Trial by Bendix

The Navy will get a chance to test its high-flying Banshee fighter against the Air Force's B-36 after all--but not in precisely the way rebellious Navy airmen had hoped. Instead of fighting it out with camera guns at 40,000 feet, they will have to leave the decision up to the 18,000 vacuum tubes of the Army's $400,000 electronic brain at the Aberdeen (Md.) Proving Ground.

There, scientists of the Weapons Systems Evaluation Group will load the brain with all available data on both planes: speed, range, altitude, rate of climb and fire power, along with such variables as weather, time of warning and accuracy. Then like a giant Bendix washer, the brain will whirl into action, stirring, scrambling, sorting, poking, prodding and reassembling the figures until the answer pops out next year, all set to be neatly starched and ironed. The only thing the machine won't do is make a decision.

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