Professional Notes
Through October 23, 1948
United States………1570
Arctic Maneuvers—Alaskan Exercises—Norton Sounds as Rocket Ship—Radar Picket Sub—Mediterranean Briefs—Sullivan Speaks—Joint Airhead Exercises—Arctic Expedition Report.
Great Britain…………1575
Rearmament—Fleet Notes—Vessels Transferred—African Naval Force—Malayan Ferret Force—Australian Defense Budget.
Other Countries……1578
Turkey.
Aviation…………………1579
F3D—Wright Turbo-Cyclone Engine—Rockets Photo Earth—Coast-to-Coast Photo Strip—Admiral Cruise Talks—Temperatures at High Speed—Air Research Progress—R.A.F. Air Exercises—Russian Jet Fighter.
Merchant Marine……1586
U.S. Shipping—New Export Lines Ships—Dutch Join S.A. Trade—Brazil Expands—Turks Buy Navy Transports.
Science………………….1597
G.E. Plans Atomic Power Pile—Cornell’s Radio Telescopt—Albatross Report—Checking the Meter.
UNITED STATES
Arctic Maneuvers
N. Y. Herald Tribune, Oct. 9—The Navy Department announced today that cold weather maneuvers in the North Atlantic involving 31,000 men and sixty-five ships “under actual war-time conditions” would begin Nov. 1.
They will continue for three weeks, and will be under the command of Vice-Admiral Donald B. Duncan, commander of the 2d Task Fleet. His flagship will be the battleship Missouri.
The training period will last until Nov. 23, the announcement said, “to explore the limitations and capacities of fleet operations under cold weather conditions.”
Thirty aircraft squadrons will take part. They will be divided among six carriers: the 27,000-ton Philippine Sea, Leyte and Kearsarge, and the 10,000-ton escort carriers Mindoro, Sicily and Palau. There will be the usual complement of cruisers, destroyers and tenders.
“The entire operation will be conducted under actual war-time conditions to acquaint approximately 31,000 naval, marine and army personnel with the unpredictable northern latitude weather which may be expected in this area,” the Navy’s announcement said.
These northern seas manuevers do not constitute any innovation for the Navy. It has conducted similar ones for several years past. Last year, for instance, the northern Atlantic maneuvers included an amphibious assault landing at the fleet base at Argentia, Newfoundland. A similar landing will take place in these exercises from Nov. 5 to Nov. 8.
Each year, however, the exercises push a little farther north. This operation will reach as far as the entrance of Davis Strait, which is at the Arctic Circle between Greenland and Labrador. The fleet will sail from Norfolk, Va., and run up the eastern coast of the United States and Canada.
The Navy said that anti-submarine warfare will be stressed heavily in the operations of the huge task force. Development of new techniques to combat the latest types of German submarines—of which the Russians are known to have a considerable number—is a No. 1 priority with the Navy.
This phase of the maneuvers will be “particularly emphasized,” the Navy said, in order to evaluate training and techniques under adverse weather conditions. The Navy has been building up surface-air teams to beat the submarine threat. The new methods demand close co-operation between spotting aircraft and “killer” surface vessels.
The Navy also announced today a new reserve program designed to make 5,000 trained men “immediately available to the Office of Naval Research in event of mobilization.” Officials said that the Navy would establish seventeen new Naval Reserve units composed principally of officers professionally engaged in research or related activities.
Alaskan Naval Exercises Planned
N. Y. Herald Tribune, Oct. 14.—The Navy announced today that exercises will be held next February in Alaskan waters to test clothing, equipment and personnel under cold weather conditions.
No more than twelve fighting ships and less than 12,000 men, including about 2,000 Marines, will take part, an official said. In response to questions, he said there is no significance to the fact the exercises will be held closer to Russian territory than any previous fleet exercises.
The exact location of the exercises was not given, but he said it would be close to American bases in Alaska. No Army personnel will take part in the training.
The ships will be headed by a carrier and supported by a heavy cruiser, a squadron of destroyers and probably no more than one submarine, he said. In addition, landing craft, attack transports and a cargo ship, plus rocket-firing landing craft, will take part in a practice landing.
The Pacific exercises are much smaller, the official pointed out, than those scheduled for next month in the Atlantic north of Newfoundland. A total of 31,000 sailors and Marines and sixty-five ships of the Atlantic Fleet will take part in that operation, the largest cold-weather amphibious one yet attempted by the Navy.
“Norton Sound” Converted for Rockets
N. Y. Herald Tribune, Oct. 10.—The Navy said tonight it has converted the seaplane tender Norton Sound into a ship for firing fourteen-ton rockets. The 540-foot floating laboratory left Norfolk, Va., yesterday for the Pacific, where she will test various rockets, including the German V-2 and the Navy’s Aerobee.
Although the Navy successfully fired a V-2 from the deck of the aircraft carrier Midway in 1947, the tender is the first ship to be specifically equipped for the purpose of rocket firing.
The tender has a “basic mission” to extend upper atmosphere research through rocket firing experiments “far out at sea in safe isolated areas.” These areas will extend from the equator to the Polar regions where it is not feasible to conduct land tests, the Navy said.
The 540-foot, 9,000-ton tender has been sheathed with metal on her seaplane decks to withstand the heat of firing rockets from their vertical cradle. Two gun turrets have been removed to make room for a helicopter landing platform and a balloon-launching platform.
Radar Picket Submarine
N. Y. Herald Tribune, Oct. 12.—The Navy announced today that its first radar picket submarine, the Tigrone, is ready for service and will go on active duty with the Atlantic Fleet Nov. 1.
The program contemplates conversion of a second vessel to this purpose, but that submarine probably will not be selected until a number of tests have been made with the Tigrone. The Navy, however, plans to start work on the second picket submarine before the end of this fiscal year, June 30.
The submarines will be used experimentally and may be the forerunners of a type whose function would be to establish a long- range early-warning service as far as possible from the American coastline. Such pickets would be established in the Arctic, the Pacific and the Atlantic, to watch for hostile aircraft. At first radar indication of the approach of such craft, the submarine would broadcast its warning and then submerge, to resurface after danger of being spotted had passed.
Such duties call for long cruising range and endurance and highly sensitive radar equipment. Plans for conversion of the two vessels during this fiscal year were brought before Congress after President Truman’s request of last March 17 for greater military strength than was provided in the original fiscal 1949 estimates.
The refitting of the Tigrone was carried out at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in New Hampshire. Her designation is SSR 419. It is understood that conversion included fitting her with the “Schnorkel,” the German “breathing device” which enables submarines to remain submerged for indefinite periods and to cruise submerged, using Diesels.
Mediterranean Briefs
London Times, Sept. 11.—Gibraltar.— The arrival of four American destroyers this morning opened a period of three weeks of intense activity in the dockyard, for during this period 31 American warships are scheduled to call. The busiest day will be September 23, when the 45,000-ton carrier Franklin D. Roosevelt, with 20 other American ships will be in port at the same time as the British battleship Vanguard, which will be on a working-up cruise in preparation for the royal tour of Australia.
N. Y. Times, Oct. 21.—Athens.—The carrier Franklin D. Roosevelt and eight other American warships put out to sea today for exercises after a five-day visit here. Leaving Phaleron Bay and Piraeus Harbor were the cruisers Albany, Providence and Little Rock and the destroyers Compton, Gainard, Beatty, Hugh Purvis and Small. They will return Saturday for another two-day visit.
Secretary Sullivan Speaks for Preserving Peace and Building Carriers
N. Y. Times, Sept. 30.—Secretary of Navy John L. Sullivan bluntly warned Communists last night that the United States would take every step deemed necessary to preserve peace in a world threatened by their efforts to revert to the rule of force.
Addressing 1,700 members of the Navy Industrial Association at a dinner in his honor in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, the Secretary declared:
“By its official pronouncements and by its every act since V-J day, communism has made its ultimate objective abundantly clear—the complete communization of the world. For communism to flourish, they are convinced that freedom must perish.”
The United States will not stand idly by and see this happen, Mr. Sullivan said.
“We propose to take all those measures which seem to us proper to preserve the peace,” he said. “We have helped the free people of Italy to defeat communism in their native land. We have taken the lead in organizing western Germany’s stand against communism.
“We have actively supported the Greek Government in its fight against Communist guerrillas in Greece by providing military equipment and financial assistance.
“Our naval forces in European and Mediterranean waters are a constant stabilizing force in areas where explosive incidents might occur. The operations we maintain in these waters are excellent training for our ships’ personnel. The sight of the American flag is a reassuring symbol to harassed people.
“We know now that wisdom and vision and military strength that commands respect can help to preserve the peace, just as stupidity, blindness and weakness can invite the very conflict we seek to avoid.”
Mr. Sullivan said that the United States has no military or imperial objective which threatens any nation.
“The Communists have nothing we want or ever will want,” he declared.
He declared, however, that we must “give free people everywhere unmistakable evidence of our intention to support them in their struggle, so that the unsteady truce of today may become the stable peace of tomorrow.”
The Secretary emphasized that carrier-based planes proved themselves effective against land-based fighters during the last war and that the importance of this type of craft cannot be exaggerated. He said construction of the new 65,000-ton flush-deck carrier recently authorized by Congress was demanded by the development of faster and heavier aircraft.
Joint “Airhead” Exercise
N. Y. Times, Oct. 7.—Elgin Air Force Base.—Unified operations were carried out with live ammunition in the armed forces’ maneuvers here today.
