Lawnmower Boy

My Dearest "Mrs. C.:" Dearest sister, I write to you to express my fullest satisfaction with your husband's recent decision to take the waters. His return from the lake will not be long delayed. Until then, I am at your disposal. Enclosed is Reggie's regular newsletter, and a photograph of the person who will meet your son's train in San Francisco. I am afraid, however, that although Reggie is becoming more alert to his affliction, some of the concerns you relay must derive from incipient mania. You certainly have nothing to fear from the evil machinations of the peer mentioned. As a matter of fact, he has been dead for almost two hundred years! He may live on in family history as the man whose power in the ministry prevented the Founder's legitimation, but the Founder's father could only have married who he married, and provide for his son and his son's mother, in the way that he did. There was enough risk in securing the Founder his commission! It is only our good luck that the father was then able to secure his private and public posterity at Canton by the same adventurous means that he arranged his own. O U O S V A V V! His illness goes, in my opinion, to the mysterious faces Reggie has seen lurking about, but Grandfather does not agree, and has sent his chop to Vancouver. You will be acquiring two cooks in the next week who are very good with knives. [One Photograph and three enclosures] My Dear Reggie: Have no fears. Fat Chow has been tasked to protect your "wife." Flight 1 June 1939 Leader: The actual Admiralty takeover of the FAA occurs in the same week that the press makes much of a De Havilland Queen Bee "target drone" which doodled unscathed for three hours in the vicinity of a Fleet antiaircraft live fire exercise. The times are changing, apparently. As they always are. Commercial Aviation: Notices the Yankee Clipper. Again. SANA orders two Ju-90s. It is almost as though Brother Boer resents being dragged into our Empire. I can only suggest that they should have fought harder, although, remembering our days of dragging a 4.7" across the veldt, not too much harder. Or tried being a larger, richer nation that we could not simply bowl over. Anyways, a grand and ongoing triumph of progress and Christianity. A new blind landing system is under testing at Wright Field. There are various new domestic services to use all of the new airfields we are building and equipping with much electrical apparatus of this sort. Article: “A New Multi-Gun Fighter.†I comment further on the Martin-Baker Fighter below. “A Parliamentary Party:†And here is the meat of it. Remember all that talk of British reserve, not to mention backwardness compared with Germany and America? It must smart at someone, because last week, Members of the Commons and the Lords, Commissioners for the Dominions and Dominion Liaison Officers, plus officials from the Board of Admiralty, Army Council, etc were taken to Northolt to see “pehaps the most convincing display of service flying ever staged." They watched the “world’s finest service aircraft demonstrating their functions,†inspected an assortment of secret and semi-secret equipment, and saw a tantalizing fly-by by two unmentionable aircraft which are still secret. (Though I heard some grumbling about a much larger aircraft that might have attended had it not recently been quite avoidably indisposed.) The machine park, first attraction after fourteen coaches had discharged their loads of legislators, contained three Hurricanes, three Spitfires, three Gladiators, a Hudson, three Hampdens, three Battles, and examples of the Henley, Harvard, Tutor, Oxford, Anson, Walrus, Beaufort, Defiant, Roc, Skua, and Master, but not of "every creature, clean and unclean." No Lysander was there, as perhaps Hiduminium extrusions remain on the "Intermittently Secret" list that the Air Ministry apparently maintains). Searchlights, anti-aircraft guns, a balloon, a Link trainer, and other equipment was available for inspection. “While RAF officers were being plied with questions (any normal schoolboy would not have deigned to answer many of these, though some displayed encouraging intelligence) a wing of twenty-four Vickers Wellingtons boomed over at a menacing height to give the first massed demonstration of these substantial geodetic-built craft, which have a longer range than any other aircraft in the Service.Some minutes later the Wellingtons were followed by two fighter wings embodying six squadrons of Hurricanes and one of Spitfires, the first flying in wing formation, the second in diamond formation….†There were dive bombing demonstrations by a Battle to counter “foreign†claims to unique capabilities in this technique, Gladiator acrobatics, a high speed flypast by a Spitfire going “at least 380mph, having benefited from a shallow dive,†a flypast by 3 Sunderlands, squadron manoeuvres by Hurricanes, a flypast in succession of 10 other types, including a Powis trainer prototype. A Spitfire with the latest three blade variable-pitch airscrew was shown. A fast twin-engined type made an even more spectacular flypast in the “mystery machine†parade. After all of this, it is rather anticlimactic to report that the main Article: summary of George Lewis’s Wright Lecture on progress with American wind tunnels. “The Aircraft Engineer†covers ‘Elastic Stiffness of a Skin-Covered Framework,†and a discussion of “some airscrew considerations.†The Engineer, 2 June 1939 A writeup of the new Martin-Baker fighter. My own private instinct is to let the French have the field here with the Caudron. If it succeeds, we can buy some, as we did in the last war. The ingenuity, not to mention influence, of Messrs. Martin and Baker can be applied a little more creatively. But what do I know of aeronautics? The Economist, 3 June 1939 Leader: “A Distorted Boom†on the last day of 1938, this paper forecast that recovery in Britain would be seen from the summer onwards. This was grossly pessimistic. It was not all due to defence –the lower price of steel that came into effect on 1 January also had its impact. However, defence is a big part of it, and there is likely to be an increasing distortion of the normal functioning of the British economy if this goes on, with painful structural changes after the end of rearmament. Second Leader:“Japan’s Choice:†more war in (south) china, apparently. Grandfather predicts that Japan will be at war with Britain and perhaps Russia by the summer. The Ministry in Tokyo, he says, finds hope of securing European allies, fear of the political cost of abandoning the China adventure. “Notes of the Week:†Speaking of war in Europe, the Anglo-Russian deal is delayed again; “The New Army:†the 200,000 men of the National Militia will report for induction this week, with the first notices going out on 1 July. “Labour in Depression;†employment did not fall as far as expected in 1938. “The World Overseas:†Germany’s railways in trouble. Now here is something worth a paragraph break. An increase in American government spending is expected as“appeasement†of business in the United States is seen to have failed. I am appalled and amused at once that one reason that it is supposed that the American economy has faltered is that it is now a “mature economy.†The American population has ceased to grow, and America is no longer the land of youth. Thus, a savings glut naturally builds up. Hence, Government must borrow and activate these funds. Flight 8 June 1939 Leader: Former Secretary of State for Air Sir Philip Sassoon has died. Service Aviation: “Official†performance statistics are given for the Hurricane. It still has a peak speed of 330mph at 17,500ft (To which it climbs in 7.8 minutes). Commercial Aviation: new airfield at Derby, new Baltic airline, new services in Africa, new Bloch airliner announced. Douglas is working on a DC6, which will fill the gap in airline procurement until such time as the DC4 becomes economical. Speaking of stratoliners, the second Boeing 307 is ready for trials, replacing the first, which crashed. I am perversely glad to hear that it is not only British airliners that crash or prove to be white elephants. Industry: Rolls-Royce is breaking ground on its Glasgow site. Australia has bought lots of stuff preparatory to beginning Beaufort production. The Engineer, 9 June, 1939 Leader: Purchases from the £2 fund that the government has set aside to purchase British-registered ships destined for premature scrapping are going ahead. All very well, it seems to me, unless they need scrapping. I had a most unfortunate visit from some gentlemen from the British Coal Association, who intimated that our little railway transaction might go more expeditiously if we scrapped plans for the associated pipeline, perhaps in favour of a coal wharf. I have heard nothing from Imperial to suggest that the new plant will use coal as a feedstock, and have asked our solicitor to inquire. Captain Acworth strikes me as a little unhinged. Following Leaders: The paper is interested in recent experiments in steam-powered aeroplanes. So were we all, in 1890. At least before we boarded the Rattler. Never a truer name....; HMS Thetis is tragically lost. Your son was downcast about this, although "Miss G.C." did much to cheer him up. A very large expansion of the Territorial Royal Army Ordnance Corps, of 150 officers and 5000 men, is announced. An Engineering Branch of the Royal Navy Supplementary Reserve is announced, with no peacetime obligation. A remarkably trouble-free way to wear the blue and impress the Bright Young Things, if you ask me. Engineering, 9 June 1939 Leader: Loss of HM Submarine Thetis. Article: Full description of the machinery of SS Mauretania, with diagrammes. Extraordinary! The Economist, 10 June 1939 “An Imperial Policy†The paper sees many colonies, notably in the Caribbean and West Africa, as trapped in a vicious circle. Wages are too low to alleviate poverty, with here a harsh reminder that the bad old days are not gone in many parts of our Empire, where poverty means malnutrition and preventable disease. Taxes to alleviate these bear heavily on the economy, notably duties that impact the price of imported necessities of life. Fixed interest charges on infrastructure improvements further reduce the colonial administrations’ room to manoeuvre. The solution will be Marketing Boards to increase the price of sugar, cocoa and such. “Food Production in War;†it isn’t enough. “Notes of the Week:†the Thetis disaster. The King goes to Washington. “Organising Supply:†the powers of the Ministry of Supply are further laid out; “German Finance†a scheme in which German contractors are paid in part in IOUs is not entirely satisfactory. I, for one, am astonished. “Japan and Great Britain;†outrage in Shanghai. I apologise for keeping you in suspense about the final destination of the special cargo. Easton will be have charge of the curios and bric-a-bracs, which are to proceed by rail to San Francisco. If you are able, you are to descend to the mouth of the Pend d'Oreille and should take charge of matters relating to the border. “The Motorisation of Germany.†Germany is catching up with the UK. If you count motorcycles as equivalent to cars. “Cotton-Rayon Controversy;†in the new organization of the textiles sector, where does the new fabric balance the old? Flight 15 June 1939 Leader Merger of British and Imperial to form BOAC is this week’s story. Commercial Aviation: Portuguese are to buy De Havilland Rapides for an Angolan service; Pan-American will carry booked(?) passengers on the Atlantic run starting June 28; France is getting ready for summer proving runs with an older Latecoere; Ensigns almost ready to return to service with Tiger IXCs with constant-speed props. How does the engine know how far to twist the screws? Your son tried to explain the mathematics, and then, when that failed, used analogies. It involved musical instruments and weights on springs. I could not make heads nor tails of it, even before he recited the dreaded words, "differential equations." Engineering 16 June 1939. Leader: Shouldn’t we be thinking about industrial dispersal? Yes, we certainly should. The Engineer 16 June 1939 In the letters, J. G. B. Sams writes that the £2/acre plowing subsidy announced by the government for all acreage left "down to grass" for at least 7 years will be, as the government intends, an important contribution to war readniess if the government's goal of 250,000 acres reclaimed is reached. But can it? Let us talk traction. Horses are ruled out at the head. They will be too costly of manpower. Two horses can do an acre a day, but require 1 man for the work. Internal combustion tractors are too few to do the work and lack tractive force for operations such as "moling" ("creating subterranean drains by dragging a vertical bar 2 or 3 feet below the surface"). what is needed is steam plowing with tackle. But whereas in 1918, 600 rented [stationary steam plow sets] kept 12.6 million acres in operation, now owner/operators report only 125 sets available for rent. Or one could conclude, as great grandfather concluded long ago, that if one needs to "mole" land to put it in corn, one should reconsider whether the land ought to be in corn, and invest instead in a strong navy to keep the sea lanes to the colonies open. The Economist, 17 June 1939 The leaders revisit foreign policy (“Defence versus appeasement,â€) and Newfoundland; then move on to the first six months of the American Fair Wages and Hours Act.†“Notes of the Week:†The Blockade of the Tientsin Concession by the Japanese continues. (Grandfather relays his gratitude from 'Arcadia.') Talks in Moscow continue. Mr. Roosevelt may run for a third term in 1940.Forty thousand storm troopers from East Prussia just showed up in Danzig. Air Raid Precautions are developing; there will be a trade credit for Poland. “Production and Prices in France:†there is continuing improvement, although the pace of it has slackened. Exports advance. Inflation is incipient, notwithstanding the fall in the index of wholesale prices to 685, against 693, 695 and 696 in previous weeks. “No Real Change in American Business Outlook.†Were the livers wrong? “Charter for Air Transport;†the BOAC Bill is introduced this week. If there’s going to be subsidies, there ought to be a Crown Corporation.

The editor parses links, but can't handle quotation marks?

