommodations for ferry crews. Unless China asks the United States for such service, the A. T. C. does not plan to monitor the Commando migration, as it did the tactical movement of aircraft across the oceans for all Air Force units during the war.
The C-46 was widely used both by the A. T. C. and the Troop Carrier Command in World War II, as well as by the Navy and Marine Corps. It carries a normal payload of
10,0 pounds over distances up to 1,500 miles and can accommodate fifty military passengers in addition to its crew. Despite maintenance difficulties experienced with it during the war, the C-46 was generally conceded to be the most efficient transport developed by the United States.
Netherlands
Mines Persist Along Coast
N. Y. Times, Jan. 3.—There will be continued danger from mines along the entire Dutch coast for at least another eight years, according to a Dutch minesweeping expert quoted by the newspaper Dagblad.
The Norwegian steamer Skoghaug was shipwrecked off Ijmuiden on Christmas Day after an explosion believed to have been caused by a mine.
Although safe channels have been swept for ship traffic to Great Britain, Belgium and Scandinavia, danger outside these channels remains very great, according to the expert, who pointed out that storms and shifting sand banks often uncovered some of the many magnetic and ordinary mines that had been buried in the sea bed.
It has been proved that magnetic mines that had been buried for a long period are still effective when uncovered, the expert stated, adding that it was a hopeless task for the Dutch minesweeping service to sweep outside the two-mile wide channels as most mines cannot be traced in the sea bed.
The expert blamed shipping companies for dismantling wartime anti-mine equipment on their vessels in trying to save expenses.
Turkey
Get 4 Submarines from U. S. Fleet
N. Y. Herald. Tribune, Jan. 10.—The Navy Department announced today transfer to Turkey of fifteen warships, four of them modern fleet type, long range submarines, under the Greek-Turkish aid act.
The submarines will be taken to an unannounced Turkish port by their American crews, the turnover being completed by next April.
Some 350 Turkish seamen are coming here for training in handling this type of submarine, and it is expected that by the time the submarines are delivered they will be able to man them. At all events, the Navy Department stated that there was no question of the American crews staying on in Turkey. Their normal peace-time complement is sixty-five enlisted men and six officers.
Second Reinforcement
This is the second reinforcement of Turkish strength announced this year. The State Department disclosed last week that the United States had sold Turkey seven surplus minesweepers. The new action follows closely the dispatch of two transports with 1,000 Marines and their normal equipment, including tanks, jeeps and trucks, to the Mediterranean, to bring the United States Naval forces there up to strength.
The other vessels to be turned over are one gasoline tanker, one repair vessel, eight motor mine sweepers, one net-laying vessel.
The four submarines originally cost $6,000,000 each. The total original cost of the transferred vessels is estimated between $30,000,000 and $35,000,000. The survey group which studied Turkish needs recommended an allocation of $14,750,000 for naval equipment and training. By the terms of the aid act, such transfers must be reimbursed out of the $100,000,000 appropriated to carry out the act. The agreement between the United States and Turkey specifies that representatives of the press and radio of the United States will be permitted to observe freely and to report freely regarding the utilization of such assistance.
Prior to this increase of strength the Turkish Navy consisted of the pre-World War I battle-cruiser Yauvz, formerly the German Imperial Navy’s Goeben; six destroyers, ten submarines, two gunboats and a number of smaller craft and auxiliaries.
Can Operate in Black Sea
The new vessels thus represent a substantial addition of strength. The submarines were all built by the Electric Boat Company, of New London, Conn., and were commissioned in 1944. They are now in the Pacific. The newest of Turkey’s present submarine fleet is five years old.
The United States submarines are the Brill, Blueback, Boarfish and Chub. They are large ships with a displacement of 1,500 tons and range enough to take them to Japan and back. They are 312 feet long and have a speed of ten knots submerged and twenty knots surfaced. They are armed with six torpedo tubes forward and four aft, and carry two forty-millimeter anti-aircraft guns and one five-inch deck gun. They have not undergone modifications based on the refinements introduced by recent types of German submarines.
Their range is adequate to enable them to operate for long periods in the Black Sea, which is the approach to big Russian industrial concentrations in the Donbas and oil installations in the Caucasus. There are no Turkish ports on its long Black Sea coast line at present capable of servicing submarines.
The Soviets sent a note to Turkey in August, 1946, demanding revision of the Montreaux Convention which permitted the Turks to close the Dardanelles if at war or threatened with aggression. The Soviets demanded a joint Turkish-Russian control of military bases on the Dardanelles.
AVIATION
Airpower Based on Obsolete Types
Aviation Week, Jan. 12.—Of an approximate total of 30,000 military airplanes now on hand in the Air Force and Naval Aviation, more than 90 percent are wartime types out of production since V-J Day. Of this total,
15,0 are in operation and 15,000 are in storage or awaiting salvage. These planes comprise 79 different types of which only 25 are currently in production and only 39 in operational use, according to a study submitted to the Congressional Air Policy Board by Aircraft Industries Association.
Since V-J Day the aircraft industry has developed 29 new experimental aircraft types of which eleven have been placed in production. This production varies from as few as seven (Martin P4M) to as many as 610 (Republic P-84) with the majority only limited service test quantities.
Aircraft types are evenly divided between the services. The Navy has 40 major types of which 19 are in use but out of production, seven are in production but not yet operational, seven are both in production and in operation, five are experimental and two are special research airplanes. Air Force has 39 major types of which eight are in use but out of production, six are in production but not yet operational, five are both in production and in operation, 16 are experimental and four are special research types of aircraft
Types in Use but out of production:
Air Force—Boeing B-29 Superfortress, Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, North American P-51 Mustang, Northrop P-61 Black Widow, Douglas C-47 Skytrain, Douglas C-45 Sky- master, Northrop F-15 Reporter and Bell YR-13 Helicopter.
