ARMED FORCES: Sound Risk

"We believe," said Air Force Secretary Thomas Finletter, "that it is a sound and calculated risk." Before the first test model had even left the hangar, Boeing Airplane Co. was ordered to tool up for full-scale production of its huge, swept-wing B-52 jet bomber, a bigger, faster version of the B-47. Intended as a replacement for the giant, cigar-shaped B-36 (and as a rival of a new sweptwing, all-jet B-36), the swift new heavy, powered by eight jet engines, will have almost the same range and bomb load as the B-36, and a lot more speed. If all goes well, the B-52 will make its maiden flight next fall, start coming off production lines twelve months later, six years after the first design and a full year ahead of schedule.