The “invasion” exercise started when a B-29 came over and dropped, from 10,000 feet, four two-ton blockbusters. Two minutes later a dozen Marine Corsairs sped from a cloud cover, each dropping two 500-pounders in a close pattern supposed to destroy a coastal anti-aircraft battery.
Nine Superfortresses came next, in a tight box, unloading 500-pounders from 10,000 feet.
Jet reconnaissance RF-80s then diced the areas with their cameras. The pictures were brought in by helicopter before the exercise was over.
This brought in the Corsairs of Navy Carrier Group Two with a display of the new high velocity five-inch aircraft rockets, and three B-26’s with a simulated skip bomb attack on a supposed destroyer.
The beach was then judged ready for the paratroopers.
A single Fairchild C-82 came over, escorted high and low by Marine fighters, and dropped a crack pathfinder team of Negro troopers. Then the C-82s came over in mass. A dozen of them dropped forty men each. Other C-82s followed with a drop of artillery and ammunition—75-mm. pack howitzers which promptly lobbed shells in the enemy line—and the air head* was considered established.
Artillery preparation for the breakout was begun. Tanks and infantry, landed from the amphibious force, began their advance. They were held up by simulated enemy mortars. The mortars were wiped out by a terrifying burst of napalm, dropped from eight F-47s and the advance went on to victory.
Editor’s Note: *It is hoped that the lessons in the airborne operations in Crete, the Cotentin, and Arnheim have been applied.
Arctic Expedition Finds Peary Cache
N. Y. Times, Sept. 28.—By Murray Schumach.—A Navy and Coast Guard expedition has returned to the United States from the Arctic with handwritten records left in the Polar regions more than forty years ago by Comdr. Robert E. Peary, discoverer of the North Pole.
With the return of the American vessels to home ports, it has also been learned that the explorers found copies of documents cached in that vicinity by a British expedition of 1875-76. The original papers of this exploration were removed by Commander Peary in 1905, when he ordered the copies placed there that have now been found at Cape Sheridan, about 450 miles from the Pole.
Although the text of the papers was not made public, a man who saw parts of the notes said they were for the most part the usual evidence left by explorers of their presence in strange places.
“You might say,” said this person, “that they were ancestors of the ‘Kilroy was here’ notes.”
Find Made at Last Minute
The expedition was organized to resupply existing weather stations and to reconnoiter the area for the purpose of planning the construction of two new weather stations to be operated jointly by American and Canadian authorities.
While Commander Peary had first alluded to his own and the British papers in an account that he wrote for the New York Times in 1911, there had been no more substantial proof of their existence, although original doubt had been dissipated in recent years.
A bottle in which these papers were enclosed was found under dramatic circumstances. Constant daylight was on the wane and ice packs were becoming increasingly threatening. An earlier attempt to locate the cache had failed. No more than two days were left before the expedition would have been forced to evacuate the area when the find was made.
By this time, however, the leaders of the expedition had already set one record. This expedition had pushed two of its three ships past Lat. 85 degrees N., or farther north than any vessel had gone under its own power.
New Channels Discovered
Finally, on the return trip, the expedition recorded still another achievement. Instead of heading for the safe waters by the route they had taken on the way north, the leaders of the expedition took to straits and channels believed never to have been navigated before.
Technically, the expedition was known as Task Force 80. It was made up of the Navy ice breaker Edisto, the Coast Guard ice breaker Eastwind and the Navy cargo vessel Wyandotte. On board these ships were more than 500 officers and enlisted men. Also participating were American and Canadian civilian experts and a few Canadian naval officers.
There were no sledges or huskies on this expedition and no Eskimos. Instead, each of the ice breakers had a flight deck aft with two helicopters that had inflated pontoons and plastic domes. Also on board were small landing craft.
The route taken north was not unusual. Peary had used it, calling it the “American route.” The ships went through Davis Strait into Baffin Bay, then into North Water. From there they entered Smith Sound, which led to Kane Basin and Kennedy Channel, finally into Robeson Channel to Sheridan. The way back set no precedent at first. The ships went south to Lancaster Channel, west to Wellington Channel, north to Penny Strait into Eureka Sound, then into Nansen Sound to Lands Look. The vessels took virtually the same route back to Jones Sound. Then they pioneered a route that was not disclosed.
The expedition got under way on July 15, when the Eastwind pulled out of Boston Harbor. The windup came on Sept. 24, when the Edisto dropped anchor there, six days after the Coast Guard ice breaker, and Navy Capt. George J. Dufek, commodore of the task force, headed for Washington with records of the trip and the Peary papers.
Behind him, in Sheridan, members of this expedition had left a pile of rocks, known as a cairn, inside which was the record of the arrival of Captain Dufek’s men. Also cached here were copies of the yellowed records removed.
Credit for Find Disputed
Exactly who discovered the cairn in which the Peary papers were found is not yet certain. Some say it was Charles J. Hubbard, chief of Arctic operations of the United States Weather Bureau. Others say the credit for the discovery should go to Capt. A. Chouinard of Canada, or one of his countrymen.
In any event, it was a man who took off on Aug. 3 with a pilot from a helicopter on the aft deck of the Eastwind. Commander Peary had given a clue to the whereabouts of his cairn in his book on the 1908-9 expedition in which he brought twenty-five years work to a climax by reaching the North Pole.
Once the dark rock of the cairn was spotted, the helicopter was landed and the papers were removed. Near by were cans of food. The cans showed no rust, although some of them had been there since the 1875-76 expedition and others were from the last Peary trek. Most of the cans contained potatoes, which had spoiled.
The papers were flown back to the Eastwind and turned over to Captain Dufek. They were copied and the texts were mimeographed. Then the records were taken to the photographic laboratory aboard the ship, where they were photographed.
Copies of the records removed from the Roosevelt cairn were put on board a helicopter, along with Captain Dufek,’s own record. These were flown to Sheridan, where a new cairn was built for them.
Seasoned war veterans formed the nucleus of manpower for this journey into the Arctic. However, the bulk of the crew was made up of young men aged 18 and 19, who had little previous experience. They were chosen because it was believed their youth would enable them to react quickly in moments of danger and also to stand up well under long periods of tension. Both situations occurred in this expedition before its ultimate success.
Failure Near at Times
There were times wlien failure was but one or two ice floes away. There were weeks when officers went two or three days with little or no sleep. In a sense, the expedition’s victory over the elements was as deceptive as a baseball game in which all of the runs were scored in the last few innings.
Nothing was certain as ice does thirty feet thick crunched past the bow and towering icebergs made the icebreakers seem like canoes. Even the constant daylight and slight rainfall were deceptive as winds veered suddenly and ice closed in rapidly on what had seemed reasonable shipping lanes or “leads.”
Even after conquering the North Pole, Commander Perry was fearful of the Arctic elements. He called attempts to conquer Polar regions “a struggle of human brains and persistence against the blind, brute forces of the elements or primeval matter, acting often under laws and impulses almost unknown or but little understood by us, and thus many times seemingly capricious, freaky, not to be foretold with any degree of certainty.”
And on this expedition, despite scientific advances in information and equipment, when fortune turned it was quick, capable of wiping out in a few minutes the work of many months.
Thus, the very day that the Edisto set a new record for the northernmost point attained by a ship under her own power, everything looked good. Ahead was a clear stretch of water and there was no telling how far north the Edisto might go behind her guiding helicopter.
Icebreaker is Crippled
Suddenly high ice floes closed in on her. They were not the “light stuff,” twenty feet thick. These floes were thirty feet thick with the ridges that come when ice is formed by one layer being pressed tightly against another.
A few minutes later the icebreaker was an invalid ship. The ice floes had sheared off one of her two screws. The Edisto had to leave the expedition and head for Boston for repairs. Almost four weeks elapsed before she rejoined the task force.
With the men, too, there was always the possibility that an unforeseen development might lead to acute discomfort, if not tragedy. For this reason, when men came ashore they worked quickly and returned to the ship as soon as possible.
This speed was not because of the cold. For the most part the temperature was in the thirties and was bearable because the air was so dry. Frequently the problem was to persuade the young enlisted men to dress more warmly rather than to prove their hardihood by risking illness.
One adventure, however, cured the less cautious men of their contempt for warm clothes and at the same time illustrated the speed with which conditions could change.
This day more than a dozen men were ashore when the wind veered suddenly. This caused the ice pack to narrow their ship’s avenue of escape so quickly that she had to pull out and leave the men stranded or else be disabled.
For nearly thirty-six hours some of the men were on shore as three helicopters flew in relays, picking up one man at a time. Two of the men were treated for exposure and recovered quickly.
One for the Coast Guard
The whims of Arctic nature created paradox and comedy as well as near-tragedy. The accident that forced the Edisto to return to Boston for repairs gave Coast Guardsmen the opportunity for some behind-the-hand chortles over a situation that found the Navy forced to use a Coast Guard vessel for a flagship. The same accident gave the Eastwind the opportunity to try to better the northern record of the Edisto which had been the original flagship.
It may be that long after Task Force 80 is forgotten one question it raised will haunt such places as Boston’s Scollay Square. In such sections, where Coast Guardsmen and Navy men often meet, there may be many forceful debates about whether the Navy’s Edisto or the Coast Guard’s Eastwind went farther north and closer to “90 north,” which is the North Pole.
