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Through December 21 1948
United States............................................................................................................................ 238
Hoover Defense Sub-Committee Reports—Sub Rescue Device— Tarawa Returns—Guam—Argentia—Line School Graduates— Civilian Defense—C.I.O. Accuses
Great Britain................................................................................................................................... 243
Fleet Notes—Arctic Tests—Naval Air Branch Abolished—Explosion Tests—Increased Pay—New Anchor
USSR..................................................................................................................................................... 247
Return U.S. Ships—Receives Italian Ships
Other Countries........................................................................................................................... 247
Germany—Greece—Sweden
Aviation............................................................................................................................................... 248
Ram-jet Missile—Jet Motor Starter—Reversible Props—Pilot Prone Bed—Aircraft Locators—Air Demonstration—Jugoslav AirForce
Merchant Marine................................................................................................................... 255
Super-Liner Bids—Coastwise Service—Two Ships for African Run
Science.......................................................................................................................................... 256
Mach 5.18—Cosmic Ray Photo—French Atomic Pile—New Jet Research Centers
International............................................................................................ 259
Decisions of U.N.—Newfoundland Becomes Canadian Province
UNITED STATES
Hoover Sub-Committee Reports on Defense
New York Herald Tribune, Dec. 17.—The over-all finding of a national defense “task force” of the Government Reorganization Commission headed by former President Herbert Hoover is that the United States defense organization under the unification law is “soundly constructed but not yet working well.” The commission emphasized that the study of its “task force” is not final, but subject to review by the full commission.
“Inadequacies” Cited
Ferdinand Eberstadt, New York banker, who had a prominent role in drafting the unification law, was chairman of the “task force,” which reported:
“At each step in the process (of unification of the armed services) there is lack of clear direction, of sufficiently close relations and adequate co-ordination between the several agencies, all of which must operate as a single team if the organization is to function to the best of its potentialities.”
It found, however, that “our national security system rests on solid foundations. The problem now is not how to replace them but how to build on them—firmly and intelligently.”
The committee recommended certain changes which could be carried through by executive and departmental decree, and certain others which would need legislative action. It urged that after this had been done “the organization should be given a breathing spell during which to strengthen its structure and perfect its operations.”
Six Areas for “Improvement”
It noted “six major areas or aspects in which improvements in the interest of greater efficiency and economy)are both possible and necessary”:
1. Strengthening the authority of the Secretary of Defense.
2. Overhauling the military budgeting procedure.
3. Improving teamwork throughout the national security organization.
4. Relating scientific research and development more closely to strategic planning.
5. Expediting plans for civilian and industrial mobilization in case of war.
6. Making adequate provision for—and against—new and unconventional means of warfare.
The committee reported that it had considered and rejected:
1. A single military Chief of Staff and General Staff over all three military services.
2. Merger of the three military departments into a single department.
3. Merger of the Naval air arm with the Air Force.
Forrestal’s Hours of Work
Taking cognizance of the “intolerable hours” worked by James Forrestal, Secretary of Defense, “under an inordinate press of all kinds of matter,” the report urged that he “organize his way out of the maze.” Specifically it recommended:
1. A civilian Under Secretary of Defense with a stronger staff; abolition of the present Under Secretaries of Army, Navy and Air Force.
2. Authorization for the Defense Secretary to appoint a chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, who would see that they kept their docket up to date; and a principal military assistant and necessary additional military assistants.
3. Removal of certain restrictive limitations and provisions put in the unification act to protect service autonomy.
4. Strengthening and implementation of the Defense Secretary’s control over the military budget.
The committee’s special strictures were reserved for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Central Intelligence Agency and departmental intelligence services—against which it made serious charges—the Army’s budgetary and inventory “haphazardness” and to a lesser extent the National Security Resources Board and the Munitions Board.
An outstanding contrast was the evaluation of the Research and Development Board which the committee complimented for its success in attracting civilian scientists and drafting a plan for mobilization of the country’s scientific resources in time of war. This board, it pointed out, had trimmed down a service demand for $1,100,000,000 for research to $600,000,000, which it felt could be economically and efficiently undertaken in the fiscal year 1949. It urged that the board be given greater control over research programs of the services, and that it be given better and more timely guidance from the joint chiefs of staff. Otherwise it would be “impossible to fit into any kind of master plan the 18,000 research and development projects sponsored or conducted by the services,” the committee found.
Lack or “Understanding”
It noted, however, that the board and the Joint Chiefs of Staff “do not yet sufficiently understand one another and the respective fields and limitations of each.” Thus, the committee found, “the military dollars now going into research” were not getting their full return and a satisfactorily “complete and integrated program of research and development for military purposes” did not exist.
Mr. Forrestal announced yesterday the formation of a “weapons systems evaluation group” such as the committee recommended. It will be headed by a senior military officer.
The committee found that, almost alone among units of the national military establishment, the development and research branch had “established a pattern for achieving prompt decisions.”
The committee found that the costs of the military establishment “appear to be unduly high, both in terms of the ability of the economy to sustain them and of the actual return in military strength and effective national security.”
The committee expressed its concern that “the continuance of intense inter-service rivalries hampers and confuses sound policy at many points.” It declared that there was a “fatal gap” between foreign policy and national military power, “which so often in the history of nations had led to their undoing.” This was so pronounced that the military “were planning how to fight the next war without knowing exactly what we would be fighting for.”
The committee found “cause for grave concern in the present status of our plans and programs for mobilization of the nation’s human, material and spiritual resources in case war should suddenly break upon us.” It urged that the overlapping powers of the National Security Board and the Munitions Board be clarified. The security board, it found, needed more civilian control.
The committee included General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower, Fleet Admirals Ernest J. King and Chester W. Nimitz and General Carl Spaatz on its list of consultants.
(Editor’s Note: It will be interesting to check this against 1949 legislation.)
Submarine Rescue Device
N. Y. Herald Tribune, Dec. 10.—Perfection of a new submarine rescue device that allows a disabled vessel to haul down an escape chamber from a rescue ship was disclosed last night by Rear Admiral Charles B. Momsen, Assistant Chief of Naval Operations for Underseas Warfare.
While snorkel-equipped vessels have “breathing” devices that let them stay submerged for long periods, they have trouble with navigation, communications and location while so submerged, Admiral Momsen said.
The submarine rescue equipment described by Admiral Momsen is composed of a set of buoys attached to wires and located at the submarine’s bow and stern. A trapped crew would release the buoys, which carry the wires to the surface to make contact with a rescue vessel. The wires and controlling winches are strong enough to haul down a rescue chamber.
In the past it has been necessary for divers to locate sunken submarines and string wires to them to carry rescue chambers. The process consumes time vitally needed if crews are to be raised alive.
The device, Admiral Momsen said, is safe at any depth where a submarine can rest without danger of water pressure—said to be about 300 feet for World War II types.
“Tarawa” Returns via Mediterranean
Chicago Tribune, Dec. 19.—More American naval power—an aircraft carrier and two destroyers—will show itself in Mediterranean waters after Christmas, Adm. Richard L. Conolly announced today. He is commander
in chief of naval forces in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, with headquarters in London.
The vessels are the 27,100-ton carrier Tarawa and the destroyers E. J. Buckley and Hawkins, both new 2,200-ton ships, en route from the Pacific to the United States.
Conolly said their first port of call after leaving the Pacific will be Colombo, Ceylon, where they will arrive Dec. 29 for four days. The ships will call at Bahrein from Jan. 8 to 10 and pass thru the Suez canal Jan. 20-21.
Guam
N. Y. Times, Nov. 30.—While other wartime island bases have been abandoned and have fallen to ruin, this island has grown into the key base between Hawaii and the Far East.
The visitor, flying in by night, is startled to see the lights of a great metropolis glittering on the black surface of the Pacific- blinking red lights from radio towers, streams of moving lights on traffic arteries, nests of light at shopping centers.
There are 89,000 people in the narrow inhabited sections of the island. Native Guamanians are outnumbered by those whom the armed services have brought in.
The latter include 36,000 military personnel, over 10,000 Filipino laborers and 7,000 Civil Service workers. Before the war the population of the island was 24,000, of whom only a few hundred were servicemen.
Few Japanese Still at Large
In addition to the Americans, Filipinos and Guamanians there are about fifteen Japanese at large, according to local security authorities. These, members of the army of Lieut. Gen. Sho Takashina, are concealed in the rugged hill country.
A hunting party a week or two ago came upon an Oriental in rags who fled into the bush, dropping a bag as he ran. The bag was full of snails of the variety that the Japanese disseminated among the Pacific islands as a source of food. Crude shelters and pelts of drying deer hide are found in the jungle.
