Evening star., 1947-06-15
Test Planes
Are Weird
New Types on Display
Look Like Bats or
Projectiles
BY w. H. Shippen, Jr.
Aviation Editor Of The star

pressure SulIS anu CIdSii Ac1ilcto Va
weird design and the sounds, even
the smells, of the place are foreign
to the usual airbase.
IA Look at the Future
The throaty roar of reciprocating
engines sounds nothing like the
blasts volleying from the jets, or
the thunder of rocket motors which
is a blow to the ear drums. A reek
of kerosene and burning chemicals
blows up on the wind across the
hard pan flats of the vast dry lake.
In the desert sky, tiny, lancelike
experimental planes probe the
secrets of transsonic velocity on q
frontier which so far has turned
back every human explorer.
The Bell XS-1, a torpedo-shaped
flying laboratory, curves into the
blue, trailing wake of orange flame
and then a white streak of elected
fuel before vanishing in matter OF
seconds.
The Navy's new Douglas Sky
streak, lacquered bright crimson
flashes across the runway and fades
against the rim of the far noun
tains. Or Consolidated's latest four
jet bomber thunders away on thin
stubby wings, resembling dart of
polished metal when it catches the
sun.
Strictly Experimental
These were some of Uncle Sans
latest experimental planes on parade
for 200 visiting aviation writer's. 1t
appeared all too true, from what we
had seen at manufacturing plants
in the Midwest and Southern Cali
fornia, that the Muroc show repre-
sented projection into the future.
In other words, the planes were
tomorrow's, rather than today's,
combat types.
Separating the two, even under
pressure of dire emergency, must
necessarily be five, even 10 years
of painstaking redesign, factory
tooling, personnel training and
eventual production.
Manufacturers and Army Air
Force experts alike are afraid the
American public is either convinced
that such advanced types can be
rolled out quickly in case OF war, or
has become indifferent to the posi-
bility that such weapons might be
turned against us from abroad.
The first Bell XS-1, which prob
ably has carried a man faster than
he ever travelled before, at some
thing over $50 miles an hour, is not
even a prototype of combat design
but an experimental model to
fathom mysterious forces up to and
through the speed of sound.
More and More Speed
The planes four rocket motors
have never been opened up, and
probably never will be because the
first model has completed its series
of trials and is being replaced by a
second, a more powerful type, be-
lieved capable of reaching a speed
of 1,400 miles an hour.
1t seems possible one of these
models will be flown at the sonic
wall by robot control to test turbu-
lences heretofore fatal to man.
While the Bell model must be
carried aloft under bomber, the
Navy's jet-propelled Skystreak takes
off and lands under power.
In successive flights, this latest
contender will edge closer to the
sonic speed of 76o miles an hour at
sea level.
New Try at Record
The model has the added ad
vantage of a nose section in capsule
form which can be blasted free in an
emergency to tumble down to an al
titude from which the pilot can bal
out.
| Consolidated's experimental XB-
46, whose fuselage is like spear
shaft with a plexiglass point, has
speed of more than 480 miles ar
hour, service ceiling of 10000 feet
and is rated to carry 10 tons OF
bombs 300 miles distant and return
This wallop could be delivered by g
crew of three.
Another AAF experimental mode.
by Boeing Aircraft, with swept-back
wings and an even higher speed rat.
ing, is expected to be test-fiown thi!
summer. These models, like one
produced by Martin at Baltimore
are scheduled to replace the ole
medium bombers which carried such
a heavy load in the last war.
The AAF, however, with limited
appropriations, has money enough
for only one production contract ir
this type. This went to North Amer.
lean for 100 B-45s of roughly the
same performance as the Consoli-
dated version.
Neither of the Army,s two jet
| fighter types now in production, the
Lockheed Shooting Star and tn.
Republic Thunderjet. have been able
to break the official worlds speeo
record now held by the British
Other tries probably will be made
later this summer when the temper
ature on the desert is high enough