California Secret

Around Douglas Aircraft Co.'s busy, super-efficient factory at Santa Monica, Calif. have lately been eddying exciting rumors. Whispers were heard of a monster armored air cruiser being built in holy secrecy to make the U. S. top-dog of the Pacific (see col. 2). Fortnight ago part of Donald Wills Douglas' secret got out. To Santa Monica Beach was shipped, in sections, what appeared to be a huge aircraft. Next day when crowds flocked to see it assembled, police and a corps of 100 secret service men drove them back to a nearby cliff, ripped films from snapshotters' cameras. By the time Donald Douglas' big secret was safely launched on a test-flight, nothing had been learned of it except that it was a huge flying-boat and bore the name XP3D-1.

Still a closely guarded mystery last week, this much had leaked out about XP3D-1. It was ordered by the Navy, took a year to build, is considered by Douglas its major engineering achievement. So big that a pit had to be dug in the factory to accommodate its hull, the ship was also too big to be assembled in the company's hangar which is large enough to hold several Douglas transports. XP3D-1 has two 830-h.p. Twin Wasp motors, 100-ft. wingspread, carries eight men, six machine guns, two tons of bombs. Although not armored. XP3D-1 tickled Navy officials, impressed them especially by carrying a 2,000-lb. payload on one engine.

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