Guam is in many respects a more developed base today than it was during the war. It is significant that the photographing of Apra Harbor, with its new breakwater and waterfront, is forbidden. At Pearl Harbor such restrictions are almost non-existent.
There are B-29’s and fighter planes ready for action around Guam’s North Field and Northwest Field, but they are meager in number compared with the masses of planes there during the great raids on Tokyo. -
Key Asia Supply Base
Guam seems to be regarded as the chief supply base for United States forces in Asia, Okinawa and Japan. Unlike those advance stations, it is fairly safe against attack from the Asiatic mainland.
Gradually order is being brought out of the tremendous stockpiles of equipment that were poured into Guam for the invasion of Japan. The Army, Navy and Air Force systematically are weeding out whatever can be salvaged and junking the rest. The Bethlehem Steel Corporation has bought much of the scrap in the Marianas and is trying, with some difficulty, to get it out.
The construction of permanent housing is probably the biggest job under way here. Typhoon-proof homes for servicemen and their families are being built. Their cost is such that even at present levels a large mansion could be built for the same price in the United States.
Argentia Bases
N. Y. Times, Dec. 16.—In connection with the Atlantic Defense Pact discussions in Washington, Newfoundlanders wonder what would be the effect of such an alliance on the maintenance of United States Military bases here.
These bases have been developed under the 99-year lease of Sept. 2, 1940. The first United States troops arrived in Newfoundland Jan. 29, 1941, and the Army has been represented here ever since, together with Navy, Coast Guard and Air Force units.
Fort Pepperell, near St. John’s, is the headquarters of the Newfoundland Base Command, from where Gen. C. V. Haynes conducts the operations of the Army. Argentia, recently the site of United States Navy cold-weather maneuvers, is part of a triple base. The entire unit is called Fort
McAndrew. There is a large airstrip where machine shops are maintained for repairing planes. The Coast Guard maintains an office at Argentia.
The Ernest Harmon Air Force Base is undergoing alterations and additions to cost $14,000,000. Several millions have been earmarked for Argentia, where a new and powerful wireless station will be installed.
First Class Graduates from Monterey
N. Y. Herald Tribune, Dec. 17.—Monterey, Cal.—The Navy’s West Coast “Annapolis” for reserve officers and its school for island government will graduate their first classes tomorrow.
Together, the reserve officer’s General Line School and the School of Naval Administration will graduate 384 officers.
The eighteen from the Administration School are immediately ordered to two years’ duty governing an area three-quarters as large as the mainland of the United States— the far-flung trust territories of the Pacific.
Another 366 officers will be graduated from the ten-months general line course at this 606-acre school converted from the former Hotel del Monte.
Objective of Course
The objective of the 1,135-hour course was to equip reserve officers who joined the regular Navy with the equivalent of the training given at the Naval Academy at Annapolis.
The job of administering the strategic network of islands formerly held by Japan was given to the United States by the United Nations. In addition, the Navy governs Guam and American Samoa.
Directed by Commander Roland W. Kenney, a former Federal Bureau of Investigation’s man, selected officers were trained in the Administration School for the task of governing nearly 100,000 natives on the Pacific islands. Their three-month course covered fifteen subjects ranging from sanitation to international law. The students rank from ensign to captain.
(Editor’s Note: The General Line School at Monterey, like that at Newport, is for officers of the Regular Navy, not Reserves.)
Civilian Defense Plan
N. Y. Times, Nov. 14.—A proposed civil defense plan made public by the National Military Establishment “assumed” today the use of the atomic bomb by “a theoretical enemy” and estimated that casualties would total 40,000 killed and 60,000 injured for every bomb burst over a densely populated area.
The plan considered this phase in a chapter devoted to the radiological effects of such weapons on the civilian populace.
While the report expressed hope that international control would eventually eliminate the possibility of an atomic attack, it declared that “our national security demands immediate development and implementation of a specific plan for radiological defense as a part of the national civil defense program.”
It added that the “possibility of the employment of atomic weapons in attack against our country increases with time.”
Preparation Against Attack
Asserting that the effectiveness of any defense operation will be largely dependent upon adequate preparation of the public for attack, the report added:
“Education of the public in respect to the true potentials and actual limitations of atomic warfare is the only means by which the civil population may be adequately prepared to meet the eventualities of atomic attack. Prompt development and implementation of such an educational program is a major undertaking of vital importance to national security.”
At another point, the report called attention to the significance of the psychological aspects of atomic warfare, and stated that never before has any type of warfare “offered such rich opportunities to exploit fear of the unseen and unknown.” It continued:
“It is, therefore, obvious that the primary objective of a program of education of the public in respect to atomic warfare should be to dispel the current unjustified fear of the radiological hazards involved in such warfare and to develop a wholesome understanding of and respect for the potentials of atomic weapons.”
Averting Panic From Gas
The need for education and preparation is also emphasized in a chapter on civil defense against gas or chemical warfare, which would bring death and injury to thousands of civilians. With the “likelihood of panic” probably the greatest danger, the report said that a population well informed on war gas and trained in chemical defense “is not only largely insured against gas casualties, but is also insured against panic being created by the enemy use of war gas.”
Major Points in Program
In summary, the program for civil readiness calls for these things:
1. A national office of civil defense with a small permanent staff leading the organization and training of civil defense task groups.
2. State and community responsibility for “basic” operations, supplemented in emergencies with mutual aid plans and mobile supporting units.
3. Maximum use of volunteers, existing agencies and organizations (such as police and fire departments) and “all available skills and experiences.”
4. Trained and organized units in communities across the country, and territories and possessions, capable of meeting any attack the enemy might make or handling any weapon he might use.
5. Special planning to meet the “particular hazards of atomic or other modem weapons of warfare.”
6. A peacetime organization for use in natural disasters apart from the catastrophe of war.
The act specifically provides for a civil defense agency in the executive branch of the state government, headed by a director answering to the Governor and carrying out the Chief Executive’s civil defense responsibilities, and for an advisory council of representative citizens specially qualified to advise the Governor and the director.
Authority for the Governor to delegate additional authority to heads of local governments is also included.
C.I.O. Accuses Navy of Attack on U.S. Seamen
N. Y. Herald Tribune, Dec. 17.—The Congress of Industrial Organizations maritime committee accused the Navy today of seeking to “extend its control” over the United States merchant fleet by “slanderous” attacks on American seamen.
In a letter to Secretary of Defense James Forrestal, the committee demanded a “public disclaimer” of statements appearing in the December issue of the quasi-official magazine, U. S. Naval Institute Proceedings, which the committee said “grossly distorts the true picture of discipline in the merchant marine.”
It also demanded that Mr. Forrestal hold up his order placing all seagoing military sea transports under Navy command until representatives of the merchant marine have a chance to be heard.
Hoyt S. Haddock, executive-secretary of the committee, denounced the magazine article, entitled “A Well Disciplined Merchant Marine,” written by Lieutenant Holmes F. Crouch, of the Coast Guard, which served with the Navy during the war but is now again under jurisdiction of the Treasury Department.
Lieutenant Crouch wrote that Coast Guard files contain “numerous, vivid illustrations of lack of discipline on board some of our merchant vessels,” but contrary to Mr. Haddock’s view of the article, Lieutenant Crouch said he opposed the idea of placing the merchant marine under Navy jurisdiction. Any move to “militarize the functions of the hundreds of private ship operators and the numerous maritime unions,” he wrote, “would seriously complicate the problem of discipline and quite likely would result in a stalemate.” He advocated more incentives to seamen as a means of improving discipline.
Mr. Haddock protested that Mr. For- restal’s order blanketing all military cargo ships under Navy command would involve two hundred vessels operated by the Army but manned by civilians. Such a step, he said, would be “uneconomical and detrimental to the American merchant marine, which is of such importance to the national defense.”
He argued that Liberty ships operated by the Navy during the war cost the taxpayers 70 per cent more in wages alone than those operated by private shipowners. The privately-operated ships, he said, carried forty- three civilians.
(Editor’s Note: Lieutenant Crouch’s article in the December Proceedings was written long before Secretary of Defense Forrestal’s directive placing all sea-going military transport under Navy command, and has no direct connection whatsoever with the transfer of the transports. Lieutenant Crouch’s article is but one of many being published in the Proceedings bearing on the vital problems of the U. S. Merchant Marine. In its effort to present a forum where all such defense problems can be discussed from all sides of the question, the Proceedings is glad to print adverse comment or criticism, as is evidenced by the letters in the Discussions, Comments, Notes Department of this issue.)
