THE AIR TORPEDO.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 63, Issue 245, 27 July 1943, Page 4

THE AIR TORPEDO.

“NO MAN” SUBMARINE. HELLCAT OF 5000 PARTS. NEW YORK. Aircraft, torpedoes, termed by ordnance experts “the deadliest weapons of the sea and the most difficult to make” are coming off the assembly Hues at Pontiac Motor Division General Motors Corporation, Cleveland, at a steady pace —and this fact should not only be a source of comfort to the American people, but -a source of deep pride to the automobile industry. Consider what the aircraft torpedo is, and Avbat it must do. Destructive ingenuity. It is literally a “no-man” submarine composed of 5000 parts and more than a thousand assemblies. Those assemblies must propel and control and explode this underwater hellcat as if it- Avore launched from a barge or pier rather tlmn from a plane at such height and Avitli such speed'as would make a mass of junk out of a, far less intricate Aveapon. After its initial dive the aircraft torpedo must take and hold the exact depth the pilot has set on the index—loft or 12ft for a destroyer, but much deeper for a- battleship because the ‘tin fish’ is most deadly when it smacks beloAV the armour belt. Those torpedoes must generate their own power, using the expansive forces of compressed air, steam and gases from horning alcohol led into a turbine engine. Two propellers, both on centre line l , turn in opposite direction to keep from rolling tho torpedo over to an angle which, avouj" 1 interfere with its depth mechanism. The Helmsman! a Gyro. Next, this slippery messenger of 'death, must steer a straight course Avith only a gyro for a- helmsman. The aiming is a neat problem in geometry based on the enemy ship’s course and speed, the direction .of the ship from the plane, and the average speed of the torpedo throughout both its air and water flight. The final duty of the torpedo is to explode when it hits the target and not before . A single aircraft torpedo costs as much, as 10 to 12 medium priced automobiles, but it is a splendid investment, because just one torpedo can pul. a G0,000,000-doll a r battleship mil of business.