Wondrous Week

Aircraft designers had a wondrous week: P: In El Segundo, Calif., the Navy introduced its new Skyrocket, the first man-carrying plane (as distinct from guided missiles) powered by both jet and rocket energy. Built by Douglas, the Skyrocket is a swordfish-shaped, back-swept-winged sister ship of the Navy's Skystreak, present holder of the world's speed record (650.6 m.p.h.). Douglasmen hoped that it would make air history by breaking through the sonic wall--i.e., by flying faster than the speed of sound (about 765 m.p.h. at sea level). P: In St. Louis, the McDonell Aircraft Corp. put the world's first ramjet helicopter* through its paces for the U.S. Air Force. In test flights, the 310-lb. "flying bike" readily lifted an additional 300 Ibs. and attained a speed of 50 m.p.h. To the Air Force, it looked like just the thing for short-range observation work, artillery spotting and courier service. P: At San Diego, Consolidated Vultee's experimental "flying auto" made its first test flight, circling the city for an hour and 18 minutes. The plane's 34 1/2-ft. wing, housing a 190-h.p. engine and a flight instrument panel, is detachable from the auto, which has its own engine and a conventional dashboard. Consolidated Vultee had no immediate marketing plans.

*So named because, in each of the 10-lb. power units at the tips of its two rotor blades, air rams through one end fast enough to do away with the need for the mechanical air compressor of the ordinary jet engine.

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