Evening star., 1941-05-18
Lead Taken by U. 5.
And Britain in Race
For Supefighter
00-Horsepower Planes
Expected to Be Used
In War This Summer
By JOSEPH S. EDGERTON.

DY oANs
In a race between the totalitarians
and their opponents for super
fighter with greater speed and
greater fire-power than anything
vet known in the air-a race which
may be decisive in the ultimate out
come of the war in the air-the
United States and Great Britain
are credited with having taken a
decisive lead.
Made possible by the recent de-
velopment of 2,000-horsepower en-
eines on both sides of the Atlantic,
these new fighters now are reaching
the production stage and are ex-
pected to become factor in the sum-
mer's fighting.
The rev British engine is the
revolutionary Napier Sabre, a
liouid-cooled in-line engine less
than six feet in length which, &C
cording to recent announcement
In the British Parliament, delivers
more than 1000 horsepower. The
development of this engine is re-
garded as one of the major British
industrial triumphs of the war and
q powerful contribution to ultimate
air supremacy.
Surprise for Nazis.
Although Lord Beaverbrook, in
announcing the engine to Parlla-
. ment, made no mention OF the use
which was to be made of it, it has
been learned since that time that
the Sabre is the heart of new
fighter designed around it which
has been chriStened the 'Typhoon." :"
Details of the Typhoon are being
reserved as a surprise for the Nazis.
1t is claimed, however, that it will
outfly, by a big margin, anything
vet built in Europe and will carry
the biggest batteries of machine
guns and shell-firing cannon ever
assembled in single fighter, single
or multi-engined.
Two fighters are being built
around 2,O00horsepower engines in
the United States. In this case,
however, the engies are air-cooled.
The first of these planes to reach
f1ight-test stage was the Vought-
Sikcrsky Navy fighter which made
its appearance late last year.
The most recent is the Republic
xP-47E "Thunderbolt," the first
1000 horsepower single engined
fighter plane to be produced for the
Army. This airplane. engineered
and constructed in what is said to
be record-breaking time, now is
being tested by the materiel divi-
sion of the Army Air Corps at
Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio. A
large number of these planes, the
exact total a military secret, will
be manufactured by Republic.
The go ahead for the test
model of the Thunderbird was
signed September 6, 1910, and the
airplane made Its first flight May
6 of this year, eight months to the
day from the date of the Govern
ment order.
ur-Blade Propeller.
To harness the power of its 1000
horsepower Pratt & Whitney en-
gine, the Thunderbird uses four
bladed propeller, the first yet de-
signed in this country for mod
ern pursuit airplane. Only one
other American airplane, the new
Martin B-26 Army bomber, uses
four -bladed propellers
The Thunderbird is of all-metal
construction, comparable in weight
with the twin-engined Lockheed
P-38 pursuit-interceptor. but small
er in overall dimensions. The War
Department, which has rigidly re-
stricted information concerning the
Thunderbird, has said of the fire
power and protection of the new
fighter only that, for combat con-
ditions, it will be heavily armored
and have strong fire re-power from
large and small caliber guns" It's
mission will be to attack either
bombers or fighters.
Two American manufacturers
have pioneered 2,ooo-horsepower
aircraft engines-Pratt & Whitney
and Wright Aeronautical Corp.
There are no liquid cooled engines
In this power range ready for pro-
duction in the United States, though
the Allison Engineering Corp, a
General Motors subsidiary, has one
on the test-block. There have been
rumors that negotiations were in
progress looking toward production
of the Napier Sabre in the United
States, but the Office of Production
Management declines to confirm
them.