National Affairs: Whoosh ... Whoosh ...

After hissing impatiently behind the scenes for 17 months, the Air Force's hottest jet bomber—the experimental Boeing XB-47 Stratojet—whipped into public view last week like a kerosene-burning skeet target. It left Moses Lake, Wash., with a whoosh of its six jet engines, skyrocketed 2,289 miles to Andrews Air Force Base, Md. (where it rolled down the runway with a fuchsia-colored parachute blossoming from its tail, to slow it down) in three hours and 46 minutes.

This worked out to an average ground speed of 607.2 miles an hour—23 miles an hour faster than the transcontinental record set three years ago by an F-80 jet fighter.

The next day the country had cause to blink again. A Northrop YB-49 eight-jet Flying Wing—a weird, batlike sky monster which is almost twice as heavy as the Stratojet—flew from Muroc, Calif, to Andrews Air Force Base in four hours and 25 minutes. Average for 2,259 miles: 511.2 miles an hour.

The Air Force watched each flight proudly—both planes had been ordered east to take part in a big, private air show for Congress this week, calculated to soften the hearts of members who are considering the Air Force Budget.