Word: interceptor
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...four piston engines, but the B-50, instead of slowing up, flew even faster, on nothing but the power of the whining metal cigar. The bomber's air-speed indicator edged up to 370 m.p.h. Over Bangor, Me., an F-86 jet fighter, part of the air-raid interceptor defense, streaked up through the clouds, swept in close to investigate the B-50's strange, roaring belly...
...attack until 1953, concentrated on getting the plane manufacturers to expand their plants and get ready for a big jump in production if needed in two years. For example, Northrop Aircraft, loaded with a $300 million backlog chiefly to produce the Air Force's Scorpion F89 all-weather interceptor, had rearranged its plant "to create more efficient flow lines," had thus channeled men and materials away from current production. In Santa Monica, Douglas Aircraft plucked skilled supervisors from its assembly lines, shipped them and a batch of machine tools to Tulsa as the nucleus of a new production staff...
This problem became acute when he wrote "Interceptor Mission" (TIME, April 2), a crackling account of the radar-guided jet fighters which guard the Atlantic coastline against enemy bomber attack. One of the first newsmen granted Air Force permission to fly in the F-94, he found himself pretzeled between canopy and parachute while rocketing around the cold night sky at 600 m.p.h. He once had the same trouble when he rode the two-seater version of the F80 Shooting Star, but found the B45 four-jet light bomber more comfortable...
Leonard's interceptor mission began at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey, where he learned the working details of the radar warning net. After dinner he put on coveralls and crash helmet, headed for the "ready shack." There he was shown how to operate the plane's radar panel, which would pick up the other F94 sent out to be "enemy" and then guide the pilot in for the "kill...
...Force, must have a combat radius of 5,000 miles with a bombload of 10,000 lbs., should be able to hit 500 m.p.h. at 55,000 ft. It must carry guns and, perhaps, air-to-air guided missiles, too. But its principal defenses will be altitude and speed. Interceptors are faster than bombers, but if a bomber flies high enough and fast enough, a short-range interceptor has a hard time getting into range before its fuel is gone...