My Dear Reggie: Another month has passed. The crisis of the age comes closer. Conscription and naval building that capture my attention at the exclusion of happier family news of the soon-to-be-happy-couple. In that regard, I must notify you that a cargo of particular discretion is to be expected in Vancouver shortly.Fat Chow will have charge of it until it is delivered to a private car, where Cousin Easton will take over. Grandfather asks that you make arrangements in the city. Oh, for those careless days of youth, classes and the perfume of the orchards of old Santa Clara, those golden days, soon to be entered into by your boy. I hope that the Poor Clares are as kind to him as they were to us, in California so long ago. Now having said that, I do find my mind cast back to better days. It is the peril of old age, I am told. Or perhaps it is because war so signally interrupted our boyhood, to Tokyo's beating drums, not unheard today. Remember two twelve-year-old volunteers realising the truth behind the romance of naval battles, of shells bursting round one and nowhere to run, even if we could desert our admiral when he needed us? I think that if more people had experienced the flash of the QFs, they would be more reluctant in their rush to war, and certainly moderate their enthusiasm for sending men and boys out in ships that have no business at sea. Instead they should meditate on the boys who will not live to see weddings or their Grandfather's hundredth birthday. Speaking of which, at the rate things are going, expect to put your chop to the deed when I see you in San Francisco next year. Now here is the press. (As usual, my actual stock purchases are appended. Mostly makers of radio-related contraptions, not to get ahead of myself.) Flight 4 May 1939 First Leader: Mid-air refueling is delayed getting going, and there are more intimations of problems with the Empire Air Mail scheme. Art for the leader is an exploded view of aHandley Page Hampden. Flight notes that the Hampden highlights one approach to solving production problems, but the paper calls for others. It is taking too long for new technology to reach the squadrons. Developmental flights are needed, and developmental types. Article: The Handley Page Hampden is a remarkable plane. For Flight, every plane is remarkable. The end of the article suggests a reason for this, a page and a half listing the hundred or so sub-contractors involved in its production, all of whom advertise in Flight. Service Aviation: The Long Range Flight gets its gongs; the Empire Air Day programme is released (a country wide air pageant, if you have not been paying attention, as I am afraid that I have not.) The Westland Lysander II is in service with the RAF; the Air Ministry buys DH 95 Flamingos for a new, Britain-based transport unit to supplement the one in the Middle East; A picture of the new Lord Rector of Aberdeen U, Air Vice-Marshal Sir David Munro, getting out of an Avro Anson. Family history.... Commercial Aviation: the first Short G boat is delivered.* I was not paying attention when this 5000hp, 60,000lb monster was announced. I understand that the RAF version will introduce 16" guns to the air service, and that Boeing is readying a response, the Paging-Doctor-Freud Clipper. I speak somewhat facetiously, but this leads into the observation that there have been even more Empire Air Mail mishaps. Yes, because people keep dropping fair size yachts into the water with 70 knots underway. "Flotsam and jetsam" is not just an easy line for a music-hall Jack Tar. Article: Brent, on "QBI," continuing. You will recall that this is airman argot for night and low visibility flying, so that you can leave London at midnight and arrive in Brussels --a little past midnight, taking time change into account. Oh wonders of the age! This is a pretty technical discussion for a non-technical article on the methods available for radio direction finding a plane, seguing into “Ultra-Short-Wave Technique," whatever that might be. Though mere ignorance does not stop me from opening my chequebook. These are my favourite kinds of companies, the ones that make much-in-demand-bits that go into lots of things. The Industry notes that the Tiger IXC, the type mounted on the Ensign, has been rerated at 775/805hp at 2375rpm at 6,250ft, maximum takeoff power is 900/935hp at 2375rpm at sea level. The Dagger III’s overhaul period has been lengthened. Of neither engine have I heard phrases such as "wonder of the age." It is hard to see where either firm could go from here. Armstrong in particular appears to have decisively lost the race on the aeroengine front, but I shall keep an open mind, if not an open wallet. Engineering 5 May 1939 Article: the Lysander II. Petter is filibustering this new plane, and the Grey Lady of the technical press takes account of the heavy use of "extruded light alloy" to create simple and rugged structures, notably the fixed, sprung magnesium undercarriage of enormous strength. I gather that "extrusion" is a process whereby semi-molten metal is pushed through a nozzle under great pressure, thereby shaping it and, as we used to say, "forge hardening" it at the same time. I put quotation marks around the phrase, because apparently it is more complicated than that, with equations and X-rays and the like. The point here is that once the technique is successfully applied to steel, we might see significant improvements in turbine blades. Or, indeed, light alloys might come to be used. The Engineer, 5 May 1939 Leader: "End of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement;" Hitler's denunciation serves "as further confirmation of the growing conviction that treaties negotiated with the present regime in Germany can only be regarded as scraps of paper, etc." So we should drop out of the London Treaty, too, (I imagine apoplexy in Tokyo, and my heart leaps for joy) and in particular out of the 8" cruiser holiday so that we can build equivalents of the new Hippers. And, in general, "build build build build build. . . ." The Economist, 6 May 1939 Per the cover, the Leaders: €œIssues of Conscription, Full Employment,mThe Central Electricity Board, Bulgaria and the Balkans,€œBritain'€™s Exchange Clearings.â Now, the paper's leaders do not always align with what is announced on the cover, which I can understand. But this week's inserted first leading article is something else, hopelessly misrepresented as “Small Change.†The claim is that Hitler’s supposed big speech to the Reichstag was, in fact, no change. The denunciations of the Anglo-German Naval Treaty and of the German-Polish Nonaggression Treaty of 1934 were expected, the overall effect is positive, because the Royal Sovereigns will not now be scrapped. This is a novel definition of "positive," of which I am unaware. Where is the Fleet to get the men for the "Rolling Ressies," much less for a permanent expansion of the battleline to 20 ships? Perhaps the paper has a more advanced position than I had ever suspected, and anticipates lascars returning to the Royal Navy. By means other than stealth and falsified baptismal certificates supposed long lost in the San Fanscisco earthquake, I mean. Wink, wink. “Issues of Conscription:†Is the Military Training Bill the culmination of generations of demands on the Right for conscription? No, it is not, notwithstanding coming from the Conservative cabinet. Was it brought on by the lack of vision and foresight of the present Government? Yes, but that does not change its necessity now. Is it necessary? Yes. It is true that “in April alone, some 88,000 men enlisted in the Territorial Army, leaving only another 122,000, six weeks supply at this rate of recruitmen . . . ." And a long and convoluted sentence follows, the point of which is that the Army is going to expand its role in proportion to the number of men it gets, so the more the merrier. The real limit is the current munitions supply. Under the extra heading, Agenda for Preparedness, --II comes the promised second Leader on Full Employment. “In the most widely accepted economic doctrines of the moment, the concept of “full employment is one of peculiar importance. Until “full employment†is reached, any increase in the monetary demand for goods has the effect, not of putting prices up so much as of attracting into employment resources of labour and capital that were previously standing idle. Until “full employment†is reached, so runs the theory, the creation of demand by expansion of credit cannot result in what is commonly called inflation; on the contrary, by increasing national income, gives rise to savings that offset the original creation of credit . . . . In the layman’s language, “full employment†is the point at which the financing of government deficits ceases to be “sound finance†and becomes “unsound finance.†So are we at full employment? Admittedly, the shortages of men and material that were so prominent in the spring of 1937 have not reappeared. There are still 1,727,000 men and women on the unemployment rolls, but many of these are unemployable. The residual is 817,000, much of which will be taken up by the expansion of the armed forces. We estimate an increase in the value of aircraft production over the next year of 45 millions. The total registered unemployed in the aircraft, automobile and railway vehicles sector is currently only 16,500. Current production per head is £612, which has perhaps already risen to £700. Similarly, the projected increase in arms and related manufactures is £24,200,000, and the gross available output for registered unemployed in the general and electrical engineering industries (ie, omitting constructional and marine engineering) is between £25 and £30 million. Bottlenecks, therefore, will soon emerge throughout the manufacturing industries. What of global inputs? Current coal production is 228 million tons, 60 million tons below the 1913 peak. There will be no shortage there. Steel production, however, is theoretically 14.5 million tons, and 14 million is probably the practical limit, with 13 million already being produced and consumed. Given that the WWI peak was 9.72 million tons in 1917, there is a real possibility of shortages there. But labour is the key shortage. Full employment will be reached long before next spring and the completion of the current £350 million borrowing programme, and a new financial policy will be needed soon. “Notes of the Week†opens with furious diplomatic activity in eastern Europe and continues by discussing the most obvious way of addressing “future financial difficulties:†swingeing tax increases. Japan is wavering in policy, and the British Medical Association thinks that current nutritional standards are too low. Our current food policy was established before the value of “protective foods†such as dairy, fruits and vegetables was known, and there is no possibility of bringing domestic production of these up to acceptable levels, so that imports are a vital aspect of any future war effort. Our New York correspondent writes on “Seeking the Causes of U.S. Depression.†We can all agree that the current depression began in 1937, but the causes are not clear. Could they be an abrupt curtailment of Federal expenditure combined with a contraction of credit due to a reduction in excess bank reserves and the “sterilization of incoming gold, and, secondly, a punitive tax on undistributed corporate profits?†It is apparently not the policy of this correspondent to draw conclusions on policy, but that conclusions are to be drawn by the reader is apparently the policy of this correspondent. “To produce a recovery, a programme of lavish deficit spending was authorized; excess reserves were multiplied by a reduction in required reserves; and by the monetarisation of the previously sterilized gold; and the tax on undistributed profits was reduced to a shadow.†A sharp rebound in production ensued, but before the competing claims to have caused this were decided, the recovery ran out of steam. Then it happened again in the second quarter of 1939. Perhaps when the increase in Federal spending is felt, this will be relieved. But the tenor of the discussion of the last twelve months, in which the whole explanation for the economy’s problems have been laid to the size (or lack of size) of the Federal deficit may have been misplaced." “French Financial Problems†Tax receipts are up, but not nearly so much as the estimates require. The chief cause is international tension, which has dampened business. A sales tax has (the old wartime 1%) been introduced, and new bonds issued. An official campaign calling for “increased consumption†is hoped to push up demand. Production and investment are up. Our Paris correspondent continues to pinch his sous in expectation of the most frightful imminent inflation. You know what would "increase consumption?" Wage increases. Certainly my cleaning lady is sporting quite the nicest hat since I raised her weekly last month. “The Central Electricity Board†The CEB’s report for 1938 was published on April 5. It is doing very well. How shall it spend its surplus? Not on additional capacity, since electricity demand is not subject to some law of perpetual increase. That is certainly something to know. I, mistakenly, might have inferred that it was. ICI, Marks & Spencers had good years. Morris and Ford did not. There has been a rush of shipbuilding orders: 190 vessels (150 tramps, 40 liners) of 850,000 tons have been announced to the Board of Trade, of which 650,00 have already been ordered. 597,000 is on the stocks and capacity is 2 million per year, so pressure on steel and labour, but not yards, is foreseen. Unfortunately, the details of the aid to shipping include preferential treatment for coal-fired ships 11s/ton subsidy for coal-fired tramps versus 10 for oil-fired. Is the picturesque suffering of South Wales to stand in the way of Burmah oil profits forever? Also in the news, a scheme, not to be regarded as a wartime measure, but for the long term improvement of the fertility of the soil, is announced of a £2/acre ploughing subsidy for pasture torn up and ploughed. Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith’s initiative is welcome to this paper, since much second-rate pasture could be greatly improved by being put under a regular rotation, including of fodder crops. It seems, however, unlikely that the five months between now and September will be enough to find the tractors, seed drills and skilled labour needed, so that the subsidy should be extended into next year. The Minister has, however, announced that reserves of fertilizer and tractors have been built up in the event of war. There is an upwards trend in wholesale prices. Perhaps Our Paris Correspondent is right, and inflation is finally upon us? Flight 11 May 1939 Leader: The Royal Visit has left for Canada. The FAA is formally transferred to the Admiralty; the paper is excited about the imminent RAF Garden Party, which apparently involves planes more than champagne. Articles: Flight visits No. 16 (Army Cooperation) Squadron to take a look at Lysanders and also ground liaison equipment. Instrument makers Reid & Sigrist have entered the aircraft construction business, with an instrument trainer. Flight is obligatorily excited. Service Aviation: The Taurus II, which is an improved version of the Taurus I, if you had not guessed, is in service. The Kestrel XXX is in service. Neither engine, it is pointed out to me, equips an aircraft on the RAF's Open List, although the Kestrel is to into a trainer, at least. The Americans have the very odd Bell XP-39. Did we not conclude that engines mounted behind the pilot were a bad idea in the last war? A new member of the Lockheed Electra family is anticipated. Wait? Is this still "Service Aviation?" I do not know. Neither, I suspect, does our editor. The Secretary of State for Air, Sir Kingsley Wood, opens an airport on Guernsey.That does not seem to be part of "Service Aviation," so I suppose the page has turned on that discussion. The Douglas DC5 is tested. Article: Well, more of a picture, really. It isn't an underground factory. That would be impractical. It's just one that retracts into a bunker! I should just clip the picture out an send it to you for the humour of it. The Engineer, 12 May 1939 The paper believes that if there is to be conscription, engineering students should be put on special registers, so as to be employed as engineers in the event of war. The Economist, 13 May 1939 Leaders: “Diplomatic Manoeuvres:†Is Russia defecting from collective security?