Big Show

"I'm glad to welcome you here." "It's nice, to see you again, Governor." Thus spoke Governor Thomas E. Dewey and President Harry S. Truman as they met last week at the dedication of New York's brand-new International Airport at Idlewild, in Queens.

The exercises began. Dewey spoke first, his baritone voice rolling and echoing through the amplifiers across the 4,900-acre field while the wind tousled his hair. Truman followed. Both speeches were carefully nonpolitical, both declared that the airport was a fine thing for peace. Before Truman finished, a flight of F-80 jet planes screamed overhead, drowning out whole sentences. He hurried on, then sat down to watch the greatest peacetime display of aerial might in U.S. history.

Some 1,000 planes came from bases in 15 states and from Navy carriers at sea. Winging in over Jamaica Bay, 200 B295 thundered by in massive formation. Fairchild "Flying Boxcars" lumbered past, and three six-engined B-365, the world's largest bombers (see BUSINESS), cruised slowly across the far edge of the field.

Spectators were impressed; but the Air Force's boss, General Hoyt Vandenberg, was not. Some formations were late. Others flew outside their lanes. Said General Vandenberg: "Somebody's going to hear about this."

Then the Navy stole the show. Its 200 fighters and dive bombers flew in tight, ground-hugging formations, swept over in simulated mass attacks. The famed Blue Angels, led by Lieut. Commander Raleigh ("Dusty") Rhodes, stunted with the precision of a chorus line. Grumman Bearcats crumpled the walls of a painted target, revealing the word "Navy" in glowing block letters as the President, an old artillery captain, chuckled appreciatively.

The show over, Truman briskly shook hands again with Dewey, then took off for Missouri, where he planned to vote in the Democratic primary this week.

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