Bye, Bye, Bombers

In World War I, Lieut. Arthur Travers Harris formed the first night-fighter squadron to protect London from Zeppelins. Thereafter, he became one of the major prophets of air power; the heavy bomber was his special love. Last week theR.A.F.'s Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris said goodbye to his job--and to air power as it had developed during his lifetime. Said Bomber Harris:

"In World War II the battleship was the dodo. In the next war--if there "is one--:the heavy bomber will probably be. For the heavy bomber is finished as the main striking instrument. . . .

"War in the future is in the hands of the scientists. . . . Just as you had the old knight in armor leveled by the first man who got hold of a gun, now you have got to a stage where a country could win a war despite its size. It could win, however small it was, provided it had the scientific resources and brains to obtain mastery of the new weapons. If you couple the atomic bomb with the projected missile [e.g., buzz-bombs or rocket bombs], you have something with possibilities that hardly bear contemplation. . . .

"The whole world is now in the range of this weapon. . . . War will go on until there is a change in the human heart--and I see no signs of that."

For himself, gloomy, weary Harris seeks "a country where there are no telephones, no motorcars, no airplanes and no bureaucrats."

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