-AIR SUPERIORITY FORMULA: COOPERATION USAF Retires Last Military, Industry Piston Fighter Work Closely R ecent retirement of the last pis­ By O rval R. Coo~ t on-powered fighter plane to an Air Presid e n.t , A·i rc raft Industries Assoc iation Force m useum points up the remark­ able progress made by the USAF The bal ance of power that the free and the nation's aircraft industry in world holds today-U. S. air power just over a decade. - stems directly from a relationship . It was only in 1945 that the just­ between the government and the air­ retired piston-engine fi ghter plane craft industry that is unique in the was the hottest thing in the Air history of customer-producer deal­ Force's inventory. Its top speed was ings. 450 miles per hour. Its maximum T his relation­ altitude was about 40,000 feet. ship r etains all .Ju st as World War II ended, the of the inherent aircraft indus try had started turn­ a d va ntages of ing out j et-powered fighter planes competition for which co ul d reach speeds of nearl y GERMAN AIR MISSION VISITS U.S.-Lt. Ge n. Josef Kammhuber, th e c u s tom er {)00 miles an h our and altitudes be- Chief of Staff of the Ge~ · m a n Ail· Force (left), spoke be fore a 1·ecent and, at the same yond 45,000 feet. m eeting of the Export Committee of the Airc1·aft Industries Association. time, charges in­ With each passmg year, aircraft H e is shown with Maj. Gen. J. M. Weikert (USAF-Re t.) , Chairman of tlw dustry with the AlA E"-"}lOrt Committee, and Gen. Thomas D. White, Vice Chief of Staff greatest respon­ manufacturers' r esearch gave t~1 e of the U. S. Ah· Force. Gen. Kammhuber said the Ge~ · m a n Ai1· Force must AUSAF faster and more potent au·­ be put into conditio n by 1959 to defend against Russian pla n es capable sibilities ever W'craft. Engine m~nufa c tur ers, whose of ope1·ating in the Mach 1.3 to Mach 1.6 sp eed range. " If tha t is not vested in private enterprise. The first turbojet engmes probd~lcd~d 1,600 possible," b e said, "it would b e b etter to h ave no German Air Force." close government-industry teamwork ounds of thrust, are m mg gas The German Air F01·ce, now a p a 1·t of NATO, will b e composed of ten has produced a succession of supe­ p I ·nes 10 times as powerful. tactical wings a nd e ight to te n ail· defense wings with 1,326 ail·craft. rior aerial weapons. tur J I . b A a result, 1!1 the years etween The demand for greater perform­ ; and 1957, fi gh ter p_lane speeds ance, reliability and automatic func­ 194 Faster! Faster! tioning breeds complexity. The air­ ]wv e moved from 450 mil es an hou r in the piston plane t? better than craft of World War II bear a re­ semblance to modern aircraft rough­ 1400 in today's turboJets. Furth er Alice in Wonderland Would Find Tm:hnology d increases are Just around the ly comparable to a crystal and cat's­ s pee d" . corner as stu 1es contmue ~n ~as Pace in Aircraft Industry_ Familiar Gait whisker radio set and a combination turbine engines capable of de!Jvenn ,e: television, radio and phonograph set. An aircraft industry executive, see, it takes all the running you ~ to 25,000 pounds of th rust and Modern aeronautical ve hicles are p dynamicists do research on new castin g around for opening remarks can do , to keep in the same more accurately termed weapons for a speech he was planning, re­ aei O . d . I bl place . If you want to get so me­ systems. confi gurations anh . matena _s capa d e called a scene from Alice in Wonder­ o f handling sue u1 tra son1 c _spee s. where else, yon 1nust rnn at Today's aircra ft and missil es have land. least twice as fast as that.' " Similarl y, the 12-year p e r~od has sped past the point where the gov­ " ... still the Quee n kept cry­ The Queen's description of the tremendous advances 111 fir e­ ernment could economically direct see r~e r T he piston fi ghter of 194S ing 'Faster! Faster!', but Alice pace in Wonderland, th e executive in detail their design and production. ptnd ;nachine guns man ually fired felt she co uld not go fast er, decid ed, precisely fitted