The article that forecast “bat wings” was posted here

“Bat-Men” Troops Join California State Guard

Major MALCOM WHEELER – NICHOLSON, military expert, forecast the use of circus “bat-wings” for parachute troops, in the August issue of Mechanix Illustrated. Now, as a preliminary test, the California State Guard has organized just such a unit of “bat-man” paratroopers, under the leadership of Mickey Morgan, famed jumper (left). Bat-wings, it is claimed, makes paratroops more maneuverable-and swifter.

PARATROOPS by the PACKAGE

Like rations or ammo, infantry squads in metal containers can be dropped behind enemy lines.

By Frank Tinsley

SURPRISE packages have become America’s newest war weapon!

Engineers in the Air Materiel Command are testing a 6,000-pound capacity container which can be used to drop an entire infantry squad, completely equipped, from an airplane.

A universal-type container, along with another cargo container, recently designed by the laboratory, will be used in the newer cargo airplanes such as the Fairchild C-119. The second container has been developed for use with the overhead mon- orail of the C-119. Still in an early research and development stage, the universal container holds great promise.

DIVING SPIDER PLANE To HURL Big BOMB

AVIATION’S newest wartime l threat is rumored to be a plane, tiny enough so that a fleet of them will fit into a dirigible, which, when released, will guide huge, two-ton bombs to within a few hundred feet of their objective.

Like giant spiders clutching bottle flies, they will zoom into power dives, each carrying tons of destruction.

Fantastic? Not if recent experiments are carried to their logical ends. The use of the power dive as a means of attack is not new.

When attached to a carrier, the bomb becomes an integral part. It is released only when a direct hit is a certainty. After releasing the bomb, the plane can return to the carrier or act as a interceptor fighter.