GREAT BRITAIN Rearmament Progresses
N. Y. Times, Oct. 3.—London.—Britain’s new program of rearmament in the framework of Western European defense moved ahead another full stride here today—to the sound of bugles and drums, to the cheering of spectators and to the sight of sober-faced veterans moving past in parade.
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Lord Tedder and Arthur Henderson, Secretary of State for Air, at a major recruiting parade here jointly launched an appeal for 100,000 recruits for the air force. Together they called also for 60,000 men and women air force reservists “to keep the RAF in the air.”
Over the next two years, Mr. Henderson said, the air force must build up its strength from its present 129,000 level to 180,000. To do that, he said, weekly recruiting figures in the next two years must be raised from 200 to at least 1,000.
Stressing the need for a fresh and continued flow of recruits, Lord Tedder said that Britain led the world in fighter aircraft but, he added: “Fighters still can’t catch rockets.” A large and powerful bomber force, adequately manned and capable of obliterating enemy rocket positions and paralyzing enemy communications, is also vitally needed, he said.
Meanwhile the Admiralty announced that 8,000 naval officers on Retired, Reserve and Emergency Lists were being ordered to report their addresses, occupations and medical status to the nearest naval authorities.
A further indication of gathering momentum in defense preparations of the Western European Union came in a report that the Netherlands Indies fleet was being returned to European waters to help bolster the Netherlands defenses.
This fleet, it was said, consists of one light fleet carrier of 16,000 tons, two cruisers, six destroyers, eight submarines and ancillary vessels. It was added that two heavy cruisers and six large destroyers are being built in the Netherlands naval yards. However, as these vessels will not be completed until 1950, it has been decided to return the fleet from Indonesian waters to join in naval defense arrangements of the five Western Union powers.
Information is that over-all plans to integrate the work of the British, French and Dutch navies have already been surveyed broadly by naval sections of the Western Union Military Committee. In coming weeks with the appointment of greater numbers of naval officers from all three powers for duty with the newly formed permanent military organization, plans to standardize tactics, communications and equipment will be pursued even more closely.
Fleet Notes
Long Times, Sept. 23.—After the Home Fleet ships have taken part in the battle exercise in the North Atlantic, the Duke of York with three cruisers will go to the West Indies and the carriers Theseus and Vengeance to the Cape with four destroyrs.
A detachment of coastal forces, comprising the First and Second Motor Torpedo Boat Flotillas, left Portsmouth yesterday for the west. To-day they will attack the fleet as it proceeds down Channel.
When the fleet sails Lord Hall will be in the Duke of York, and sailing in the destroyer Gabbard will be the Bishop of Trinidad, who is being given passage back to the West Indies.
London Times, Sept. 13.—The Canadian destroyers Nootka and Haida have entered Hudson Bay—the first time Canadian warships have done so—after passing through Hudson Strait.
They are now on their way to Churchill after parting company with the aircraft carrier Magnificent at Wakeham Bay, where the carrier turned southwards for Halifax. The three ships have been carrying out air and naval exercises, and their visit to Wakeham Bay was an eventful one for the small community there; a solitary missionary and about 80 Eskimos welcomed the visitors.
London Times, Sept. 27.—The submarine Affray arrived at the submarine depot, Gosport, yesterday, from a two years’ cruise of 51,000 miles, during which she visited India, Ceylon, Singapore, Borneo, the Solomon Islands, Hongkong, Australia, and South Africa. On her way home she made a brief stay with the Mediterranean fleet at Malta. After leaving Gibraltar for Gosport she hit a whale, but was undamaged.
TRANSFERS
To Dominican Republic
London Times, Sept. 23.—Negotiations have been concluded with the Dominican Government for the purchase of the destroyers Fame and Hotspur. The ships are being refitted at Devonport before being handed over. H.M.S. Hotspur will sail for Dominica on November 5 and the Fame will follow in December.
To New Zealand
London Times. Sept. 29.—Portsmouth.— The frigate Loch Achray was transferred here to-day from the Royal Navy to the Royal New Zealand Navy. Admiral Sir Algernon Willis, Commander-in-chief, Portsmouth, handed over the ship to Mr. W. J. Jordan, High Commissioner for New Zealand, who received her on behalf of his Government. Lady Willis renamed the ship Kaniere and handed to Lieutenant-Commander B. E. Turner, the commanding officer, a model of an imperial crown which had been made by British prisoners of war while they were in Japanese hands and which was originally given to the vessel while she was at Singapore.
The Kaniere is one of six frigates to be transferred to the Royal New Zealand Navy. Three have already been handed over. In the Royal Navy they are named after Scottish lochs, and in the Royal New Zealand Navy after lakes in the Dominion.
African Naval Force
London Times, Sept. 27.—An East African naval force is being formed on a regular full-time basis. This week the High Commission, consisting of the Governors of the three mainland territories, conferred with the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies, Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Woodhouse, during the visit of H.M.S. Birmingham to Mombasa, and directions were given that detailed estimates of the recurrent costs should be prepared immediately for submission to the territorial legislatures.
Legislation establishing the force is being prepared for introduction in the Central Legislative Assembly early next year, if by then the legislatures have agreed to provide the annual recurrent costs of the force. The Admiralty is being approached with regard to the provision of suitable craft.
The depot, which is likely to be at Mombada, will be called H.M. East African ship Mvite, which is the Swahili word for war.
“Ferret Force” in Malaya
London Times, Sept. 27.—Singapore.— At a Press conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday Major-General C. H. Boucher, G.O.C., Malaya District, disclosed the existence of teams of specially trained jungle fighters which are now carrying the fight to the terrorists in the jungle.
The teams are organized in groups known as Ferret Force groups, which are led by former Chindit and Force 136 officers. The groups operate independently, and each consists of four teams with a group headquarters. Each team is commanded by a man selected for his knowledge of the country and is composed of 11 men with three or more civilians.
General Boucher said that Ferrets had already had considerable success, the greatest being the blow to terrorist morale in beating them at their own game. Ferrets were a complete surprise, and, as terrorist communications are bad, the surprise was renewed whenever a group arrived in a new area. Among the Ferrets are Malay, Gurkha, and British troops, with Dyak trackers and Chinese interpreters. The purpose of the force is to fill the gap until other troops are sufficiently experienced in jungle warfare to take on the job themselves.
Australian Defense Budget
London Times, Sept. 24.—The Government had accepted responsibility at the Dominion Prime Ministers’ conference in 1946 for the development of Australia as a main support base in the Pacific, and this could best be achieved by strengthening the Australian economy and increasing the population. It was contradictory to pursue such a policy and to retard the economy by withdrawing a large part of the Commonwealth’s man-power for compulsory military training as demanded by the Opposition. The Government’s military advisers preferred to continue execution of the Government’s five-year programme promulgated in 1947 to the introduction of compulsory training. It was impossible to believe that the role likely to be played by Australia in the event of war demanded a large trained army or to imagine where it could usefully be deployed.
Compulsory training was inappropriate to present needs, and owing to the army’s commitments to the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan it would be impossible to deal with the large number of men who would have to be called up under a compulsory system. The B.C.O.F. would soon be entirely Australian and the Government had gladly accepted that responsibility in view of the United Kingdom Government’s onerous responsibilities elsewhere.
The strength of the navy at the end of the first year of the programme at June 30 was 10,676 compared with 14,750 to be attained at the end of the fifth year. One thousand R.N. ratings had been sought in the United Kingdom; 400 would arrive in Australia in October and the remainder next March. Compared with the total permanent army of 19,000 aimed at, the present strength was 7,800 in the regular force and 12,500 in the interim force in Japan, a total of 20,000. The strength of the R.A.A.F. in June was 8,000 compared with 13,100 to be attained.
OTHER COUNTRIES
Turkey
The Turkish Navy
La Revue Maritime, Sept. 1948.—The arrival at Izmit of the American submarines ceded within the framework of the well-known military aid agreements gives us the occasion to bring our readers up to date on the situation of the Turkish Navy.
Organization—Bases
The President of the Republic is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
His authority is exercised through the intermediary of the Chief of General Staff, whose powers extend to the entire forces of the armies of Land, Sea, and Air. He has under his immediate orders the Vice-Admiral Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, whose headquarters are at Gōpeuk.
The commandants of military ports and naval bases, personnel, and materiel are under the Ministry of National Defense, which includes the office of a Rear-Admiral Councilor for the sea, who is a kind of Major-General.
Izmit is the principal base of the Turkish fleet. It is under the command of a Rear-Admiral, and possesses an important arsenal at Gōpeuk. The other bases of the fleet are rather supporting points, and the ports it can use are: in the Bosphorus, Anadoli Kavak, and especially Istamboul, with its arsenal and civilian yards, particularly that of Stenia; in the Dardanelles, Cannakkale; Izmir; Erdek, on the Sea of Marmaoa; Trébizonde, Samsoum, Zongouldak on the Black sea; Alexandrette and Mersine.
Personnel
Personnel is reported at 16,000, of whom 1,000 are officers, one-third of them embarked.
Crews are recruited chiefly among the coastal populations, according to a system resembling the French Inscription Maritime. They are made up for the most part of men called up for three years’ service. Before entering special schools for three- to six-month courses, depending on the specialization, the men receive three months’ training in military and elementary naval duties. Later, they complete their shipboard training at sea. Petty officers come from a state school of high school level, which they enter between the ages of ten and twelve. After six years of study, they spend a tour of duty at the specialists’ school of Kasimpacha. They go aboard the old cruisers Hamidiye and Mecidiye for sea duty.
