Independent Star-News from Pasadena, California • Page 15

AN IMPORTANT EXPERIMENT Flying Fire Attacks i i Prpying Effective By PFGGY POWELL "this ig Arcadia calling Ontario. There's a report a new fire--285 degrees at 50 miles It looks like it could be a bad one, Bill K.ME 22 out" Chuck Colver a map on a' Wall of the Forest Seivice fire dispatcher's office in Arcadia O'ut Ontario, Bill Archibald studied an identical map tacked to a housetrailei on the edge Ontario Airport i jYonVbig red stars denoting ifield, both men" yanked pins on retractable strings, located the, 285 degree mark, the 50 mile'circle and jabbed the pjn back into the Here, then, was (Just a few days ago, alter tins story was wrilleii, Bill Archibald and Call Milhgan answered a plea fiom San Diego County to jly ovei a fresh fite Silverado Their pfqne, a Beechcrajt Bonanza, crashed and both men were llcd instantly The Independent, Stai News 'and the writer, who came to know and icspcct th'eimcn jor their daring would liKe to dedicate this story to them--1 he Editor) 'f Being 'It's easily secnIrom can pickup where the last plane left off with no difficulty. The borate Is dropped from; the plane's'belly'as a free flow ing mud which sprays over brjush, trees and lue fighters with no discrimination i 'r "Sometimes things get so slippery arid slpppy that the ground crews have trouble staying'on their feet," Peterson said "But the borate Is so effective this is just a minor Irritation" Two young men, Clint Phillips and Harry Miller from the Forest Sen ice's California Forest and Range Experiment Station In Berkelej, iccently spent several days at Ontario, experimenting with a newtfire retardant, bento- nite Tests are Inconclusive as yet but'experiments will ba carried on until officials can "detetmme how'bentomte compares with borale BFNTOMTE has at least one disadvantage 'In Its natural state its color is that of backyard mud which makes it difficult to see from the ah. TO overcome this minor obstacle, Phillips and Miller mixed a giant the experimental slurry a healthy dose of passionate pink djc Archibald took one look at the 1 gawdy mud and grinned "We wont' have any trouble seeing that'from the air. It looks like 'a' cocktail for purple-people eaters." --slalf pholos by' Elton Scwell.

A Forest Service tanker plane drops 500 gallons of borate solution on brush fira in Son Gobnel Mountains. Page A-l Pasadena, Calif. Sunday, Oct. 26, 1958 U.S. BOY 15, MAY BE WORLD CHAMP Chess Is Everything to Him 1 1 NEW YORK OT)'There's Batman comic book on his bedside tabje ami.a rock loll piogiam hlaung over his ladio Hes slouchj, gingly and ciewcut But Batman is sprawled over open chess book apd his nail bitten flngeis ale deftly moving chess pieces over the black and white 1 board which means more him than anything -else in his life.

Fiscliei doesn't want to be a baseball star or a football player or the most popular fellow at the prom. He wants to be chess champion ol the world--and it seems a pretty sure bet he will be. MOST AMERICANS don't know it, but their honor in a big international contest with Russia.is riding on thin shoulders of this 15- year-old boy. from Brooklyn. Bobby is hailed by the cx- pcrls as the greatest chess (In outward appearance and behavior young Bobbii Fitcjici is much like any oilier tccnagct But his grand portion is chess and having recently become an mtei national gianil master, lies 31010 aiming for the yorld championship held by Soviet Russia--1 lie Lditor mind the woild has produced in many jeais doesn't look like one- he looks more like a ffuni ers boy than an intellectual --but he is a genius saj Hans Kmoch secretirj of the.

Manhattan: Club which is the nerve center of chess in the United States. i Is something unique. None of tlic great ones ever accomplished so much so early Pie has become an international grand master--the youngest in the long history of the game--and will meet the world's top seven players this year in a challengers' THE WINNER will got a chess board frqnt of him He was dressed as usual-un a sports shirt Bqbby won the American chess cham pionship in dungarees and a T-shirt; no one remembers seeing him in a coat and tie The Russians keep win nmg the big ones in chess he said because "everybody there plajs Thej re subsi dired Sure, they put out a books'. I a.little. can read the moves I can speak a little Mr Pressman at New York University taught "No, you don't, talk chess tournaments.

W-h should you talk' Except When jou offer a draw But you can say anything They know what you mean Chess plajeis speak lots of Ian guages. "Fun? No, a tournament's no 'fun, they're all Dqes.he tiiipk he the 'challengers -and 'get a' shot at the championship? He shrugged and twisted.his Jiix Wouldn't; It to bring the world chess crown back the 'United. Sta'tes for the first time 100 years? A sudden, charming' grin lit hisiface. Artd'all'arohcie crack at the present world champion, Russia Mikhail Botvinnik. So fai this hasn meant much to most Amei leans who look-on chess intricate pastime foi contem graybeaids But now people uninterested in chess are beginning to feel it would be a fine leather in Uncle Sam's cap to Bobbj whip Russias best plajers a game that com mands great attention in Eu rope and South America.