“Shelter and Exodus:†Will there be a knockout blow against London? No. Will there be heavy civilian casualties? Yes. Perhaps proposed evacuation schemes should be expanded until such time as the shelter programme is complete.“Conscription of Wealth:†It is supposed that in 1918 the Government spent half the national income. Currently, the national income is estimated at roughly £5,000 millions, and might rise as high as 6 in the event of full capacity. How can the Government find its way to spending £3000 millions? Taxes, forced loans, some inflation. Yes, well, it seems like some of that wealth might flee the country first. (Too late, my editorial friend. Try telling it someone who did not learn it on Grandfather's knee.) “The Refugee Problem,†there are currently 200,000 Central European refugees, mostly Jewish, of whom only some 20,000 have as yet been accepted into Great Britain. This is shameful. More should be let in. This paper really does have progressive views, Reggie. No, I speak too soon. That's if they are skilled labour. The rest can go to Rhodesia or British Guiana or the Philippines or such. That is closer to what I was expecting. Notes[? See. It's not just Flight that forgets its section headers.] The American recovery is still pending, and business spending in particular lags. France, on the other hand, has now “Stable Government,†meaning that Daladier has been returned as premier, and there seems to be some willingness to accept inflation. (Apart, to be sure, from Our Paris Correspondent.) There are still bonds needing to be issued against the armaments programme, and the Socialists still want excess profits taxes on arms manufacturers and a check on the rise of prices, but the government is, overall, stable. Cunard White and Union Castle report a steep fall in annual profits. Bad cess to them, as the Scots would say, were it not that I had the same news. Employment is now only 22,000 below the all-time peak of 11,707,000 reached in September 1937. There is a “Whale Oil Strategy.†It is, not, surprisingly enough, to send the Jews of central Europe to South Georgia to farm whales, or whatever it is they do there, but rather to buy out the Norwegian harvest in bulk to prevent Germany from making up its shortfall in edible fats, which cannot be made up by achieving Lebensraum in wheat producing countries. Germany's own 1937 catch was 90,000t, but it absorbed 107,000t of Norway’s production. Last year’s harvest was down, and Britain has bought the whole of the world supply to build up its essential food reserves. Might I interest you in some margarine? ICI had a bad year on exports, but domestic consumption increases, especially defence related, made up for it in part. Perhaps this is the reason for the delay in closing the sale? Nylon is an increasingly important part of the company’s business. In almost entirely unrelated family news, and with gratitude for your recent discretion in arranging a "rebirth" in the midnight darkness on the Dominion-Republic border, I report that the soon-to-be-nee-Miss G.C. made her London debute, in advance of which, I think, we visited every high street establishment in London, and we picked out a wonderful yellow dress and some nylon stockings. (See, my segue is not entirelly unmotivated.) She affected a Californian accent with the utmost aplomb, not that she has not had much practice, but a Cantonese intonation would have quite given the game away. And when it came time for her to enter the floor, the rival was swept away effortlessly, pipped out of a race that she was not even aware she was running. That being said, her youth made Miss J. C.'s suitability for your son most questionable. I have suggested putting off the wedding to San Francisco next year, to honour Grandfather, but the League of Aunts has shot this down with much disdainful glaring. Apparently, tongues will wag, and our mighty family tower might fall. And, no, you may not jest about how I it is that I have avoided being enrolled in that puissant league myself, lest I rediscover my membership in the near-as-puissant-League-of-Assassins. Give Grandfather my best when you see him, by the way. Flight 18 May 1939 Editorial: Imperial still can’t get the Atlantic flying going. Gentlemen, if you have lost Flight . . . Article: F. A. De. V. Robertson, “Powers of the Air Arm.†This correspondent has been sharing his surfeit of punctuation with Flight for many years, which is why he can pull an article like this out of his files on short notice. It is a history of the RAF, and while it is pretty fascinating stuff (who can ever hear enough of punitive campaigns in the Northwest Frontier Agency?), I have to wonder what was supposed to go in these pages. Article that's a Picture: the new 3.7†AA is appropriately menacing. Pictorial: “Standard Aircraft of the RAF.†There are 42 types, if you have not been counting. Page over is a picture of enormous numbers of Spitfires being assembled in a very large hall. So not only are there many types of planes, there are a great many of them, too. . I enclose a pin-up picture of a Lysander that follows for the boy. Tuition for the boy's first term went directly to the school, instead. I hope that you understand, and would urge you to reconsider the possibility of a midnight rebirth. American citizenship would not be the worst cross that the boy could bear. That would be bastardy. Article: “The RAF Today: Fighters†We are allowed to note the Hurricane and Spitfire, built to the same general formula, of which the latter is capable of 362mph. Only a few weeks ago, the paper tells us, a French technical journal referred to a British twin-engined fighter fromWestland capable of 420, but we can’t say anything. Which, I think, is rather misleading. Did they not, after all, just say something? The Hurricane, as in service right now, is capable of 335mph at 17,500ft.* Both Spitfire and Hurricane are surprisingly easy to fly due to various innovations in flappers and such. They achieve their performance behind a production Merlin III capable of 1030hp at 3000rpm at 16,250ft at a boost pressure of +6.25lb. The Merlin, the paper notes, gives this performance on 87 octane. (I am rather passionately assured by the gentleman from ICI in regards that even the 100 octane so conspicuously not noticed here is by no means the last argument in octane rating. The Gauntlet and Gladiator, now in service for several years, are . . . serviceable. The Defiant is entering service. Some more. Armour is being fitted in response to the four-gun power turret, which it is assumed our fighters will face, greatly increasing their need for protection against rifle-calibre bullets. The Blenheim is being used as a twin-engined fighter in the role this periodical has envisaged. That is, as aâ€Âfighter trainer.†Is that an implicit suggestion that amulti-seat twin engined fighter is coming? Article: “The RAF Today: The Bombers.†This is a much less informative article, although the barrage of bad news for Armstrong Siddeley continues, as the Whitley V is to have a Rolls Royce Merlin vice the Tiger. The Economist, 20 May 1939 “Security and Peace:†There is to be conscription. Have I mentioned this? It's rather important. “No Change in Palestine,†“Collective Security for Trade;†blah blah Romania blah; “Land Registration.†Now here is some meat in a leader. Should land be registered for national use? The dreaded moment of land registration in the County of London arrived in 1897, we will recall by the sound of Great-Grandfather's crockery flung against the wall. At that point, all land title transfers in the County became subject to a requirement for central registration, with the intention that the office would slowly be built up into a complete registry. H.M. Land Registry Office is a remarkable institution, and its expansion is inevitable, but it will never get rid of the lawyers and difficult conveyances. No comment, for "conveying" proves to be very difficult indeed. “Notes of the Week:†The Anglo-Turkish Pact: there’s an Anglo-Turkish pact, but not an Anglo-Russian one. The pay of the conscripted militiamen is now raised from 1 to 1 6. Local boards will have to exercise great discretion to reduce social and industrial disruption as the actual call-ups begin this summer. No-one is clear about evacuation. “Rolls-Royce for Clydeside.†The ever-in-flight Secretary of State for Air was in Glasgow to run for prime minister announce same. France’s finances are “convalescing†under Reynaud. But French production is still low in comparison to peaks reached in previous years. Imperial and British Airways to merge. The Government announces subsidies for sheep, barley and oats. Unlike the ploughing subsidy,the paper disapproves. “Poland Under Arms:†Poland has no need for foreign troops (births per thousand: 26.2; deaths, 14.2). compare Germany 19.0/11.8; England and Wales, 14.8/12.1; France, 15/15.3; Italy 22.4/13.7; Rumania 31.5/19.8. It does need guns, for which it cannot pay. Oh, and our species is dwindling from the Earth. Except in Poland and Rumania. “All-Round Economic Improvement in France.†Never mind production being down from previous peaks: there is record car production this quarter. “Uncertainty in the United States:†American production has dipped in April compared with March. Gold is flowing into the United States. Why is not clear, and it has not all been monetized, but it is. Someone might be moving money into the US by this means. A lot of money. I affect the most innocent of smiles, and notice no reference to silver. Yet. “Is Bank Rate Obsolete?†It is now 7 years since the Rate was reduced to 2%, and there are no signs of it being raised. Sir John Simon has repeatedly said that the Government’s policy of cheap money will continue. Since then, we have had the 1933—37 recovery, the 1937—38 recession, and what looks like another recovery in the beginning of 1939. It would be rash to conclude that because the rate has been steady through all of this that it will continue to be so through all future exigencies. Obviously, if money rates are already so low as to be irreducible, that particular stimulus cannot be applied, and so it may be that if money were kept cheap at all stages of the trade cycle, we should be sacrificing some of the potential benefits of being able to manipulate the clearing interest rate in the first place. Flight 25 May 1939 Leader: Empire Air Day is the event of the week, aviation-wise, but the paper is apparently too late to cover it adequately. The Bristol Beaufort exists. There is your service plane equipped with a Taurus. Articles: A. Robert Edis, “Blind Approach Systems.†It’s a short-range triangulation system involving three radio broadcasters a few miles away from the airport. C. M. Poulsen, “Fuelling in the Air;†is another explanation of in-air refuelling. The New Cirrus Major, built by Blackburn is a splendid little engine. Commercial Aviation: the first commercial flight across the Atlantic, all air mail per international agreement to do five air mail flights before the first passenger run, by the Yankee Clipper. Now that is just embarrassing, all excuses aside. The Engineer, 26 May 1939 Article: "The Co-ordination of Transport;" apparently, if road transport will stop being horrible to the railways, we will be led into the sunny uplands of reliable cargo delivery. Perhaps if the railway companies could just learn where the Land Register is, it will be even before that! Though I should not complain, as one of the reasons why the negotiations still continue is that the proposal now extends to a pipeline. Apparently this hush-hush Imperial plant will be doing something to crude oil that is far more sophisticated than mere "refining." This is a bit of a surprise to me. I should think that our oil interests would have our ears to the ground on this one. Now I wonder if that gentleman at the Admiralty had some serious doubts about Grandfather's grandson's patriotism. The Economist, 27 May 1939 Leaders: “Agreement in Sight:†An Anglo-Russian agreement is in sight. The “Square Deal†Report: relief for railways in their increasing competition with road transport is called for. “The Other India.†Holland’s record as a colonial power in Indonesia is at least no worse than any other’s. High praise indeed! But the problem of imperial defence, which has not raised its head in a century (actally, the Leader might wish to refer to its 1912--14 numbers for days when the Dutch were quite reasonably frightened by Japanese expansion), is abruptly a pressing matter. Notes of the Week: "Recovery and Policy:" we need a policy for the recovery that we now have to admit is going on. The Ministry of Supply is official. There is to be price insurance for sheep. Roads are important. Maynard Keynes said, in a “broadcast plea†last week, that “This is scarcely a time for economics in transport improvements.†The next time I go round to the lawyers, I shall take Maynard with me, to grab men by their lapels and persuade them that this particular transportation improvement, which is just a rail spur and a pipeline across a mile or so of admittedly bottomless going, should not be subject to "economics," or whatever is holding it up. The Minister of Transport Captain Euan Wallace continues to visualize a scheme to improve trunk roads, but the paper is not assured. That £15 million in works have been “put in hand†most definitely does not mean fifteen million in “spades in ground.†Only 517,000 is to be spent this year, which, considering that the total includes work on the St. Albans bypass, which will eventually cost 1.755 million, and the Barnett Bypass, which will require 347,000, is much too little, too late. The new-mechanised Household Cavalry will be kept from the Battle of Dorking by a fatal lack of "cloverleafs." “Financial Omens of American Recovery?†I am now visualising Our New York Correspondent, bloody-armed to the elbow, examining the sacrificial livers. Of Californian Republicans, I suspect. At least, the older breed. Some pessimists, Our Correspondent adds, suppose that America has built up an immunity to stimulus. It is not the policy of our correspondent. . .