Naval Aviation—Grumman F6F Hellcat, Grumman F7F Tigercat, Vought F4U-4 Corsair, Curtis SB2C Helldiver, Grumman TBM Avenger, Convair PB4Y Privateer,
Convair PBY Catalina, Martin PBM Mariner, Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon, Stinson OY-1 Sentinel, Curtiss SC-1, 2 Seahawk, Douglas R5D Skymaster, Curtis R5C Commando, Douglas R4D Skytrain, Lockheed R50 Lodestar, Martin JRM Mars, Sikorsky HNS, Sikorsky HOS, and Bell HTL Helicopters.
Types in Use and in production:
Air Force—Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star, North American P-82 Twin Mustang, Republic P-84 Thunderjet, Fairchild C-82 Packet and Boeing C-97 Stratocruiser.
Naval Aviation—Grumman F8F Bearcat, McDonnell FH-1 Phantom, Vought F4U-5 Corsair, Lockheed P2V Neptune, Douglas AD-1 Skyraider, Sikorsky H03S and Bell HTL-2. '
Types in Production but not yet operational:
Air Force—Northrop B-35, Convair B-36, North American B-45, Boeing B-50, North American P-86 and Fairchild C-119.
Naval Aviation—Vought F6U Pirate, McDonnell F2H Banshee, North American FJ-1, Martin AM-1 Mauler, Martin P4M Mercator, Martin PBM-5A Mariner, Pia- secki HRP Rescuer.
Experimental Airplanes in flight status:
Air Force—Curtiss-Wright XP-87, McDonnell XP-85, Convair XP-81, Northrop XP-79, Douglas XB-43, Convair XB-46, Boeing XB-47, Martin XB-48, Northrop YB-49, Convair XC-99, Hughes XF-11, Republic XF-12, Kellett XR-10, Bell XR-12, and Bell XR-15.
Naval Aviation-—-Grumman XF9F, Vought XF5U, EDO XOSE-1, 2, Lockheed XR60-1, Constitution and McDonnell XHJD-1 Helicopter.
Research Airplanes:
Air Force—Bell XS-1, Bell XS-2, Douglas XS-3, and Northrop XS-4.
Naval Aviation—Douglas D-558-1 and Douglas D-558-2.
(Editor’s Note: See Finletter Report under “United States”.)
Navy Orders 1,632 New Planes
Aviation Week, Jan. 12.—Navy Bureau of Aeronautics has placed procurement contracts with eleven aircraft manufacturers for
UNTIL BETTER ONES COME ALONG
Planes on the deck of a wartime U. S. carrier. Although purchasing jet planes steadily, the U. S. Navy is still using its proven wartime types until newer models can be standardized.
the production of 1,208 aircraft during 1948 and has already announced contracts with eight manufacturers for the delivery of 424 aircraft during 1949. These latter are only initial orders to be augmented later in the year.
Of the 1948 total, 95 per cent are conventional propeller-driven craft of early wartime design which were in production during the last two years of the war. This neartotal procurement of reciprocating types (only 60 jet airplanes are scheduled for production this year) points up the Navy’s continued reliance on service types already well integrated into the carrier divisions of the fleet as the best compromise between combat efficiency and economy. By introducing jet types in service slowly, the Navy believes it can maintain training, maintenance and operational expenses for naval aviation at a minimum.
Slated for steady production through 1948 are:
Chance Vought F4U-5 Corsair—This new model of the wartime Corsair features a top speed increasing towards the 500 mph. mark, simplified functional cockpit and improved power plant and cowling. A total of 258 are scheduled for production during the year, maintaining the 21 airplanes per month already being delivered.
Grumman F8F-1 Bearcat—Navy will buy 300 of the new F8F-1 model featuring 20 mm. cannon armament and new power plant design placing the stubby craft in the 500 mph. top speed class.
Grumman F9F-2 Panther—Production contract for 100 of these new jet fighters will deliver only 12 airplanes during the year with the remainder scheduled for 1949. Fighter features interchangeable Pratt & Whitney Nene and Allison Turbojet engines. Fligh top speed near 650 mph. and a landing speed of only 85 mph. are new Navy jet performance records.
North American FJ-1—Remainder of order for 30 of these axial-flow turbojet-powered fighters are due for completion during the year, a total delivery of 12 airplanes. Type has passed Navy tests at Patuxent but only service test quantity has been ordered.
McDonnell Jet Fighters—Completion of current order for 60 FH-1 Phantom fighters is scheduled during the year, a total of 29 airplanes. Coming into production is the larger F2H-1 Banshee. Of an order for 56 planes, seven are scheduled for delivery this year.
Douglas AD-1 Skyraider—War-designed and produced, this single-seat attack plane is powered by a Wright R-3350 reciprocating engine of 2,500 hp. and is designed to carry a variety of rockets, bombs, torpedoes and chemical tanks externally. A major feature is fuselage dive brakes designed to retard airspeed in long dives. Current production rate of about 25 airplanes per month will continue throughout year with 279 scheduled for delivery.
Martin AM-1 Mauler—Companion plane to the Skyraider but with a 3,500 hp. Pratt & Whitney Wasp Major engine, this singleseat attack plane underwent design modifications which delayed its originally scheduled deliveries to the Navy. Now accelerating to 15-per-month rate, Martin will deliver 163 during 1948 completing the total contract for 178 aircraft plus the original XTBM-1 prototype.
Lockheed P2V Neptune—Production version of the record-breaking “Truculent Turtle,” a total of 70 of these fast, heavily- gunned patrol bombers will be delivered during the year, bringing to 105 the total accepted by the Navy.
Martin PBM-5A Mariner—Amphibian version of the wartime patrol bomber, this giant craft is now being delivered at the rate of two per month with 24 scheduled for completion during the year.
Sikorsky I103S Observation Helicopter— This four-place standard Sikorsky design will continue in production throughout the year with 21 slated for delivery.