GREAT BRITAIN Fleet Notes
London Times, Nov. 2.—The Admiralty announces that the light fleet carriers Theseus and Vengeance and the destroyers Agincourt, Alamein, Corunna, and Jutland, of the contingent of the Home Fleet now visiting South Africa, will arrive at Durban to-day.
At Capetown, East London, and Port Elizabeth, officers and men of the ships have had a remarkable reception. A message received in London says that “residents have placed not only their cars but their houses at the disposal of all who wish to see something of the country and homes of South Africa.” The people of Capetown organized an unofficial Navy Week, and the Government of the Union temporarily removed a ban which has been placed on the sending of food parcels to Britain. This concession was cheered by officers and men, who have since dispatched a considerable number of parcels.
More than 170 officers and men of the Union Defence Forces are temporarily serving in some of H.M. ships to gain sea experience. •
Ships of the 3rd Aircraft Carrier Squadron, consisting of the Theseus, flying the flag of Rear-Admiral M. J. Mansergh, the Vengeance, and the destroyers Agincourt, Ala- mein, Corunna, and Jutland, docked at Durban this morning. They were accompanied by the South African frigates Natal and Transvaal, which had been taking part in exercises with the British ships. The squadron will remain in Durban until Monday and a full round of entertainments has been arranged for the officers and men.
Shanghai, Nov. 2.—It was disclosed here to-day that the British naval officer who swam through rough seas to secure a lifeline that ultimately helped to save 1,270 Chinese troops and civilians on board a Chinese troopship was Lieutenant-Commander W. Dennis. Lieutenant-Commander Dennis and Lieutenant A. Whitehead led the two rescue parties from H.M.S. Cossack, in answer to a distress signal from the troopship Yinglung, which went ashore at Masu Bay, west of Keelung, in Formosa.
London Times, Nov. 6.—Capetown.— H.M. aircraft-carriers Theseus and Vengeance, of the Third Aircraft-Carrier Squadron, with accompanying destroyers, left for Britain to-day after a stay of several weeks in South African waters, in which they carried out a series of exercises in conjunction with frigates and aircraft of the South African forces.
London Times, Nov. 16.—As the Home Fleet approaches the United Kingdom early next month on its return from its foreign cruise—during which some ships have visited the West Indies and United States ports and others have been to South Africa—the opportunity will be taken to carry out a number of exercises in conjunction with other forces, both naval and R.A.F., stationed at home.
The aircraft-carrier Illustrious, which is to become flagship of the Home Fleet when the battleship Duke of York is withdrawn for refit, will leave this country towards the end of this month to join the Home Fleet at Gibraltar for the rest of the passage homeward. As the fleet nears home it will be attacked by about 20 submarines, as well as by home-based destroyers and coastal and air forces, the last named drawn from both naval and R.A.F. squadrons.
It is stated that “the explosion of atomic bombs will be simulated,” which means, of course, that ships’ companies will have to work and fight their ships from positions entirely under cover, as they would have to do if atomic bomb attack were a possibility in action. As usual, every effort will be made to render dummy attacks as realistic as possible short of using actual explosives.
Arctic Tests
N. Y. Herald Tribune, Dec. 10.—Britain will send a naval force into north Atlantic and Arctic waters early next year to study effects of cold weather on personnel and navy materials, the Admiralty announced tonight.
Naval aviation, jet aircraft and submarine equipment will be tested.
The force will include the aircraft carrier Vengeance, two destroyers, a frigate, submarine and oiler, the announcement said. The operation will last about six weeks.
Naval Air Branch Abolished
The Aeroplane, Nov. 12.—In a message to the Fleet the Admiralty announced that it is intended to abolish (A) branch and in future all aviation activities will become an integral part of the Service. This is a logical step which follows the Naval decision to use the expression “Naval Aviation” as a generic term in favour of a number of other loose descriptions of the air units.
This move will help to make the Naval personnel more homogeneous and it gets rid of the curious spectacle of a Service within a Service, which has for so long been a feature of the Fleet as a whole. During the War a ratio of one in three officers and men in the Navy were engaged one way or another with aviation; during the subsequent contraction this ratio was wisely retained. In future it should be impossible to discern any fixed percentage of men in Naval Aviation since everybody in the Navy should be participating to a greater or lesser degree.
The Navy are realizing more fully every day that their ability to remain strong in a World of ever-increasing power of land-based air weapons depends upon their use of the air units more efficiently and upon their capacity—as Mr. W. S. Farren rightly suggested—to use the momentum of the ship as a means for taking a lead in air performance. The Navy must also contrive to carry Britain’s standard mass-destruction weapon —whatever type it may turn out to be.
Explosion Tests on Warships
London Times, Nov. 8.—The Admiralty announces that trials are taking place at Loch Striven on the effect of non-contact under-water explosions on the cruiser Orion, the destroyer Ashanti, and on the Ace, an “A” class submarine, the building of which was stopped at the end of the war and which therefore represents modem submarine design practice.
The trials are carried out by placing explosive in the water near the target ship and detonating it electrically. The immediate effects upon the target are recorded by instruments within the ship. The structure and equipment are afterwards examined so that damage can be assessed. Trials with the submarine will take place both when the vessel is on the surface and submerged.
At Rosyth trials are being conducted with the Albuera, a battle class destroyer, the completion of which was stopped at the end of the war. This ship is being loaded by flooding compartments while the vessel is afloat. Trials in dock will take place later at Rosyth, and will continue up to the point at which the hull structure fails.
The trials form part of the Admiralty ship target trials, which were begun in 1945 to use surplus warships to amplify experience on ship and weapon design, and as a guide to future design of ships and weapons.
Trials completed have included shock and damage by under-water explosions against the cruiser Emerald, the destroyers Ambuscade, Active, Anthony, Brilliant, Z.30 (an ex-German ship,) Jervis, and Amazon, M.T.B.s, and submarines. Bombing trials ineluded a series against the cruiser Hawkins, off Portsmouth in 1947. In 1948 similar trials were carried out with the Nelson, which was moored off Inchkeith Island in the Firth of Forth.
The ships used are already on the list for scrapping, and when the trials are completed they go to the shipbreakers.
Our Naval Correspondent writes:—Experiments such as those described in the Admiralty announcement are nothing new; they have been carried out from time to time ever since the introduction of armour plates heralded an endeavour to make ships of war less vulnerable.
The announcement is timely in that it draws attention to the fact that the atomic bomb is far from being—as some commentators would seem to imply—the only weapon against which protection is needed by modem fleets. Ships must still be capable of withstanding the blows of the older weapons; and for that purpose constant development based on a firm foundation of experiments rather than unproved theory is always necessary.
Increased Pay and Conscript Service
N. Y. Herald Tribune, Nov. 25.—Lengthening of the conscription service period from twelve to eighteen months and increases in service pay for Britain’s armed forces were announced today by A. V. Alexander, Minister of Defense.
Both announcements were received with strong reservations among members of the House of Commons for one reason or another. Conservatives began jumping up immediately to tell Mr. Alexander that the pay increases “were quite inadequate,” and at a meeting of Labor members of the House this morning the Defense Minister found himself under fire for the extension of conscription.
It was because of strong back-bench opposition—seventy Labor members in all voted against conscription in any form— that the Labor government cut the terms of the original 1947 National Service Act from eighteen months to twelve months. Today Mr. Alexander introduced in Commons an amendment to the act which will restore the original eighteen-month period, and, al-
though opposition in his party is not now as strong in numbers, it is still vocal.
The amendment also will cut the term of reserve service for men who have completed their eighteen months of active duty from six years to four years, but the Labor backbenchers did not seem to think this was much of a concession.
Pay increases, ranging from three shillings six pence a day (72 cents) to ten shillings six pence ($2.10), and totaling £12,500,000 ($50,000,000) a year for all three services, were announced by Mr. Alexander. Primarily the raises benefit married service men and officers.
Britain’s buck privates will still have to get along on four shillings a day—$24 a month, compared with $75 which the American Army pays its privates.
New Type Anchor
London Times, Nov. 24.—A new type of anchor designed to prevent warships, particularly aircraft-carriers with their large windage area, from dragging their anchors, was tested to-day on the Chesil Beach, near Weymouth.
The new 5§-ton anchor, four times as efficient as older standard types, and capable of withstanding a pull of more than eight times its own weight, is the outcome of research work which has been going on under the direction of Sir Charles Lillicrap, Director of Naval Construction and head of the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors. A further improved design has been evolved and will be put into production.
