Up in the Air

When Shipbuilder Henry J. Kaiser stormed into Washington 16 months ago with plans to build 5,000 giant cargo planes in shipyards, most U.S. planemakers hooted down: 1) Mr. Kaiser, 2) the very idea. Some of them, Washington rumor said, put their best hatchet men to work to kill it. But stubborn Mr. Kaiser somehow salvaged a small Government contract from the battle. Turned down everywhere in the industry, he promptly went to work with lanky Howard Robard Hughes, movie maker, oilman, round-the-world flyer and aeronautical engineer. They planned to turn out three super-colossal planes of Hughes's own design.

Last week, the hatchet work was revived; Shipbuilder Kaiser and Flyer Hughes stormed into Washington. They had good reason: WPB was casting a cold and fishy eye on the three-plane contract, had a good mind to cancel it.

On the surface, WPB was merely scanning all plane contracts.

Suspicious Mr. Kaiser. But blunt Mr. Kaiser made no secret of what he thought was the real reason. Aircraft makers had been scoffingly certain that the tremendous Kaiser-Hughes plane would be a flop. (Where will he get the plant? The men? The engineers? The materials? Besides, the U.S. doesn't need it.) Now, said Mr. Kaiser, they were worried lest it be a success. They feared, with good reason, said he, that it would put Shipbuilder Kaiser years ahead in the race for a postwar plane.

WPB wanted to be convinced that the mammoth Hughes plane was worth the time (twelve more months), the money ($16,500,000) that was being lavished on it. Confident Mr. Hughes took time off from planemaking to convince WPB. Despite all rumors, he said, the work was going along well. Reported Hughes: 1) the engineering work for the entire plane was practically completed; 2) the construction of the wings was well along and work was under way on the fuselage; 3) the plane would be ready to fly late in '44.

Satisfied WPB. Out of the huddle of conferences and the welter of staggering facts leaked one shocker: the Kaiser-Hughes plane, the largest ever built, will carry 700 soldiers fully equipped. Or it could evacuate 550 wounded men.

WPBsters were shaken by Howard Hughes's ice-cold confidence. They closely scrutinized all the plans, were assured by Expert Grover Loening, WPB's aviation adviser, that the ship was far in advance of anything he had seen. WPB's eye warmed up. It decided not to cancel the Kaiser-Hughes contract -- at least, not immediately. But WPB also made it plain that it intends to keep an eagle eye on the supership, may yet cancel the contract.

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