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Automatic Aiming Cannon Could Hit Invisible Aircraft

New anti-aircraft gun aims itself by sounding device to guard America from air raiders.

PEOPLE who lived in London during the late World War will vividly recall the feeling of helplessness that possessed them when Germany bombed that city on several occasions.

They will tell you that the murderous cargoes of bombs were dropped from Zeppelins and Gothas which cruised the thin upper realms of the heavens with nothing more harmful than an occasional searchlight beam touching them. The anti-aircraft guns were powerless. Why? Any aviator familiar with anti-aircraft ordnance could tell you. He would laugh at the thought of an anti-aircraft gun actually scoring a direct hit. Planes brought down by shrapnel from the ground were planes that were just “in the way,” he would tell you. Read the rest of this entry »

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UNDERSEA SPIES

BY JAMES NEVIN MILLER

BACK in December, 1944, Lieut. Earl E. Cook of Seattle, won the Navy Cross for a unique achievement. First, in a successful effort to locate three enemy depth bombs known to be in immediate danger of detonation, he dove deep inside a patrol bomber sunk in a vital channel off Oahu, Hawaii. Then for three never-to-be-forgotten days he directed a six-man team of divers which finally recovered the death-dealing weapons.
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Balloons on Helmet Make Targets for Cavalry Combat

PUNCTURING a balloon on the head of an opponent with the skillful thrust of a rapier is the unique means employed by cavalry students to score points when engaging in “armed combat” at Urban Military Academy at Beverly Hills, California. The balloons are tied to the helmets of the combatants, and the first fighter to burst the balloon of an “enemy” wins the encounter.

Although swordsmanship is a thing of the past, as far as modern warfare is concerned, this kind of practice is of service in teaching agility, alertness and horsemanship. The contest is a part of the training for the annual spring maneuvers of the academy.

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AIR WAR OVER THE ARCTIC

Our planes are waging a relentless battle to conquer polar cold and guard America against sneak attacks across the world’s roof.

By Major General K. P. McNaughton, U. S. Air Force

FOR nearly four centuries the Arctic defied the hardiest explorers from the temperate zones. This vast ice-locked world with its midnight sun, Aurora Borealis and paralyzing cold has been an impregnable barrier across the shortest route between the East and West.
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Who can forget the horrifying newsreel footage of Germany’s subterranean bore worm tanks crashing through the tunnel walls of the Maginot line?

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CAN THIS WAR BE WON?

Modern fortifications along the Maginot and Siegfried lines have made France and Germany “invasion proof.” The result may be a war no nation can win!

by Maxwell Hamilton

WHAT happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?

This age-old problem in physics, a familiar question to every school boy, seems destined to find an answer in Europe’s latest armed conflict. For the present “war to end wars” is a contest between two of the world’s! greatest immovable objects—the Siegfried and the Maginot lines!
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Sadly, this seems pretty tame by comparison with what is considered normal today.

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Washington’s Brassy Influence Peddlers

Retired generals and admirals cozy up to their old buddies to swing billions of dollars in defense contracts!

By FRANK DEGNAN

LAST JULY, three of the largest defense contractors in the nation readied plans to entertain Air Force Lt. General Bernard S. Schriever, head of the Air Research and Development Command. Party invitations described the affair as cocktails and dinner with an off-the-record chat by General Schriever about his plans and problems.
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Made in Germany

Right under the noses of their unsuspecting Nazi guards, GI-PW’s turned out these ingenious devices.

By Louis Hochman

THE American Gl is an ingenious fellow. Given the right tools, he can produce anything he sets his skill to. Take away his tools and leave him with only a penknife, old razor blades, and some broken glass and he’ll still produce anything he sets his heart on. Read the rest of this entry »

What’s up with the flying girder on the second page? Is Superman trying to save New York?

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PEACE – OR ELSE!

HUMANITY is faced with the greatest decision it has ever had to make. The atomic bomb, in three gigantic, flashes, has transformed our planet into a world which has only one choice left. Earth has become a world of Either/Or.

Either—we are firmly determined that there shall be no war, and spend as much energy, thought and money on the problem of preventing it as we now spend in preparing for it. In that case—and if we succeed—the future promises a period of incredible achievements, of unlimited progress, of infinite riches of knowledge and material riches, of immediate preliminaries to humanity’s spread through the solar system as a first step to a spread through the galaxy. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Most Important 30 Minutes of Your Life

By Lester David

AT 12:30 p. m. an atomic bomb is going . to explode in your city! Radar has spotted an enemy airplane and disclosed its course, speed and the arc on which it is traveling.

It’s noon now and you have 30 minutes— 1800 crucial seconds—to prepare for the bomb. What will you do?

You and your family can survive if you take the proper precautions at the proper time. Atomic scientists, civilian defense authorities, army officials and Red Cross disaster chiefs agree on this. Read the rest of this entry »

I guess the kamikazes weren’t such a surprise then.

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Jap Pilots Ride to DEATH on Flying Bombs

By Ray Holt

The current conflict between Japan and China has brought out an amazing revelation of the methods by which Japanese pilots assure air bombs reaching their target by putting a man inside to steer them. Why? Read the reasons in this article, and you’ll have a better understanding of Japanese psychology toward the machines of war.

IMAGINE yourself strapped within a hollow chamber inside a huge air bomb, surrounded on all sides by high explosives. In front of you is an airplane type rudder which steers the tail unit of the bomb. Windows in the nose enable you to see ahead. You’re loaded into the bomb, which is placed in its nest under the fuselage of a bombing plane. The bomber takes off, soars above a target—say, an ammunition dump of the enemy. Up above you, the pilot of the plane pulls a lever. Read the rest of this entry »

Zig-Zagging Target Tests Gunners’ Skill

THE Field Artillery, U. S. Army, has long experienced difficulty in obtaining practice against fast-moving targets. To meet this need, the Artillery Corps has recently perfected a target which can be towed behind a rapidly-moving automobile and yet zig-zag across the landscape like a drunken jackrabbit.
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Best Mechanics will Win if U.S. Fights Japan

War clouds brewing in the Pacific point to the day when America may become involved in battle with Japan. Nobody is eager for such a war, but if it ever comes the result will be decided by war machines built by American and Japanese mechanics—two fundamentally different types of genius. Read this keen analysis from the pen of a noted naval expert.

by LIEUT. JOHN EDWIN HOGG
U. S. Naval Reserve

AS THESE lines are written international diplomats are gathered together at Geneva. They are assembled at the world’s first general disarmament conference, ostensibly to work out a plan for preventing armed conflicts between nations. The God of War looks down from a neighboring planet upon a world bristling with every possible device for killing the greatest number of people with the least effort. And in Shanghai war rages between Japanese and Chinese troops. Read the rest of this entry »