Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (June 21, 1943)
PAGE EIGHT HERALD AND NEWS, KLAMATH FALLS. OREGON June 21, 1948 Radar-New Secret Super Weapon of War-Operates As Radio Eye in Battles (Editor's Note: Radar is the United States' secret super-weap' en the radio "eyes" ol our armed forces. The story of its development is a story of how a small group of naval scientists kept the project alive in the face of official inertia. John M. High tower of The Associated Press tells the story so far as it may be told now in six daily install' mcnts, of which this is the first.) By JOHN M. HIGHTOWER (Copyright, 1943. By The Associated Press) WASHINGTON, June 21 W) Radar, the most revolutionary new weapon of this war an in strument that has secretly shaped the course of victory in rnany historic battles was orig inally developed in ine unueu States by a by-product of radio research by a little group of naval scientists, long on faith and short on funds. Had they not persevered in their work in the face of official inertia, compounded in many in stances by scoffing disbelief, the United States might have lost the war about 10 to 20 years before it began. To military and naval men now, it is inconceivable that we should have entered this strug gle without Radar. The record shows that the scientists began to realize that fact more than 20 years ago. Radio Eyes Long before the battle of Guadalcanal, they envisioned ra dio "eyes" to let warships "see" through fog and darkness. Long before the battle of Britain, they foresaw a wall of detective rays ringing the frontiers of nations endangered by air attack. Al most before airplanes flew at night, they conceived the ideas which make today's allied night fighters the deadly killers they are. - This is the story of Radar, so far as it may be told now, and of the men who made it. ' Two months ago the story could not have been told at all. Radar was to secret and its se crecy was considered so vital to the United Nations that even mention of the name was taboo. Similar Instruments It is true that the axis had a similar instrument; but the ad mirals and generals who decide such things believed ours was a lot better than theirs knew it by performance if nothing else. They did not want any loose talk about Radar so they ordered no talk at all. What the scientists, being naval research men, apparently did not fully anticipate is that they were spawning ' a new branch of the radio industry in the field of electronics. Today Radar is a multi-milUon-dollax industry for war; tomorrow it Will become a billion-dollar in dustry for peace. Radar will guide tomorrow's sea and air liners through stormy nights to safety, just as it is guiding to day's warcraft through the smoke of battle to victory. On April 25, the army and navy put out a joint and unspec tacular release admitting the ex istence of a radio detecting and ranging device and naming it. Radar is a navy code word mean ing logically enough, "radio-de tecting and ranging." Possibly never has such a remarkable in strument been camouflaged un der a more wooden title. Disclosure Influence The British previously had broken down their usually barbed restrictions to some ex tent and this undoubtedly influ enced the American decision in favor of disclosure. : But there were other reasons, too. Many skilled workers in Radar construction were being caught in the draft or were un i der other compulsion to get into uniform. Neither their draft boards nor their sweethearts had been told the vitally important nature of their work. From that point of view, publicity about Radar was urgent. Moreover. thousands of recruits were need ed for Radar operation and these had to be raised by recruiting, which means publicity. So the barriers came down. A series of researches and dis coveries in this country led to the creation of Radar not only among the allies but apparently among the axis nations as well. Early Workers The central figure in that ear ly work, and the man who liter. ally begged, borrowed and stole when necessary to transform his ideas on radio into reality, is a slight, baldish, one-time physics professor vhose professional career began in 1903 at the Uni versity of Wisconsin. Albert Hoyt Taylor now is chief navy physicist and superintendent of When in Medford Stay at HOTEL HOLLAND Thoroughly Modern Jos and Anne Earley Proprietors the radio division of the naval research laboratory here. Taylor's direct contributions to radio detection dealt mostly with the fundamental discover ies of how radio waves