BATTLE OF THE CLOUDS

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 81, 30 December 1940, Page 2

BATTLE OF THE CLOUDS

Speed Of Bombing Planes 700 MILES AN HOUR IN POWER DIVE The battle of the clouds is speeding up Soon, anything less than 400 m.p.h. will ibe out of date. Soon, any cruising range short of 2000 miles will seem absurd. After a year of warfare, war science has registered more than three years of normal progress (says the London “Weekly Telegraph”). Among other achievements, Britain has wonderful new fighting planes which were only in the blueprint stage a few weeks ago. The amazing air battles of the last few weeks give only a clue to the planes to come. J. D. North had the plans for a new Defiant, on his desk while the first Defiants were still giving Hitler a headache. , Sidney Camm has st new Hurricalie_the old firm, with a new and startling performance. Fighters 80 miles an hour faster than the present leaders are coming along. They will be able to Hash across London from extreme north- to extreme south in two minutes. v So far their details are known only to a chosen few: Designers, test pilots and K.A.F. officials. . American manufacturers, anxious to sell to this country, see to it that their new planes are openly discussed. Goebbels makes sure that the world receives wind-bag publicity about forthcoming German types. In Great Britain new planes are strictly hush-hush, and all the more devastating for being wrapped in a sloak of silence. Yet the measure ot our new air power can be gleaned from the wonderful planes being produced ill America. They Know the Answer. Britain in every ease has better nutchines, based on new military tactics, strengthened by a year’s practical experience of aerial warfare. Yes, better than the Vultee Vanguard, which has been power-dived at over iOO miles an hour by Squadron Leader J. R Adams, one of our U.S. Air Ministry representatives. Seven hundred miles an hour is the speed of sound. It is one of the speed limits imposed by NaOnlv a few weeks ago the scientists who designed the clever engine cowling of the air-cooled Vultee Vanguard were wondering whether man could surpass it. Now they know the answer. So recently as June the United States Government announced the details ot the American 8.17 bomber, a 22-ton plane carrying a 10,0001 b.. bomb loan. Now the Glenn L. Martin Ancraft Company has surpassed this by developing a 112-ton bomber capable of carrying 60,0001 b. of bombs a distance ot 3000 miles at a speed of 380 miles, 1-U miles an hour in excess of the 8.-i i. That is the tempo in the new Bntisnbacked world of aircraft unlimited. When the American Society of Mechanical Engineers met recently the experts went crazy with excitement over a 42-cvlinder liquid-cooled engine capable of lifting an aeroplane vertically into the air. It was expected to sustain a speed of 400 miles an hour. Another Sensation. Overnight, in this fast and furious game, another firm—Preston-Tucker—-announced a lighter plane equipped with an engine weighing only 4431 U., lightest of its kind in the world, and giving a speed ot 470 miles' an hour. Though the plane is armed with a 3m. cannon gun firing through the propellers, two machine-guns in the wings, and another within pilot reach, the plane costs only £5OOO, practically a quarter the price of machines of comparable power. The “Clark 46” is another sensation. It is a laminated plastics fuselage which is moulded and ready for the assembly line within two hours. Ami it must have made the Nazi massproduction maniacs sit up and scream. For 2000 semi-skilled workmen witn 100 dies, could produce 3000 “Clark 46” streamlined bodies in a month. Plane output itself is topping all previous figures. The United States Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce already estimates production at -aOL machines a month. . The only clue to the secret statistics in this country is that we were probably exceeding the boasted German output of 1300 machines two months ago. Lord Beaverbrook will only admit that, we are spending £2.500,000 a day —or £900,000,000 a year—on aircraft production. j “The sky’s the limit!” says he. And < Beayerbrpqk knows,