Officers come from the naval school of Halki (one of the islands of Marmaoa), which moved in the spring of 1941 to Mersine, at the time of the German threat to Istamboul. This school graduates annually about 40 officers, 4/10 of whom are deck officers, 5/10 engineering officers, 1/10 hydrographic engineers. The officers who so desire then pass into special schools: ordnance, torpedo, navigation, electronics, radio. Lately radio officers have had charge of radar. Medical officers are few in number; for the most part they come from the reserve. Supply officers likewise are usually reserve officers.
Naval construction engineers have been recruited up to now from the cadre of naval officers, although a section of naval engineering has recently been established at the Technical University.
The external maintenance of Turkish ships has always produced a favorable impression on those who inspected them. Morale is excellent, and the esprit de corps very highly developed. An important mission of Turkish seamen in the United States and a mission of American naval officers in Turkey will enable the Turkish Navy to get in touch with the latest technical developments in the field.
Naval Forces
Naval forces comprise:
One 23,000; ton battleship, the Yavouz. The armament, which includes 10/280, 10/150 pieces, 8/88AA’s, and 18 Bofors 40 AA’s, is powerful. Suitably modernized, this large unit, while rather old, could still render very effective service.
Eight destroyers organized in two flotillas:
1 of ex-Italian: Kodatepe, Adatepe, Tinzatepe, Zafer: 1,250 tons circa; 38 knots; 4/120’s, 2 or 3/40 AA-6 T/533; 1 of ex-British: Sultan-Hisar, Demir-Hisar, Muavenet: 1,370 tons; 35 knots; 4/120’s, 6/40AA-8 T/533; Gayret (ex-H.M.S. Oribi): 1,600 tons; 35 knots; 4/102, 1/100 AA, 4/40 AA-4 T/533.
Thirteen submarines: 4 ex-Americans: Blueback, Boarfish, Brill and Chubb commissioned in 1944: 1,500/1,800 tons; 19/9 knots; 2/127’s, 4/40AA-10 T/533; 3 ex-British: Burak-Reis, Oruc-Ali-Reis, Ulac-Ali-Reis, commissioned in 1942: 683/860 tons, 13/845-1/76-5 T/533; 1 on German plans: the Saldiray, commissioned in 1939: 950/1,300 tons; 19/845-1/100-6T/533; 1 built in Spain in 1935: the Gur: 750/950 tons; 18/845-1/102-6 T/533; four older submarines: Dumlipinar, Sakarya, Birinci, Ononu, the Ikinci-Iononu used for training.
Thirty mine-sweepers, 4 of them 650 tons, dating from 1943, bought in Australia in 1946, 8 of the American Raven type, 700 tons, 18 knots, purchased in Great Britain, and 4 British MMS.
A few rapid PT and patrol craft, type
Pecidis, by the U.S. Navy and M.T.N. of Turkish construction.
Finally, there is a certain number of auxiliary craft, including 3 “Boom defense vessels,” “Harbor defense motor launches,” and 8 vedettes of the Fairmile type.
Editor’s Note: 10/280 = Ten 280ram. guns; 8T/533 = 8 Torpedo Tubes for 533 mm. torpedoes (21 inch).
AVIATION Sky Knight F3D
Aviation Week, Oct. 11.—Navy offered a glimpse into the future of its aviation last week, unveiling a design sketch of its new 65,000 ton supercarrier and a new twin-jet fighter that is symbolic of the revolutionary types of planes that will use the giant carrier.
The plane is Douglas Aircraft’s Sky Knight (F3D) which will go into production primarily as a night fighter for both the Navy’s carrier fleet and the land-based U. S. Air Force. Three experimental models of the F3D have been flying at Muroc since last April with both Navy and Air Force pilots. Both services have given the plane a high evaluation resulting in an initial Navy order for 23 F3Ds.
The Air Force is considering an order for at least 100 F3Ds in its fiscal 1950 procurement program. Douglas is readying an F3D production line at its El Segundo plant which is scheduled to begin operations next fall.
Night Fighter—The Sky Knight was designed as a carrier-based night fighter. It is powered by two Westinghouse 24C turbojet engines and has been engineered to take the latest and most powerful modifications of that engine including the 24C-8 and 24C-10. Engines are mounted semi-externally on either side of the fuselage belly.
Design of the F3D airframe is that of a fairly conventional mid-wing monoplane with tricycle gear, fuselage dive brakes and a large dorsal fin. Big selling point of the plane to both Navy and Air Force is its relatively good maneuverability. It is roughly 10,000 lb. lighter than both the Northrop F-89 and the Curtiss-Wright F-87, its 15-ton competitors in the all-weather fighter class. In addition it is considerably farther along from a production standpoint. The F-89 prototype began its flight test program late in August at Muroc while the F-87 is in the midst of extensive redesign that will delay production by about 12 months.
500 Mph. Top Speed—The F3D is not as fast with its present engines as the Northrop F-89. F3D top speed is slightly over 500 mph. compared to about 550 for the F-89. Combat radius of the F3D is about 700 miles. Armament of 20 mm. cannon is contained in two indentations on either side of the lower nose section. Radar equipment is housed in a plastic nose.
Most unconventional features of the F3D are centered in the cockpit containing a two-man crew seated side by side. Forward windshield between two metal supports is of heavy glass and contains a new type night fighter radar that projects the radar scope onto a screen directly in front of the pilot. Gun sight equipment is also incorporated in the screen allowing the pilot to fly his plane, track a target and fire without shifting his head. Top of the canopy is heavily armored with plexiglas side bulges providing good lateral visibility.
Belly Bail-out—-The F3D cockpit is equipped with an unusual chute for bailing out through the belly at high speeds. This chute is uncovered by swinging aside one of the pilot’s seats and can accommodate only one man at a time. Special backlighting system to eliminate glare features lucite letters and numerals on all gauges lighted by red bulbs behind the instrument panel. This special lighting system was designed by Douglas. Cabin is also equipped with pressurization and a refrigeration and heating system.
Wright Turbo-Cyclone Engine
U. S. Air Services, Oct. 1948.—A $32,000,000 Navy contract has been awarded to the Wright Aeronautical Corporation, of Wood-Ridge, N. J., for an aircraft engine order including initial production of a revolutionary type that is said to increase aircraft range and power by 20 per cent.
The new power plant, called the Wright Turbo-Cyclone 18 Compound engine, gets its extra boost by putting normally-lost exhaust gases through three turbines that recover about 20 percent of the power previously thrown away.
Guy W. Vaughan, president of the Wright corporation and the parent company, the Curtiss-Wright Corporation, called the new engine “our answer to the military services’ demand for an engine suited for longer-ranging combat aircraft and to the aircraft industry’s need for a power plant combining the dependable performance of the reciprocating engine and the greater range and load-carrying capacity by the recovery of power from the exhaust.”
To back up these assertions, Wright engineers said tests already have indicated that a plane powered by the new engine can fly 20 per cent farther than it can with conventional engines, or, conversely, can fly the same distance using 20 per cent less fuel. In long-range planes, where fuel load sometimes is two and a half times greater than payload, this would mean a 50 per cent increase in payload, they said.
The corporation did not disclose the horsepower of the new engine, but it did describe the relatively simple principle on which it operates. The exhaust gases, forced through three separate turbines placed around the circumference of the engine, convert the gases into power which is geared directly back to the crankshaft—a principle that has long been available in steam engines but never before in conventional aircraft power plants.
Aside from increasing the power, range, and payload capacity of existing military and commercial aircraft, the new powerplant has the following advantages:
(1) It operates efficiently over a wide range from sea level to high altitude.
(2) Its turbines impose a minimum of backpressure on the engine and consequently do not impair the operation of the piston powerplant or impose any additional stresses on piston engine parts.
(3) No additional controls are required. This means no special training of pilots or flight engineers is necessary in the transition from conventional powerplants to the compound engine.
(4) The new compound engine may be installed in existing aircraft because it is adapted to an existing powerplant, increases the latter’s overall dimensions by only a few inches and fits within the cowl lines of existing installations with a minimum of change.
(5) Its power recovery units act as mufflers without cutting the output of the engine.
Wright engineers say that the new Wright Turbo-Cyclone 18 compound engine marks a major contribution to the solution of critical problems of aircraft load and range, explain that its design may be used in developing other powerplants, and predict it will have a broad application on military and commercial aircraft in the future.
“America’s progress in the air,” said Mr. Vaughan, “is and has been very closely associated with increases in aircraft engine horsepower. This new compound engine marks a very logical and practical advance from the service-proven piston type of powerplant to the newer turbo-prop and turbojet engines and the more revolutionary ramjet and rocket engines.”
The new engine was developed by Wright engineers.
Rockets Photograph Earth
N. Y. Herald Tribune, Oct. 20.—Rocket photographs of the earth showing an area of some 800,000 square miles were released today by the Navy, which said they are “believed” to be the biggest pictures of the globe ever taken at one time.
Snapped at a peak height of seventy miles, the pictures are described as showing extraordinary detail. The Navy said it is possible to identify mountains, rivers, highways, railroads, air fields, cities and towns.
Automatic cameras in two rockets—a German V-2 and a United States Navy Aerobee—photographed vast areas in western United States and northern Mexico.
The rockets shot up at a speed of nearly 3,000 miles per hour. On the way up and down the cameras each clicked off more than 200 photographs at the rate of one every one and a half seconds.
