Science: Faster than Sound

From Buffalo last week came a tantalizing fragment of news. Some sort of "special flying devices," said Dr. C. C. Furnas, head of Curtiss-Wright's research laboratory, had attained speeds of 1,400 m.p.h.—almost twice the speed of sound. When reporters quizzed him, Dr. Furnas added a few details. But he was far from specific about just what the "devices" were.

¶ They were not artillery shells or rockets, but actually flew, some of them with wings. They had been test-flown "somewhere in the U.S."

¶ They did not use propellers or atomic energy.

¶ At present they did not carry pilots, but contained a television set which watched the instrument panel, thus permitting their flight to be observed in detail (see above). Apparently they were not expected to make safe landings, for Dr. Furnas spoke of designing detachable sections to allow a pilot to bail out. Jumping unprotected into a 1,400-m.p.h. slip stream would be sure death.