Well, obviously, it comes out of an eye-glazing blog about history-type stuff, so I didn't feel the need to be succinct, and it's not as though the format justifies spending a lot of text on the story proper.

My Dearest Reggie: So much, and of such importance to our family, has happened in the last month! It is almost incidental to confirm that it is possible to leave London on the turn of the month and be at Whampoa on 6 April. I in no way recommend it as an experience, but, by a miracle of our modern age, I swept the tomb of the Founder this last Qingming Day. I am going to start, again, by breaking my self-imposed rule, and reporting something that hit the press at the end of March, instead of in April. In my defence, I missed some things in my hurried round of preparations for my trip, somewhere between Admiralty, Foreign Office and who knows where. Literally “who knows where,†by the way, as some swell with an acutely advanced case of melodrama actually led me into a darkened office in a blindfold. I am to infer that there is a concern that I shall send assassins after someone who knows Our Dreadful Secret. How charming! Remember that charming Scottish lass who told you that she was descended from the PanchenLama? She is the grandmother of a Peer now. There are far more family Dreadful Secrets in London than ten thousand dacoits will ever expunge. Still, it is nice to have a reputation. However much he may curse the name of Sax Rohmer aloud, I see a twinkle in Grandfather’s eye when he does so. To wit: the 25 March 1938 number of The Engineer reported on Viscount Arcenwood’s address to the British Iron and Steel Federation. British production has reached 1 million tons a month, but in spite of a £30 million investment in capacity in the last five years, demand continues to exceed supply. In the last year, Britain imported 1 million tons of scrap 0.5 million tons of pig iron, 0.5 million tons finished steel. To highlight a point that I shall return to, everyone is making money off shipping except us. So, beginning the month: The Economist, 1 April 1939 Leaders: Mussolini, etc, etc; “Defence and Democracy†means new war powers for Air Raid Precautions and subsidies for private builders; “Nazi Economics:†Do German results prove Mr. Keynes’ theories, or is the decline in German unemployment an artefact of the return of conscription? The latter. Up to 1936, The Economist believes, German experience was the same as the American, that “public relief†helped in the early stages of a trading depression, but “got stuck†halfway up the recovery curve. The problem; is that Nazi policy has acted to defeat the multiplier by preventing workers from spending their increased wages from rearmament. A gigantic rearmament policy is just going to end with a labour shortage. Short topics: The Territorial Field Force is to be doubled to 340,000 men (that is, exclusive of 100,000 in AA). The total British Field Force will now consist of 32 divisions, 6 regular, 26 Territorial, including 4 armoured, 6 motorised in the new, two-brigade mode. France is expanding its army, too, by 422 professional officers and 2500 NCOs. There will be 2600 ratings recruited for the Navy, and an increased African levy. Plus national defence mobilization, with the 40 hour week replaced with a 60. Deserving a paragraph break notwithstanding being just another “short topic†is the paper’s notice of the aid to shipping bill: a 2.75 million operating subsidy for coastal shipping, a half million building grant, a ten million line of credit, and 2 million for a mothball-and-build. I am sure that Cousin Eng will have notified you under separate cover that we have our share out of the Secret Service Fund, and will build in Hong Kong this year, Whampoa late next. I note an ad for the “Vauxhall 10-horse sense.†The 10hp Vauxhall is value for money! Dunlop ad on the back page. Bad news for the railways, and it becomes increasingly hard to understand what the delay is on the property. Imperial has actually broken ground for their plant, on the assumption that we will swing the railway access, but we have still not set ink to the land-lease. Perhaps the League For Humanitarian Treatment of Underemployed Cows has got to them. “Industry and Trade†short topics: retail sales up slightly, although grocers complain of falling prices for commodities. As they will. Company reports: British Insulated Cables: “satisfactory results in a year of falling prices;†Automatic Telephone and Electric Co., sales up, profits up, GPO’s vast expansion in the last 15 years to a sum of 200 million in capital invested is one of the few examples of state enterprises that our Chairman likes. Ericsson Telephone, the same. Flight 6 April 1939 Editorial: Much concern, naturally, that the Germans have anew speed record. Flight doesnot think that it was established by a service fighter, as the German newspapers claim. Your son, I note, agrees. To the extent that he thinks of anything professional since I returned from Canton with Grandfather’s blessing and a personal impression, which was of a girl halfway between an English Rose and a Lotus of the Pearl, and more beautiful than either. Yes, I was quite affected, and it seems that she was quite affected by their meetings when your son was doing his diplomatic duty with the Pacific Fleet. It was “Cousin James†this and “Cousin James†that, all day. And while you, you old rake, may be suspicious, she even dropped a joke about vapourisers. Anyone besotted enough to actually listen when your son goes on about his beloved fuel sprayers is besotted indeed! Flight also notes that the Empire Air Mail scheme is going seriously awry. It makes no difference to those of us who fly Dutch. Article: Cobham on in-air refueling. In case you are imagining tanker aeroplanes rendezvousing over the broad Atlantic with liners, forget it. This is just a method of getting planes up to full fuel load after taking off. It could lead to mid-ocean refueling of aerial cruisers, I suppose, but that’s for the future. Service Aviation: The RAF turns 20! Hardwicke be d*mn*d, we can find it a good girl! Book Review: Francis Chichester reviews Nevil Shute’s It Can Happen, in which the super-navigational techniques of a continental power allow it to launch devastating night gas raids on British cities. I swear on the accumulated wisdom of 56 years that publishers have a blank manuscript that they simply paste the technical details into as they change. No doubt if I read it closely, I would find that the climactic air battle occurs over Dorking. The Engineer 7 April Another version of Goodall’s presentation on Ark Royal emphasizes that it is “not necessarily the first of a new class.†Captain Powers, commanding, observes that in her first week of working up, Ark Royal landed on about 1400 aircraft. He believes that he could handle 9 a/c in 11 minutes. The Engineer Vice-Admiral of the Fleet adds that the machinery is as “manoeuvrable as a destroyer’s!†I have it on good authority that your son was feted in the Greenwhich mess, after being ceremoniously ducked in the duckpond by his colleagues on charges of being a “swot.†On an altogether more ludicrous note, Captain Acworth (Ret), who certainly does not know who “Neon†might be, writes to suggest that the question of “coal versus oil†in the Navy question is not necessarily settled. Bernie even has a new friend. It is John Latta, of the “British Coal Campaign.†Prepare my fainting couch! The Economist, 8 April 1939 8 April 1939 Leader: “Britain Girds Her Loins.†Churchill supports the PM in the Commons. We guarantee Poland; We warn Germany; We seek a Soviet alliance; Defence borrowing is to increase to over 400 from 350; Anti-inflationary sterilization will be needed. The Grid is making money on reduced costs and is about to place a major order for switchgear, transformers and other equipment for a war damage stock. Australia is introducing labour registry to complement any return to conscription. Other Dominions arm more tepidly. There is trouble in Iraq(!) The Post Office is continuing to experiment with “Wireless by telephone.†Radio broadcasts over fixed line might have more of a future in Canada than in Britain, I am told, but television might be another matter. Overseas: No sign of an American recovery as yet. Company Reports: Dunlop’s had a mixed bag of results. Rubber prices are down, but so was heavy vehicle production, both here and abroad, and this dragged company results down. Flight 13 April 1939 Editorial: “The Danger of Silence:†French censorship is giving the dangerous impression that the Armee de l’Air is weak. Good advice, indeed, for the best secrets are hidden in plain sight. You will recall that Great-Grandfather agreed that your son would be permitted to hyphenate his wife’s name with his mother’s after his marriage? Now it turns out that Grandfather registered the girl at St. Clare’s School by the Founder’s mother’s name! The papers will say, for ever more, that the girl is a Californian named G-, and your son will, at least in church registers, sign himself by the name of the Founder. At first I thought this too clever by half, but, on reflection, it seems to me that the Founder has long since become a plaster saint, or, the equivalent in some parts of the world, a good meal. No-one even pauses to pass a skeptical or speculative eye over his origins, career, or posterity, much less look to correlations in the ministries of the Crown. Australia is upset about various air schemes. Some gentleman writing in RAF Quarterly thinks that Bomber Command needs “scouts†to observe possible targets and take photos of them. I would be astonished if that were not already being done. It’s the kind of thing Grandfather would have a hand in, if he had a hand in aviation, which causes one to think furiously. Article: The Boeing314 is announced. The shattering novelty of an American airliner that looks like the Armstrong-Whitworth “E†amazes all. Service Aviation notes the launch of Illustrious, publishes new performance statistics for the “long-nosed†Blenheim. There are pictures of a Buffalo-made monstrosity called an Airacuda amongst other new American types, although it’s not clear to me that that’s still under Service Aviation. I suppose that it would be asking rather much of Flight if I tasked it with providing consistent section heads. Article: “Diving Brakes.†The new Brewster dive bomber has them. I thought this no novelty? That being said, better ways of modifying aerofoil lift promises faster airliners. More on the ancillary power service talk. Industry news: The Secretary of State for Air is back on the move, visiting Speke Aerodrome to see the new works of the Automatic Telephone and Electric Co., and the Rootes shadow factory. Someone dreams of being the first “Prime Minister for Air.†The Economist, 15 April 1939 Leaders: “The Week’s Aggression,†Albania; “Inflation Ahead?†Articles: “The German Air Force.†How huge is it? Big, but not as big as some (Americans) say. Short Topics: Recruitment for the Territorial Army now in full swing.; “Summer air services,†are to be more impressive than last year. Article: “Market Gardening,†There needs to be more, the Leader posits, and there’s a market. Bit of a puzzle, it says here. Well, considering that cheap agricultural labour has gone the way of pilgrims along Watling Street, I will propose an explanation. There is no-one to pick the lettuce! Flight 20 April 1939 Editorial: The new Air Force List will have no information in it, lest it inadvertently reveal something. I say nothing, as it might reveal our Mystery Plane. Though since Our Mystery Plane, or rather several, has to make overhead flights as part of its proving process, one might be forgiven for thinking that it is not much of a mystery. More usefully, pictures of the Short landplane appear. It’s big and shiny and featureless, rather like the new Air Force List, and not at all like the four-engined Mystery Plane that was seen over Rochester the other day. This, however, for good reason, for it is to be pressurized, so that no life-giving oxygen can escape. You may add your own jibe at the RAF to taste. Article: Covers Heinkel’s one-upmanship over Messerschmitt in setting a new airspeed record. Was it accomplished with an He112 service fighter? Another article covers the history of Short Brothers Engineering 21 April 1939 Editorial: “Professional Engineers and National Service†The Leader thinks that a tedious but necessary conversation is to be had about the mobilisation of the engineering profession for total war. The reader agrees with "tedious." The Engineer, 21 April 1939 It is announced that Colonel Arthur S. Angwin will succeed Sir George Lee as Engineer-in-Chief of the Post Office on the latter’s retirement. P. J. Ridd will be Deputy E-in-Chief, while G. F. O’Dell will be Assistant. Angwin, educated at East London College and a Whitworth Scholar, served in the RE in the world war and is now a colonel in the Royal Corps of Signals. Ridd and O’Dell are both long-term telephone engineers. Speaking at the Marconi Annual General Meeting, Chairman H. J. White informed the stockholders that Marconi ship-installed radio licenses had now reached 7725, compared to 6995 on 31 December 1937. There was also a 50% increase in short wave installation leases and R/T and trawler installations. The Economist, 21 April 1939 Second Leader: “British Budgets,†Professor MacGregor tells us that from 1840 to 1922, British budgets were one greatcontinuity of “retrenchment and economy,†rooted in the gold standard and solid finance: a low income tax and a large Sinking Fund. The paper wistfully quotes one Althorp saying that “[t]he best way to relieve the burden of the labouring classes is to give them employment; and this can only be done by reducing the taxes which press most immediately upon productive industry.†In this decayed latter day, the paper concludes, we must accept a case for public spending to increase popular purchasing power, and Tuesday’s budget will see the latest apogee of this trend. Third Leader: Russia’s War Potential, which apparently is quite large. Fourth, “Road Transport in War,†notes that there are 495,000 goods vehicles in Britain, a “claimed†500,000 in France, 400,000 in the Greater Reich, 86,000 in Italy, but without specifying the size of the vehicles, except to imply that Germany and Italy have made great strides by giving preferential tax treatment to 5 ton+ lorries. I doubt it, for the article goes on to note that in omnibuses and cars, Britain is well ahead. Where it is behind is in terms of road construction, with none of the new “clover leafs†even planned. Then, with a diffident and artless glance at the ground, the correspondent begins to scuffle dirt nervously as he oh-so casually drops mention of new plans by the Counties Association for 1000 miles of new roadway at a cost of 60 millions. Will vast amounts of concrete be bought from someone for all of this? Why, yes, it will, and what a mad coincidence it will prove, if . . . Notes: The new Ministry of Supply has its work cut out for it, as we cannot equip the army we have, never mind the army we want. ARP talk is turning to deep shelters. . . . More concrete. Fleet exercises and redeployments are spoken of, with the Americans to build up their Atlantic Squadron, the Germans to cruise off Spain, the Mediterranean Fleet to concentrate at Malta . . . . We hear again of summer air services, which are proposed on a most ambitious scale, using the DH91 “Frobishers.†Five-seat airliners do not strike me as ambitious. Apparently the intended Armstrong Whitworth machines are still not available. Article: “French Morale Stiffened:†the issue of debt to cover rearmament has placed highly desireable instruments in the hands of French investors. Reggie, you might write this off as a manifestation of interests that the paper may not share, but I have always thought of high French morale in terms of jaunty Gallic chasseurs stepping off to “Sambre et Meuse,†porting their fusils towards the high Ardennes, pantaloons rouge bunching and striding…. Article: “Italy Through the Albanian Crisis†Apparently, when one decides to invade Albania and political difficulties ensue, this counts as a crisis that happens to your country, as opposed, say, to something that you did. Such as invading Albania. I would be remiss not to note the advertisement for KLM: “I’ll be there all right. I’m flying KLM.†Next issue mentions KLM when you have to get to Singapore. Too true. Unfortunately, mad Sikh taxicab drivers who dash you to your SGTA Hong Kong connection cannot afford to advertise in this paper. The paper’s “Industrial Reports†section uses words like “firm,†“strong†and “active†for demand for coal, iron. Scarcity of scrap hurts the steel industry, which is “very heavily booked†in Glasgow. Everyone is making money off shipping except shipowners. As I have said. And lest you think this a mere illusion of the armaments boom, demand for cars, including luxury makes, is also up. Flight 27 April 1939 Editorial: Now is the time for a Canada-Australia Pacific air route. Meanwhile, Imperial’sactual aeroplanes are having their problems. I am sure that all of the family wishes that we had Imperial's problems of rapidly expanding fleet and services. Notwithstanding, I have reservations about how well they are handling matters. Service Aviation: The Blackburn Roc is announced. The "Roc" floatplane? Someone's tongue is planted firmly in cheek. On the other hand, its land equivalent is identified as the Defiant I, suggesting that the "II" is firmly in mind. This is perhaps in conformance with the new spring line in numeral nomenclature, for the Merlin III has appeared, the key improvements, I am told, being in the propeller shaft, which will now take these ingenious new self-adjusting airscrews. Short Notice: the RAF will be out in force for this year’s RAeS Garden Party, 14 May. Unfortunately, Cousin Easton will not be their to give me informed aerial insights from an actual pilot. There follows articles on airliners around the world, then airlines around the world, and then a vast catalogue of new equipment for airline operators. Article: Frank Brent, “Towards 100 per Cent Regularity.†How airliners should be fitted out to navigate in all weather. Lots of radio gear of all kinds actually available in this country, provision for celestial navigation, dead reckoning, homing on “omni-directional beacons.†The Economist, 29 April 1939 Leader: “Of Money and Men:†taxes are up, borrowing is up, spending is way up. And Britain will have peacetime universal conscription for the first time ever. An excess profits tax will be put in place at the beginning of the emergency, rather than imposed at the end. “Education for Work:†there is a shortage of skilled labour, and the government should do something about it. The ambassador’s return to Berlin sends mixed messages. There is much toing-and-froing over alliances in Europe, but also perhaps with China, with approving notice of the Nationalists' recent offensive in the north. “M. Reynaud’s New Plan" is to continue to spend on guns, but with less effort to expand the economy with spending cuts and deficit reduction. The new plan, the paper notes, adopts some of Mr. Keynes’ recommendations for the British economy. Appropriately, since Maynard supposes that spending cuts do not actually expand economies. “American Hopes Deferred Again" because there is still no sign of an American recovery. This is apparently because of uncertainty over foreign events, while curbs the appetite for high risk securities even when the yield on government issue is so low. This in spite of a flow into the dollar. Trade Supplement: the trend of business is up since the dip of 1937—8, not surprisingly. What is surprising is marked gains in the textiles sector, not one obviously associated with defence spending, which, the Treasury Secretary, is expected to make up for all but the most catastrophic decline in private expenditure over the next year. Now there is business confidence for you! In closing, I remember again my flight of now four weeks ago, and not just because my legs still ache and my ears still ring. Amongst my long deferred readings was a re-acquaintance with Clowes on "Four Naval Campaigns." When I read the obligatory introductory section on the deficiencies of the Pacific Station in 1856, I wonder what how those same passages will read from the pen of the historians of the future? What preparations and exertions have been missed in our fanatical efforts to improve the RAF's night navigational abilities, or the effectiveness of the carrier arm? Where will our Achilles' Heel prove to be? Submarines, as our circles now worry? Or something completely out of left field, such as atomical warfare? Our own background makes me think of the subterranean struggles of the Black Chambers of the Great Powers, even if the to-ing and fro-ing of spies has rarely ever amounted to anything apart from a means of passing money into the hands of the consigners. Not that our family is ungrateful to the Secret Service. However little our assistance actually served the campaign against Russia, it certainly made us richer.