Piasecki HRP Transport Helicopter— Giant 10-passenger twin-rotor design is now being delivered to the Navy with 24 scheduled for acceptance this year of a total order for 40.
Bell HTL Training Helicopter—Final quantity of nine of this Air Force-developed type, to be produced during the year, will complete the Navy’s order for 22 arranged through the Air Force.
Bureau of Aeronautics procurement plans for 1949 remain tentative pending final ap-
propriations determinations during the current Congress. Navy has already obligated funds provided for the purpose for continuation in production of the majority of aircraft slated for delivery during this year. Two new types, Vought F6U and Martin P4M, will go into production.
Navy Increases Neptune Order
Aviation Week, Jan. 5.—Boosting its production order of Lockheed Neptunes, the Navy announced a faster and more heavily armed version of its famous patrol bomber. The new order for 29 P2V-2’s increases the Navy’s total order to 150 of the planes, the original of which currently holds the world’s distance record with a 11,236 mile nonstop flight from Perth, Australia, to Columbus, Ohio.
New features of the P2V-2 include:
Better engines—New series of Wright duplex cyclone engines increase takeoff power by 600 hp. giving a faster rate of climb.
New propellors—Hamilton Standard three bladed paddle props replacing the four- bladed narrow chord props. Electric de-icing replaced alcohol system on the blades.
De-icing—Combustion type heaters provide thermal de-icing for wing and enpen- nage.
Radar—New search radar and a variety of tactical radar equipment are housed in the elongated nose.
Armament—Six fixed 20 mm. cannon in the nose fired by the pilot replaced the two .50 cal. flexible machine guns on the P2V-1. Two 20 mm. cannon replace twin .50’s in the dorsal turret. Turret has also been streamlined. Tail armament has been changed to two 20 mm. cannon. P2V-2 also carries 16 five inch rockets, two torpedoes or a dozen depth charges.
Radar—Elongated solid nose replaces the bombardier nose and houses search radar and a variety of tactical radar as well as revised armament. New nose adds 2\ ft. to length of plane.
Production on the latest Neptune contract is expected to continue until June 30, 1949. Navy now has three^Neptune squadrons in active service.
(Editor’s Note: The figures do not agree with preceding article 1)
Air Force Orders 1,150 Military Planes
Aviation Week, Jan. 6.—U. S. Air Force last week announced year-end procurement decisions on the growing stable of experimental prototypes flown during 1947, Production orders totalling 1,150 airplanes establishes the pattern for 1948 military aircraft deliveries and gives impetus to the first major phase in the Air Force plan for an all-jet combat force by 1950. North American Aviation, Inc., emerges as one of the dominant postwar combat aircraft producers and shares the brunt of Air Force production responsibilities with Boeing, Con- vair and Lockheed.
Status of major new air force types includes:
North American P-86—Contract for 225 production airplanes awarded with squadron assignments scheduled this summer. Top speed is over 600 mph. and ceiling more than
40,0 ft. Range is 1,000 miles. Only one of two prototype XP-86 has been delivered to Muroc Air Base, Calif., for flight tests.
Boeing B-50—Contract has been increased with new order for 82 airplanes, bringing total commitment to 215 airplanes. Two production B-50’s have been delivered for service tests. First tactical unit assignments will be made this spring. Top speed is 400 mph. and cruising speed is about 300 mph.
North American B-45—Contract for 100 announced earlier. First deliveries from former Douglas plant at Long Beach, Calif., are expected this spring. Four-jet bomber will go into service with Tactical Air Command as low altitude attack plane, replacing propeller-driven twin-engine types now in service. Top speed is more than 480 mph. and combat radius is above 800 miles.
North American P-82—Earlier contract for 250 now revealed as order for 100 P-82E models and an additional order for 150 of later models. Already in production, first P-82B fighters are in service with the 27th Fighter Group at Kearney Air Field, Nebraska. These planes will be used for familiarization duties until the new P-82E’s become available. Top speed is better than 475 mph. and a combat range of 2,500 miles. New model is powered by 2,200 hp. Allison V-171 reciprocating engines, replacing the Rolls-Royce engines used on the famed
“Betty Jo” and other early models. Heavy fire power is concentrated in six .50 caliber machine guns mounted in the wing center section between the twin fuselages plus a special eight-gun pack mounted beneath the wing. A large variety of rockets, bombs, chemical tanks and other ordnance may be carried.
Republic P-84—Earlier order for 500 increased to 600, assuring the Thunder-jet a position as standard Air Force jet fighter. About 85 airplanes have been delivered with the 14th and 20th Fighter Groups slated for complete outfitting with the fast new craft.
Boeing C-97—Current commitments are for 10 airplanes with an additional order for 27 now being negotiated. Six Stratocruisers have been delivered, most of which are now in trans-Pacific operation by Air Transport Command.
Lockheed P-80—Current production contracts will maintain P-80B production throughout the year with about 200 P-80B and 350 P-80A now in service. Lockheed is currently modifying existing P-80A models into P-80B models by structural and installation changes.
Currently being passed over by the procurement selection board are the Convair XB-46, Martin XB-48, Northrop XB-35 and YB-49, Curtiss XP-87 and the Convair C-99. Still definitely in the procurement picture is the Boeing XB-47, radical new sweptwing bomber test flown last month.
NATS New Safety Record in 1947
Aviation Week, Jan. 12.—A full year’s flying without a passenger fatality was completed on Jan. 1 by the Naval Air Transport Service commanded by Rear Admiral John
W. Reeves, Jr. This compares with NATS 1946 safety record of 1.8 fatalities per 100 million passenger miles. Domestic civil airlines had a safety record of 1.6 fatalities per 100 passenger miles in 1946 and an estimated 5.2 for 1947. One NATS crew member was killed in 1947.
NATS, which is engaged in a top level battle with the Air Force Air Transport Command for survival under the Armed Services Unification Act, rang up a 98 per cent record on scheduled plane miles completed and flew all but 5 per cent of its regularly scheduled flights. Approximately 11 per cent of NATS flights were delayed for an average of 2.8 hours.
