Word: mccutcheon
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Driver's Seat. Military scientists in every major country are working to correct this defect. "Practically all natural physical laws," says Colonel McCutcheon, "are being investigated to determine their suitability for guidance systems. Television, heat, light and sound all offer possibilities; magnetic, electric and gravitational fields are also being considered. . . . The first nation which arrives at a workable and practical solution to the problem will be in the driver's seat...
Power supply is no problem. Colonel McCutcheon describes the various reaction engines which will power guided missiles, at least until atomic propulsion is perfected. Best known is the familiar turbojet. A compressor draws air through the engine's nose. Burning fuel heats and expands it. The hot blast roars out the tail at over 1,000 miles an hour, giving a mighty push. Before the gases reach the open, they spin a turbine, which powers the compressor...
Equipped with either jets or rocket engine motors (or a combination), World War Ill's guided missiles will have power to drive them at thousands of miles an hour. No engineer doubts this. The problem of how to guide them is more difficult. Colonel McCutcheon outlines various possibilities...
Only a few primitive guided missiles (such as the Navy's "Bat" and "Loon") have passed the blueprint stage. But Colonel McCutcheon can already outline how their successors will be used in war. Some will have enormous ranges, striking at enemy cities and blasting them to rubble with atomic warheads. These will not need pinpoint accuracy...
Like most military men, Colonel McCutcheon believes that offense is the best defense, but he recognizes the fact that the U.S. does not plot "Pearl Harbors." Therefore, he says, the U.S. must have missiles that can rise at a moment's notice and intercept enemy missiles before they strike the nation's vitals...