behave and with some of the first crude instruments and experiments. As the naval research laboratory ex panded and Taylor's duties be came more complex, it fell to the lot of a younger genius to devel op the first modern Radar equip ment and perfect many of the improvements which have made it a battle instrument of uncan ny precision. Robert M. Page, sensitive, soft voiced chief of a research section of the laboratory's radio division, is credited by his colleagues with doing more for Radar's technical progress than any oth er man on the staff. Chief The naval research laboratory, at which these men and their colleagues still work on the ad vancement of ' Radar, is, of course, a regular naval station and thus is under command of an officer. The present chief is Ad miral A. H. Van Keuren, a veter an of many years service both at sea and ashore. Previously he had served as chief of the bureau of construction and repair and bureau of ships. Van Keuren succeeded Rear Admiral Harold G. Bowen at the laboratory. The records clearly indicate that it was fortunate for Radar and therefore for the country that Bowen got interest ed'in the laboratory's work about 13 years ago and began to pro mote it. For Bowen became the needed link between the scientists on one hand and the navy and con gress on the other. The admiral's great enthusiasm always has been to get hold of and promote sound but revolutionary ideas; the depths of his belligerent soul are ' stirred m os t violently against conservative preference for keeping things the way they are. Farsighted " A vigorous and confident mis sionary of progress, Bowen was one of a handful of farsighted men who campaigned for years to sell Radar to the fighting navy and to congress, which as usual held the money bags. He cut red-tape and regulations to deal frankly on Radar with members of the house and senate approp riations committee. They came through in the grand manner. . "They were mighty impressed with what they learned, and they offered us a hundred thou sand dollars," he said. 'That was in 1935. We took it, and it was all we could use at that time. You can't buy ' inventions, you know. All we needed then was a little money for salaries to in crease the staff a bit." About 1940, when the crash of falling France was heard across the Atlantic, the appropriations grew in keeping with the in creasing importance of the lab oratory's preparations for war. The institution that had started out as a single gray concrete building rising alone out of the Potomac river mud flats below Washington blossomed, after -18 lean years, into a thriving center of naval science in many fields the only place of its kind in the world. v Before Pearl Harbor Bowen performed another Im portant function, too. He inter ested industrialists in the manu facture of Radar equipment and thus cleared the way for its pro duction on a quantity basis. The first Radar sets went into the fleet, in the Pacific, in Decem ber, 1940, a year before Pearl Harbor. Skepticism as to their value vanished rapidly as they went on ship after ship and proved them selves by amazing performance. Thus officers and men were ready to use them to the fullest when war came, and in battle they proved themselves all over again, enabling our warriors of the sea to pull off feats they had not deamed possible in pre-Ra-dar years. At Guadalcanal Late on the evening of Novem ber 14, 1942, among the Solomon islands in the South Pacific, one of our warships was out looking for Japanese warships. The sea battle for Guadalcan al was in its final phase, the issue still undecided. Aboard the American vessel, a Radar, like an invisible searchlight, probed the enshrouding darkness with its magical waves. Suddenly the indicator on which Radar registers its discov eries disclosed the presence of an enemy vessel more than eight mils away. The big ship lifted its gun muzzles toward the stars. They flashed and thundered by sal voes. The second salvo, despite the darkness and 16,000-yard range, landed squarely on the target. The American ships went on not only to win but to turn the battle for Guadalcanal into one! of the most costly routs in Jap anese history. British Version The British version of Radar, known as Radio-Locator, match ed in military results the heroic sacrifices of the handful of fight er pilots who saved England dur ing the nazi aerial blitz of late 1940. Land-based Radar ringed England's coast and rode in its night fighter planes. Radar's un erring fingers picked up the range, direction and speed on