Evening star., 1946-03-19
|Shdngri-La Leaves
u. ). for Rendezvous
With Atom in Pacific
BY w. H. SHIPPEN, Jr.

NORFOLK, Va, Mar. 19.-The
carrier Shangri-La and her ghost"
squadron slipped down a foggy
channel and out through the Vir-
ginia Capes last night, bound for
Operation Crossroads in the Pacific.
There was an eerie mysterious
quality about the hulking f1attop as
she faded into the mist with blinker
lights Pickering and flight deck
loaded with swarm of "drones''
and queen bees" which are to ex-
plore new horizons Of atomic power.
A group of newsmen who visited
the Shangri-La before she sailed
watched the carrier in her dark bat
tie dress pick up bow wave and
head across waters where the late
Gen. Billy Mitchell and his bombers
demonstrated for a previous genera
ton the force of another revolu-
tionary weapon. :
Experienced Men Aboard.
But the Shangri-La, unlike the
ships of another day, carried men
experienced in every phase of mod
ern air war and alert to the poten-
tialities of entirely new develop
ments. Many OF the Navy's most
advanced scientists, technicians and
special-duty pilots were aboard to
insure efficient operation of the
Hellcat ghost" squadron during the
atomic bomb tests at Bikini, begin
ming May Is.
The squadron consists of some 80
Grumman fighters equipped to fly
without pilots in test areas where
atomic radiation, heat and turbu-
lence might prove fatal to human
beings. An equal number of queen
bee" Hellcats will control the
"drones" from the air after they are
catapulted from the, Shangri-La to
collect scientific data and photo
graph the explosions with automatic
cameras. ..-
AT least eight .dfbnes,e each ac-
companied at safe distance by two
control planes, win fly at varying
levels through the atomic cloud
after leaving the Shangri-La at a
distance of from 20 to 80 miles from
the explosion.
Some Planes May Be Lost.
Rear Admiral r. P. Briscoe, COM
mander of the operational develop
ment force of the fleet, said that
several of the drones may be lost
because of turbulence, heat or ra-
diation effect on controls.
Pilots in the queen bee" planes,
upon losing sight of their drones in
the cloud, must head them off on
the other side if possible and steer
them to a landing on Roi Island.
more than 100 miles away. At the
same time they can call on the aid
of the Shangri-La's radar tracking
crews to locate "strays."
Army and Navy sections of the
joint task force are working out an
elaborate traffic control pattern to
prevent conflict between the Navy's
Hellcat and the Armys Flying
Fortress drones. Flotation gear has
been fixed to air scoops and other
recording instruments on the Navy
drones in the event they fall into
the ocean.
Helicopter to Be Used.
The Shangri-La, veteran of the
Pacific war, also is carrying four
helicopters to fly technical observers
into the test area as rapidly as safe
approaches are indicated by radia-
ton recording instruments carried
in the rotary wing craft. The hell
copters will be used to pick up in
struments and automatic cameras
installed on ships and shore sta
tionS.
Perhaps the busiest men at the
tests will be the queen bee" pilots,
who must maneuver their own high
speed fighters and steer the drones
on separate radio channels for each
control flaps, landing
gear, brakes and elevators.
On losing sight of their ghost"
planes, the pilots will throw the
strays on automic gyroscopic con-
troll and try to overtake them.
This is often difficult, because
the robot brain is apt to work out
more efficient throttle and carbu-
rotor settings than can be devised
by harried human in cockpit
loaded with gadgets.