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AP 64 IN THE BACKGROUND 9/453 BENDIX RACE B P AP 64 IN THE BACKGROUND 9/4/53 BENDIX RACE 0 FOUR HUNDRED AND TEN GALLONS OF FUEL IS ENOUGH TO FILL 26 AUTOMOBILE TANKS. YOU,D BE LUCKY TO GET automobile tanks. You,d be lucky to get your tank filled once in 180 seconds or less. But in tommorow,s Bendix air race, they,ll fuel up the planes in 3 minutes or less, and each plane laps up 410 gallons of fuel at a meal. Fast refueling may be the key to victory in the race, which this year is for jets only. In recent years, ground crewmen have jumped onto the wings of the jet planes before they had stopped rolling. Some stayed on the wings, still working , as the planes started to take off. It,s that kind of teamwork that makes victory possible. It,s the same kind of teamwork in the pit that makes victory possible for an auto racing druxxxdriver. Each jet will have one ground crewman for each fuel tank. If it carries 4 tanks, there will be 4 crewmen. Not only will the primary refueling stop be so manned, but there will be crews standing by at alternate stooxxxxstops, jst in case the weather causes a change. Seconds count more and more as places become faster and faster. There is less time to become a factor in winning, and races of 1,500 miles and moreaaxxxmore-- this year it,s 1,650 miles--are won in a matter of seconds. Back in 1931, when 223 miles an hour was breathtaking, the winning time was 9 hours and 10 minutes for a laird biplane piloted by a man named Doolittle who later was to lead the first raid on Tokyo and who was to wind up as an oil executive. The present record was set in 1951 by Air Force Colonel Keith Compton in a Sabre Jet. He flew Edwards Air Force Base to Detroit in 3 hours, 27 [strikethorugh] WWU [/strikethorugh] minutes and 56 seconds. His average speed" 553 miles an hour. Until 1946, the race was for piston places. The race was discontinued during the war,. and when it resumed, a separate division for jets was added. So rapid has been the post-war development of jet flight that by 1949, propellor-driven planes were ruled out of speed classic. [[illegible due to markings]] The little-known club is made up of fliers in the Bendix race in the years it was flown by propellor places. The members include such names as Doolittle, of course. Also Roscoe Turner, Laura Ingalls and Jacqueline Cochran. Were [[illegible]] she alive, Amelia Earhart would be a member. Back in the old days it was the daredevils who raced, the flying circus men and the barnstorming pilots. They were the guys who took passengers up for $2 each one day, and risked their lives on a headlong dash across the nation the next. There also were the service pilots,. Doolittle was a major when he won. Today, the Bendix race has changed. Actually, it isn,t exactly a race anymore. It is described by the Air Force as a "proficiency test." It is a grueling test of the ability of American airmen to get from here to there in a hurry... an ability that war puts a big premium on. When they closed the [[strikethrough]] boo ks [[/strikethrough]] on the fraternity of prop pilots who flew the Bendix, they opened the books on a new club, the fraternity of jet jockeys. At the head of the list right now is Compton, the title holder. And who can say what names will be added to the ageless annals of aviation in the years to come. The relatively unknown jet jockey of today may become the Doolittle of a few years [[strikethough]] hencs [[/strikethorugh]] hence. The Bendix race is a part of the national aircraft show tomorrow. The race will be flown from Edwards Air Force Bse to Dayton, Ohio. And it will be the Air Force against the Air Force... with teams entered from the air defense command... tactucal air... air research and development... air proving ground and the air training command MD906AED 4