Tests were also made with a 10,000 lb. United States Navy anchor, capable, like the standard Admiralty type, of holding against a pull of four times its own weight, and a 750 lb. anchor of the type used for kedges in the Normandy landings, which can hold 20 times its own weight.
U.S.S.R.
Agrees to Return U.S. Ships
N. Y. Herald Tribune, Dec. 16.—The Soviet Union, after nearly three years of prodding, has agreed to return to the United States three ice-breakers and twenty-eight Naval frigates borrowed during the war.
The agreement was announced today by Acting Secretary of State Robert A. Lovett, who said it was contained in a note from Moscow dated last Thursday. Time and place of delivery of the vessels are to be determined later.
Mr. Lovett told a news conference the agreement advances the protracted discussions in which the United States has been trying to complete an accounting of some $11,296,000,000 in war-time lend-lease to Russia. He expects face-to-face negotiations to open soon on settlement of the account, he said.
Among questions to be negotiated are return of the twenty-five-year-old light cruiser Milwaukee and a number of lesser warships loaned to the Red Navy after Italy’s surrender. The Italian peace treaty calls for delivery of a roughly equivalent group of Italian ships to Russia, and it is expected, Mr. Lovett said, that the Russians will hand over the American vessels at the same time they receive the Italian.
The United States, Great Britain and France also are entitled to Italian ships under the treaty, but France has pared its claim and the other two nations have renounced theirs entirely.
Another question to be negotiated with Russia is the purchase of some eighty-seven cargo vessels which the United States has agreed to sell. Still another problem is obtaining a Russian accounting of civilian lend- lease goods like tractors, jeeps and similar equipment usable in peace time. Under the lend-lease agreement, Russia will be asked to pay at least something for this equipment, if the United States can find out how much of it remains.
Frigates are patrol vessels of about 1,000 tons, perhaps 300 feet long and armed with light guns. The United States has been demanding return of the group loaned to Russia, plus the ice-breakers, since 1946. Soviet representatives have never refused to give them back, but, in the United States view, have stalled on the deal until now.
Receives Italian Ships
N. Y. Times, Dec. 10.—The first move toward delivering to Russia the warships assigned to her by the peace treaty was made by Italy today when the 25,000-ton battleship Giulio Cesare left Taranto for an unknown destination. Just before her departure the battleship’s name was changed to Z-ll.
It is believed the ship’s immediate destination is Augusta, Sicily, where it will be joined by one cruiser, three destroyers, two submarines and several auxiliary vessels, which will also be ceded to Russia under terms of the treaty.
The treaty stipulates that the ships shall be put into full efficiency before being handed over. The Russians, however, insisted on immediate delivery, and advised the Italian Government that the Giulio Cesare would be overhauled in Russian yards.
The Giulio Cesare is one of the oldest ships in the Italian Navy. She was launched in 1911, but was completely modernized and virtually reconstructed between 1933 and 1937.
OTHER COUNTRIES Germany
London Times, Nov. 26.—Wilhelmshaven.
•—The plan to demilitarize this former North Sea base of the German Navy was taken a stage farther to-day when the Royal Navy began a two-day demolition operation for blowing up No. 7 dry-dock here, which is the greatest of its kind in Europe.
The demolition began in the afternoon and lasted almost until sunset. It was confined to the destruction of the concrete floor of the dock, nearly 50 ft. thick, in a series of 64 explosions in 13 groups at intervals of about seven minutes. Great plumes of spray rose into the air as each charge was detonated. As the dock was filled with water to a depth of about 20 ft., there was virtually no blast and little flying debris.
Homes in the immediate vicinity of the dock had been evacuated as a precaution, but little, if any, damage was reported.
There has been a storm of protest throughout north Germany in the past week over the blowing up of the dock. The protests, largely inspired by a section of the German Press, culminated in appeals being sent by telegram to Mr. Bevin, Mr. Churchill, General Sir Brian Robertson, the British Military Governor in Germany, and Mr. Victor Gollancz.
Among the shore installations at Wilhelms- haven two of the four large ammunition depots have already been demilitarized. Demolition is proceeding on the other two. Next spring the Royal Navy will demolish one of the last great engineering structures of the base—the Raeder sluice, which was to have been the main entrance to the port for the largest battleship. Preparations for the demolition have now begun.
It was from Wilhelmshaven in 1937 that Hitler launched the Tirpitz, and in Wilhelmshaven town hall he ceremoniously tore up the treaty that restricted German naval construction to warships of limited size and armament. To-day Wilhelmshaven is a graveyard of naval might.
Greece
N. Y. Herald Tribune, Dec. 20.—The Greek Navy banned sea traffic in a five-mile belt along the Peloponnesus coast tonight because of impending major operations in that sector of southern Greece.
The navy said any unauthorized ships appearing within five miles of the coast will be taken into custody. If resistance is offered they will be sunk, the navy added.
There have been frequent reports that submarines have been carrying supplies to guerrillas in the Peloponnesus. Several weeks ago a 500-ton motor ship carrying rifles, land mines, machine guns, hand grenades, ammunition and food stores was sunk off the eastern coast of the Peloponnesus. The navy said the vessel’s papers showed the ship’s port of origin was Durazzo, Albania.
Simultaneously, a change in the army’s command in the Peloponnesus was announced. Major General Penzopoulos, commander of the 1st Division, was appointed to succeed Major General Alexander Tsigounis, Military Governor of Peloponnesus.
Sweden
Navitecnia, Sept. 1948.—In connection with the establishment of a projected chain of marine rescue stations along the coast of Sweden on the Baltic as well as on those of the Kattegatt and Skagerrak, the Swedish Rescue Society has initiated negotiations with the Finnish authorities in Helsinki to establish the necessary cooperation. Finland, Poland, the western zones of Germany, and Denmark and Norway have manifested their interest in the project, with only the Soviet Union abstaining.
An important factor in the organization is the new rescue craft: they are motor boats of 15 meters length, developing 34 knots and carrying 81 persons, 16 of them in cabins.
AVIATION
Navy Ram-Jet Missile
Aviation Week, Dec. 6.—Navy Gorgon IV, a pilotless missile powered by a ramjet engine, has stayed aloft for more than 10 min. in tests at Naval Air Missile Testing Center, Point Mugu, Calif., setting a new record for ramjet-powered missiles. The flights were made last spring and held up by the Navy until last week.
The slim missile is powered by a 20-in. Marquardt subsonic ramjet engine mounted on a fin below the missile body. It mounts swept wing and horizontal tail surfaces, the rudder being located between the engine and the fuselage. The craft is radio controlled from the ground and is used as a research vehicle for powerplant, guidance, aerodynamics and other missile problems.
High Fuel Consumption.—Unlike the supersonic ramjet which obtains a remarkably low fuel economy at high Mach numbers, the subsonic ramjet is characterized by an enormous fuel consumption and the 10-min. endurance of the Gorgon IV is a substantial achievement. The missile was developed and is being produced by the Glenn L. Martin Co. as one of a series of pilotless aircraft projects. It has a span of 10 ft., is 22 ft. long and weighs 1600 lb. It has a fuel capacity of 116 gallons and ordinary 80-octane gasoline is used.
Although the craft remained aloft for 10 min., the ramjet engine is capable of operating only about 4§ min. on the available fuel supply. The remainder of the flight consists of a radio-controlled glide into a target, or a parachute descent.
The Marquardt ramjet engine is similar to that installed on the Lockheed F-80, which has flown on ramjet power alone. It consists only of a properly shaped tube seven ft. long containing a fuel supply, a fuel pump and a flame holder assembly.
Air Launched.—Because the ramjet engine develops no static thrust, it must be launched at an airspeed of about 300 mph. in order that combustion can be initiated. The Gorgon IV is air-launched from an Air Force Northrop P-61. It is mounted in a special starboard wing rack, the port wing containing a droppable fuel tank to equalize weight and drag in flight. The Gorgon IV is carried at a negative angle to insure its moving away promptly from the P-61 followings its release.
The missile is instrumented to obtain data on airspeed, altitude, drag, control position, acceleration, engine thrust and fuel consumption. These data are fed into telemeter channels and transmitted to the ground through the nose antenna assembly. They are recorded on the ground for subsequent study. This nose antenna also receives signals from the ground station for the operation of the spoiler ailerons, elevators and rudders. The flight is tracked by radar to check its speed, altitude and location.
Gorgon IV is equipped with a parachute assembly contained in the forward fuselage compartment which operates automatically to lower the craft safely.
The Gorgon IV test program was moved recently from Point Mugu, Calif., to Chin- coteague, Va., Navy’s east coast missile center, because of its proximity to the Martin plant and the availability of more extensive armament, radio-control and target equipment. In addition, Navy is outfitting the U.S.S. Norton Sound as a deck launching test ship.
