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Aviation History
1943
1943 - 0044.PDF
i8 FLIGHT JANUARY 7TH, 1943 RUBBER output of U.S. synthetic rubber will reach over 1,000,000 tons. This production is to be based on the chemical industry, notably the Carbide and.Carbon Co.; the Celanese Corp. of America ; the Monsanto Chemical Co. ; the Dow Chemical Co. ; Du Pont de Nemours & Co. ; on the " Big Four " of the tyre industry: Firestone, Goodrich, Goodyear and U.S. Rubber; and on the oil companies: Standard Oil; Texas Corp. ; Pure Oil; Shell; Sinclair; Atlantic; Refining Gulf Oil, and Cities Service. Incidentally, the Standard Oil Company is reported to have developed a process by which the raw material for Buna-S and butyl rubber becomes, so to speak, a by- product of aviation fuel production. A further source from which rubber will be made is grain. In comparing the two possibilities, rubber-from- alcohol and rubber-from-petroleum, it has been stated that while the extensive production of alcohol from grain has the advantage of cheaper construction of plants, cheaper raw material, less steel, one-third of the time necessary to complete a rubber-from-oil plant, the difficulties are not negligible. Fifty per cent, of the American distilling industry are reported to have been already converted, and some months ago the W.P.D. announced that practically the entire dis- tilling industry is being switched over from liquor to alcohol manufacture. All alcohol not needed for explo- sives is to go into butadiene. If one visualises the capacity of the British distilling industry manufacturing liquor, one can understand what possibilities exist for the production of synthetic rubber. According to American estimates, the military require- ments in rubber by January 1st, 1944, wm amount to 842,000 tons, of which natural and reclaimed rubber should produce 631,000 tons. The balance is to be covered from synthetic production. Whether these figures will materialise or not is less im- portant than the fact that a growing share in the Allied rubber supply will fall to the synthetic industry. And since rubber-from-alcohol is taking an increasing part in this production, the following few details may be of interest. According to Russian information, out of 1 ton of alcohol 310 lb. of rubber were produced in 1934, 5IQ lb- m ^S- and 720 lb. in the subsequent years. An acre of grain yielded 308 lb. of alcohol, while more than ten times this amount was obtainable from the same area of potatoes. American data state that one acre of potatoes yields 660 lb. of rubber. Moreover, with each ton of rubber impor- tant by-products are obtained. Worker Output In rubber plantations, on the other hand, one acre of land grows 160 rubber trees, and yields about 320 lb. of rubber a year. Furthermore, while on plantations one worker produces on an average 2.2 lb. of rubber per day, in the synthetic factory his daily output is 44 lb. Thus, given the plant capacity and necessary basic material, the 200,000 tons of synthetic rubber to cover the military requirements quota would represent roughly one year's output of a labour force of 30,000. To tide over the period necessary for the American syn- thetic industry to reach its full production, all efforts are being made to increase the output of the Empire rubber resources. In the first quarter of 1942, Ceylon's rubber plantations yielded 35,000 tons, or double the amount of the corresponding period in 1941. According to experts, this production can be further increased immediately by 30 to 50 per cent, without harming the trees. India is taking an increasing share in these efforts, and according to reports from New Delhi, a Rubber Production Board is being set up there. French Central Africa is to supply over 4,000 tons of rubber, and Liberia 10,000 tons. With the vast agricultural and chemical resources of the United Nations being geared up to the maximum, and bearing in mind the stringent measures to eliminate all non-essential consumption, the danger of a rubber crisis is gradually subsiding. Five Hundred in 1942 TIGHTER COMMAND'S No. u Group scored its -^ 500th victory of 1942 without the victor firing a shot. Spitfires from the Group were providing fighter cover for returning Fortresses which had bombed Rouen in daylight when Pilot Officer B J. Hull, D.F.M., of the Baroda Squadron, sighted a Fw 190 and bore down on it. The enemy aircraft promptly went into a steep dive. " 1 followed it for several thousand feet," P/O Hull said afterwards, "and we were soon tearing down at about 400 miles an hour. I imagine the Hun pilot ' blacked-out' before he could pull out of the dive, for his aircraft went straight into the water. I did not fire my guns." On this operation the Baroda Squadron accounted for three enemy aircraft in under five mfhutes. Victory No.~ 498 for the Group was scored by Fit. Lt. W. Gregson, D.F.C. He became separated from the remainder of the Squadron and found himself in- volved with about ten Fw 190s, which were trying to attack the Fortresses, He shot one down into the sea, and was.then joined by other members of his Squadron. No. 499 fell about two minutes later to Fit. Lt. M. P. Kilburn, D.F.C., who commands the Squadron's other flight. His victim exploded in mid-air. Then came P/O. Hull's attack which is recounted above. These and other engagements all happened within such a short space of time that it was only about a week after the event—when claims had been sorted out and time checked—it was possible to determine that P/O. Hull's victory was the third in the engagement and thus the 500th victory of the year. Air Vice-Marshal H. W. L. Saunders,Air Officer Commanding No. 11 Group, Fighter Command, with his Senior AirStaff Officer, Air Comdre. G. Harcourt- Smith.
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