My Dearest Reggie: These packets keep getting thicker, don't they? It's not my fault. Blame Herr Hitler, and other matters that Spring brings with it. I gather that even the Canadian press has managed to notice the annexation of the Czech lands into the German Reich. Perhaps I should say, rather, "especially," since it seems to me that all the Hussites ended up in Canada. Or was that America? Or am I confusing my Bohemian heretics? Or, again, is the story of people going to America more complicated than I am given to understand? (Don't we know about such things!) Speaking of things that shouldn't be mentioned in polite company, I would rather that the club didn't know that I am reading The Economist now, as next they will be suspecting me of having Non-Conformist leanings. The Nineteenth Century never dies around here. Or, rather, the whitewashed Nineteenth Century of their asinine imaginings. Which brings me to the clipping, which purports to show how the American economy has come adrift due to the decline in the number of millionaires since 1929(!) and the decline of investment funds due to Roosevelt's swingeing tax raises. The moral of the story might be that we should think long and hard about how British manufacturing will compete once the Americans finally twig to the idea of allowing investments to be deducted from income tax payments. Or it might be that The Economist's American correspondent is making disingenuous arguments in favour of lower taxes on the wealthy, but I shan't call him out on that. On the contrary, I shall wish him every success, just so long as I do not have to be seen in public with him. With that, on to the news of a tumultuous month. Having quoted The Economist, I shall begin with it, a little out of my self-imposed monthly schedule, perhaps because I am thinking of domestic economies, and how they are facilitated when there are two to share the load. That's a hint, Reggie! The Economist, 18 February 1939 The White Paper on the Service Estimates was discussed this week. It gives a “comprehensive statement of the aims and progress of the defence programme as a whole.†The borrowing limit for defence spending as a whole is to be raised to 800 millions, and that no less than 80 millions of that are to be spent this year, the whole of the Estimates rising to four fifths of discretionary spending. This is, in one sense, a source of satisfaction, deter the dictators and all that, as seemed to be the objective in the innocent days of late February. Yet the leader is also worried. The supplementary estimates now being voted show that defence production was higher last year than originally projected. The Leader thinks that the Army is under armed and that there are not enough “of the small naval vessels required for anti-submarine and convoying work†and that more needs to be spent on air raid precautions. So something for the shipyards and for the civil engineers. In the last war, we ended by building a good part of the escort force to mercantile standards of construction, something that we could bid on from Hong Kong, do you suppose? It is, again, a reflection of last month's innocence that the dominant theme of the White Paper is the financial cost. Revenues are lower than expected, unemployment benefits higher. Only the income tax looks like it will meet expectations. The average volume of trade looks to be lower in 1939 than in 1938. The Leader calls for some defence spending to be financed from the floating debt, for which there is not enough product to supply the market, and some from an increase on revenues, in order to reduce reliance on the financial markets, which will be tested by so large an issue of debt as will be required to meet continuing defence expenditures. Elsewhere in this issue: “[E]ven if the guns made in 1938 can be prevented from going off, the rearmament will at least have proven something that economists have long argued in vain, that government expenditure can affect the trade cycle.†Flight 2 March 1939 Again what a difference a few weeks make, as the Leader was on about international air control agreements. In peace, to be sure, the issue of controlling airliners crossing international frontiers becomes ever more pressing. In war, if we are to have it, other matters arise. Then there is some substance added to the bit about trousered undercarriages at last: specifically, one George Dowty writes to suggest that the recent problems with jamming undercarriages suggests that design of them be left to specialists. According to your son, this Dowty fellow is making quite a name for himself designing aircraft undercarriages. Who knew that such a thing could become a manufacturing specialisation? On his recommendation, I dropped a few hundred into shares. After all, where would we be if Pou-Pou had not persuaded Great-Grandfather that Burmah oil was a better bet than under-draining more of Kent? Not to be diverted (any further) by better times long ago, I notice that two more of the De Havilland Albatrosses have been ordered for the Atlantic. There is not even a mail run across the Atlantic yet, and we are already expanding the fleet? Perhaps New York is going to revive! The Leader inquires as to whether more should be ordered to “relieve the strain†on the Ensigns? I don’t know. Do Ensigns break their backs when they land? Can Albatrosses take off in Mediterranean airs? I would recommend that we walk before we fly were it not so far beside the point. Article: Francis Chichester, “Square Deal for the Navigator,†an airplane design really needs to allocate some space for the navigator to do his work. Remember trying to hold the charts down long enough to take a measurement back on old Rattlesnake? "….And Bristol Fashion,†is a history of “one of the oldest British aircraft firms and its products," with quite a lovely picture of a Blenheim suitable to be pinned up above a boy's bed. I enclose one, in case you do not receive Flight in faraway Vancouver. Foreign Service News: Talk of shell guns; a quite remarkable new twin-engined Dutch fighter from Fokker and the entirely unremarkable JU87, one of the dive bombers of the Luftwaffe. The first aircraft works in North Africa is taking shape at Maison Blanche near Algiers. Perhaps the day is not far off when the corsairs of Barbary fly instead of sail? France, not content with corps d'elite that march quickly, ski, or ride bicycles or motorcycles, are now training equipes that will be dropped from aeroplanes --with parachutes, of course. Didn't that American madman, Christie, propose to deliver tanks that way a few years ago? I await the announcement of an air-droppable Big Bertha. China, regrettably, is buying an American fighter, the CW21. Ah hah! Remember how I remarked on the mystery of Bristol's chief designer giving a public talk in London that Flight apparently could not cover? This number now has a very tight summary of a repeat performance given at the Rolls Royce works in Derby: “A Bristolian in Derby.â€A. H. R. Fedden had a much more hostile audience, and we are told, defended himself with fascinating results. Sleeve valves we are given to understand, survive almost all criticism. They are not more prone to failure, nor harder to maintain, a claim that strikes me as implausible, or at least special pleading. On the other hand, I am just an old steam hand, and Fedden is talking about 6.2 hp per square inch of piston as being "in no way the limit!" Fedden is quoted as admired the high-output short life policy seen in Rolls Royce racing engines, but adds that Bristol’s philosophy was reliability at all costs. Even I see the dagger that hides behind the smile there! Bristol is experimenting with more configurations, such as one, two, three and four row radials, as the Taurus is probably the most compact radial possible. No false modesty there! In a reference that seems aimed at Derby, Fedden notes that an “X†type engine, which might be thought of as a six-row, four-cylinder radial with the engines in a bank, and he allows that Derby might be working on 9 hp/ square inch, cylinders with 6" bores, and fuels of over 100 octane is in sight. This, another informant tells me, implies an aeroengine of as much as 2000hp, which I would dismiss as American bombast had he not given me a little eyebrow-raise to suggest that there is nothing hypothetical about it at all. In this light, I note that The Industry has a short bit worthy of that little tell: Napier’s chairman refers to a ballon d’essai in his speech to shareholders. Something remarkable is coming from the Napier works soon. Engineering 3 March 1939 “Research and Industrial development.†“The Iron and Steel Industry in the Armament Programme.†I summarise neither article here. Suffice it to say that research is important to industrial development, and that armaments use iron and steel. The Economist, 4 March 1939 This week: Franco's government is recognized; the Estimates tabled; Pius XII is elected in conclave. He is thought to be anti-Nazi, opposing “racial persecution and totalitarianism;" Air raid precaution work is at last in full swing; there is a crisis in the Palestine Talks, which I do hope will be resolved soon, so that we can move on to more important matters, such as the terrible developments in Shanghai. The one small consolation of the denouement in Prague is that now that everyone else feels weighed down by an abstracted sense of gloom, I have an easier time concealing my own distress. -The 48 hour week for shop’s assistants is still a dream. Of shop's assistants, I imagine. Employers, oddly, seem less enthusiastic, although I for one shouldn't mind being waited on by people who have time to sleep between work days! -The BBC’s budget is up on licensing revenues, but it still needs its Treasury subvention due to the rapid expansion of domestic radio, international shortwave, and television services. -India’s budget is balanced by increasing taxes and a fall in defence expenditure thanks to an increasing UK subvention. A doubling of the import duty on raw cotton defeats forecast budget deficits. “It is significant that the sharp increase of the import duty on the raw material of India’s primary manufacturing industry, with the effect of protecting the primary producer, seems to have been well received in Indian political circles.†Honestly, between Lancashire and the Indian landlord class, we will lose this Empire of ours in jig time! -Speaking of which, Mr. Bose and Mr. Gandhi are squabbling. -No sign of recovery in the US. -In perhaps not-unrelated news, France is to be reformed by “plough and machines†not by government. All very well, then, says the Leader, but French industry doesn’t want to invest. There is too much uncertainty about the prospects for a recovery in domestic spending. “Ten milliards less in taxes would have meant ten milliards more in false money,†the finance minister says. Well, yes, but we're borrowing to make up for the shortfalls in your air force and, now, apparently, your army. -Anglo-German talks continue on adjusting trade to both country’s interests. Also being adjusted, “uphill," so that is downhill both ways. Excellent news for bicyclists and locomotives! I should imagine that Herr Hitler's seizure of Prague's foreign reserves is the best indication of where these talks were going. -Speaking of which, increased taxes in Germany, too. Especially on Jews. Go away, Jews! And pay more taxes. Am I the only one who sees a contradiction here? It's rather like socialists and rich people... -I neglect to summarise the “Estonia in 1938†article, fascinating as it is. -D. M. Moore writes to explain “Nazi Economics.