Jet Motor Self Starter
N. Y. Times, Dec. 13.—A multi-purpose pneumatic self-starter for jet and turboprop aircraft engines, a milestone in the nation’s race for a superior air force, has been developed by the Navy and industrial research.
The Navy Bureau of Aeronautics and the Air Research Manufacturing Company demonstrated their joint product at the Navy’s testing laboratory here today. Two trial runs started a standard Westinghouse J-34 jet engine in a little more than one minute for each test.
The Navy, which began developing a program for jet-engine self-starter in June, 1946, now believes it has developed the first “successful” system.
The total cost has been about $2,000,000, but the benefits, according to Rear Admiral Theodore C. Lonnquest of the Bureau of Aeronautics, will be “a great saving in time, equipment, and man-power, and will make our jet planes all the more versatile.”
The new system will enable jet planes to make virtually unlimited starts under their own power from aircraft carriers or from outlying bases and emergency areas which are not equipped with battery-powered starting systems. Thus they will be able to land and take off from heretofore inaccessible spots, and their take-offs will be swifter and easier.
The system consists of a gas turbine containing a three-quarter horsepower starting motor, and for each jet engine to be fired, a pneumatic starter. The unit weighs about 108 pounds as compared with the 240 pounds for conventional systems. Because the gas turbine weighs eighty-eight pounds, and the individual pneumatic starters about twenty, the additional weight of the self-starter for multi-engine planes is only twenty pounds per engine.
The self-starter also develops more horsepower at a higher speed and at a greater rate of acceleration than the conventional systems weighing more than twice as much.
The new self-starter is expected to more than justify its 108 pounds. Starters on regular aircraft have always been “parasitical,” according to one authority. It is promised that the new starter can be used as an auxiliary aid to the main engine, as a
The new, lightweight self-starter developed for jet and turbo-prop aircraft engines by Naval Air Research is here shown alongside the bleed-off version of a gas turbine.
ground heater, air-conditioner and a wing deicer.
The eighty-eight-pound gas turbine develops 66 horsepower at 40,000 revolutions per minute, and the twenty-pound pneumatic starter develops 35 horsepower, rising, during its over-speed, to 64,000 revolutions.
The new starting system, “self-contained” because it needs no source of power external to the plane for its operation, is expected to be tested soon on an actual jet flight.
It will be installed according to Navy engineers, in new jet planes now being developed. Current planes will not be equipped with it because the installation would require extensive and uneconomic modification.
Reversible Propellers
N. Y. Times, Dec. 1.—Caldwell, N. J.—■ A four-engine transport plane with all of its propellers rotating backward made a controlled descent from 15,000 to 1,000 feet in 1 minute 22 seconds here today in the first public demonstration of the Curtiss-Wright Corporation’s new reversible propellers. The plane started its descent just four miles from the airport.
The maximum rate of descent in standard multi-engine transport and military aircraft is 3,000 to 4,000 feet a minute. At this rate of “let down” the plane’s speed is usually in excess of 300 miles an hour, and because the angle of descent is shallow the distance from beginning of “let down” to airport is considerably more than four miles.
The new reversible propellers are actually “air brakes” for multi-engine planes in flight and on the ground. Aviation experts see in their application to commercial air transport and military flying greater safety and economy and perhaps a speeding up of airline service in feeding planes into crowded airports.
The airplane used in today’s demonstration before several score of Navy, Air Force and civilian aviation specialists was a standard Douglas C-54 except for the reversible propellers. It was flown by Herbert O. Fisher, chief test pilot for the propeller division of Curtiss-Wright and the first man ever to reverse all four propellers of a plane while in flight.
To give the observers a better understanding of what was taking place when the propellers were reversed, a standard Douglas DC-4 of American Airlines, piloted by Capt. Harry Clarke, flew alongside the test plane as a point of reference. The result was dramatic when the propellers of the test plane were thrown into negative thrust.
The planes took off one after another and climbed steeply to 15,000 feet. They met over the Teterboro Airport and then flew side by side toward this airfield. A loud speaker system permitted the onlookers to hear the radio conversation between the planes and the ground at all times.
At a point 15,000 feet above the ground and four miles from this field, Mr. Fisher announced over the radio that he was reversing all four props. At that time both planes were mere glints in the hazy sky as they flew along together.
The nose of the test plane dropped down and a stream of white smoke issued from its tail to mark the downward trail. As the test plane slanted earthward the other plane appeared to be hanging motionless in the sky.
While the test plane nosed down at an angle of about 40 degrees the white smoke coming from the tail gave the effect of a JATO (jet assisted take off) in reverse. The plane with conventional propellers also started down, but was forced to make tight spirals to prevent gathering too much speed.
All the way down Mr. Fisher talked over the radio, describing the flight. He estimated the angle of glide at about 40 degrees and said the air speed indicator showed 190 miles an hour, then 180 miles an hour, then 200 miles an hour. The altimeter, he reported, “is spinning like a top.”
When 1,000 feet over the end of the runway, Mr. Fisher put the propellers back into normal thrust attitude and made a 180 degree turn and landed. As the plane rolled along the runway he reversed the propellers again to brake the plane.
From the time he started his descent, four miles away and 15,000 feet high, to the time he hit the end of the runway at 1,000 feet, Mr. Fisher had spent 1 minute 22 seconds. The turn and approach required another 1 minute 33 seconds, for a total of 2 minutes 55 seconds. The plane with the conventional propellers required 4 minutes 48 seconds to get on the ground.
Mr. Fisher said later that the rapid descent had not been uncomfortable, although he thought it might have been for anyone with a head cold or sinus trouble. The plane, he said, was under perfect control all the way down.
Besides getting an airplane down fast in a short distance in time of emergency, reversible propellers will improve operating efficiency by permitting high-altitude airplanes to fly almost all of their course at high altitude, where they are most efficient. At present, high-altitude planes start letting down when far distant from their destination.
Asked if the reversible propellers now on some new transport planes could be used in the same way, Mr. Fisher said he did not think they were heavy enough for use in flight but were good brakes when on the ground. A spokesman for the Curtiss-Wright Corporation said the new reversible propellers would not be available to commercial airlines for at least a year.
Pilot Prone “Bed” Improved
Aviation Week, Dec. 6.—Major objection to the prone pilot position—discomfort— may be overcome by the use of a newly developed “bed” made of Nylon and molded to fit the pilot’s figure.
Test “pilots” have spent 8 hr. in the new bed without discomfort, and even 12-hr. tests have not revealed serious fatigue.
Benefits Derived.—The prone position has long offered two important advantages for high-speed flight—drag of the airplane can be greatly reduced, particularly in all-wing type aircraft; and the human body, when prone, can withstand the imposition of considerably more force.
The U. S. has already tested one prone- pilot fighter, the Northrop XF-79B, and studied dozens of other designs based on the location of the pilot and crew members flat on their anteriors.
In the prone position, the pilot has lain on hard surfaces, his chin on a padded leather rest. It was to answer this objection that the Aero Medical Laboratory, Air Materiel Command, developed the new Nylon bed,
which is designed to provide both comfort and effectiveness.
Bed Details.—The bed was designed on the basis of anthropometric studies of body dimensions and required motions in the control of a plane. It is actually a hammock fitted to a frame approximating the curves of the human body.
The body rests at an angle of about 30 deg., rather than in a true (and uncomfortable) prone position, with the legs from the knee to the feet positioned at 150 deg.
The use of Nylon was necessitated by the greatly increased force permissible on the pilot.
The prone pilot also alleviates the concentration of this force by spreading it out throughout his body, rather than concentrating it on the seat as in conventional position.
Comfort Afforded.—Pilot’s head rests on two chin pads of foam rubber covered with soft chamois.
The arms are accommodated to rest on foam rubber pads in two metal pans at the end of which are grips for aileron, elevator, throttle, flap and other controls.
These grips are mounted on a freely- moving unit which permits up-down, fore- aft and left-right motion, allowing complete control of the airplane by the arms alone.
This feature eliminates need for rudder pedals—another point of criticism about the earlier system. .
Locators for Pilots Aloft
N. Y. Herald Tribune, Nov. 23.—By Ansel E. Talbert. Indianapolis,—New equipment allowing pilots in flight to read continuously their specific direction and exact distance in miles from omni-range stations now being erected at 630 locations throughout the United States was demonstrated publicly for the first time here today.