Hitler's bombers far out over the water, sometimes even over Eu rope itself. ' Assured of adequate forewarn ing of each attack, the handful of RAF heroes who saved the British Isles from destruction by air found it unnecessary to main tain incessant fighter patrols which would quickly have t hausted men and planes. They rested until the foe ap proached and went into action at the last minute. It was this con servation of energy, machines and fuel which enabled England to fight back until the blitz col lapsed. . OF CAMP WHITE. Ore. Entry upon the area near Upper Table Rock is exceedingly dangerous at the present time, It was an nounced by the training division of Camp White. All military and civilian . personnel arc warned against entering this sec tion. Rifle ranges and machine gun courses are situated east of Up per Table Rock, and unauthor ized trespassers are in danger of being seriously injured by bul lets which ricochet from the face of the rocks. If it is necessary to enter this area, permission should first be secured from the training di vision. Camp White. . The tele phone is 5221, Extension 3228. The University of Pavia, Italy, was founded in 825. AP 10 FILE F TS TRUST ACTON i lid NEW YORK, June 21 (IP) l no Associated Press proper to file in federal court today more than halt a hundred affi davits in opposition to a gov ernment motion for summary judgment in the anti-trust civil action against the non-pro(lt, cooperative newsgathcring agency. Other affidavits also were to be placed in the record by the Chicago Tribune, a co-defendant which has made a separ ate answer to the government charges seeking to open AP membership to all who are will ing and able to pay their share of the cost. Arguments on the summary judgment motion, by which the government seeks a decision against the AP without tho tak ing of testimony from witnesses in open court trial, aro sched uled to be heard by a three Judge federal court July 8. Chief among the AP affidav its was one preporcd by Frank B. Noyes, publisher of tho Wash ington Star and president of- the AP for 38 years until 1938, whoi declared that "it was not cun trmplaled by tho men who or ganized the AP that all news papers In the United States should become members" but that it was recognized that In order to establish "a true, coop erative organization, tho mem bers must have tho opportunity to select their own associates." Arguments to Be Heard On Potato Grading Question Because of offleo of price ad ministration regulations, labor shortages, and tho fact that com peting states aro packing com bination rates on potatoes, tho Oregon department of agrlcul turo lias been requested to estab lish a commercial griulo for po tatoes conforming or similar to the United States commercial grade. A public meeting has been called for Tuesday, June 22, at 8 p. m. to hear arguments for and against inclusion of this grado in Oregon standards for potatoes. Anyone interested Is Invited to attend tho meeting at 819 Pino street, or to submit their views in writing to tho Oregon depart ment of agriculture there. THE STAND-IN KANSAS CITY, (,T) It can happen to anyone. Rep. Frank Carlson (R Kaiis.) was a passenger on a Chicago to Kansas City train, an eight hour trip. Ho stood the entire distance. OF WASHINGTON, June 21 l') Tho supremo court reversed to day tho action of the federal court ut Sun Francisco In or dering cancellation of United States citizenship on the ground that the alien obtaining It was u member of the communist party. Justleo Murphy delivered the majority opinion which assert ed that clear and unequivocal evidence was necessary to can cel American citizenship uiul that this hud not been produced against tho communist involved when ho became un American citizen. WELL-BRED. AND BUTTERED KANSAS CITY, )) The Stanley Stewart's dug ate two pounds of butter; Value, 10 points, "Did our Cocker Spaniel rat up all those points?" inquired Mrs, Stewart, unbelievingly. "He's no Spaniel," corrected Stewart, "He's a pointer." Frisco Area Has 40 Minute Blackout r SAN FRANCISCO, June l( (I') The San Francisco bay area underwent 40-nilnute blackout over the weekend, tho first ono In more than n your, Tho sirens sounded at 1:07 a. m Pacific wur time yesterday and the all clear cumo at 1:47 a. m. Tho western defense, com. mnnd announced only that the alarm came us tho result of an unidentified target approaching tho nren. They Inter were Iden tified us friendly. Woodpeckers do not have to curry nesting materials. They lay their eggs on a soft bed of sawdust and