†The Nazis invade people when they’re feeling pinched. Timely, Mr. Moore, timely. -Articles: “Revival in Home Rails?†Railways are over-capitalised and steadily leaking traffic to the roads, but, somehow, some of the domestic rail stocks are undervalued and good investments. I shall stand for the ribbing later like a man, but, frankly, Reggie, I have been burned too often by railway schemers. “Tin Under Control'" Shipping in trouble, cocoa prices down; oat and barley subsidy to cover weaknesses; retail sales in January overall unchanged. That last is interesting, and so is the news that income tax receipts are up, I notice now, as my upset over Shanghai subsides. Remember how, just last week, they were to "disappoint?" Flight 9 March 1939 Leader: Air Estimates higher than Naval Estimates! Note that in your diary, Reggie. Nor is it just the air force. The Fleet Air Arm is growing, too. The Leader is alarmed. Where will we get Jolly Jack Tar artificers? Not from industry, we are told. Not from the Air Force! So. Train your own! Well, yes, and then they're off to industry. I suppose that it is back to the days of Selborne and Fisher, then. Fisher, you will recall, scrapped the South China Station for his artificers, in the end. What will your son's generation sacrifice? Battleships? I shudder to think. Article: “Bristol Fashion†II: the Rise of the Radial." The Civil Hercules, soon to be lofting us over the Atlantic, is a fine little engine. "Training Carrier:†Flight goes to sea on HMS Courageous. Better you than me, old man, although at least Fisher's Follies are better sea boats than old Argus! The Air Estimates are given a three page commentary. Service Aviation has a picture of a Skua at sea and a Bristol Bombay being rolled out, only two years late. Commercial Aviation shows a DC5, which looks astonishingly like the de Havilland DH 95. Are they running out of ideas in Burbank? The Economist 11 March 1939 Leaders: “The Location of Industryâ€â€”companies move, in general from the North to the West Midlands, Greater London Area, and southwest. Someone should do something that doesn’t involve state intervention in the wrong way, but possibly in the right way. I paraphrase, to be sure. Can Germany’s Jews be ransomed? “The World’s Navies:†Britain has 15 battleships to the Axis (Japan/Italy/Germany 18 (9/4/5); 7 carriers to 5; 64 cruisers to 66 (39/21/5); 174 DD to 200 (118/60/22); a massive inferiority in “torpedo boats,†excluding the small motor type. Now, as for new building, it is 9 capital ships building or authorized to 12 (4/4/4); 6 carriers to 4 (2/0/2). Notice, Reggie, that British aircraft carrier construction equals the entire world’s less the French (2) and the Soviet Union, with 3 authorised. In cruisers, it is 23 to 26 (5/12/9); in destroyers it is 40 to 25 (10/7/8); and in submarines it is 18 to 39 (8/20/11). Right now, it looks like it would be difficult to send many reinforcements to Singapore in the event that Britain and France face off against the entire Axis, but when the British building programme is finished, it will be much more practical. Topics of the Week: the army is to be modernized as a mobile striking force. The 19 divisions mentioned elsewhere are to include 3 armoured and 3 motorised. Only 4 Regular divisions are to be fully armed on a modern basis for the moment, however. China, the Middle East, India, wage pressure in coal and rail not entirely to be resisted; there is a Belgian cabinet crisis, which I hope will be resolved soon so that we can pay attention to more pressing matters; there is no sign of economic recovery in the United States; but France will start recovering quite soon, helped along by cuts in administrative expenditures. There are some signs that this is so, for heavy industry is recovering nicely, although I cannot help but wonder if this has something more to do with defence expenditures than with sacking bureaucrats, and French consumer spending is pulling back. Herr Goebbels blames Britain for Germany’s inability to make trade deals abroad. The Dutch guilder is depreciating, and, in the wake of foreign trade wars, the Government sees it as necessary to stimulate domestic spending (on domestic goods) by increasing import duties; Profits in February were stable, and there was a sharp decline in unemployment. Steel production is up. Major purchases of scrap abroad will soon be necessary. Flight 15 March 1939 Leader: Debating the Air Estimates. You might imagine, Reggie, that it would be impossible to debate a "candy for everybody" Estimate, but, apparently, one can. Kingsley Wood was asked about high frequency directional beacons, apparently the latest thing in air traffic control. How are they coming along, K.W.? The minister is forced to admit that they have only 3 of 19 in. Some Hon. Membs. "Oh. Oh!"; Mr. Hore-Belisha says that the army will send 19 divisions overseas. No more Limited Liability. Notice how this comes before the march on Prague? Article: “Some Data on Foreign Aircraft Carriers.†Since you were wondering. Britain has 6, four building, 1 on order. America has lots of carriers now. Japan is breaking out of its treaty limits. Italy won’t build carriers. Now hold on for a minute, here. As angry as I am at the Japanese at the moment, I cannot help but notice that we're the ones building five aircraft carriers and fitting out one, but that it is the Japanese who are breaking out of the limitation treaties? There are not many times that I miss Jack Fisher's intemperate mouth, but this is one time. Article: “Air Estimates Debated:†After my facetious first take above, I am compelled to observe, on a more serious note, that the crucial issue right now is the need for more production plant, as opposed to more aircraft. Article: “QBI –and Why†Just in case you are not au courant with wireless shorthand, "QBI" is flying in non-visual conditions such as night and overcast. This is when air traffic control becomes especially important, but also especially difficult. Having said all that, the notice in this number is that the article is held over for reasons that we would quite understand, if Flight could only divulge them. The Economist, 18 March 1939 Leaders: “Agony of the Czechs.†What more need be said? Short topics: Australian political economy, Pacific defence, Palestine, India, rise of Japanese shipping at our expense. The United States is contemplating “recovery by spending.†France’s recovery is helped out by the fact that foreign currencies are inflating even faster than its. Though on the basis of wholesale price indexes, it is a mysterious, invisible inflation of which the Paris correspondent speaks. The British electric companies are doing surprisingly well. Looking back with a few weeks' distance, I cannot help notice the last. As after a long winter, the first green shoots. . . I think that at some point soon, at least granted that Herr Hitler gives it a chance, we shall see an honest-to-God boom in England again. If so, it will be an odd one, triggered by domestic consumption. Flight 23 March 1939 Leader: The Air Ministry and War Office have agreed on how many fighter squadrons the BEF gets. It is finally admitted that Britain will be getting the shell gun, with a Royal Ordnance Factory to manufacture it in the UK. I am given to understand that it will be the Hispano, a veritable elephant gun amongst 1" aero-cannons. The RAF will also be getting a twin-engine fighter of more modern vintage than the Blenheim. Article: the Parnall 382 Trainer is described. Summary of an article debating comparative merits of carburetor versus injection. Apparently the former is more efficient, while the latter allows for more vigorous aerobatics. The ROTOL company's variable-pitch airscrew is described. As is the Percival Trainer. Engineering 24 March The Leader has noticed that the Naval Estimates are huge. “It will be recalled that the estimates, now accepted, provide for the construction of two capital ships, one aircraft carrier, four cruisers, 16 destroyers and two flotilla leaders, 20 fast escort vessels and two of normal type, 10 minesweepers and 13 miscellaneous craft such as gunboats and hospital ships.†These are not pure additions to the fleet, which is seriously overage. We are not seriously challenged by Germany on the surface, but the Reich’s new submarine fleet is a menace, while Italy’s battleships may be thought of as a support for the massive light forces that will effectively control the central Med. Thus it is the destroyers and escorts that are the most important part of the Estimates. All very well, but what of "Main Fleet to Singapore?" The Economist, March 25, 1939 Leader: “England Awakes.†“Business Not as Usual.†There will be conscription, but not just of young men for the services. “Conscription of national industry†is in sight. Short Topics: The debate on the Naval Estimates has the Opposition calling for even more “light escorts.†In America, it is argued that Treasury borrowing is crowding out the private sector, so the Treasury’s decision that it “wants no new money†in the first half of 1939 is industry’s chance to show that it can absorb American capital. Articles: “Armaments Profits.†Despite considerable increase in turnover, it is not clear that armaments firms are making large profits. The specialty steel firms are the exception. Company reports: British Aluminium and Associated Electrical Industries did well last year, and so did British Insulated Cables, although their sales rose less than in previous years. Flight 30 March 1939 Leader: Air Power in the current crisis. With war in the air, H. F. King gives us “Military Aircraft of the World.†The Bloch 151, Dewoitine 520, Bf 109, Caudron, and an outlandish contraption called the Payen Flechair, apparently not new, are remarked. Commercial Aviation covers the first commercial crossing of the Atlantic, as the Americans, as expected by everyone, except, apparently, Imperial Airways, have wrong-footed us. Yankee Clipper, a gigantic Boeing(!) flying boat, carried several paying passengers. Article: “Armament: Some Notes on Recent Developments: Large Bore Shell-guns; installations and Turrets.†Now that we are officially informed of a British Hispano, we are invited to meditate on aeroplane gun turrets large enough to carry them! Engineering 31 March 1939 Article on Ark Royal and “the resistance of concrete to high explosives.†Editorial: we are beginning to think that the engineering industry did not suffer as heavily last year as was first thought. Employment in the sector rose slightly, reaching 592,913 versus 524,502 in 1928, with unemployed at 47,577 compared with 56,678 in 1928. Let us now stop and give mindful attention to the fact that employment in the engineering sector, notwithstanding the disastrous year that shipbuilding has been having, has risen 12%, in ten years, while registered unemployment in the industry has fallen 17% in the same time period. In discussing the Estimates as much as I have in this letter, have I brought to mind a particular conversation that we had, one September, long ago, with Doveton Sturdee? If so, you may well understand one of the reasons that I shall be taking advantage of this modern age by flying to Hong Kong this week-end. There is another, which will be broached on a clear, bright day near Whampoa. More, quite possibly much more, next month.