The V-2 rocket camera took pictures of the horizon in an arc estimated at 2,700 miles. Two cameras in the Navy’s Aerobee photographed a strip extending 1,400 miles from upper Wyoming to deep into Mexico. The Aerobee cameras had both standard and color film.
The rockets took off within seventy-six seconds of each other at the White Sands, N. M., proving grounds.
Navy officials said the object of the experiment was to investigate the use of rockets in aerial photographic reconnaissance—for obvious uses in war-time—and to gather meteorological data with cosmic ray instruments.
Non-Stop Coast to Coast Photo Strip
Air Technical Data Digest, Oct. 1.—An experimental flight to test aerial cameras and photographic techniques under extended flight conditions was completed on 1 September by the Photographic Laboratory, Engineering Division, Air Materiel Command. Flying coast to coast in a single flight in an XR-12 type photographic reconnaissance airplane, the AMC photographers shot 390 individual photographs—each photograph covering approximately 130 square miles along the 2700-mile flight line.
The photographic flight path selected was from the Pacific Ocean at Santa Barbara, California, to the Atlantic at New York City.
A tri-metrogon camera installation was used carrying three K-17 type cameras with six-inch lenses and 400-foot film magazine loads—326 feet being used from each magazine. Picture taking was intervalometer-controlled with intervals between pictures of 50 seconds. Positioned to record the earth from horizon to horizon, the three cameras covered an area of approximately 490 miles in width.
Total flight time for the nonstop coast-to-coast trip was six hours and 55 minutes, less time involved in acquiring altitude and in landing. The flight was made at a nearly constant altitude of 40,000 feet, Average ground speed of the XR-12 airplane was 375 mph.
The strips of film were joined after the flight at the Photographic Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and show a continuous strip that includes Las Vegas, Nevada; Hoover Dam; the Grand Canyon; Kansas City; Indianapolis; Dayton; Pittsburgh; and New York.
This is the first time that a completely continuous photographic strip has been made by a nonstop flight across the United States.
Admiral Cruise Replies to Critics of Naval Air
N. Y. Times, Oct. 21.—Detroit.—General Stratemeyer addressed the National Aviation Clinic as it carried forward its discussions of a national aviation policy to be recommended to Congress. The clinic, sponsored by the National Aeronautical Association, brings together a wide diversity of opinion and this disagreement was exemplified today as the clinic adopted a resolution urging a strengthening of each air arm in the defense organization.
Objecting vigorously to the resolution were Kern Dodge, president of the Air Defense League, and Miss Jacqueline Cochran, holder of the world speed record for women. They attacked endorsement in the resolution of an immediate expansion of naval aviation to its authorized strength of 14,500 planes. Such an expansion, they asserted, represented a Navy move to create two separate air forces.
Mr. Dodge charged that the Navy, in seeking a 14,500 plane air arm, planned to use that strength “more as a protection of their floating ships than as a long range striking force.”
The Navy proposed to “load on the public a duplicate air force and then wishes to expand the Navy to match its air force,” he added.
“After all,” he continued, “the carrier is nothing in the world but an implement to aid an air force to do its work more efficiently and, while the Navy actually should operate boats, the utilization of carriers should be under direction of the Air Force. Navy men have been trained to think only in terms of the protection of their sacred unit, the battleship.”
In reply, Rear Admiral Edgar A. Cruise, director of the Air Readiness Division, Naval Operations, reviewed the scope of naval air operations in the last war and outlined strategy for the next.
Defense of Carriers
On the issue of vulnerability of aircraft carriers to shore based planes, he recalled that only eleven carriers out of 110 employed by the United States in World War II were sunk while carriers were destroying more than 12,000 enemy planes.
Of all carriers operated by any nation during that war, only one was sunk by land-based aircraft.
Concerning future employment of naval airpower, Admiral Cruise made these points:
1—No important target on any continent is farther than 1,500 mils from a year-around navigable sea.
2—The Navy, through its seagoing aviation, is the only force sufficiently mobile to bring all its available power quickly against an overseas enemy.
3—The range of Navy aircraft is not in their gas tanks but rather in the fuel tanks of the ships that carry them.
4—While it is comparatively easy for an enemy to make retaliatory strikes against fixed shore installations (assuming an enemy will have planes with the same range as our own), it is extremely difficult to strike at a fast-moving carrier task force.
Gen. Stratemeyer said that the 70-group Air Force, authorized by Congress but not yet achieved, would be sufficiently powerful to “put the brakes on any trouble maker.”
Temperatures at High Speeds
Aviation Week, Oct. 18.—The advent of very high speed—already extending into the supersonic realm—has brought a wide variety of attendant conditions either totally lacking or of insignificant importance in low speeds associated with aircraft in the past.
One of these phenomena is the creation of thermal stresses by temperature gradients produced during prolonged dives.
Altitude Change—In a dive from 35,000 ft., a fighter plane will move from a region of cold air to a region of comparatively warm air near sea level in as little as one or two minutes. During this brief period of time the airplane structure will undergo an increase in temperature of as much as 125 degrees.
Although portions of this temperature increment will be dissipated by radiation and other means, a substantial amount of heat will be added to the structure in the process, causing a thermal expansion of the integral parts.
Friction Effect—Another condition through which these temperature gradients can be created—and one of considerable future significance—is the heating effect of air friction at high speeds.
Already this has reached serious proportions in special research airplanes now flying, and its alleviation requires special cockpit refrigeration equipment for pilot comfort. Large changes in airspeeds may produce temperature gradients of serious magnitude.
Tests Conducted—To investigate the extent of such gradients, the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics recently conducted a series of high speed dives with a specially-instrumentated Lockheed P-80 jet fighter.
A total of 39 thermocouples was placed throughout the wing structure to provide temperature measurements. In addition, a special integral fuel compartment was built into the wing to provide data on the effects of thermal gradients of structure adjacent to large masses of cold fuel.
A special, 0.046-in. paint coating was applied to the left wing surface to simulate a filler which might be used on future high-speed aircraft to obtain surface smoothness.
Long shallow dives were started at 35,000 ft., pullout was made at 5000 ft., and through use of dive brakes true airspeeds did not exceed 550 mph.
Three vertical rates of descent were used to provide a necessary range of data: 4380, 9000, and 15,500 fpm., requiring 6.8, 3.3 and 2.2 min., respectively.
Specific Studies—Seven combinations were selected for study: skin and stiffener; skin and former; across a rib; spar cap and spar web; fuel and structure of fuel tanks; skin and spar cap; and paint layer and skin.
The tests indicated that maximum temperature difference occurred between the skin and the spar caps, a differential of 30-40 F. being obtained during the dives.
This was as predicted since the thin gage and large surface area of the skin provides good heat transfer, whereas the large mass of the spar caps hinders this dissipation.
Second largest temperature difference during the dives occurred between the fuel and the surrounding structure. Temperature of the fuel remained substantially constant throughout the dive, whereas the temperature of the adjacent structure increased 10-20 F. in the skin.
The dives also indicated the insulating properties of a relatively thick layer of paint on a wing.
Temperature differences between the skin and the paint surface was about 20 F. at the termination of the dive. The tests indicated that both thermal stresses and undesirable high skin temperatures can be alleviated by the use of paint.
Air Research Progress
N. Y. Herald Tribune, Sept. 29.—Cleveland.—The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics revealed today major strides in supersonic speed-engine research, including a ram-jet test missile clocked at more than 1,600 mile an hour in drop tests.
At a ceremony in which the giant flight-propulsion laboratory here was named to honor the late George W. Lewis, aeronautical engineer, N. A. C. A. officials also disclosed:
1. Development of a supersonic compressor for turbo-jet engines in which a single row of blades does the work of five rows of ordinary blades. This may mean a tremendous advance in jet engine efficiency and sharply reduced production costs.
2. Details of the world’s largest supersonic wind tunnel, capable of speeds up to twice that of sound under temperature conditions corresponding to those at 35,000 feet. The tunnel will be in operation soon.
Renaming the $37,000,000 laboratory and announcement of the three forward steps in very high speech research highlighted the annual inspection of the laboratory by leaders in civilian and military research work.
R.A.F. Air Exercises
The Aeroplane, Sept. 10.—One of the most difficult tasks confronting any Air Force is to keep a mechanism essentially geared for war in full operational training during times of peace. Between the Wars, an annual test of Britain’s air power was provided by the air defence exercises, the first of which was held in July, 1927, with Westland and Eastland as opposing sides. (The Auxiliary Air Force participated first in the air exercises in 1928, and this arrangement with variations continued until 1938).
After 10 eventful years, the Air Exercises were again resumed on September 3-7, but with two main differences. First, there was the co-operation of a friendly foreign power in the form of some 90 American Boeing Superfortresses. Second, the ranges, ceilings, and operation speeds have all almost doubled.
Northland, an area including the Midlands, East Anglia and South East England, were the defenders in the exercise, mainly against long-range attacks from bombers. Although based in England, the bombers flew outside the early warning radar screen before returning to attack, in order to simulate a force from a Continental power. Southland was intended to be a Continental power whose Western frontier extended from Basle, Switzerland, half-way up the Norwegian coast.