wood chips, P i L E S SUCCESSFULLY TREATED NO PAIN - NO HOSPITAUIATION No Lou of Tims PsrnuiHnt HtlMllll DR. E. M. MARSHA Chlrosuetl PhyflfllM 110 No. Ilh - luiulto THMlrt till. . Phon" IP'l Attention To Comply With The New Auto Law Get the Proper Insurance From Hans Norland Prompt Personal Service and You'll Be Surprised How Low the Rates Are. 118 North 7th St. Phones Office 7176 Home 3627 GRAY HAIR TURNING DEEP BLACK says Mrs. J. B., Chicago "After using Grayvita only a short time, I noticed my gray hair wai turning to real deep black, exactly at it used to be. What a differ ence this makes in my ap pearance." Mrs. J. B.'s experience tnav or mav not be different than vouri. Whv not trv GRAYVTTA? This anti-gray hair vitemin discovery, Caldtim Pantothenate when tested by a leading maga sine showed 88 of those tested had positive evidence of some return of hair color. H A CRAYVITA tablet h 10 mgm. of Calcfun Pantothenate PLUS 480 U. S. P. unite of "pep" vitamin Bi. Get GRAYVITA now! 30 cUysup ply fl JO, 100 day supply $4.00. Phone 45U CUttRIN't FOR DflUGt Ninth ind Main MsasssaBaBSsaBBssBaaaaassaaaaaBasasBaaaw ' Vmmmmmmmmmmammmmmmmmmmm , i viw y-y f s A m$Sr astS1 wv.hr-N y f ij&s V y y , Hie inside story of lOO octane ajcisolimc " pr ,l.ln1M7, 100 octineiviinon jKolincvu 1 jutt tmerging from the oil company labors toritt. Production was hardly great enougTi Co keep one squadron of fighter planes in -combat, and it cost tlito mike each gallon, .7 lahi Vi tank tar fill 4 Fcrlmt 2 Today She Amarlcpn ell companlM are turning out enough 100 octane to fuel the greatest Air Force in the World. They are ship ping millions of tddUional barrets to our Allies. And they have cut production colts to in average of 13W per gallon OCTANE RATING BY YEARS I IW 19V lIO IOIT WI Kftl 3e Th tnildt tlory of this accomplishment is i typical example of American Tree Knter prise ac work. For 100 octane was perfected by our oil companies in their own labontorici itore ut tier tnttrtd the uur-witliout one cent of government subsidy A This was largely the result of just one peacetime influcncc-COMriiTiTioN, You don'tdccldctonutc 100 octane one morning and stare producing it the next. You have to Jcarn how over period efyart. Rick in 1920, the best gasoline our oil companies could mike wis 52 oct in '5. lulby 1930, they had hic7I;by 1937 they j ere shooting for 100, and by 1159, for 100 Why had they made such progress? Not because they expected a war all those years. But because each company kept struggling to put out a better product than the others and fflmnmUmm. 6. If th oil business had been controlled by one company, or by the government, this wouldn't have happened. For (here's not much incentive to go after more customers when you already hail I htm all T But many companUs. compiling with each other for your business, forced improve ments. And forced them ata much greater rate of speed than any monopoly (private or gov ernmental) has ever managed on its own in itiative. That's the inside siory of 100 octane. 8. And It's the story of most oilier war pro duction as well. Years of peacetime tomptiiihn under American Free F.nterprisc gave us the "know-how,"tlic plants and lie mass produc tion lechnirjucs to do the grcjtcst job ever tackicd by any nation in histotv. The company that bemme Union Oil toa fotwileit in tSK6 out of the per tonal savings of aim Santa Paula, California business mttu Today. II Is owned by 31,652 people, most of whom live right here in the Wcst-3,628 in San Francisco, 431 in Seattle, 7 In Grants I'ass, Oregon, 274 in San Diego, etc. TheCompany's profits which, in 1912, amounted to 3.8 on capital invested, are shared among Ihtsefmplt. Last year tills net profit amounled to $1 74.94 per stockholder. Of this sum, $147.42 was paid out in dividends $27.52 was left in the business. In return for these profits, the 3 1,652 owners have financed the tank ships, oil wells, refinericsamtservicestationi thatmakcUnion'soperalionspossible. This is the story of most A merican corporations. By pooling the money and talents of a lot of people, we are able to do a job collectively that we Could never do alone. t w n Kf (Q) n n, c n m ip m m h OV CAKIIORIIA AMIR ICS'S f 1 f T H rillDOM II Fill fNTMPRfSf This series, sponsored by the people of Union Oil Company, Is dedicated to discussion of Wand K'jy American busi ness functions. Wc hope you'll feel ftee to send in any suggesiions or criticisms you have to offer. Write: The President, Union Oil Company, Union Oil Building, Los Angeles, California. v J
