Word: prop-driven
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During World War II the Royal Canadian Air Force auxiliary sparked Canada's 200,000-man air buildup; its pilots trained and led combat squadrons overseas. But today its 5,000 part-time airmen, flying on weekends and vacations, must make do with Harvard trainers, prop-driven Mustangs, and a few obsolescent Vampire jets. Without making any official announcement, Canada's defense chiefs have decided to count out the weekend warriors as an essential part of the nation's shield against atomic attack...
Like all commercial airliners, the Cathay Pacific Skymaster (a Douglas DC-4), bound from Bangkok to Hong Kong, was making the usual detour around Communist-held Hainan Island early one morning last week. It was well out to sea, in the approved international corridor. Suddenly, two prop-driven fighters, the red markings bright on their cream-colored paint, flew up alongside, dropped back, and stitched through the airliner from behind with cannon and machine-gun fire. The Skymaster's outboard port engine caught fire; the next burst knocked out the outboard starboard engine, and set the wing tanks ablaze...
...engines blast out more than 40,000 Ibs. of thrust, twice the power of the Comet's four engines, enough to push the 707 through the sky at 550-m.p.h. cruising speed, about 60 m.p.h. faster than the Comet I, about 50% faster than the fastest prop-driven airliners. The 707 is designed to fly the Atlantic in less than seven hours, give the sun a race from east to west. It will be able to leave New York at noon, arrive in Los Angeles...
...Council and seems certain to be in the buying program as a flying tanker to refuel swept-wing jet bombers, thus give the Strategic Air Command more mobility and range. SAC's B-47 bombers now get refueled in the air on their 10,000-mile missions from prop-driven KC-97 tankers. To do so, the B-47s have to drop from 40,000 ft. to 20,000 ft. With the new 707s, SAC bombers can take on fuel at combat altitudes and at combat speeds...
...airlines are not anxious to switch to jets, since they have just invested some $250 million for new fleets of prop-driven planes. But with Boeing's 707, the pressure is on: the first big U.S. airline to buy the 707 will force the others to follow. Bill Allen is betting that he gets that crucial order. While his new jet will cost upwards of $4,000,000 v. $1,850,000 for a Douglas DC-7. Allen thinks the 707 will pay off. Its greater size and speed will enable it to do 2½ times the work...