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Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24768, 8 January 1946, Page 3

New U.S. Navy Fighter.—A new single-engined fighter aeroplane has been developed for the United States Navy. It is the XFBB-1, a fighter which can be used as a fighter-bomber, torpedo-bomber, attack-plane, and night-fighter, and carries a Bomb load of 64001 b. It is the first fighter to be designed solely to use contra-rotating propellers. The two 13^-foot diameter propellers are driven by a 28-cylinder Pratt and Whitney air-cooled engine which provides a maximum of 3600 horsepower. The armament consists of six 20-millimetre cannon mounted in the wing, the largest concentration of cannon ever mounted in the wing of a fighter aircraft. Other unusual features include: a quick change “power egg” (the engine and all accessories), completely retractable tail wheel and arrestor hook (as one unit), and all radio equipment in the form of -a “parcel” which can be readily installed or removed from the aircraft.

All State 6oal mines in the Greymouth district, with the exception of the Liverpool colliery, resumed work yesterday morning after the Christmas and New Year holidays. The Liverpool mine did not resume because of heating in the Anderson section. The affected area was effectively sealed off yesterday morning. It has been decided that there will be no work in the mine to-day, but arrangements have been made for an examination of the area to-day by the inspector of mines, the management, and the workmen’s inspectors. It is expected that work will be resumed to-morrow.