With a fleet of 116 airplanes including DC-3, DC-4 and Martin Mars types, NATS flew 495,893,175 passenger miles; and 44,992,067 ton miles of mail and cargo. Total of 230,776 passengers were carried including 8,254 hospital patients. NATS load factors averaged 83 per cent and air craft utilization ran 6.8 hours per day for DC-4; 2.4 for DC-3 and 8.5 for Martin Mars flying boats.
(Editor’s Note: ATC safety for 1947 does not appear to be available.)
Jet Fighters Train in Arctic
N. Y. Herald Tribune, Dec. 29.—The Air Force has put an entire jet fighter squadron into Alaska “for the first mass tactical operation” of the high speed warplanes in the Arctic outpost, it was announced today.
The 94th Squadron of P-80B fighters has arrived at Ladd Field, near Fairbanks, to begin six months training operations, the announcement said. A fighter squadron usually is composed of about twenty-four planes.
The squadron, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Donald E. Hillman, of Seattle, is a unit of the Tactical Air Command’s 1st Fighter Group (a group is composed of three squadrons), based at March Field, Calif.
Because the planes will encounter temperatures ranging down to 65 degrees below zero, they have been given special “winterization” treatment.
(This, the United Press said, included modifications of the engines so that they can be started on gasoline instead of the normally used kerosene, installation of electric heaters and defrosters, replacement of natural rubber with synthetic rubber in the cockpit sealings because natural rubber becomes brittle in extreme cold, and use of new greases.)
The Air Force did not expand its reference to the “first mass tactical operation of jet aircraft in the Arctic.” However, it may be assumed that in addition to the training for air and ground crews in servicing and flying more than a score of jet planes in Arctic cold, those responsible for strategy will have a definite interest in the operations.
XB-47 Dives at 720 Mph.
Aviation Week, Jan. 5.—Revelation of a 720 mph. indicated diving speed for the new swept wing Air Force Boeing XB-47 bomber proves the new craft not only the fastest bomber but one of the fastest airplanes ever built, with a top indicated speed in level flight approaching 655 mph., just over the accepted speed record for airplanes. The initial 51-min. test flight by Boeing test pilots Robert Robbins and Scott Osier took the huge, 125,000-lb bomber aloft at 16,500 ft. en route to Moses Lake Air Force field in central Washington.
A second test flight took the giant craft up to 18,000 ft. on a 62-min. hop during which stall and control characteristics were tested satisfactorily. A speed of 400 mph. was reported from this second flight. Both pilots pronounce the stability and control qualities of the airplane beyond their expectations. Cabin temperature control through heating and refrigerating equipment (for high-speed flight) performed perfectly.
Air Force has approved the use of the Moses Lake field, which is currently on a stand-by status, for a period of 30 days for phase I flight tests by Boeing personnel. Iloeing is hopeful that the required 37 hours of phase I tests can be completed in the time allotted but weather may force an extension of the 30-day period. If the Air Force does not grant the extension, the XB-47 will be flown to the Air Force’s Muroc Air Base, Calif.
(Editor’s Note: We believe this is the “leak” that aroused security personnel. Note USSR section herein short as usual—no peaks—they read English too.)
Longer Span for American Jets
Aero Digest, January.—In response to a recent question from this department, engineers in Allison’s aircraft gas-turbine department supplied information on the operating life span of their J33 turbojet engine which indicates encouraging progress. Shortly after VJ-Day, the allowable time between overhauls of the General Electric 1-40—in production at both GE and Allison—was stepped up from 25 hours to 50 hours. About a year later, this was jumped to 100 hours.
During this period the Rolls-Royce Derwent V went from an original 90 hours to 180, to 270. This wide discrepancy should take into account two points brought out by Ronald Hazen, Allison chief engineer, in his testimony before the President’s Air Policy Commission. One is that there are differing practices between the British and the Americans as to what constitutes a major overhaul. The other is that the Derwent V has its only service application in the twin-jet Meteor IV. It is, of course, standard practice to exact higher safety requirements from singleengine airplanes (as the P-80) than with multi-engine installations.
This fall, however, Allison’s model 400 (J33-23), their almost completely redesigned version of the 1-40, was stepped up to 200 hours between overhauls, with the Derwent now at 360. Further progress is indicated during 1948.
These figures are at the present time far below the more or less standard 750-hour operating span of American piston engines. Critical parts of a gas-turbine engine are subject to heat conditions in the neighborhood of 1700F, a state not closely approached in reciprocating engines. These critical parts, subject to heat, which become principally in need of replacement are the inner liners in the combustion chambers, nozzle diaphragms and turbine blades or buckets.
Turbojets Are Hot Subjects
The turbojet engine is still a relatively new type of aircraft powerplant and, despite great improvements during the past two or three years, engineers have not learned all there is to know about handling this heat situation.
Other factors include the relative lack of service experience with turbine engines, which indicates that progress must be slow to satisfy the requirements of safety; and similar lack of experience on the part of pilots may cause them at times to operate the engines in a manner which hastens their overhaul.
Despite definite progress, application of the turbojet to commercial aircraft in regular operations seems at least a decade away.
British Flying Wing—A. IT.52
London Times Dec. 17.—The A.W.52 tailless jet-propelled aircraft, known as the Flying Wing, which was demonstrated in public for the first time at Bitteswell airfield, near Rugby, today, is the first experimental aircraft to be built for the Ministry of Supply under a new system of research adopted since the war.
While new aircraft were merely logical developments of earlier types, research could be conducted in wind tunnels, but now that new principles are being introduced this is insufficient, and the Ministry’s policy is to have aircraft built specifically for research purposes.
