Pleasant Grove Review | 1950-10-27 | Page 6 | Jet Drops Heavy Bombs at 500 Miles per Hour

Jet Drops Heavy Bombs At 500 Miles Per Hour LOS ANGELES For the first time in history, heavy bombs have been dropped safely and accurately from planes traveling at speeds of over 500 miles an hour. North American Aviation company said bombs weighing from 500 to 4,000 pounds were dropped at altitudes alti-tudes varying up to 20,000 feet from jet-propelled bombers. The company said that heretofore the highest speeds at which heavy bombs had been dropped successfully success-fully from an operational airplane were 350 to 400 miles an hour. Engineers said the value of high speed bombers was nullified if bombs tumbled or fell erratically, because then accurate bombing was Impossible. In the B-45 from which the tests were made the problem ol air turbulence, causing bombs to act erratically, is overcome by fold ing or overlapping bomb-bay doors that slide upward inside the plane. Thus the bomb falls almost directly into the air stream. In tests as many as twenty-seven bombs were dropped at a time, in fast or slow successions or in salvos. sal-vos. The four-jet B 45. first flown in March, 19-17, will carry more than ten tons of bombs, has a service ceiling of 40.000 feet and a combat radius of more than 800 miles, which can be extended with drop iuel tanks.