The main purpose of Exercise “Dagger” was to test the air defence organization of the United Kingdom, which as Northland, had at its disposal all Fighter Command forces, and 16 squadrons of the R. Aux. A.F. Anti-Aircraft Command, and the network of the Royal Observer Corps. At the same time the forces of Southland—the aggressors —were given most of the bombers from Coastal, Bomber, Reserve and Flying Training Commands, B.A.F.O., and the U.S.A.F. E. All these aircraft were to practise penetrating a highly organized defence.
The British early warning system which was used with such success during the Battle of Britain was not subjected to prolonged and heavy air attacks after that time, and many subsequent developments have not since been so extensively tested. The advent of jet aircraft, with their attendant short endurances of high speeds, led to new precision interception methods.
Defence of Northland was controlled from Fighter Command H.Q., Stanmore, Middlesex, by the A.O.C., Air Marshal Sir William Elliot, and Lt. General Sir G. Ivor Thomas, K.B.E., C.B., D.S.O., M.C., G.O.C.-in-C. Anti-Aircraft Command. Under the command of Air Marshal A. B. Ellwood, A.O.C.- in-C., Bomber Command, the attacking forces of Northland, which included Lincolns Lancasters, Mosquitos, Wellingtons and Superfortresses, were controlled from H.Q. Bomber Command, High Wycombe.
Perhaps the most valuable part of the exercise was the use of Hornet fighters to simulate the speed and height likely to be reached by jet bombers, but it is even open to doubt whether the Hornet will indicate exactly the tremendous tempo of operations to be expected in any Third World War.
The piston-engined bombers in the Exercise should have been intercepted completely. When results are worked out after analysis of the camera-gun results, it would indeed be a serious matter if a single Lincoln or Superfortress was allowed to reach the shores of Britain, since under modern conditions a single aircraft can do such fearful damage. And for the same reason there is much less to be gained by shooting the bomber down on its return journey.
It does seem that the air defenses were able to cope with the piston-engined bombers, because interceptions were effected over the North Sea, although interceptions over the Thames Estuary showed that the bombers were shot down only in the nick of time. The defences, however, appeared unable to cope with the jet bomber since Hornets managed to reach parts of East Anglia and Yorkshire. This indicates that further research into improved early warning methods is necessary.
The Exercise must surely indicate that London’s first line of defence is not East Anglia or Kent, but (as Colonel Vos has realized in his decision to build Meteors at Fokkers) Europe. Even with very fast piston-engined bombers such as Boeing B-50, interceptions may only be a matter of supreme skill by every section of the defence system working as a team. Meteors might only get one chance to shoot at each attacker.
Day to Day Operations
On the first day, 65 minutes after the ultimatum delivered by Southland to Britain had expired (at 13.00 on September 3), the defence warning system located heavy bombers over the Dutch coast and 15 minutes later the aircraft were successfully intercepted by Meteors. Superfortresses were flying above cloud at 33,000 ft. approaching London.
During this attack one Superfortress lost an airscrew which made unserviceable two engines on one side and the crew bailed out after threat of fire, although the aircraft actually went on flying for some time before it eventually crashed in the Scheldte.
Bomber attacks were continued against British targets in conditions of particularly low cloud with successful interception by Meteors and Vampires. Night attacks were continued against targets in London by R.A.F. Lincoln and Lancaster bombers with Mosquito Pathfinders. Also Hornets were skillfully used by the enemy as intruders.
On the second day (Saturday) attacks during the morning were resumed by Superfortresses, but in the afternoon there was a truce. Night exercises were carried out that evening and on the third day Superfortresses again continued attacks.
On the third evening (Sunday) Lincolns and Lancasters again went out attacking electricity stations and other special targets. Towards the close of the operation, it became obvious that the enemy hoped to swamp Northland’s defence organization by large-scale attacks over a wide area. In addition to high-level bombing, Dartmouth, Southampton and Weymouth harbours and the River Humber were “mined” by comparatively low-flying aircraft.
On the fourth and concluding day, the attacking force was again out in strength with attempted attacks on much of the coastline of southern England. Weather during the operations, on the whole, favoured the Continental Power with low cloud, occasional thunderstorms and very variable visibility conditions, which made the task of returning to base by the jet fighters particularly difficult, and making things generally difficult for the defence, all helped to give a true picture of the British capacity to meet an all-weather attack on this embattled island.
Russian Jet Fighter
Aviation Week, Oct. 4.—First authentic details of a new Russian Yak jet fighter have trickled through the Iron Curtain.
The jet fighter is the fastest Russian plane now in operational service with tactical squadrons. Its design was largely the work of Lt. Gen. Alexander Sergeiovich Yakelov, well known for his wartime fighter designs and for an earlier jet fighter, Yak 15.
Drawing from Photo—Drawing of Yakelov’s latest model is the work of an experienced aviation artist and is based on greatly enlarged motion picture film made with a telescopic lens. The film and technical details were secretly removed through the Iron Curtain.
The New Yak is the fighter referred to by U. S. Secretary for Air W. Stuart Symington last spring when he told a Congressional committee that the Russians were building a “Chinese copy of the Republic F-84.” However the new Yak bears only a superficial resemblance to the Republic F-84. Both feature a “straight-through” air flow and have a cigar-shaped fuselage.
Tracked by Radar—The new Yak is probably the plane reported some time ago over Korea by USAF radar experts who tracked a Russian jet fighter on their scope at better than 600 mph. The Yak has a speed range between 630 mph. and 660 mph. and is in service with several tactical fighter squadrons. This is in contrast to Russian versions of the German-designed DFS 346 which, though faster, are merely experimental prototypes and not in high volume production.
From a time viewpoint the new Yak is comparable to the F-84 since it is the latest production jet fighter to go into operational service with the Red Air Force. The F-84 is the latest USAF jet fighter with which tactical units are equipped. Top speed of the current production model of the F-84 is just over 600 mph. Improved power plants scheduled for later model F-84s will boost this figure considerably.
Switch in Flow—The new Yak indicates the Soviet departure from the underslung jet installations in the belly evident in earlier jet fighters. The Russian developments of German designed axial-flow jet engines permitted a short tailpipe and relatively greater thrust.
Power for this Yak is believed to come from the British Rolls Royce Nene (5000 lb. static thrust). The centrifugal-flow Nene is the principal reason for the new Yak’s fatter fuselage when contrasted with the lines of the F-84, housing an axial-flow J-35 turbo jet.
News that the Russians were using British-designed engines in the Yak fighter caused considerable stir in British and American military circles last winter. Pressure was applied to the British Board of Trade to halt export of Nene and Derwent turbojet engines to Russia, but not until 60 of these engines had been delivered to Russia.
Designed in 1945—The new Yakelov design was begun in 1945 with the prototype flying early in 1947. This prototype was demonstrated at Tushino Airdrome near Moscow on Aug. 3, 1947, as a feature of Soviet Aviation Day. It has been in squadron service for at least six months.
The new Yak is of all-metal construction with a conventional type tricycle landing gear. Main wheels of the landing gear retract into the wings. Bubble type canopy offers excellent pilot visibility and slides back in one piece. The thin, straight wing design is obviously aimed at simplicity for mass production. Protrusion on the underside of the tail is a skid to protect the tailpipe during extreme nose-high landings. Armament details are not available.
Mass production of the Yak airframe appears to pose no unusual problems. Production of its British-designed jet engine is a more complicated matter.
Editor’s Note: For discussion of other Russian jet aircraft see Proceedings of June and August, 1948.
MERCHANT MARINE U. S. Shipping
Weekly News Report, Sept. 29.—Seventy- two vessels totaling 1,052,869 gross tons, are under construction in American shipyards. In addition there are two dredges being built totaling 24,672 displacement tons. Included in the list are two 20,000 ton passenger ships, sixty-one tankers, three cargo vessels, three trawlers, two ferries and one bulk freighter.
Weekly News Report, Oct. 13.—A new type of ship to be mass produced in case of emergency is in the planning stage with the Maritime Commission and the Navy working on the design. The architects are looking toward the construction of a ship that will be suitable for a naval auxiliary and also for commercial operation. Construction of two ships is being planned with the Maritime Commission earmarking $5,000,000 for the work. Another vessel which the Commission is authorized to construct will cost about $10,000,000. The idea is to have the designs ready so that immediate construction can begin should it be necessary to build a large fleet of cargo carrying vessels.
Marine Progress, Sept., 1948.—An agreement has been reached by the American Export Lines and the Bethlehem Steel Company which calls for the construction of two 20,000 ton passenger ships for Mediterranean service. The ships will be started immediately and delivered late in 1950. Satisfactory arrangements with the Maritime Commission have been made concerning the construction-differential subsidy and also for national defense features which are required to go in the ships.
The two vessels will cost $46,830,000 which includes the cost of the national defense and other features which the government will pay. The adjusted price will vary as the cost of labor and materials vary through the period of construction. Nearly half the cost of the ships, aside from defense installations, will be borne by the government through the granting of a construction-differential of 45%.
The new vessels, whose names are yet to be chosen, will each be 683 feet long, 89 feet beam and have a draft, molded to the waterline, of 30 feet. Gross tonnage will be 20,000 and the ships will displace 30,000 tons. Speed will be in excess of twenty-five knots, and until a speedier vessel is built, will make them the fastest merchant ships under the U. S. flag. At this rate of speed the ships will be able to make fifteen round trips a year including adequate time for annual overhaul.
Passenger capacity will total 60,000 per year for both ships and should the vessels ever be put into war duty their troop carrying capacity will be 5000 per vessel. A crew of five hundred will serve each ship.