The Flying Wing has been designed and constructed by Armstrong-Whitworth Aircraft to obtain data on tailless aircraft with swept-back wings, using laminar flow (an ultra smooth finish) to reduce drag, and a method of sucking the turbulent air from the wing surfaces to improve control near the stalling speed. Before the aircraft was built, flying experience was gained with a smaller glider of similar shape.
Like a Gull
Although ungainly while on the ground, in flight the Flying Wing has all the attractiveness of a gull. In the hands of Squadron Leader Eric Franklin it gave a graceful and impressive display, which was watched by Mr. J. Freeman, Joint Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Supply, Sir Ben Lock- speiser, chief scientist at the Ministry, and several Government officials.
The A.W.52, which will pave the way for large aircraft weighing about 200,000 lb., has its wings swept back at an angle of 35 degrees. Fins and rudders, which on a conventional aircraft are carried on the tail, are on the
wing tips. Longitudinal and lateral control are achieved by one device, known as the controller, which serves the functions of the normal elevator and aileron. Another novel mechanism, called the corrector, provides a powerful trimmer without impairing the effectiveness of the controller.
500 MPH
The aircraft weighs 33,000 lb., and, with two Rolls-Royce Nene engines as the power plants, the maximum speed is approximately 500 m.p.h. The normal range is 1,500 miles at 36,000 ft., but by using overload tanks which are already fitted the range can be extended to 2,130 miles. The pilot’s compartment is pressurized, and is fitted with an ejectable seat to enable the pilot to make an emergency exit even at maximum flying speed.
The All-Wing aircraft, with its reduced drag and lower structure weight, is the obvious direction of future development. Eventually jet engines will be made to remove all the turbulent air around the wing, and when this has been achieved we shall have gone a long way towards creating a high-speed transport aircraft which will be economic.
Lancaster’s Arctic Flight
London Times, Dec. 12.— By penetrating the Arctic circle to a point 450 miles from the geographical pole an R.A.F. Lancaster from the Empire Air Navigation School at Shawbury, Shropshire, has laid the foundation for a project designed to develop a safe navigation technique for polar flying.
The flights made by the Lancaster Aries I in 1946 over the magnetic and geographical North Poles provided valuable data on problems associated with polar flying. The recent flight was the start of a scheme to make polar flight part of the training syllabus of the specialist navigation courses at the Empire Air Navigation School.
Flying from Prestwick, Ayrshire, to an Icelandic airfield near Reykjavik, the Lancaster did not turn until it reached a position 82 deg. 30 min. N., 05 deg. 00 min. E. seven hours later. On the round trip it covered 2,570 nautical miles in 12^ hours. No unusual behaviour of the instruments was experienced; the aircraft was too far from the magnetic pole for the compasses to be affected, as were those of the Aries I. The Lancaster crew used navigation techniques which are essential in polar regions.
MERCHANT MARINE War-Built Ship Sales
N. Y. Herald, Tribune. Jan. 19.—Sales of 1,750 war-built merchant vessels during the original period of the ship sales act of 1946 have netted the United States Treasury a total of §1,700,000,000, it was learned yesterday.
The sales were handled by the United States Maritime Commission for the government. Returns were considered sizable in shipping circles since the commission still has about 1,917 additional vessels for sale. The building program from 1939 to 1947 cost the government about §13,000,000,000, principally because of the emergency conditions under which it was conducted.
Other sales conducted by the Maritime Commission, mostly small craft and badly damaged vessels that are being sold for scrap, are expected to add another §400,000,000 to the total received. The results of these transactions have not yet been tabulated.
Further Extension Asked
The ship sales act, when it was adopted in March, 1946, provided that sales and charters of warbuilt ships were to cease on Dec. 31, 1947. The provisions of the act were extended to Feb. 29 in the last session of the current Congress and President Truman has asked the present session to extend the act to June 30, 1949.
Of the 1,750 ships sold, American purchasers bought 661 and foreign purchasers took 1,089. The cream of the tonnage—the large, fast cargo carriers of the C types— went to United States shipping companies under preference provisions of the act. The bulk of sales to non-citizens was made up of the slow Liberty ships.
Revive Atlantic Weather Service
N. Y. Herald Tribune, Jan. 10.—The first post-war effort of the United States Weather Bureau to co-ordinate its weather services in the North Atlantic with the needs of ships’ masters sailing in those waters was an-
nounced yesterday by Benjamin Parry, chief meteorologist in the bureau’s New York office.
The program is, Mr. Parry said, a revival rather than an innovation, because the bureau possessed before the war an efficient marine division which gathered reports from ships at sea and broadcast over Navy radio stations both those and the reports of weather stations along the Eastern seaboard. It also gave to ships’ officers maps upon which from such radioed messages they could prepare a running commentary on weather conditions as their ships progressed across the water.
Since the war, Mr. Parry said, it had been discovered that the bureau’s weather reports were not adequate to the needs of ship’s masters, partly due to lack of certain information necessary to navigation, partly due to a variation in terminology. The bureau therefore suggested the present program of co-ordination which Mr. Parry said met with immediate approval by ships’ masters.
Swedish Freighter “Seattle”
N. Y. Times, Dec. 22.—The 9,000-ton freighter Seattle, the first of five new vessels of exceptional speed now under construction for the Pacific-European service of the Johnson Line, is scheduled to arrive in Seattle Saturday after her maiden voyage from Gothenburg, Sweden, it was announced here yesterday by Axel Johnson, Jr., director of the company.
The Seattle and her sister-ships, two of which are slated for delivery within a year and the others in 1949, have been under construction since 1944 at the Kockums Med, Verkstads A/B, Malmo, Sweden, and will be the fastest cargo carriers in their particular service.
The freighters are designed for a loaded speed of 20 knots, Mr. Johnson said, which exceeds that of many liners now catering to the North Atlantic passenger trade. They are constructed as open “shelter-deck” types with a length over-all of 502 feet, and a beam of 64 feet.
