$8,000 Dive

Probably the world's most hazardous peacetime occupation is that of test pilot for a company making military aircraft. Lately when famed Builder John K. ("Jack") Northrop of Los Angeles (Lockheed Vega, Northrop Delta) wanted a pilot to test his newest attack plane he found his man in Vance Breese, oldtime mail pilot, barnstormer, test pilot and aviation theorist. To Pilot Breese Builder Northrop offered $8,000 for a 16,000-ft. vertical power-dive. Pilot Breese thought 50 per foot a fair price.

Because of the terrific physical strain involved, Pilot Breese had himself taped from head to foot before going up. At 20,000 ft. he leveled off, nosed his ship straight down at full throttle. He was making 425 m.p.h. when his air-speed indicator broke. He kept on diving, pulled his plane out successfully at 4,000 ft.

Last week Pilot Breese's $8,000 dive brought Builder Northrop the biggest Army aircraft order in years - no attack planes at a cost of $1,896,400. The new Northrops all-metal, low-wing monoplanes have a topspeed of nearly 280 m.p.h., will probably be powered with the new Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp double-bank radial engines. Well pleased at his bargain was Builder Northrop as he handed Pilot Breese $8,000 for his 15 seconds' work.

Northrop Corp., subsidiary of Douglas Aircraft Co. Inc. of Santa Monica, Calif. (TIME, Nov. 19), was not the only company to benefit from the recent boom in military aircraft orders. Fortnight ago the Army Air Corps awarded Consolidated Aircraft Corp. of Buffalo a contract for 50 pursuit planes to cost $1,999,700, as part of its plan to buy at least 600 new planes in the next three years. Last week Consolidated Aircraft Corp. received another order $243,000 from the Chinese Government for 50 Fleet training planes.

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