While the cargo capacity of the vessels is relatively slight, being but 1200 tons, there will be seven cargo holds. Provisions have been made for the carriage of refrigerated and package freight of high quality. Space is to be provided in the ships for passengers’ automobiles.
Eight decks will provide ample room for passengers and crew and also public and recreation spaces and service areas for the ship’s complement. All quarters aboard ship will be air conditioned.
Dutch Join South American Trade
New York Herald Tribune, Oct. 19.—A Dutch-flag cargo service was announced yesterday to begin Dec. 8 between New York and other North Atlantic ports and the east coast of South America.
The new service, to be known as the Holland Interamerica Line, will be operated jointly by the Holland-America Line and the Van Nievelt, Goudriaan Steamship Company. The former line will act as general agents in the United States while the latter will perform the same function in South America. Both companies have long-established offices in their respective areas.
Four sixteen-knot Victory ships, purchased from the United States government, will be assigned to the service. Besides the Arendsdyk, they have been renamed the Akkrumdyk, Alwaki and Alpherat. The Arendsdyk and Akkrumdyk are owned by the Holland-America Line; the other vessels by the Van Nievelt, Goudriaan company.
Loading ports in the United States, in addition to New York, will include Hampton Roads, Baltimore, and Philadelphia; and in South America: Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Santos, Montevideo and Buenos Aires. Membership for the Holland-America Line has been applied for in the steamship conferences covering these ports.
Brazil to Expand Merchant Marine
New York Times, Oct. 1.—Brazil is developing her merchant marine along with her general economic situation.
The Government line, Lloyd Brasileiro, already maintains it has the largest merchant fleet in Latin America.
At present, the line is buying thirty-six vessels costing $75,000,000, for which it has let contracts to Canadian Vickers, Ltd., the United States Maritime Commission and the Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation of Pascagoula, Miss.
Prior to contracting for the 246,708 tons combined deadweight of the new vessels, Lloyd Brasileiro had sixty-three vessels, representing 371,282 tons.
Turkey Buys Navy Transports
New York Herald Tribune, Oct. 13.—Four war-time Navy transports are being converted into Turkish passenger vessels with accommodations for 1,691 passengers, it was announced last night.
John D. Reilly, president of Todd Shipyards Corporation, disclosed that the conversions were started this week in the Brooklyn, Hoboken, N. J., and Alameda, Calif., repair yards of his company. The contracts were among the largest received by Todd since the war, he added.
The work is being done for the Turkish Purchasing Delegation, which represents the Turkish State Seaways and Harbors Administration, which will operate the four vessels in world-wide waters. Their home port will be Istanbul. The four ships bring to a total of seventeen (ten cargo carriers and tankers plus seven passenger-cargo vessels) that the Turkish government has purchased from the Maritime Commission since the war.
The four conversions are on the former transports Monterey, of the New York and Cuba Mail Line before the war, and the Aconcagua, Copiapo and Imperial of the pre-war Chilean Line fleet. The last three vessels were purchased by the United States government during the war and in 1946 the Chilean Line took C-2 type vessels as part payment rather than the return of its former passenger fleet.
SCIENCE
General Electric Company Plans Atomic Power Pile
New York Herald Tribune, Sept. 25.— Schenectady.—Construction of the first atomic pile to be used specifically for the production of electrical power will start next spring eighteen miles north of Schenectady, the Atomic Energy Commission announced here today.
The experimental atomic power plant, which, it was said, may pave the way for widespread use of nuclear power in ten or twenty years, will be built on a 4,500-acre area of woodland and marginal farm land near East Galway, N. Y., and nine miles west of Saratoga Springs. An immediate start will be made in the acquisition of the land, the commission said.
The General Electric Company will be custodian of the power plant at its Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory here, which it operates under contract with the commission. A representative of the company made the guarded prediction that the pile “might be working in three years after we start construction.”
The pile will differ from other nuclear reactors now running or projected by the A.E.C. in that it will operate at high temperatures. This heat, developed from the controlled splitting of uranium atoms within the pile, will generate steam which will propel a turbine which will run a generator and thus produce regular electrical power. The company does not intend to sell this electricity.
Running at high temperatures, it is expected that much will be learned from the reactor on the process of “breeding” new fissionable fuel at the same time that heat is being produced. If large-scale “breeding” can be accomplished, great reductions in the cost of atomic power will be realized.
The radio-active waste materials of a reactor, which must be carried off by water or air after complicated purification in previous models, will not be a problem in the Knolls plant. “To avoid the possibility of contamination,” said Dr. C. G. Suits, vice-president and director of research for General Electric, “we will collect and concentrate all wastes and put them away in tanks. Eventually we will have to solve where to dump them, but that is hardly an immediate problem.”
The reactor will be run primarily by remote control, Dr. Suits said, and it should run continuously over long periods of time. Its development, he said, will go hand in hand with another power reactor planned at the Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago. This project, however, will be devoted more to study and testing of the components of a reactor rather than to the actual production of power.
The reactors already functioning in this country are primarily research devices or production plants and though they produce power it is only as a by-product and not in usable form. The reactors for plutonium production at Hanford, Wash., for example, create considerable heat at low temperature which is all dissipated in the Columbia River.
The two piles already working at Argonne are primarily for the production of neutrons for fundamental research. The reactor scheduled for completion early next year at Brookhaven, L.I., is also designed for research and the one at Oak Ridge, Tenn., for both research and the production of radioactive isotopes. The two reactors at Los Alamos are used mainly for bomb research. By their very nature they all are unsuitable for power purposes.
The 4,500-acre site of the Knolls atomic power plant is at present inhabited by thirty families. They have been assured by the Commission that development schedules will permit them from six to eighteen months before they have to move out.
But when the plant gets under construction the area will be strictly off limits, both for security and safety considerations, although the company said that as far as safety was concerned “it is not possible to have a bomblike explosion” from the plant. For two years the laboratory has made a thorough study of control mechanisms on reactors realizing that eventually such plants will be situated in more populated areas.
The only other types of accidents, and these would be next to impossible, the company said, would come from “major damage to the reactor resulting from sabotage, severe earthquake, or the remote possibility of simultaneous failure of all safeguards and control mechanisms.”
As for sabotage, the company said, with no further comment, “a major objective of the design work has been to make sabotage so difficult as effectively to remove sabotage as a threat to the continued operation of the reactor.”
Cornell’s Radio Telescope
New York Times, Oct. 7.—Ithaca.—A new type of telescope for exploring the cosmos, known as a radio telescope, which will serve as a giant “ear” just as the optical telescope serves as a giant “eye,” was demonstrated here today at Cornell University which is celebrating its eightieth anniversary this week.
Instead of registering the light of distant stars and galaxies invisible to the human eye, the new radio telescope tunes in on the radio waves recently found to be constantly transmitted from celestial bodies.
The instrument was described at a two-day conference on radio astronomy, the new science born as the result of the recent discovery of the existence of a “cosmic radio symphony” of electromagnetic waves of a wide range of frequencies.
The “mirror” of the telescope is a 204-inch saucer-shaped radio reflector and is thus four inches larger than the 200-inch optical mirror of the Hale telescope on Mount Palomar, Calif., the largest in the world.
The cost of the radio telescope was about $30,000, as compared with $6,000,000 for the Mount Palomar “eye.” Unlike the optical telescope, it can be operated in cloudy weather, as radio waves penetrate clouds, as well as haze.
Reaching “Hot Spots” of Space
Since radio waves of the range of frequencies transmitted by the Milky Way, the sun, and other parts of the universe can also penetrate clouds of cosmic dust that make large areas of space opaque to optical telescopes, the new Cornell radio mirror, and others being built by other institutions, promise to open a new and much wider “window” into the vastnesses of space.
Just as the X-ray penetrates opaque objects impenetrable by visible light rays, the radio mirror will serve as a “celestial X-ray” to penetrate regions now invisible to the telescopic eye.
Preliminary studies with similar devices in England and Australia, it was reported, have already revealed several “hot spots” in the constellations of Cygnus, Orion, Sagittarius, Cassiopea and about a half-dozen other regions in the sky, where the optical telescope has failed to reveal the existence of any stellar bodies.
These “hot spots” present a new type of stellar “ghosts” that can be heard without being seen. Their light is too faint to be seen by the most powerful seeing telescope or they are “extinct” cold stars which have radiated away their visible light.
Range of “The Optical Window”
The earth’s atmosphere is transparent to electro-magnetic radiation near the visible portion of the spectrum. Through this “window,” about one decade broad, namely a band of wavelengths of which the frequencies at one end are ten times greater than frequencies at the other, man has obtained virtually all of his knowledge of the universe.
The optical “window” covers the range of wave lengths from the infra-red through the visible spectrum down to the ultra-violet. The discovery of “cosmic noise” has revealed the existence of a second “window” in the atmosphere which is transparent to a wide range of radio waves.
This radio “window” is about three decades wide and is located in the shorter wave radio region of the spectrum, with wave lengths running from fifty feet down to four inches, corresponding to frequencies of twenty up to 30,000 megacycles a second.
It is through the radio “window” that the information from outside the earth in the form of “cosmic noise,” or static, is observed by means of the radio telescope.
The result of the cooperative efforts of the mechanical, civil and electrical engineering departments of Cornell, the telescope will be used in a radio astronomy investigation jointly sponsored by Cornell and the Office of Naval Research.
