Evening star., 1951-09-13
By Don Whitehead
Associosed Press sioff Writer


This is the intriguing story of
"a super-se weapon developed
in World War II that became so
Ienmeshed in military secrecy few
persons knew how to use it ef-
Ifectively when the Korean war
broke out.
The curiosity of a civilian
scientist at the Pentagon finally
broke the bonds of secrecy and
increased the use of the killer
gadget in Korea to the point that
it may be a decisive weapon in
turning back any new Red Of
fensive against United Nations
forces.
This weapon today--due largely
to one mans one of the most
important in the U. N. arsenal
and reports show it has been
responsible for much of the
slaughter of Chinese troops.
Radar Expert in War.
The scientist in the case is DR..
Louis N. Ridenour. jr., a 40-year-
old physicist who served as a
radar expert under the combined
chiefs of staff during the last war
He now is in the Office Of the All
Force deputy chief of staff for
development.
The weapon which he pulled out
of mothballs is the proximity fuse
the electronic gadget that can
cause artillery and anti-aircraft
shells, rockets or bombs to ex-
plode within a few feet of their
target.
For example, the fuse is screwed
into the nose of a bomb. When
the bomb is dropped, a tiny radio
in the fuse sends out waves which
bounce back from a target to a
receiver. AS the bomb nears its
target, the echo-waves trigger
the bomb to explode in the prox-
unity of the target.
In this manner, shells, rockets
or bombs may be exploded over
the heads of enemy troops, show
|ering them with deadly slugs of
|shrapnel from which an uncov-
cred foxhole is no protection.
Now Widely Used.
Here is the story as told by
military men who have watched
DR.. Ridenour's first moves develop
into large-scale use of the prox-
unity fuse in Korea:
Last fall, DR.. Ridenour was Curl
GUS as to why the armed forces
were not using more proximity
fuses in the shelling and bomb
ing of enemy troops. There was
a large stockpile of the fuses in
the Far East. They were a po-
|tentially potent anti-personnel
weapon. But few were being used.
He doubted the claims of some
persons that they weren't needed
or that they were ineffective. He
didn't believe they were not suited
for use in mountainous. country
and that the use of the fuse in
Korea would be too great drain
on the supply.
As an immediate result Of DR..
Ridenour's curiosity, a joint mis-
sion was sent to Korea last De-
cember to study the problems.
The Air Force was represented by
Col. John j. Driscoll and the Army
by Col. c. H. M. Roberts, I both
ordnance experts.
Too Much Secrecy.
This mission discovered the
fuse had remained such a secret
that airmen, artillerymen and
others didn't realize its effective
ness as an anti-personnel weapon
although the fuse had been a
deadly weapon in the Battle of the
Bulge in World War II.
One officer said: Some artil-
lerymen didn't even know the
fuse could be used in certain
Shells"
The major reason given was
that comparatively few persons
had been trained in the use of the
fuse-and until recently only a
handful of Air Force men had
been cleared" for security to
work with the fuse.
A top-leyel order had placed
responsibility for security with the
Army and Navy before the Air
Force became an independent arm
of the services. Not until recent
months was this order revoked.
one source said, to give the Air
Force equal freedom in adapting
the weapon to Air Force tactics.
The Ridenour mission did find
that some of the fuses were bad.
There were some malfunctions
that scared hell out of people" !"
This was due primarily to a
misunderstanding of the weapon, I"
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