In way of explanation: "Postblogging" is something that boring historians (guilty!) do on the Interwebs. Take you through the press, or selection of the press, during a Very Important Period of Our Past. Usually, we have a secret agenda. In this case, explaining how the Western Allies went from being willing to fold like a cheap thing that folds at Munich to being ready to have at 'em in September of 1939. As a historian of technology with an interest in economics, I thought that I had an explanation. All of the money invested in British aeroplanes over the last five years was coming due in the form of a flood of new technology. We tend to forget just how overwhelming it was in 1939 because our view is foreshadowed by the war. Or that's the theory, anyway. I won't go any further, 'cuz you probably don't care. The point was that I wanted to gently lead the reader to my view without being some kind of omniscient prat. So I chose to write in the voice of a contemporary observer. Unfortunately, it sounded like crap. That's why this starts in February, not January. Because the January entry sounded like crap. Anyway, I shifted gears to a more conversational tone. Our unnamed correspondent is writing to his black sheep remittance man cousin in Vancouver. A remittance man who, strangely, still have an involvement in the family business. Which I didn't want to get into, because that wasn't the point of the blog series. So there was a mystery. And, somehow, a plot began to fall out of it. A pulp plot. I won't say anything more about it than that, especially since it only really starts to get going in the next post. My Dear Reggie: Another month, another batch of engineering papers to review and digest. You will notice that I have found the club's copies of The Engineer and begin with a short summary of January news from the more interesting of London's queen technical newspapers. I imagine the links don't work The Engineer ...Begins by covering industry and engineering New Years Honours. January is the month of synthetic reviews of the previous year at The Engineer. Hector Bywater, a name of note in the last decade. (Were the 1920s really so long ago? I know that you don't remember them, my Dear Reggie, but we are not talking about Scotch here.) Apparently, as of January, Britain had 600,000 tons on the stocks, with America as our next nearest rival at 400,000. Japan, Germany and Italy were gamely trying to keep up, although the question had to be how they could possibly afford to do so. Bywater is not keen on all of this construction. The six British carriers on the stocks strike him as excessive, not because he is opposed to aircraft carriers, but because, displacing more than 20,000 tons each, they are much too expensive to operate, and will surely be vulnerable to all sorts of vaguely-glimpsed countermeasures considering the actual utility of a few extra squadrons of aeroplanes. Perhaps he would be more receptive to the recent sale of 20 motor torpedo boats to the Dutch, to be engined with a navalised version of the Rolls-Royce Merlin aeroengine? "Roads, Bridges and Tunnels in 1938" notes that two Thames bridges and one tunnel are under construction this month, and another one is being planned. If you are wondering why I am taking such an interest in the future of the engineering industry at this moment, Reggie, you might contemplate the location of one of our townhouses and draw your own conclusions. . . . "Aeronautics in 193*" notes how things have changed since Professor Jones discovered "streamlining" ten years ago. Now we are concerned with turbulence instead, and a threshold of performance for airscrew-propelled planes in the transsonic range, which I understand to be the region just around the speed of sound, or starting at roughly 500mph at useful altitudes. Gyroplanes are quite exciting, our correspondent thinks, and the future of long range aviation is in flying boats. The correspondent is underwhelmed by Vickers' "geodetic" construction, and, unsurprisingly, sees the future as lying with aluminium. "Oil-Engined Rail Traction in 1938" apparently warrants its own section, mainly a mindnumbing review of new gadgets for domestic service and for South American exports, such as turbocharging, gears, reversible engines, novel transmissions, "torque converters," "electropneumatic and Extractor controls" and ever more compact and powerful oil engine plants, with 220hp, 350hp and 450hp machines all noted. The major markets are domestic (including the new Royal Ordnance Factories, which require quite substantial works locomotives) and in South America. It is elsewhere noted that the capital servicing costs of German and even American railways are approaching 100%, that is, that the international industry has no money for re-investment. With British charges at "only" 84%, concentrating on the domestic market actually makes a great deal of sense. It is clear that reinvestment can potentially deliver greatly improved and more economical service, at least if all of these newfangled gadgets live up to their promise. I shan't comment on the South American situation. "Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering in 1938" reviews a quite pessimistic outlook. It is likely that, once all contracts let last year are laid down, only a quarter of the country's 2 million tons of annual capacity will be in play this year, especially since only 18% of domestic berths are suitable for Admiralty work. Flight 2 February 1939 Our editor is on about airports, then about American expert Paul Johnston’s “Box Score†article in Aviation that notoriously suggested that, inter alia of being behind Germany in technology and numbers of aircraft, the RAF's morale was "5" to the Luftwaffe's "10," or some such. We could all learn something about manners from moves like the one where Poulsen manages to take all of this unpleasantness and pull out some numbers in which Johnson (inadvertently?) notices that it is all going to be all right. (6000 German a/c produced in 1938, 3500 British; 8000/5000 in 1939. Articles: i) Airports. Apparently, there are over 20 new airports under construction in Britain right now. That's a lot, I take it, considering that even ten years ago they were talking about how domestic air services could not compete with rail. ii) The Secretary of State for Air, Sir Kingsley Wood, has flown off to Reading, where he is presiding over the opening of the new Phillips and Powis factory, and is photographed taking a flight in a new Magister trainer. Page over, and I think this does not count as a new article, the Cunliffe-Owen factory has opened at Southampton Airport. iii) “Fighter Bombers for the Fleet:†This new Blackburn Skua is quite something, a two-seater for combating enemy aircraft during naval operations and for making low-flying attacks on ships upperworks, and for delivering dive-bombing attacks. (iv): “Present Trends in Radio Services:†of particular note is a discussion of High-Frequency Developments. Currently HF is used for direction-finding receivers at airports. These include ground beacons emitting definite track signal, and ground beacons emitting “omni-directional signals,†comparable to, and sometimes actual radio stations. Glide path beacons might be developed from the first concept, using the existing VHF installation associated with the continental Lorenz or Telefunken direction finding systems. An editorial note indicates that the article on “Air Traffic Problems†is held over to a future issue by circumstances beyond our control. Service Aviation is buried at the back and is short, only two pages. The picture features K.W. in a “four-gun turret†at the Parnall Works. Apparently, the minister has been out on the town a great deal this week. The Engineer 3 February, 1939 "Structural Engineering at Norwich." Boulton Paul, the aeronautical firm, was born out of an older structural engineering firm, which still exists. It has moved to a new location, and is busy making huge chunks of steel into structural bits with very impressive special purpose tools. Apparently, they're the lads if you want a hangar for a very large aircraft erected quickly. "The Alaska Highway." Apparently, Alaska is quite a ways from the rest of the United States, and Canada's maidenly virtue is on offers for enough of the Yankee dollar. So perhaps soon a very long, very expensive road will be built from one to the other through the third. (Hmm. I begin to appreciate why you're so ungrateful for your bank drafts, Reggie. We're sending them in the wrong currency.) A. A. McMurdo, "Railways and the Quest for Speed," is a discussion of the Pacific locomotive, which, due to its reduced hammering, solved all structural problems on British railways forever! This is an odd article, and I am expecting a very large and loud other shoe to drop soon. Engineering 27 January 1939 Article: Apparently, the paper likes being behind the times as well as boring. It has been a month since the first flight of the new De Havilland plane ended with its back being broken on landing, and here is an article about the Albatross. Apparently, it will be quite good, once the wrinkles have been worked out. Which is all very well, but it is hard to get worked up about a pure mail plane, exciting as the idea of business air mail between London and New York might be. Editorial: (I've mentioned the paper's charming habit of putting these in the middle of the paper, so that bound volumes switch dates between one article and the next, haven't I?Splendidly convenient for the bibliographer. Anyway, content: the paper chooses to speculate about what Auckland Geddes called “the third phase†of a war emergency to come. The first, if you have been following the conversation, will have been by this point the evacuation of the cities by nonessentials, followed in the second step by the deployment of the Fleet. The third step, then, is “the kind of war we had before.â€) At this point, our editor finds his point hovering into view, hull-down, on the horizon, and begins a dilatory move towards it? Apparently, we engineers will build a great many civil defence-type structures. Well, good, then. I had hoped that we wouldn't stop pouring concrete at home, just because of some silly "war like the one we had before." God save us from that. Flight 9 Feb 1939 Editorial: Flight is worried that the Army might not have enough air cooperation types in the event of war. The thought is raised by Group Captain Chapel, who, in a paper to RUSI points out that, ultimately, only the Cabinet can decide how many aircraft should accompany the army overseas. Only political rectitude, therefore, can assure that the army will have the air support that it needs. Flight therefore thinks that squadrons need to be specially designated, as well as specially trained, as some already are, for the army expeditionary force. All very well, but the sting in the tail is "above an beyond an adequate basis for home defence." Yes, quite, Flight thinks we need to buy more planes. For the army. Think of poor Tommy Atkins! Articles (i) “Spitfires for the Squadrons:†Just when you think that Vickers-Supermarine's little ship is last year's model, out comes one with a de Havilland three blade two-position propeller. (ii) “The Air Minister Goes South.†No picture of the Secretary of State, just coverage of his visit to Supermarine last week. Which said coverage is awfully extended. Has the Prime Minister perhaps some point to make? I frankly begin to dread the foreign news, Reggie. Have I mentioned that your son has been gazetted Commander(E)? He really would like to meet you someday. Service Aviation has pictures of the Boulton Paul Defiant and Hawker Hotspur with their turrets, but oddly censored. The turrets apparently carry a number of machine guns, but the precise total is suppressed in the photo. The implication that I come away with is that the Air Ministry is treating us like nursery-school children. Engineering 3 Feb 1939 Article: “High Speed Chain Track Vehicles†Having successfully rooked the reader with a dry-as-dust title, this turns out to be article about how tanks are getting faster. Today’s “Engineering Outlook†article covers the aviation industry, presenting the unsurprising news that it is growing. Engineering 10 February 1939 Article: “The Engineering Aspect of Air-Raid Precautions.†Well, at least the title of the article manages to say what it is about, for a change. Flight 16 Feb 1939 Editorial: Comment on Fedden’s RAeS/IAE talk. Er. Which, apparently, cannot be covered here. About that.... Jour. Roy. Aero. Soc. 43 (1939): January: F. R. C. Smith, “Mechanical Properties, Uses and Manipulations of Aluminum Alloys,†is a brief and condensed review of current developments. P. H. Rayner, “Notes on Aero Engine Research,†is a student paper. February F. Entwhistle, “The Meteorological Problem of the North Atlantic.†A nice chart reveals just how dangerous it is to fly over the Atlantic in the winter, beginning, interestingly enough, in November, and relenting in March. I would have put the season at something more astronomically winterish, perhaps January--April. Perhaps some day this will actually be relevant, perhaps in understanding an air-sea "Battle of the North Atlantic?" So no coverage of the Fedder talk here. Continuing with Flight, (no. 1573, Vol 35, 16 February 1939) Our Editor continues with the observation that American research equipment is better than ours. Articles (i) De Havilland has another new airliner, if I hadn't already heard officially. This DH 95 Flamingo is splendid, and has the high wing format to make sure that everyone has a good downwards view. Hmm. If commercial aviation really does continue to get better and better, might people who do not like flying actually some day do it? I am not convinced that the high wing is such a selling feature, length of undercarriage stroke set aside. (ii) Buried in the articles is a brief summary of aspects of the Fedden talk, specifically, sleeve valve development. Whatever their merits as engine components, they do sound like a metallurgical marvel. Service Aviation has another picture of a Defiant with the guns whited out, and of the new Fokker fighter. Industry has a visit to the Sheet Metal, Inc. factory. They make fuel tanks! For planes. I would never have predicted five years ago that this could be a business that would support a factory. Not, to be clear, that I read the article closely enough to be sure that this is the firm's only source of custom. Engineering 17 Feb, 24 Feb Our editor repents of his brief digression into the minimally interesting with two articles devoted to civil engineering projects. Which, I am sure, are interesting to bridge, dam and harbour work builders. The Engineer, 17 February 1939 The Engineer Vice-Admiral of the Fleet, Sir George Preece, spoke to a local branch of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers recently, taking as text the theme that even though 25% of the Navy is in the Engineering Branch, still its hunger for brains is not satisfied, and in particular brains who have attended advanced studies at the navy's engineering college at Greenwich. Not that I am implying anything about your personal peccadillos, Reggie. Yet. This week, a book review covers Stephen* T. Possony's book on To-morrow's War: Its Planning, Management, and Cost. Possony thinks that total war will prove too expensive to be fought, and that there shan't be any of that terror bombing of which people speak. Given just how wrong this line of argument proved in 1914, you may be assured that I will be out digging a bomb shelter in the back garden this afternoon! Ah, well, perhaps the good professor is a better educator than he is a prognosticator, and his name will be remembered for the brilliance of his students. Flight 23 February 1939 Editorial: i) Empire air forces are growing but have a long way to go. Perhaps I am old and cynical, but this whole thing with plucky Canadians, bearded Indians, brash Australians, disaffected South Africans and, well, whatever-they-are New Zealanders grates a little, Certainly, they have planes, but is not the point rather that they need planes if they can do some good? The last war was one "Fokker panic" after another, and surely we don't want to send sturdy Dominion human material up in second-rate planes to be mowed down by the successors of the Albatros and Triplane? (ii) The Defence estimates: 580 million pounds. Have I gone to sleep and woken in someAlice in Wonderlands dream world, Reggie? 580 million pounds? Well, no wonder the Empire air forces do have a long way to go. They can't put the twist on the City for that much money! Honestly, this is more than a tenth of the national income, leaving any supplementary estimates out of it. (And I hope I am not telling tales out of school when I say that certain old shipmates are extremely displeased by having to settle for two 28 knot battleships when near-new armaments taken off of Fisher's follies are left on the quay to rust away.) The Air Estimates, by the way, cover two hundred million of that. It’s being spent on new planes, and 37 new stations, and there’s the FAA, still partly funded out of the Air Estimates, the editor says, although elsewhere he seems more sensibly aware that that was always Admiralty money, and that the Navy really should have a say in it. Never mind, Reggie, I am sure you are tired of that particular rant. And we have a new panic about anti-aircraft artillery, but, again, that is for the army. Our editor mentions a reversion to fixed undercarriages, and teases us with a “mystery plane†apparently revealed in the Aircraft Engineer supplement at the back. Will it be the one that jaunted over me as I was driving to the country last week? It would be nice, but I doubt it. I shall try to contain the suspense as I continue through the main content. Articles (i): “Air Forces of the Empire.†Our photographer has found Indian ground crews in turbans. Isn’t that picturesque? Do Scottish mechanics wear kilts? The Aussies have Demons and Ansons! And they have the nerve to complain that they cannot get hold of our best. Service Aviation has no pictures, boring, especially when it mainly exists to reprintGazette information. And it interleaves yet another bit of material on Empire Air Forces. I’m not sure that this is effective layout, especially with another picture of an Australian Anson as illustration on the first page, although over we get a Gannet, Hudson and Wirraway. New Zealand foregrounds its scenery in its pictorial, even though we eventually get a picture of a Wellington. I am not sure how New Zealand gets our best bomber, whereas Australia cannot? Is it the scenery? Or is it because our industry does not wish to export its capabilities, only its products? I am sure it is the former, Reggie. Canada has float planes. Because it's an Arctic wilderness, you see. And biplanes. Oh, and Blenheims! South Africa has Westland Wapitis, and Airspeed Envoy Cheetahs, which are to regular RAF planes as European animals are to African. Which is to say that they are larger, and have spots and stripes? I am not sure, but, whatever be the case, they will surely be cause enough for the Dutch to forgive us the whole "concentration camp" unpleasantness. On the same topic, I note that the author regards Egypt and Iraq as Empire Air Forces. And people task Dame Agatha for making her village policemen so utterly clueless! Having actually talked to some real Arabs on matters political, I do not hesitate to predict that neither country will rally round the Union flag in time of war. Finally, as promised, The Aircraft Engineer. How have you controlled your anticipation, Reggie? The article is aboutâ€Inertia Starters," and the mystery plane, by the way, is a Bristol Bulldog being used to flight test an Alvis Leonides, an engine that has rather less chance of an Air Ministry contracts than my cleaning lady's son's "Really gigantic wound up rubber band" plan. Now, if you have actually read all of this, you will be wondering what, at the end, I take away from it. My answer may be unexpected, but I do have some friends who did not throw their maths in the dustbin after Cambridge, and so "unexpected it is:" "Three-bladed airscrews, Reggie." I was not present at the Fedden talk, and I cannot tell you why it seems to have been embargoed. What I can tell you is that the Rolls-Royce concern was able to increase the horsepower of their last engine, the Kestrel, from 500 to 700 horsepower during its lifetime. There is good reason why fast aeroplanes have two-bladed propellers. Words such as "balance" and "torque" come up, and "the conservation of angular momentum." There can only be one reason for going to three blades, and that is that increased airscrew area is needed to absorb increased engine power. A new Merlin is coming. Yet, at the same time, the company is selling a navalised version. Remember that the power boat industry has been sourcing engines in all sorts of outlandish places. Italian engines, American engines, even the Napier Lion, the which appears to have turned from the very quintessence of modernity into a drab old workhorse in the blink of an eye. Certainly we never saw a "Sea Kestrel," and that is because Rolls-Royce had enough Air Ministry custom to absorb its production. Now, in spite of vast increases in aircraft production, we are seeing surplus Merlins turned over for export, at the same time that, I speculate shamelessly, new makes and models of the Merlin are under development. It is not news, of course, that Rolls-Royce has built up a great deal of productive capacity in the last three years, with its new plant at Crewe, and the one proposed for Glasgow. I just wonder how much capacity the internal combustion engine industry will be able to absorb after this war scare ends. Whither the roads? We shall see, Reggie. We shall see. Yours, etc. P.S. Your son was gazetted Commander(E) in the New Years list, and will be lecturing at Greenwich this spring, I am sure you have not heard, as no congratulations from Vancouver have been as yet forthcoming. *Sic.