An electronic brain instantly and continuously solving navigational triangles, so that pilots using the new omni-range system can fly straight courses anywhere in the nation, instead of zig-zagging from station to station, also was revealed. At the same time, automatic landings of air line planes, with no human hand manipulating controls until after the wheels touched the runway, were made with newspaper correspondents specializing in aviation as passengers.
This correspondent went aloft with Robert Grundy, noted government test pilot, to make first-hand observations.
Billion-Dollar Program
These demonstrations were part of a showing by the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics of the co-ordinated working of various elements in a new over-all program to strengthen the air security of the United States, eliminate irregularity due to weather in domestic air-line operations and provide better means of navigation for private pilots. They took place at the Experimental Station of the Civil Aeronautics Administration, one of the many agencies represented on the commission.
It is estimated the complete program will cost in the neighborhood of $1,100,000,000.
Visitors here to observe the recent striking advances made by the commission included General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force; Rear Admiral E. A. Cruise and Rear Admiral T. S. Combs, of the United States Navy; Senator Owen Brewster, of Maine, co-chairman of the Congressional Air Policy Committee; Sir Robert Watson-Watt, British pioneer and communications expert, and W. Stuart Symington, Secretary of the Air Force.
J. H. Dellinger, chairman of the commission, asserted that “the first major step” in achievement of a completely all-weather system of traffic control and air navigation was shown today, and would add immeasurably to flexibility of the nation’s air traffic control system. From now on, according to Mr. Dellinger, it will be possible to create new highways of the air simply by printing revised charts for pilots, rather than by moving beacons and other heavy equipment around on the ground.
Goal 10 to 15 Years Away
Delos W. Rentzel, Civil Aeronautics Administrator, said that the ultimate automatic all-weather system of traffic control envisioned in the new program might be ten to fifteen years away, but he added that procedure and plans for bringing it about were established and that the program itself was now actually under way.
Some of the devices required for the ultimate system are not yet in existence but are known to be possible, while others do exist and are already in use. Elements of the so- called “transitional” part of the program, which will be put into closely co-ordinated use during the next five years and were demonstrated in inter-related working for the first time today, are: (1) omni-range stations providing aircraft courses radiating from each station, 275 of which are already in operation; (2) the distance measuring equipment; (3) an automatic course-line computer for use with both these, to provide courses to any point other than the stations; (4) an instrument landing system to provide an air path to the airport runway; (5) precision beam radar to complement and monitor the instrument landing system fixed path instrument approach; (6) improved approach and runway lighting to guide the final phases of low approach and landing; (7) radar surveillance of portions of the air space to assist traffic control and directing planes miles away from the airport; (8) devices for the automatic landing of planes.
British- U. S. Air Demonstration
The Aeroplane, Nov. 5.—Salisbury Plain was tricked out, on October 26, with all that beauty with which, on a fine October morning, she can so deceive those who have not served a winter there. The occasion was the demonstration, at West Down Range, of the air weapons of the British and American Air Forces, whose special use is in support of the land forces.
The demonstration was part of the Special Senior Course of the Land/Air Warfare School at Old Sarum. It was attended by the Commandant of the School, Air Commodore Dawson, the Staff and students of the School and by a large number of officers of all three Services and of the United States Air Force. Service Attaches of the foreign Embassies in London were also present.
Aircraft from the Home Commands and the Air Forces in Germany and guns and aircraft from the Central Gunnery School took part and the operations were controlled through a Royal Air Force Signals Unit. The
programme, which lasted two hours, was beautifully timed and, except for a few minor incidents, was carried out according to plan.
The programme began with a demonstration of Target Indication by the School of Artillery, whose guns also provided the target indication throughout the rest of the proceedings. They began by putting down a complete assortment of coloured smoke onto various targets, giving an interesting illustration of the relative values of the different colours in the strong sunlight. The accurate placing of the smoke shells, which last 50 seconds and for which coloured lights are substituted at night, was highly appreciated.
A spectacular display of ground-strafing followed. The target, a column of M.T., which could be clearly seen across the Downs, was indicated by red smoke from the guns and was attacked first by four Tempest 2s from Germany, each with four 20 mm. cannon. They attacked in two sections of two and firing H.E. incendiaries and armourpiercing rounds. They made two attacks, using the modern tactical approach and getaway.
The Tempests were followed by three Meteor 4s of Fighter Command with the same armament, but firing from the extreme nose and under the pilot. These also made two attacks and by way of comparison the same target was attacked by four U.S.A.F. Shooting Stars armed with six 0.5-in. (12.7 mm.) machine guns. They used a flat approach and attacked at a low level, relying on their tremendous speed and angle of climb to get away; their second run left part of the target burning.
The third event was a demonstration of “Skip Bombing” by two Tempest 2s, each armed with two inert bombs. Extreme accuracy is essential for this type of attack, as the bombs skip unless delivered right into the target, which is usually a railway tunnel or cutting, or a bridge or viaduct.
Briefing by an Air Contact Team followed by tactical dive bombing was the next event. This was done with four Tempest 2s, each with two 250 lb. bombs, and three Spitfires, similarly armed, from the Central Gunnery School. The Contact Team was in a jeep in r/t contact with the aircraft.
This method is used when, for instance, the
Artillery can indicate a target but cannot neutralize it; such a target might consist of an enemy formation holding up troop movements. Speaking from the jeep the Army component of the team asks the Brigade Major to lay on smoke indication. The Air Director then gets in touch with his “cab- rank” (patrolling aircraft) and briefs them with map reference and other essential information and the target is attacked with the least possible delay. All this was clearly seen and heard in the demonstration.
Dive attacks with rockets came next and, even in the moderately peaceful circumstances, gave an impression of the demoralizing effect of such attacks. Spitfires of the Central Gunnery School, each with four 60 lb. R.P.s and Tempest 2s with eight 60 lb. R.P.s shrieked down with the shattering noise of their rockets and with deadly aim after flying past at 8,000 ft. in close formation. The commentator explained that the angle of dive provides some immunity from flak, but that extreme accuracy is necessary —we noticed that at the end of the attack the targets were still there!
A slight deviation from the programme was allowed to a Vampire 5 of the A.M.E.E. (Airborne Missiles Experimental Establishment), with eight rockets and two 500-lb. bombs. On the first run the bombs were not released and when he came over the spectator’s enclosure an incorrigible humorist made the whistling noises associated with falling bombs. On the second run he overshot his mark badly and retired in disgrace.
An elaborate exposition of the methods of long-range bombers operating in direct support of land forces was watched with special interest by the Army, who while benefiting from such operations when successful, are liable to become unpleasantly involved if anything goes wrong. Proceedings began wdien a Mosquito 16 with marker bombs identified the target.
This Mosquito had appeared to be somewhat mixed up with the rocket firing at one time, but was apparently safely on the far side of the target. Having put down his smoke (flares) he hung about waiting for the result. Two Mosquito 16 pathfinders came in first to mark the target and were followed by eight Lincolns in the irregular formation
of a night attack. Their long, level run was described by an irreverent spectator as just the thing for A.A. gunners.
Each Lincoln had one 500-lb. bomb and eight 25-lb. practice bombs, which is only a very small indication of their normal warload which is about 14,000 lb. to 22,000 lb. The impressive demonstration of an attack with a war-load of live bombs which could safely be given on these ranges, is no longer allowed because of possible damage to local villages. The Englishman’s right to preserve his window panes intact, at the expense of the training of the Defence Services, is rigidly upheld on Salisbury Plain as elsewhere.
The 500-pounders, however, went off reasonably near the targets and with satisfactory bangs and mushrooms of smoke. The Mosquitoes then came down again and after assessing the value of the attack, dropped yellow smoke to show that the party was over. Finally they put down a neat carpet of Roman Candles to show that another raid could begin if anyone wanted it.
A compact formation of six B-29 bombers of the United States Air Force then came over, and after a preliminary run placed a nice collection of 100-lb. practice bombs neatly on the target. They bombed in close formation from 4,000 ft. and provided an interesting comparison with the bombing methods of the Lincolns.
The demonstration of bombing in bad weather by means of ground radar control had to be called off—some said because the instruments on the Mosquitos were unserviceable, and others because there were no clouds to use. However, we were able to listen-in to a lively exchange of personalities before the would-be demonstrators packed up. _
The day ended with some marvellous aerobatics by one single Vampire and by a formation of four Vampire 3s; the single machine performed each evolution and was followed by the same thing by the formation. After a loop in V formation with No. 4 in the box they looped in line astern and then changed from line astern into V during the loop. The single machine then did a lovely roll off the ground, to be followed by the formation in an upward roll. Finally, one broke from the formation and the remaining three rolled in line astern.
