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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 1944)
PAGE 4 THE BATTALION TUESDAY AFTERNOON, AUGUST 1, 1944 War Plants Changing Equipment For Jet Propulsion Aircraft General Electric’s second largest wartime plant, built two years ago ^ for the manufacture of war equip- ment which is no longer required ui by the allied forces, is being con- N verted for the production of jet propulsion aircraft turbines, it . was announced here today by the company. Because of its more than 40 - years experience in the manufac ture of steam turbines, and since World War I of the turbosuper charger, now used on practically . all American bombing planes Gen- c eral Electric was chosen by the ^ War Department to head-up the s production of this new type fight- - ing weapon. Even though an entire ■I plant of more than 600,000 square J feet of floor space is being con verted for this work, its output will not be sufficient to meet government’s requirements, so ^ General Electric has turned over ^ the jet propulsion drawings and 1 specifications, prepared by its ? engineers, to another large cor- ] poration formerly engaged in 1 manufacture of airplane engines. I The jet propulsion airplane tur- Y bine, first conceived by Flight Commander Frank Whittle and built by the British Thomson- Houston Company, Ltd., an asso ciate of General Electric, was sent to this country for further I development by General Electric’s c engineers. Mr. Whittle came from England soon after, and spent three ( months here, but kept his identity so well concealed that few knew of his presence, even though as sociated with him in the G-E lab oratory. A number of units have since been built, and the first of ( these new type planes to fly in this j country was equipped with a jet j power plant manufactured by i General Electric. • The basic principle which under- < lies jet propulsion is not new. It 1 has been known for hundreds of j years, since the days of Galileo and Isaac Newton. The new power ‘ plant is a successful and ingenious application of one of Newton’s laws of .motion—the law which ( says that to every action there • is an equal and opposite reaction. This principle is familiar to everyone. It is . the backward “kick” of the gases produced in a skyrocket that drives the rocket upward and forward. And there is a still more familiar example, the rotary lawn sprinkler. The jets of water go in one direction, and the reaction causes the frame that holds the nozzles to revolve in the opposite direction. You might say that the lawn sprinkler was whir led by jet propulsion. “An aspect of jet propulsion that puzzles many people is that in the substratosphere, where the air is very thin, an airplane propeller has a hard time. It has less and less air to bit into and pull the plane along,” according to Harry A. Winne, engineering vice pres ident of General Electric. “Act ually up there, the propellerless jet turbine works better, because the air resistance on the plane is less, and the jet power plant doesn’t have to have air to push against. It doesn’t push against anything that it doesn’t provide itself. The ' jet of gases moves in one direc-1 tion; the inevitable reaction push- | ^ / pEMO RD Result of Sophomoric Gentleness es the plane in the opposite direc tion. Theoretically, the jet propul sion princple would work just as well in a perfect vacuum—though, of course, some way would have to be found to support the plane and provide the #ir for the opera tion of the jet propulsion turbine.” Wrong Addresses Delay Tenth of Casualty Messages A tenth of the War Department’s messages notifying relatives of the death or inury of soldiers are de layed in delivery because of wrong addresses. Between 200 and 250 casualty messages are sent each day to the wrong addresses because those are the only ones on file, the War De partment said Sunday. Sometimes the soldiers are care less in reporting home addresses, sometimes addresses are delib- rately fictitious for personal rea sons, such as family relationship. Some old-time, career soldiers have been in the army so long they have lost all track of relatives. Some simply have no relative liv ing. A. & M. Praised In Letter Received From Former Naval Trainee Servicemen who are stationed here on the campus with the army and navy training units seldom forget their life while at A. & M. Many write the college after their departure to express their gratitude for the training and in struction received. Among the first group of sail ors to come here in April, 1942, was Sam J. McNeese, and a por tion of his letter follows: “Your excellent training and instruction have been of great value to me in the many months of duty at this base and the “chow”, duty and swell treatment we received there is often the topic of conver sation among the fellows that were fortunate enough to have attend ed. More than 90 percent of all species of flowers in the world have either an unpleasant odor or none at all. Africa was circumnavigated by the Phoenicians as early as 600 B. C. KEEP COOL - - - On a hot day drop in for a refreshing drink that’s really cooling — at — GEORGE’S —AGGIES— (Continued Iiom page 1) Among the varying opinions of A. & M. of some of these students who have come from the “four corners” is that of Pedro Pareda, Maracay, Venezuela: “A college with an international reputation and a magnificent spirit of com panionship among the students.” D. V. Hudson of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and C. T. Long of Pasadena, Cal ifornia, both said: “A. and M. is a great school with a fine spirit.” M. S. Esoobar from El Salvador philosophized that “This is strict ly a man’s school.” Mario Urbina from Costa Rica complained that A. and M. has too few women, too many men. From H. A. Weiller of Carlsbad, New Mexico, we get this brief comment: “It’s a swell place.” But whatever the opinion or from whatever place the men have come, they are all Texas Aggies. The name is an inclusive term. It signifies a blending of many types of individuals into one unit. Of course, each unit has its own lit tle differences, but the general trends of behavior are all the same. Converging lines from wide ly scattered areas have come to a’focal point here and have blend ed into a unit the varying in terests of a great student body. Trade With Lou — He^ Right With You! LOUPOT’S STUDENT CO-OP Bicycle and Radio Repair PHONE 4-4114 IF YOU MUST SELL - - - BRING YOUR ITEMS TO LOUPOT AND GET HIS OFFER WANTED ESPECIALLY Lamps and * Campaign Hats Do you have either you want to sell? VET STUDENTS Don't forget that we are equipped to supply your needs. Come around and look over what we have on hand for you. Loupot's Trading Post “Trade With Lou — He's Right With You"