No, we don't know what Malack did to upset Nale. On the other hand, we have from-his-own-mouth confirmation that Nale killed Malack's children. And on another note, I was beginning to feel like the climax of this story arc would never come, that everyone would just wander off to the next gate in status quo. Now...

His own death. The Destroyer is bipolar, complicated with severe narcissistic personality disorder. His whole life is one long exercise in displaced suicidal ideation. His overt wish will be the realisation of some elaborate (and pointlessly destructive) scheme to rule the world. But it will have within it, at last, the certainty of his own death. Preferably in a way that ends existence in the process.

Who? Sorry, couldn't resist. Welcome back!

A web page! http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~ssanty/cgi-bin/eightball.cgi

Desolid? Or possibly Change Environment or Extradimensional Movement.

Desolid? Or possibly Change Environment or Extradimensional Movement.

This is why I like to think of Sovereign as the leader of the Space Dark Elves. And there's a lot of interesting ways that could go.

The Mandaarians ought to know about the Martians by now. The planet has to be the most important archaeological site in the galaxy right now. Why aren't they there? ..... Or are they?

I disagree. Pulp comes out of a specific moment in American history, and a particular take on race, that Americans today have a hard time confronting squarely. Take Lone Ranger. The decision to cast a White actor as Tonto was the start of a comment on the Appleish original Tonto that audiences of the 1930s would have appreciated. The next thing that the casting directors should have done was to cast an able-to-pass American Indian actor as the Lone Ranger, just as a "high yellow" African American should be cast as Doc Savage, and take the very definite position that the Ranger's mask, like Clark Savage's strangely mutated bronze skin (and the scarf that almost concealed the Shadow's big, hooked nose), was a metaphor for racial passing in American society. The problem, I think, is that American society is past the point of being able to slyly wink at these things, as it did in the 1930s, and not yet at the point where it can explicitly accept them.

The Sink is an archetype. An archetype of a particular type: the character who only appears once or twice because writers keep reinventing the powerset and then realising that there's nothing they can do with it. Serial superhero comics especially, need to end an issue with a narrative hook. One excellent hook is an escalation of the danger. If, at the beginning of the issue, you thought you were fighting the holder of the Zodiac Key, at the end of the issue, the team is faced with the Zodiac -twelve new supervillains with zodiac themed powers! Another solid narrative hook is the protege reveal. A popular character's sibling is threatened. This might seem weak in itself, but if you show them to have superpowers (but fledgling powers that won't get them out of trouble), so that readers can relate to them better, or something. These are two species of examples of a general problem facing a writer. We've ended the issue solidly, by introducing Salem's Seven/The Soviet Super Soldiers/The Zodiac/Paige Guthrie/The New Mutants, for example. The problem is that now we're faced with fleshing out the characters in the Big Fight next issue. Specifically, we need to give them superpowers, as w can't all be Len Wein, who had the sense to introduce Wolverine as a character, and even take him through a fight with the Hulk, using only a solid visual hook, waiting to give the character powers until it actually mattered. So if you're stuck in the creative process of coming with seven original supervillains for the Fantastic Four to fight, or five new mutants for Professor Xavier to mentor, what can you do to fill out the pre-set ranks? The go-to answer is certain powersets that work in the context of the big fight, but which are virtually impossible to use ever again. The Sink is one of these. The Sink neutralises other people's powers! This is great for the Fight, since we see the Sink shut down a character who ought to be able to solve the big dilemma in the story. Look! Vacuum powers snuff out the Human Torch. It's all up to Agatha Harkness and Franklin, now! But when Salem's Seven shows up again, it is going to take a writer of pure genius to give the Human Vacuum something to do. So the Human Vacuum hardly ever shows up again. If the Sink, or related characters (the power reflector, the all-or-nothing mind controller) is needed again, for whatever reason, they will probably be reinvented. Rogue is given reason not to use her sink powers, and becomes a demi-brick. Paige Guthrie deemphasises her colourful, but all-but useless "change forms" power and becomes a metamorphic demi-brick. Wolverine is a healing-factor enabled demi-brick. Vanguard of the Soviet Super-Soldiers de-emphasises his "reflect an enemy's power back on him" power set and is reinvented as ....a demi-brick. You know, I think I'm beginning to see a pattern here....

Well, that's their story, anyway. I imagine that it's even the truth --just not the whole truth. Just like their story that they were just poking around Earth in the late XXth Century because of disinterested scientific curiosity. Which is bizarre, because we haven't heard from them in a decade. Yet this solar system, but not Earth, is the home of the Old Martians, the first starfaring civilisation in this galaxy (at least).

Yet another spectacular, lethal Canadian industrial accident. Any bets that we'll hear about corner cutting and negligence?

Quite possibly not, as has been pointed out in the GiTP forums, because she won't remember the events, just as Roy remembers little of his time in the Afterlife.

Canadian house prices at unprecedented multiples of income! Canadian debt at unprecedented levels of income! Canadian year-over-year income stagnation unprecedented! Hey! Look at the three unrelated facts before getting back to worrying about our upcoming housing price bust-driven recession. Because, y'know, what can you do?

Kale the destroyer? Unpleasant as the stuff is, isn't that going a bit far?

Oops, answered in the wrong thread above. Okay, let's see how the new board software likes cut-and-paste formatting from MSWord: Aircraft Carriers in 1939 United Kingdom Japan Name Year in Service Name Year in Service Argus (training carrier) 1918 Hosho 1923 Furious 1925 Kaga 1927 Eagle 1924 Ryujo 1933 Hermes 1924 Soryu 1938 Courageous 1930 Hiryu 1939 Glorious 1930 (Shokaku) 1941 Ark Royal 1938 (Zuikaku) 1941 (Illustrious) 1940 (Formidable) 1940 (Victorious) 1941 (Indomitable) 1941 Answer: Not very much, but the point is reasonably clear. Note that Hosho was about as useless as Argus.

Actually, Britain was building carriers and carrier aircraft and training Fleet Air Arm pilots like mad in 1939. The First Lord set a target of 600 carrier aircraft in active complements. And in case you're wondering, it had the planes. The Fleet Air Arm already had, IIRC, 200 Swordfish and an additional 200 Sharks cleared for service, and was readying another 400 Swordfish and 120 Skuas for active duties, with older types for the front line. Now, in general, the UK was spending on defence like a drunken sailor, so that admittedly doesn't prove very much. Still, Ark Royal entered service a few months before the Tientsin Incident, giving the RN by a wide margin the most carriers in service (7) and the most building (4+1 ordered but not laid down and 1, I think expected to be ordered in the supplementary estimates in the summer. I'm not going to go through the IJN inventory, but, from memory, it can't have been more than 5, with, of course, aircraft much older than the ones in service at Pearl Harbour. Meanwhile, Norman Friedman has turned up a fascinating contingency plan in the National Archives, estimating the maximum number of planes that could be shipped aboard the entire RN carrier force if all spaces were taken, and then flown off to attack a fleet base 1500 miles from the carrier strike force's forward operating base. Distance from Hong Kong to Kure, you do the math.... Which isn't to say that the Admiralty was planning a Taranto against the IJN in the spring of 1939. "Main Fleet to Singapore" was a much more cautious strategy than that, and the land forces would have had to come from the UK. The day of India providing an "Imperial" expeditionary force was over, although the British had very reluctantly agreed in the spring of 1939 to modernise the Indian Army so that it could assume that role in the future, again. Where the Devil Doctor's plan really shines is his realisation that if Japan manages to get embroiled in a war with Russia and Britain simultaneously, the situation in Europe will cool down spontaneously, since there is no way that Germany and Italy are starting trouble over Poland with the Triple Entente intact.

I'd add that this is a Silver Age Superman. So, yes, he's got to be able to fly through outer space and shoot heat vision. If he couldn't, that would be a "Golden Age Superman" built on 250 points. Ideally, he'd be able to race a 250 point Flash, too. Cassandra's objective, as I understand it, is to deliver playable characters within the budget. It's a bit weird to see a Superman built on the same number of points as the Silk Spectre, but that's the point in an RPG, isn't it? If you want a "pointless" Superman, there's a fine build in Galactic Champions that clocks in at under 2000 points, and a ....troubled... one (no offence, Scot!) in VIPER: Coils of the Serpent that's under 1300, IIRC.