Jugoslavia Military Aviation
Revista Maritima, Oct. 1948.—Jugoslav aviation is now equipped with 1,500 planes, of which 1,000 are in good condition.
The types in use are: the Russian fighters Yak 3 and Yak 7, the British Spitfire IX: among the bombers, the most notable are the Russian Stormovik 112 (monomotor and trimotor) and the Petliakova (trimotor and quadrimotor); transports are Ju 52 (German), C 47 (American), and the L 112 (Russian version of the Dakota). Other planes are a mixture of American, Italian, British, and German.
Organically, the Jugoslav air force comprises two air fleets, each made up of three divisions; the divisions are organized into three brigades of six squadrons. The strength of a brigade is set at 42 planes.
This air force has at its disposal 20 permanent bases, the largest being that of Zagreb, which is equipped with underground hangars for up to 180 or 200 planes.
MERCHANT MARINE Bids on Super-Liner
Maritime Reporter, Dec. 15.—The Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Va., recently bid $67,350,000 to build the proposed 48,000-ton super liner which is to be the largest passenger ship ever built in the United States.
The bid was opened in the Washington office of the U. S. Maritime Commission along with one other for $75,649,000 submitted by the Bethlehem Steel Co., Shipbuilding Division, New York. The 980-foot luxury liner is to be operated by the United States Lines Co. which has offered to spend $25,000,000 of the amount needed to build the ship.
Newport News Shipbuilding promised delivery of the ship in 1,218 calendar days after signing of the contract. The Bethlehem bid quoted 1,430 calendar days.
Commenting on the opening of the bids, Vice Admiral William W. Smith, chairman of the Maritime Commission, said that the
Commission and the Navy “are happy about it” and that he personally believed the ship will be built.
Admiral Smith said that the shipyards had already been asked to return bids on the liner minus defense features. This will give the government an accurate estimate of the additional cost that private industry could not be asked to bear. The new bids were expected within two weeks and, he said, “we might have a decision by the first of January.”
Defense features which the Navy has drawn up for the super liner are said to include extra speed; separate engine rooms, each as an integral unit which could be operated independently if the other fails for any reason; parallel piping systems for safety; special hull protection; special refrigeration equipment, and extra water capacity.
(Editor’s Note: See June Proceedings for initial data.)
Coastwise Run Resumed by PanAtlantic Line
Maritime Reporter, Dec. 1.—The establishment of a limited ship passenger service between New York, Florida and Gulf ports, the first such coastwise service since World War II, was announced recently in Mobile, Ala., by the Pan-Atlantic Steamship Corporation, a subsidiary of the Waterman Steamship Corporation.
The announcement stated that Pan-Atlantic is placing four Waterman-designed, modified, C-2 type freighters in the Atlantic Coast-Gulf of Mexico service. It said the new vessels will cut an average of approximately three days’ sailing time from Atlantic ports to major Gulf ports. The 16§-knot C-2 vessels, which are wholly-owned by the Waterman subsidiary, will replace five 11-knot Liberty ships which Pan-Atlantic has been operating under bareboat charter from the U. S. Maritime Commission.
The new vessels have modern “Waterman Class” cabin accommodations for 12 passengers. They will carry approximately 1,000 tons more cargo than the Libertys previously used in the service.
The first 10,600-ton, C-2 ship slated to enter the service was the SS Iberville, which was to leave Mobile on Nov. 20 for New Orleans, Tampa, Panama City, Miami, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York.
Two Ships for African Run
N. Y. Times, Dec. 20.—Two newly acquired combination passenger and cargo vessels, the former transports J. W. Andrew and George F. Elliot, will provide frequent service and first-class passenger accommodations between New York and Cape Town and Durban, in South Africa, starting next July, it was announced yesterday by John J. Farrell, chairman of the board of Ferrell Lines, Inc.
The two ships, which were the Dellar- gentino and the Delbrazil when completed in 1940, are to be reconverted by the Gulf Shipbuilding Corporation, at Mobile, Ala., at a reported cost of approximately $4,000,000. According to plans and specifications of Gibbs & Cox, naval architects of New York, each vessel will have a capacity of eighty passengers and 6,550 tons of cargo.
As originally built for the Delta Line by the Bethlehem Steel Company’s Sparrows Point, Md. yard, each of the two liners was 491 feet long, had a sixty-five foot beam and operated at speeds in excess of sixteen knots. With a displacement of 14,250 tons, it is estimated that they will make the run to Cape Town in fifteen or sixteen days.
As rebuilt, both vessels will be fitted with thirty cabins, all outside, and each with private bath. Plans call for all modern conveniences and “unusually spacious” public rooms. Company officials say they will provide comfort and luxury hitherto unequalled in the South African trade, with a sailing from here about every five weeks.
The purchase of the ex-transports by Farrell Lines, formerly the American South African Line, brings to sixteen the number of ocean-going ships owned by the company, exclusive of African coast feeder vessels.
SCIENCE
Wind-Tunnel Attains Mach 5.18
N. Y. Times, Dec. 1.—A simulated air speed more than five times the speed of sound, or about 3,960 miles an hour, was achieved by the Navy with improved German
wind-tunnels last week, it was announced today.
The new record, technically described as Mach 5.18, or 5.18 times the speed of sound, was set at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory at White Oak, Md., on Nov. 24. The naval engineers, using captured weapon-testing wind-tunnels measuring 16 inches square, broke all previous air-speed marks for instruments of this size.
Dr. Ralph D. Bennett, technical director of the laboratory, said the experiment was “one of the first important steps in the Navy’s development of weapons for use at supersonic speed.” He added that the Navy Bureau of Ordnance was now “well in the forefront of what may prove to be the most important field of ordnance work in our generation.”
The record was reached under conditions which brought the temperature to 377 degrees below zero.
Dr. Bennett declared that “most nations, including ours, are doing extensive work in developing aircraft to fly at or above the speed of sound.”
“Projectiles fired from these aircraft in pursuit, or at them in anti-aircraft defense,” he explained, “obviously must travel at several times the speed of sound if they are to be effective.”
He added that the achievement of a steady airflow at Mach numbers above 5 “augurs well for our success in developing weapons which the Navy and the nation may sorely need in the future.”
Preliminary research on the German V-2
rocket was done in the same tunnels, in which the highest speed previously reached was Mach 4.38.
The term “Mach number” has been generally used in aerodynamic research since 1890 in tribute to the German physicist Ernst Mach, a pioneer in this field. Mach 1 means the speed of sound.
Cosmic Ray Particle Photographed
N. Y. Times, Nov. 28.—A 20,000,000,000- volt cosmic ray bullet smashing through outer space to within 70,000 feet above the earth’s surface has been recorded on a photographic plate that was carried to that height by a balloon cluster released by the University of Chicago scientists.
The achievement was announced at the American Physical Society’s meeting at the university by Dr. Marcel Schein, professor of physics and member of the Institute for Nuclear Studies at the university. He and J. J. Lord, a graduate student, conducted the balloon-flight research.
The mighty energetic particle, Dr. Schein said, must have had an original force of 143,000,000,000 volts. It was photographed when it burst apart the heart of an atom that got in the way of the bullet. From the collision emerged one of nature’s fundamental building blocks, known as measons, that are believed to hold the atom’s core together.
Cosmic rays previously have been observed smashing into atoms, but in the records of such collisions the mystery projectiles observed to date had left “star” marks behind when measons were created by explosions resulting from the weaker impacts.
What is remarkable about the super-heavy particle photographed by the university, Dr. Schein said, is the fact that seemingly it was unaffected by a similar crash, and packed enough power to continue on its way in a straight line after producing a meason without leaving a “star” behind to mark the scene of the nuclear explosion.
French Atomic Pile
N. Y. Times, Dec. 17.—Paris.—Frederic Joliot-Curie, head of the French Atomic Energy Commission, said here today that France’s perfection of a self-sufficient atomic energy pile placed her in a position to bargain for atomic raw materials along with the United States and the British Empire.
The French Government announced yesterday that the nation’s first pile had gone into operation at Fort de Chatillon in the suburbs of Paris. In a brief description of the project, Professor Joliot-Curie said that the pile incorporated some processes that France expected to use in future dealings with nations in possession of either atomic raw materials, such as graphite, heavy water and rich uranium ore, or of atomic secrets complementary to those of France.
It is not a question of military secrets, Prof. Joliot-Curie said, but a question of competitive commercial secrets.
What the French will be able to use as a bargaining weapon will be the process through which the nation’s top physicists were able to produce a self-sustaining pile at a bargain basement price of 3,000,000,000 francs. This sum, microscopic as compared to the United States and British appropriations for similar efforts, produced the Chatillon pile in slightly less than three years.