Ship “Arrested”
N. Y. Times, Jan. 3. Vancouver—Sheriff S. F. Moodie, provincial marshal of the Admiralty, “arrested” the Swedish motorship, Dagmar Salen, here and charged her with injuring a Vancouver woman.
Sheriff Moodie made his arrest by hanging a writ of damages on the vessel’s main mast. Three days later the writ came off when the Dagmar Salen’s owners posted bond and the ship was at least temporarily freed from the law’s clutches.
The procedure is a hold-over from British Admiralty law, which requires that any action for damages by a ship’s passenger be directed against the vessel itself.
The Dagmar Salen is in legal hot water because the Vancouver woman charged she was injured when the ship collided with the ferry Chinok.
Ship Mined
N. Y. Times, Jan. 4.—The United States Lines freighter Pioneer Cove was reported making for London tonight under her own power after striking a mine early today in the North Sea off the Netherlands coast.
The Dutch Coast Guard at Terschelling, Frisian Islands, said it received a message from the vessel saying her crew had managed to repair damages caused by the explosion. The Coast Guard said the ship had not reported any casualties. It assigned a tug to accompany the vessel to London.
Charles Hand, assistant to the president of the United States Lines, said in New York that Captain John Dixon, master of the ship, sent this message: “Magnetic mine apparently exploded under bottom aft hull. . . . Machinery apparently damaged. Will advise later.”
Waterman Lines
Marine Progress, Jan. 1948.—The Waterman steamship corporation, owner and operator of one of the largest privately owned merchant fleets under the American flag, announced on January 1 that it purchased nine additional C-2 type dry cargo vessels from the United States Maritime Commission, making a total of fifty-three modern new American flag vessels which are now owned by Waterman, and represent an investment of nearly sixty million dollars. The vessels, eight of which are presently located at West Coast Ports and one at an East
Coast Port, are the steamships Dashing Wave, Winged Arrow, Golden City, CheruBim, Young America, Delsantos, Hotspur, John Land and the Typhoon.
In addition to its privately owned fleet, Waterman also operates sixty-seven vessels under charter agreement with the Maritime Commission, making a total fleet of one hundred twenty merchant ships operated in the foreign and domestic commerce of the United States by that Company, the announcement stated.
The nine vessels now being added to Waterman’s fleet were built during the war years. Two of them served as cargo transports and seven were used as troop transports during the last war. Each vessel in Waterman’s fleet can carry approximately 10,500 gross tons of cargo and supplies. With the addition of these nine ships, the total deadweight capacity of the American flag fleet operated by Waterman will be approximately one million two hundred sixty thousand gross tons, a company official pointed out.
Grace Line
Weekly News Report, Jan. 14.-—The Grace Line, operators of the largest fleet of passenger steamers under the American flag, announce that 1947 had been the most successful passenger year in Grace Line history. Transporting an average of 1,125 passengers per month from New York, the company now operates 180,000 gross tons of privately- owned tonnage as compared to 130,000 tons in 1941, the last pre-war year.
(Editor’s Note: The Queen Elizabeth carried a total of 87,872 passengers in 20 round trips just completed.)
MISCELLANEOUS Our Mineral Reserves
N. Y. Times, Jan. 9.—By Hanson W. Baldwin—The President told Congress Wednesday in his state of the Union message that the nation needs “accurate and comprehensive knowledge of our mineral resources” and that we must develop “new supplies” and acquire stockpiles.
His recommendation—one of the most important references to national defense in his speech—has, however, been anticipated by the recent publication of the most “accurate and comprehensive” report on the mineral resources of the nation yet published.
The report, which has received virtually no attention from the press or Congress, finds that the nation “is exceptionally well supplied with coal, reasonably well off in iron ore . . . and potentially self-sufficient in petroleum.”
The report, entitled Mineral Position of the United States, was prepared by the staffs of the Bureau of Mines and the Geological Survey and was presented by the Secretary of the Interior, J. A. Krug, to a Senate subcommittee of the Committee on Public Lands last spring. The full document, with tables, statistics and estimates and with the hearings which accompanied it has, however, just been published by the Government Printing Office and offers the latest, and by far the most comprehensive and the most objective analysis ever made of the much-debated question of our mineral reserves.
Grist for Marshall Plan Debate
The report will undoubtedly serve as background material for the forthcoming debate over the Marshall Plan and will be eagerly consulted by those members of Congress who believe that we should receive from European countries stockpiles of “strategic” raw materials, or minerals scarce in this country, in return for our economic aid.
Contrary to many of the scarehead and repeated warnings—some of them issued by the military—about the “imminent” exhaustion of some of our vital mineral reserves, the report takes on the whole a calm and optimistic view. It estimates that we have an “assured reserve” of iron ore equivalent to forty years’ supply even at expanded wartime rates of production, and notes that the foundation of our industrial economy— sufficient supplies of coal and iron—“is assured for many decades.”
Mr. Krug, in his foreword, says that “the United States is by no means a ‘have-not’ nation,” and asserts that “in general, America’s mineral outlook is favorable, but it is obvious that a dynamic program of research and exploration must be pursued if new sources are to be developed to supply future needs.”
Recent surveys show that the United States has sufficient iron and coal resources for any emergency, but in other vital strategic minerals she is down almost to the bottom of her pockets.
The experts who compiled the report— which will serve as a “Bible” of the minerals industry for some years—emphasize, however, that it is neither exhaustive nor complete; they stress that our mineral wealth “has been depleted at an ever-increasing rate,” and implicit in all their recommendations is advocacy of an inclusive and well- planned minerals policy for the nation. They also stress the necessity of developing technological means of exploiting submarginal or low grade deposits, such as oil shale.
Guide to Military Potential
The report is of exceptional importance to a correct evaluation of the military potential of the United States, for minerals are the basis of an industrial economy and industry in turn is the backbone of our military strength. The Munitions Board has long maintained a list of so-called “strategic” or scarce raw materials, essential in war, but which are not normally produced in sufficient quantity in the United States to meet our needs.