How the Device Operates
Designed to withstand winds up to sixty miles per hour and to track with an angular error of less than one-half a degree, the telescope will see areas of the sky whose diameter varies from about two to thirty degrees, depending on the frequency employed.
In addition to the usual astronomical polar and declination axes, two other rotations are available, one about a vertical axis to facilitate calibration of the antenna, the other the rotation of the 17-foot parabolic reflector about its own axis for polarization studies.
The information from space is received from a sensitive receiver fed by a small antenna at the focal point of the reflector.
The sun was found to radiate at all frequencies of the electro-magnetic spectrum, thus including not only the obvious light and neighboring frequencies, but also the radio portion of the spectrum.
These radio frequencies are too weak to be detected by commercial broadcast receivers, but occasionally present interference in the form of static to the shorter wave bands. This static from the sun and other sources in space, which arrives at the surface of the earth, is the subject of the radio astronomy studies.
Report on “Albatross” Deep Sea Expedition
London Times, Sept. 28.—by Professor Hans Pettersson.—The Swedish Deep Sea Expedition is now drawing to a close with the arrival of the Albatross at London Dock. For nearly 15 months the Albatross has been ploughing the equatorial seas in three oceans, where the conditions of wind and swell are apt to be most favourable to work with heavy gear in great depths. Along a zigzag course we have covered some 44,000 nautical miles, raised about 250 long sediment cores with a total length approaching a statute mile, and have fired more than 400 depth charges many of which have brought deep echoes from the sediment carpet. Several thousand samples of sea water have been collected from different depths, accompanied by exact measurements of the temperature in situ. In addition, large samples of water taken at representative points from surface to bottom will be used for analyses on uranium and radium.
Submarine daylight of different colours has been measured to depths of 100 fathoms. In still greater depths the faint residual light has been measured by means of a submarine camera of special construction. Along the greater part of the course the bottom profile has been recorded by means of an excellent British-made echo-sounder. All this material, now carried back to Sweden, will be thoroughly analysed by various specialists, a task which will take up several years. The new tools of deep sea research used by the expedition have certainly proved their worth to the full.
Scientific Trawling
To work a trawl in depths down to 500 fathoms or so is technically fairly easy and is practised on a large scale by commercial trawlers. When the depth is increased to a couple of thousand fathoms or more, innumerable difficulties are met with. The length of steel cable which has to be paid out when trawling in great depths has so far largely been a matter of trial and error. Giving the trawl too little rope, or the ship towing it at too high a speed, will keep the trawl above the bottom instead of skimming its uppermost layer for fish and invertebrates. Another difficulty lies in the more or less uneven profile of the sea bed, where rocks or abrupt changes in depth may lead to loss of gear. “The trawl came up badly torn” is a frequent remark in the records of the famous Challenger expedition (1872-76), where a beam trawl only 10 ft. wide was used.
Thanks to the excellent echo-sounder we have been able to pick and choose carefully the bottom over which trawling was to be carried out. It also enabled us to keep the exact depth in which the trawl was being towed under continuous control, whereas in earlier work one had to be satisfied with a mechanical depth sounding before the trawling started and another one at the end. During the course of the expedition, Dr. Kullenberg has worked out a theory for the relationship between depth, speed of the ship, dimension af the cable used, and water resistance, so that the length of cable required for an efficient haul can now be accurately computed. Thanks to these great improvements deep sea trawling bids fair to become an exact science, where little is left to chance, save, of course, sudden changes in weather conditions or strong currents carrying the ship off the chosen ground on to rougher bottom conditions. One of the main difficulties is unexpected irregularity in the bottom profile, and one is sometimes tempted to take risks in order to get any trawling done at all.
The number of earlier successful hauls with deep sea trawls is extremely limited, and accounts for our meagre knowledge of the curious and extremely interesting deep sea fauna. In the Atlantic Ocean, where most trawling below the 4,000 metres (2,200 fathoms) depth-line has been made, about 40 successful hauls are reported, and only one of them beneath the 5,500 metres (3,000 fathoms) line.
Manganese Nodules
One particular haul made, not with the trawl but with a large dredge of special construction, should be mentioned. Perhaps the most puzzling of all inanimate objects found on the deep ocean bed are the concretions of braunstein—i.e., peroxide of manganese, called “manganese nodules,” which Sir John Murray has described in detail in the volume “Depths and Deposits” of the Challenger Reports. They look rather like dirty potatoes and their growth may be seen when one of them is cut through. The outer structure consists of concentric shells, which appear in section somewhat like the rings on a tree stump. There is reason to believe that their rate of growth, like all changes on the ocean bed, is extremely slow. How slow it has been possible to find out by radioactive age-determination.
Owing to the remarkable property of manganese concretions to attract radium from surrounding water, the radium content in the nodules is surprisingly high, but only in the outermost surface layers. A little farther inside the nodule radium becomes scarce, and in a depth of half an inch it has almost vanished. The remarkable decrease with “depth” (i.e., with age) in radium content is due to the well-known property of radium to disintegrate into lead and helium, leaving a 50 per cent residue of radium after a lapse of 1,700 years, 25 per cent after 3,400 years, &c. This, on the other hand, makes it possible to use the radium in the nodules as a measure of time, and thus estimate their rate of radial growth, which works out at about 1 millimetre in 1,000 years. A spherical nodule of the size of a golf ball is therefore the product of a growth over a period of 15,000 years or more.
These strange potatoes of the ocean bed are found only in parts of the ocean where the rate of sedimentation is extremely slow. Attempts to collect manganese nodules in the Central Pacific Ocean, where Sir John Murray had found them in considerable numbers, failed, as the dredge was lost against some unexpected hummock on the bottom. Here in the North Atlantic, to the south-east of Bermuda where the Admiralty chart is marked “manganese,” we were more successful. The dredge brought up from a depth of over 3,000 fathoms more than 300 manganese concretions of different sizes, as well as blocks of water-logged pumice, heavily incrustated with manganese oxides. There were also a number of sharks’ teeth in the same haul, some of them covered by a crust of braunstein.
Before returning to Göteborg, where the Albatross will be reconverted into a cargo-carrying training ship, we look forward during our short stay in London to showing its equipment to our English scientific colleagues.
Checking the Meter
New York Herald Tribune, Oct. 14.— Government officials from all the industrialized countries of the world traveled out to Sevres, in the suburbs of Paris, today to satisfy themselves that all is well with the world’s units of length and weight.
Since no alarms have been sounded, it is to be assumed that the platinum meter and the platinum kilogram are still resting quietly in their vaults.
The rite of looking reverently is a regular affair, usually conducted every six years by the International Conference on Weights and Measures. But this was actually the first peek since 1933, for the 1939 meeting was canceled because of the war and no meeting had been held since then.
And nobody has stolen a look, either—at least not officially. The vault is securely locked. One key is in the French National Archives, one in the possession of the director of the French Bureau of Standards and one in the keeping of the chairman of the international committee. It takes all three keys together to open the vault.
The point is that the platinum meter is not just another meter—it is THE meter. The length we call a meter is the distance between two scratches on the platinum bar at Sevres.
Every country has, in its own vaults, a copy of the Sevres bar. The American bar is kept in the Bureau of Standards at Washington. For this meeting it has been brought overseas by Dr. Edward U. Condon, director, and Dr. E. C. Crittenden, associate director of the Bureau of Standards.
Now that Dr. Condon and Dr. Crittenden have satisfied themselves that no one has been fiddling with the official meter, they will let French workers compare the American bar with the international bar. This is done by putting the two bars side by side under rigorously controlled conditions and examining the scratches under microscopes. The two have agreed for sixty years, and probably will again this year, but the scientists keep checking.
The American inch and foot are defined as fractions of the meter. But the British, being a proud people, have their own standard platinum foot bars. Since they have nothing to compare them with, they check them every six years against the meter. The worst of it is that the British standards seem to have shrunk over the years by about .000003 of the American inch, so the inch in America is that much longer than the inch in England and if you want to run a mile you are better off doing it in Great Britain.
Differences in Gauges
The matter is not as trival as it sounds. In much scientific work—in atomic energy for example—measurements of such fineness may be of prime importance. But if such a measurement is made on an American gauge, a British gauge will not reproduce it accurately and trouble may ensue.
The same type of comparisons will be made during the next few days on the international and national kilograms and on special electrical cells which provide units of electricity. Then all the delegates will take their standards home and relax for six years.
While the checking is going on, the delegates have a good many other matters to keep them busy. They set up standards in a great many other fields—in measuring light, heat and the force of gravity. They make definitions and agree on them. This is not always easy, and each country has a large Bureau of Standards working on the problems that arise.
But it is absolutely essential. Unless measurements are identical, many matters now taken for granted would become impossible.
A Problem of Exports
For example, if the meter were appreciably different in every country, it would be impossible for America to make such things as machine tools for export. And if the meter should differ even a trifle, exact scientific work done in one country would have no meaning in any other.
Incidentally, one of the things the conference does each time it meets is try to convince the British and Americans to adopt the metric system. As in the case of the meter bar itself, there has been no change worth mentioning in sixty years.
The conference has had little trouble with the Iron Curtain—delegates were named by Russia and most of her satellites. However, members of the executive committee, who do not formally represent their countries, did not show up from Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia and Russia.
For the mathematically minded: Dr. Crittenden reported that when two meter bars are compared in this way, the maximum error is probably about .00000001 of a meter, which isn’t very much.