During a press conference held here this afternoon, Prof. Joliot-Curie said that so far as he was concerned France was not interested in the production of atomic bombs but that research was devoted to the production of radio-active isotopes for medical, biological and industrial purposes and for eventual harnessing of atomic energy as a source of heat and electrical power.
Guggenheim Backs Two Jet Research Centers
N. Y. Herald Tribune, Dec. 14.—Creation of two national centers for rocket-and- jet propulsion research at Princeton University and at the California Institute of Technology was announced yesterday at the Guggenheim Foundation, 120 Broadway.
The institutions will be known as the Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Jet Propulsion Centers, according to a joint statement signed by Harry F. Guggenheim, president of the foundation; Dr. Harold W. Dodds, president of Princeton University and Dr. Lee A. DuBridge, president of the California Institute of Technology.
Future study and research carried out at the new centers will provide a powerful stimulant to the perfection of long-range guided missiles and counter-missiles, which chiefs of all the armed services say are absolutely essential to America’s national security.
“Naval Weapon or Future”
Admiral Louis Denfeld, chief of naval operations, has just called the guided missile “the basic naval weapon of the future.” James H. Doolittle, former Air Force lieutenant general, has warned that if Germany had been able to accelerate its rocket program and employ giant rockets earlier and in greater numbers “the whole course of World War II might have been changed.” Soviet Russia definitely is known to be pushing giant rocket research.
At the same time Mr. Guggenheim stressed that the two new research centers would “emphasize particularly the development of peace-time uses of rockets and jet propulsion.” These peace-time uses include high- altitude weather and atmospheric research, supersonic passenger air travel and even basic work on the problems of interplanetary communication.
The two universities will provide necessary buildings and equipment. The principal post in each will be a Robert H. Goddard Professorship, named in honor of America’s outstanding rocket pioneer, Dr. Robert H. Goddard, the first person in the world to send rockets faster than the speed of sound. Dr. Goddard died in 1945 while serving as chief of rocket research for the Navy.
Each Goddard professorship will be associated with a post-graduate fellowship to be granted each year by the Guggenheim Foundation. Normally six new fellowships will be granted each year—three for study at Princeton and three for study at the California Institute of Technology.
The California Institute of Technology, currently carrying a major research program in the armed forces’ guided missile program, already has selected its Dr. Robert H. Goddard professor and definitely will open its training and research program in the fall of 1949. He is Dr. Hsue-shen Tsien, thirty- eight-year-old professor of aerodynamics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and war-time member of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board.
Princeton University, which has been offering both undergraduate and graduate courses in jet propulsion for the last three years and at present is the headquarters of Project Squid, a Navy jet-and-rocket research program, said it will announce its new professor “in the near future.”
Princeton’s rocket-and-jet-propulsion research program also will begin next fall.
In a statement last night, Dr. DuBridge said that the two new centers would go far toward improving America’s understanding of the basic scientific phenomena underlying jet-and-rocket propulsion. He added that a particularly important phase of their work would be the training of young scientists in this field.
Dr. Dodds said that the new centers, with their peace-time application as a main objective, represented one of the most striking developments of the post-war era in engineering education.
Mr. Guggenheim predicted that the new forms of propulsion which the new centers would study had opened up a new era in engineering and in human thought and would “affect the future of the world more profoundly than any one can foresee today.”
INTERNATIONAL Major Decisions of Last U.N. Session
N. Y. Times, Dec. 13.—Paris.—Following is a summary of the major decisions taken thus far by the United Nations General Assembly, which is nearing the end of its session here:
Palestine—A Conciliation Commission for Palestine, consisting of France, Turkey and the United States, with the powers and functions formerly held by the Mediator and the Security Council’s Truce Commission, was named by the Assembly. The necessary two-third’s vote was obtained, 35 to 15, with 8 abstentions. The resolution calls on the Governments concerned to seek agreement by negotiation, either with the commission or directly, and instructs the commission to assist the Governments to achieve a final settlement of all questions outstanding. The Assembly also reaffirmed the decision of a year ago to neutralize the Jerusalem area and place it under United Nations’ control.
Balkans—The Assembly for the second year impugned Albania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia for aiding Greek guerrillas and called on the three countries to cease such aid and to cooperate with Greece and with the United Nations Balkan Commission in an effort to settle the Balkan dispute. It extended the life of the Commission for another year and authorized it to consult with the Little Assembly if it wished in the light of developments and called on Greece, on the one hand, and Bulgaria and Albania, on the other, to re-establish diplomatic relations. The Assembly unanimously approved another resolution arranging for the return to Greece of Greek children at present away from their homes when the children, their parents or closest relatives express a wish to that effect and placed responsibility for this work on the International Red Cross and Red Crescent. The Soviet resolution to end the Balkan Commission and blame Greece for the dispute was rejected.
Disarmament—The Assembly rejected
39 to 6, a Russian proposal for “the reduction by one-third during one year of all the present land, naval and air forces as a first step in reduction of armaments and armed forces.” In its place the Assembly adopted, 43 to 6, a resolution asking the Security Council’s Commission on Conventional Armaments to pursue its work, devoting “its first attention to formulating proposals for the receipt, checking and publication by an international organ of control of full, precise arid verified information to be supplied by member states” as to the level of their conventional armaments and armed forces.
Atomic Control—The majority of the recommendations contained in the first three annual reports of the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission were approved,
40 to 6. The Assembly asked the six permanent members of the commission—the Big Five and Canada—to hold consultations to search for a basis for agreement on international control of atomic energy and directed that the commission meanwhile resume its sessions and continue to study “such of the subjects remaining in the program of work as it considers to be practicable and useful.” The Assembly expressed “deep concern at the impasse” in the work toward international atomic control. It rejected, 40 to 6, a Ukrainian proposal for the simultaneous signing of conventions for control and for the destruction of existing atomic weapons.
Big Five Concord—On the initiative of Mexico, the Assembly made an appeal to the great powers to compose their differences and “to redouble their efforts in a spirit of solidarity and mutual understanding to secure in the briefest possible time a final settlement of the -war and a conclusion of all peace settlements.” The resolution was adopted, with 50 in favor, none against it and none abstaining.
Interim Committee—The Interim Committee, or Little Assembly, was continued in being for another year by the General Assembly. The Soviet bloc indicated that it would continue to boycott the body.
New Members—The Assembly adopted a series of resolutions relating to twelve countries whose membership applications have been blocked. It asked the Security Council to reconsider all twelve cases and in separate resolutions asked reconsideration of the applications of seven of the countries—Portugal, Trans-Jordan, Italy, Finland, Ireland, Austria and Ceylon—which the Soviet Union had vetoed in the Security Council. The five other countries, proteges of the Soviet Union—Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, Albania and Outer Mongolia—failed to obtain the required majority of seven votes in the Security Council.
Headquarters—The beginning of building operations on the East River site and approval by Congress of a $65,000,000 construction loan were noted with satisfaction by the Assembly that expressed appreciation of the cooperation extended to the United Nations by Federal, State and Municipal Governments. The Assembly also approved in principle establishment of the United Nations’ own world-wide telecommunications network and took steps toward placing the system in operation in 1951.
Organization—Cuba, Egypt and Norway were elected to the Security Council to fill two-year terms beginning Jan. 1, 1949, and Belgium, Chile, China, France, India and Peru were named to the Economic and Social Council for three years.
(Editor’s Note: Foregoing is only a part of the decisions on many subjects.)
Newfoundland Joins Canada as Tenth Province
N. Y. Herald, Tribune, Dec. 12.—Ottawa, Dec. 11 (AP).—Canada and Newfoundland today signed an agreement admitting Newfoundland as the tenth province of the Dominion of Canada.
A simple ceremony uniting the countries was held in the Senate Chamber here. Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent signed the terms of union for Canada. A. J. Walsh, chairman of the Newfoundland delegation which negotiated the terms, signed for Newfoundland.
Under the agreement, Canada assumes Newfoundland’s $63,000,000 national debt, and becomes responsible for paying $42,750,000 in cash grants and millions of dollars annually for services.
Newfoundland has a population of about 325,000. It had dominion status until 1934, when it became a crown colony under a sort of bankruptcy arrangement with Great Britain.
Expenditures connected with American military bases there during the war put it back on its feet and in two hard-fought plebiscites last June 3 and July 22 the]population voted to join Canada.
Expenditures for military bases such as Argentia, from which World War II patrols and trans-Atlantic flights were launched, helped put Newfoundland back on its feet financially.