The report analyzes on the basis of data available to the end of 1944 our position in many of these vital minerals, but it says that “if the figures were corrected for early 1947 there would be few, if any, significant changes” in the reserve estimates made. Thirty-nine different commodities or minerals are discussed, but uranium—significantly enough—is omitted, at least from the published version of the report.
In testifying on the report, E. W. Pehrson, a Bureau of Mines expert, stressed in answers to questions our large submarginal or low- grade sources of petroleum and other minerals, and the high costs of exploiting these reserves. He asserted that “we have been extracting our mineral resources much more rapidly and in much greater quantity than any other nation of the world.”
He declared that the “United States is abundantly supplied with the minerals that are basic to our steel industry, iron ore and coal, and we are abundantly supplied with the fertilizer minerals. We also have other minerals in abundance. There is some question as to the future outlook of petroleum.”
Mr. Pehrson modified this, however, in answer to a question by declaring flatly there was no danger of running out of oil for wartime “if the cost is not considered.” What cost differentials might mean in exploitation of low-grade reserves was shown, howTever, in the testimony. Mr. Pehrson said this country would find it economically impossible to produce much mercury at $65 a flask—the “world price”—but by paying $200 a flask, low-grade deposits in this country were worked during the war and we became almost self-sufficient.
Estimates of Reserves
The report estimates the years of mineral reserves available to the United States. These estimates were based on the known “commercial” reserves as of 1944 measured in terms of the 1935-44 annual rates of consumption. A brief summary of the report’s findings follows, in numbers of years:
Magnesium, Nitrates Un-
and Salt limited
Bituminous coal and lignite......... 4,386
Phosphate rock............................. 600
Helium.......................................... 235
Anthracite..................................... 187
Molybdenum..................................... 157
Rutile............................................................... 124
Potash................................................ 99
Iron Ore............................................................ 76
Cobalt............................................... 53
Sulfur................................................................. 39
Bauxite................................................................ 23
Zinc.................................................. 20
Copper............................................................ 19
Petroleum.......................................................... 15
Others............................................................. *13
* Years to negligible.
These “commercial reserves” do not include submarginal reserves—which, if they can be economically exploited, will greatly increase the total.
In amplification the report estimates that “if technologic and economic changes permit use of known submarginal resources” we shall be virtually self-sufficient in twenty- one minerals, including coal, iron ore, petroleum, copper and aluminum ores, but completely dependent upon foreign sources for five minerals, platinum, tin, industrial diamonds, quartz crystal and asbestos, and partly dependent on foreign sources for thirteen more, including nickel, lead, cobalt and zinc.
(Editor’s Note: Note petroleum in above table!)
1947 Science in Review
N. Y. Times, Dec. 28.—By Waldemar Kaempffert.—No doubt important discoveries were made in 1947 about the structure and behavior of the atom, but if they were the military authorities forbade any announcement. Such are the fears of an atomic age.
Despite Army secrecy Prof. Ernest 0. Lawrence (California) was permitted to state that physicists now think they know what holds a lump of matter together. Since 1932 it has been held that the nucleus of an atom is composed of neutrons and protons. Why don’t the protons blow the whole atom apart as they repel one another? By way of an answer Werner Heisenberg postulated in the Nineteen Thirties an exchange of electrical forces between a neutron and a proton, so that protons would momentarily become neutrons and neutrons would become protons. At the University of California experiments with the new powerful cyclotron proved that Heisenberg was right.
With this same 4,000-ton post-war cyclotron Drs. Glenn T. Seaborg and Isadore Perlman succeeded with 400 million electron- volts in knocking out of atoms at least thirty particles in “the most complete disintegration of atomic nuclei ever achieved.” Hitherto unknown kinds of atoms were produced with the prospect that more than 100 new radioactive isotopes will be obtained. With this cyclotron about ten elements have been split, a phenomenon once observed only in the case of thorium, the isotopes of uranium and plutonium.
Isotopes are Plentiful
More than a hundred once rare stable isotopes or varieties of different elements are now available for research on a loan basis, the Atomic Energy Commission announced. In addition a score or so of radioactive isotopes are offered for sale.
Most important of all isotopes to military men is uranium-233, actually discovered five years ago by Dr. Seaborg and his associates but not announced until 1947. Seaborg transformed thorium b* bombardment into this U-233, which is fissionable and therefore suitable for bombs.
Two young physicists, J. A. Marinsky and L. E. Glendening, reported that the missing
element 61 can be made artificially in atomic piles. The element has at least two isotopes. Equally important was the achievement of Prof. Isadore Perlman in isolating curium, the heaviest known chemical element and the most violently radioactive.
Prof. Willard F. Libby and his colleagues discovered that radioactive carbon 14 is produced by cosmic rays and that there is enough of it in all living matter to constitute one of the most important sources of radiation to which the human body is exposed.
Two Columbia professors, Willis Lamb and Robert Rutherford, showed that the Dirac theory of the nature and motion of electrons in atoms is incomplete. According to Dirac certain energy levels in the hydrogen atom correspond with definite states of motion. Lamb and Rutherford found slight departures from the correspondence. The hydrogen atom and the electron evidently have properties still to be discovered.
Industrial Energy
At the Los Alamos laboratory in New Mexico, where atomic bombs are made, a new kind of “pile” has been developed. It utilizes high-energy neutrons to split plutonium. We have here an atomic bomb which can be kept under strict control, so that its energy can be released slowly. The “fast reactor,” therefore, will have its uses in the production of industrial energy.
Work was begun on the Government’s Brookhaven laboratory, where nine major universities are to conduct research in atomic physics on a huge scale.
Of the fourteen comets discovered, one received an inordinate amount of publicity because it was visible in all its hairy glory in southern climes. One comet broke in two as it neared the sun, a common enough occurrence.
Carbon dioxide was found in the atmosphere of Mars, which strengthens the argument that there may be vegetation on that planet.