the tech­ The manpower requirements would use I e pilot. But the 1957 jet fi ghter thot£gh she had no breath left nological situati on of th e aircraft in­ be prohib itive. As complexity grows ) to say so. However fast they . •Y 1 1 ost cases carne. s a f ast- fi nn. g dustry. I t requires all the running apace with performance require­ Jn m or air-to-a ir missil es. Auto- went they never see med to pass the gove rnment-industry team ca n ments, th e a ircraft industry must as· anything. c annon. fire controI systems 1oc k on do just to keep up with the brea th­ sume even greater respo nsibility for ma li C · · d fi. '"Well, in o ur co untry,' said less technological pace, and to get enemY plane, zero m an 1e futu re aircraft and missiles. th e . sil es or cannon with deadly Alice, still panting a little, 'you'd ahead and stay ahead requires run­ A upersonic bomber now under­ the m JS. generally get to somewhere else ning twice as fa st. going fli ght tests has 16 major, high­ a c cura CY · advances by th e aircra ft - if you ran very fa st for a long It all goes to underline the World ly complicated sub-systems th at fu nc­ . Th e~e in the fi ghter fi eld have time as we've been doing.' War II slogan : "T he diffi cult we du ti on almost automaticall y. To mold Jndustl Yarall eled in bombers and " 'A slo w sort of co untry,' immediately; the impossibl e takes a these systems within the basic air­ said the Queen. 'Now here, you, little longer." fr ame. balancing weight: against per­ been P 1 nes as well. All USAF c argo_ ~ ~a c ti c a l and straJ:egic bomb­ form ance increases, requires th e fir st-lin w jet powered, except for hi ghest order of technical manage­ .4Aers are no) omber fl ee t. whi ch is rap­ 118 Million Air Passengers Predicted by 1970 ment by industry. ~th e )l e a~Y~ J converted from a combi­ The Civil Aeronautic Administra­ pasengers by 1960 - as aga in st 4 Even th e lar gest aircraft manufac- id l ~ )J e ~{' piston and jet engines to tion pred icts th at by 1970, 118 mil­ million in 1956- 8.9 million by 1965, 1ur er co uld not alone produce a natJOil . force. And many cargo. lion pa ssengers a year wi ll be flyin g and 11.5 milli on by 1970. modern plane. The prime contractor a n all_- J: t. and training aircraft are U.S. dom esti c airlines, compared Additionall y, a lead ing airline - or weapons system manager- re­ ref u e iJ~1 "' ]aced by jets or t~Jrb o prop s. with 4·2 million in 1956. CAA fore­ executive fi gures the world's a ir lies on a va st netw ork of more than being 1 ep d va nces are typical of the see 66 million passengers a year by transport fl eet wiU be call ed on to 50.000 subcontractors and suppliers These a r esearch and production 1960 ; 93 million by 1965, and 118 carry 12.5 billion ton-miles by 1961. for th e greater part o[ the weapon. fores_ig ht, of th e nation's a i_r ?raft miJl ion by 1970. This means there will be no sur­ T hi s broad base of hi ghl y specialized requJre4 " to k eep U. S. md1tary On overseas routes. CAA estimates plus of transportati on in the future ~ ki ll s , which wa s brought aboul by anle- coll1 P suP rem e. an an nu al volum e of 6. 2 million wi th new jets entering service. (See COMPETITIO N. Page 7) a ir a rJilS Plane Views PLANES Planes is published by the Aircraft Industries Associa~ion or America, Inc., the national trade associa tion of the manuiacturers or m ilitary, transport , and personal aircr a ft, helicopters, ftying missiles a nd their accessories, instr uments a nd components. The purpose of Planes is to: Foster a better public understanding of Air Power and the AN INFRA RED requirements essential to preser vation of American leader­ ship in the air; HOMING DEVICE Illustrate a nd explain the special problems of the aircraft industry and its vital role in our national security. FOR MISSILES 1 Publication Office : 610 Shoreham Building, Washington 5, D. C. DEVELOPED BY THE New York Office: 150 East 42nd Street, New York 17, New York. Los Angeles Office : 7660 Bev erly Boul evard, Los Angeles 36, California .