| Show Round Merry 1 1 Navy Jet Plane Held Inferior By y Drew Pearson I V For WASHINGTON ASH For INGTON-For some sometime time I been a mystery as to why the e It UW 11 1 b carrier based o planes off the Ko Kor horca Navy ca aTa ai did not participate in i 1 ithe the tough job fob of combating com corn bating baling the Reds Reds' jet jet- Y I propelled MIGs instead of leaving it to the Air Air 1 Force Navy pilots ar ara the best among and w most courageous in the t world but except in a afew afew I few cases eases they have been kept a safe distance distance dis dis- dis- dis tance from the MIGs l This column is now Drew Drev p pable able to ive the a give answer The jai y a not been able to develop a jet piato plane pia e eb b to stand a up P against the Russian a II G and because of Army Navy been unwilling to accept a an n Air All rIvalry Force Forc t h l engine with which to do t the he job YH This is no reflection on the the thou u of Navy airmen who have been ItCh na get into the Korean let jet fi fighting g B 15 rather on the thc brass hats hat s at the top top too f s is have been unwilling to a crept accept the theof of the unification act Investigation of this rivalry I l a also aLQ v eals eals shocking hocking waste extravagant extravagance ri inefficiency which once again seems to tor suit from lack of unification f Today the Navys Navy's Bureau of A 1 is spending each tot fn- m Whitney Pratt jet engine the P P V i use in jet fighter planes when it lt c cO buy a better Allison engine the J AJ for or only i ia a 1 Unacceptable En Engine The Engine The inc The d jet het job ob we weighs a little less than the pry Pr-d Pr Whitney is a pressure low engine H tl has been given an okeh by the a naval L test center at Patuxent M Md Id d. d whereas t ft ti Pratt engine has not passed passes fa b On or about Feb 25 ported to the Navys Navy's Board of Inspect Survey in Washington that the paz PH- Whitney J 48 was unacceptable D Des j this a total of 2435 of t the he Pratt Pratt engines already have been ordered d j i will cost a current price of 0 x while only Allison engines were Jered i J ered at a current price of The extra cost to the taxpayer j j Meanwhile i the J 48 built b by y Pr Fra Whitney flies miles per hour slon than the Russian MIGs l In jet wart of course speed is important all and fi fiure ure to produce a fast Navy jet f fighter the reason Navy pilots are sitting on oot ti I sidelines off the Korean coast today Navy officials when asked why hy PIn Pm Whitney was given a contract for a an an n expensive engine when Allison was p p during a better engine for one third one k had no comment It is known however hO that one of oft I Navys Navy's civilian engine experts Vert Verr Haynes has been protesting inside the Navy and has been arg for the Allison engine Mr 1 Haynes ing a civilian presumably is not aI affect affet ef by Army-Air Army Force rivalry Tinkering With ith J 48 Whit Pratt has built some A I engines but at press pre the Navy is still tinkering with the ii l quate J 48 which the brass hats seen to force down the throats c d Navy pilots Already thready has haste b ba spent to put this engine in accept ry shape At first the engine had turbine bb failures then screen failures bi mixed up oil and gas inside the enga engirt On Jan 17 7 the engine was grounded b le lecause cause of burning on takeoff a fuel nor nod having broken inside the combos a chamber The engine was sent bars back Whitney Pratt for repairs follo follow i which Navy testers discovered bearing failures and later four flat outs during the testing program In all nine defects were m by Navy testers during the tests st at FJ Ft tuxent As of this writing the en is conditionally ungrounded for over land only while Whitney Pratt 3 working on a shotgun igniter to t magnesium into the engine at the s sin sJ J in order to prevent flameouts A pig out on a jet engine means that the flaw fl fI goes out which out which is the equivalent alent of c gine stalling Meanwhile l Navy pilots who hare har have fly these engines point out that the the the- none of t tt son engine has had almost trouble trouble even even though it is built under A- A Force supervision i Final Test Test Finally Finally y Wright Part Pratt Pratt Whitney production engineer ft A All All- i the those Navy Give me one of engines and Ill I'll show you t they they're I re r e J I good So the Navy shipped two Allison tp to Whitney Pratt-Whitney where herc they were tr trout j i out in Grumman a plane plane aw Sap t the p This was most unusual unusual since t P r a at maintains r center its own toting testing uJ 2 tuxent at a a cost of a year ag the ht to b be bet bet- the Navys Navy's own test is supposed t 11 a final word word not not the test of a prig pr i manufacturer However Navy bra brass hiS lf Pratt Pratt- apparently anxious to please i iney ney ncy obliged ed pei fr d The results o of this test even enn by r p that ilia t satisfactory Whitney were so sat J J f fair Ir eno eno Whitney Pratt engineer was was was- to call the Allison representative in d de of 01 ington and admit the flit superiority i 1 Allison engine tr still suu till how however ho ver r ac are s Navy brass hats c cing ing to figure out ways of justify o s iS judgment in picking an engine which hl unIV C Cone r one third one third more than one built under th w e Y m 0 of which Force supervision and ia cost to the dered 2435 at an extra payers of |