Dr. Otto Struve (Chicago) reported that around the double star Antares he discovered a huge cloud of meteors ten times the diameter of the solar system. He also discovered in 1947 that the eclipsing double star UX Monocerotis has great flaming prominences and flares of incandescent gases just like the sun’s. It may be that such prominences account for gaseous streams and rings in other eclipsing variable stars, Dr. Struve suggests.
Spinning and Magnetism
Why is the earth magnetic? Prof. P. M. S. Blackett, Manchester, came forth with an explanation that was rapidly accepted: If any body spins it becomes magnetic, and the faster the spin the bigger is the magnetic effect.
The 200-inch mirror was transported up Palomar Mountain, aluminized and temporarily swung into position. Work with the $6,000,000 installation will begin in 1948.
There was a total eclipse of the sun on May 20. Expeditions camped for the most part in Brazil and Argentina to observe it. No remarkable new discoveries were made.
At the University of California a group of biochemists headed by Dr. Melvin Calvin discovered that the photosynthetic process is the opposite of the process of respiration in animals. Photosynthesis builds up sugars and starches out of carbon dioxide and water; respiration breaks them down.
Dr. Calvin also showed that chlorophyl can phosphoresce. The phosphorescent state lasts only a tenth of a second. Previously he had demonstrated that when they are in the phosphorescent state, chlorophyl molecules are magnetic and that light is retained until magnetism is lost. Calvin has therefore shown how chlorophyl stores light-energy long enough to form sugar, starches and other substances.
The synthesis of proteins was observed directly for the first time outside of the animal body by means of radioactive tracers at the University of California. The men to whom credit goes for the accomplishment are Drs. Harold Trever and Jacklyn Melchior. They saw protein built up by slices of liver in the presence of radioactive methionine, an amino acid.
Stratosphere Balloons
Mechanical Engineering, Jan. 1948.—In line with the current policy of the U. S. Navy to give scientific investigators access to research tools which would not otherwise be available to them, the Navy Department has announced that plans are continuing for the
development of balloons capable of carrying instruments in unmanned flights to an altitude of 100,000 ft.
Currently under development at the General Mills Aeronautical Research Laboratory, Minneapolis, Minn., the balloons when completed will be able to carry up to 70 lb. of scientific instruments into the upper atmosphere. When clustered in groups of two, three, or possibly four, it is hoped that correspondingly increased amounts of research equipment may be carried to the same height. In the unusually strong plastic balloons, helium gas will be used.
Based on the large number of requests from universities and colleges, it is expected that scientific investigators will wish to send aloft various types of recording or telemetering equipment including cloud chambers for cosmic-ray investigations, neutron and proton counters, and various other upper-atmosphere research instruments.
Present plans call for the flights to be conducted in the vicinity of Minneapolis and possibly at the Naval Air Station, Lake- hurst, N. J. The original plan called for a manned balloon flight and was scheduled for last summer. It was canceled because of operational difficulties and the need for more work on the balloon itself before it was considered a proper vehicle for such a flight. The Naval Ordnance Laboratory had been invited to participate in the original operation. It is believed, however, that the Laboratory will not take part in the coming balloon ascents, because of space and weight limitations and the time necessary for the development of special instruments for the flight.
(Editor’s Note: See “Cosmic Hunt” in December Professional Notes.)
Swede Seeks To Measure Sea Uranium
Washington Post, Dec. 26.—London (U. P.)—The world’s largest untapped store of uranium and radium is being measured by a Swedish deep-sea expedition led by Prof. Hans Pettersson of Goteborg.
The expedition, aboard the 1400-ton motor schooner Albatross, has studied the deep ocean and its bed during a voyage across the Atlantic and Caribbean and recently entered the Pacific through the Panama Canal.
Many lines of research are being pursued by the expedition’s scientists, Professor Pet- tersson wrote in the British scientific magazine Nature. The measurement of uranium and radium, made by analyzing large volumes of sea water taken from different depths, were not directed at discovering a method of retrieving the elements.
“Such measurements have become of especial importance because of the light they may shed on the ionium precipitation in the sea,” Professor Pettersson wrote. He said such precipitation is supposed to be responsible for the radium found in deep-sea deposits.
Echo-sounding charts of the sea bottom have been taken to a depth of 21,680 feet, it was reported. They showed that the floor of the Caribbean was much smoother than that of the Atlantic. Many submarine cliffs, previously unknown, were found.
The depth curve moves incessantly up and down, Pettersson reported. He said the cliffs suggested long “faults,” or places where the rock had buckled because of lateral pressure.
The uneven surface of the bottom of the ocean made the work of measuring the sediment thickness at great depths complicated, he said. An ingenious method of sounding the sediment carpet was developed by Prof. W. Weibull of Bofors, who accompanied the expedition. Depth charges were set off and echoes reflected both from the sediment surface and the hard rock beneath the sediment were recorded.
By that method it was found that the sediment carpet—the rock of the future—beneath the Atlantic Ocean is 5700 feet to 25,500 feet thick, and beneath the Caribbean much less. The measurements will be continued in the Pacific Ocean as the Albatross works west.
An equally novel method of sampling the sediment itself was undertaken. A hollow core of metal was lowered to the sediment and a core of ooze extracted from the sea floor. The cores were sent to Sweden for study.
“Assuming the sediment to increase by 3 inches in 1000 years in the Atlantic Ocean, the lower strata of a core 6 inches long should have been deposited nearly two million years ago, or before the end of the Tertiary Age,” Professor Pettersson wrote.
(Editor’s Note: See “Sweden” in October Professional Notes.)
Official U. S. Navy Photograph
WHAT THE BOTTOM IS LIKE IN SHALLOW WATER
U. S. Navy Photographers made this underwater picture at Navy’s Underwater Salvage School. The new Swedish deep-sea expedition is probing the ocean’s bottom where it is miles deep.