The Key West Citizen

AIR FORCE REVEALS SURPRISING INFORMATION

If there is anybody without an idea as to the force of a single current atomic bomb, we call their attention to the report of the Atomic Committee, which indicate that a single atomic explosion exerts a power equal to that of all the bombs and rockets that fell on Great Britain in the six years of direct attack in World War II.

It is largely the superior power of the United States in the atomic explosion field that deters the Russians from beginning another world war, in the opinion of Winston Churchill. This being the case, the information recently disclosed before the Armed Services Committee is somewhat disconcerting. The Air Force stated that it had only eighty-seven atomic bomb-carrying B-36 bombers ready to go into action.

The information surprised some members of the Committee and shocked others. They wondered why more planes are not available under the program authorized in 1946. Others suggested that the Air Force might be wrong in relying on the B-36 and should concentrate on newer and faster bombers, like the all-jet B-47.

The Committee was considering the multi-billion-dollar Air Force construction program which is so secret that an armed guard was kept around the room day and night. Air Force plans, including secret proposals for new bases abroad, were under discussion. The Air Force wants $3,580,000,000 for a construction program that covers installations in Europe, England and North Africa-all calculated to bring our bombers within easy reach of Russia.

Other information given to the committee by Air Force leaders includes the fact that, in addition to the eighty-seven bombers, we have sixty or more in process of modernization. Two or three B-36 bombers are being produced each month at a cost of $3,500,000 each. The converted models, which have four jet engines instead of the six conventional engines, are valued at $6,000,000.