Bobby.himself who presents a porcupine exterior to 'the world '--'doesn't show much interest in possible Cold War implications of his career. He just wants to be' champion. If he makes it this he'll be. the youngest world champion in chess history-and only the second American ever to occupy that lofty position. The i U.S.

champion was Paul who turned the'trick at 21 a century ago. Bobby, who "could 'give' a clam lessons on to have: gfat'inside'his. AN AMERICAN PRODIGY Young Bobby hailed at a budding chess genius, is caught in a characteristic pose during a tournament match al the Manhattan Chess Club: noil-billen fingers to lips, coatless and tieless, a study in deep concentration, its mouth shut; won't a he i rof his Nobody else thinks he will make it this time HUT THEN, thought win the American chess champion ship at 14 and nobody ex peeled him to do very well at the recent'-International Chess Tournament in Yugoslavia! As big chess. players, all champions' In their own countries, sat down opposite the bony young American, each informed him that he would''be beaten. Some were nicer than others--they said they were sorry to have to defeat him.

They didn't need to be. Most of them didn't. Bobby, playing in' his first International competition, pulled out of his early difficulties' and tied -for -fifth place his place in the) star-studded-'bnallengers "Bobby is a tall'boy with the classic adolescent slump and light brown "MOST REPORTERS ask'; stupid questions. What do I eat breakfast? That's not Important. Why don't they ask about chess?" he said.

He sat on his bed, Idly moving the figures on the pHckly 'Shell- like Fischer very much: "It would be nice, 1 agreed. the-'in e--in the heart of the Angeles National Eight seconds (later Archibald took off from Ontario runway in a Beechcraft Bonanza Following on his tail was Carl Milligan In a IBM (a war suiplus torpedo bomber) loaded with 600 gallons of a borate mixture In 17 minutes botln plane weie over the flaming forest Archibald ladioed curt instructions to the TBM I ly in at Ty feet Begin dropping at the northei perimeter and follow a circular path along the west side i i BACK AT THE AIRPORT, a second TBM had already taken off and a yawning PBY stood in its place A ciew of men weie pumping 1,200 gallons boiate slurry into the thirsty tank in the ship's belly As the plane left the runway, a second PBY was jockeyed into position Eighteen minutes Colver broke radio silence, four fire-fighting planes and the Bonanza, the bird dog ship, were at the scene of the blaze or en route -The bustle at the landing field continued until dusk the planes were called in for the night Back in, Arcadia, Colver had been receiving moie smoke reports from lookout towers thioughout the forest As he plotted each fire watcher's call, the strings on the map crossed at the same spot. The blaze, then, had been pinpointed for sure The next day a small item appeared on page one ol jour newspaper. "FIREFIGHTERS quickly Drought a small blaze in a remote section of the Angeles Forest under control jes terday Planes carrying borate were dispatched to the scene of the lue and kept the flames from spreading to valuable i a of course, Is the of pghting tjres from, air," 1 ire Control Officer Jay Peteison si(d the Bother day. 1 We can getithere a hurry and keep them fiom spread saj for sure this method is successful But it's nnpqssible to quoje figuies on its efficiency since we can only guess how bad a fire would been if we hadn't been able to control it in its early stages Forestry officials have been fighting flames from the air'foi several years but the planes--war surplus ships made into tankeis to carry the flame dousing mud- are sometimes ferried as far as 500 miles.

JUST THIS YTAK Dick Dioege, supervisor of the Angelps National Forest cooperation with supervisors of three other National Forests in Southern California, instituted an experimental Initial Attack Project and placed Peteison charge If it proves woithy and Its almost a certainty it will, the project will probably be adopted on a nation wide basis The object is to have a crew of planes and men ready the air the instant a fire is reported. Peterson chose Ontario Airport as IAP headquarters because of its central locality to the four Southland forests that it serves. Two Forest Service-owned TBMs stand on runway fully loaded with borate slurry, and ready for instant takC'Off-to the Angeles, Los'Padres, or San Bernardino Forests. Long.Beach and Seattle concerns main. tain two: PBYs with crcwjS of' men svhich are instantly available, fire fighting duties.

The Beechcraft hires 'out at $20 per hour, is also-in a state of readiness to fill-its'role as the scout plane." Archibald directs fire fighting procedures from the bird dog ship. SINCE THE IAP was launched in July, at thcfslart of i the fjrc season, the planes have more than DOO hours tb'f'igh't some 57 fires. Once, Archibald answered a.plea from the Sequoia National Forest arid flew a tanker 170 Porterville. Strategically scattered throughout area from. SantajBarbara south to San Diego are- 11-airporls which can serve'as headquarters for firc'op'eratioris.

BORATE, which comes from Death Valley, is a white salt. When mixed (at a ratio of 4 pounds per gallon of it-makes a gelatinous mud that coals.and'clings to everj thing it touches and because of the quantity of moisture it holds, acts as a firs retardant. Carl Milhgan, left, and Bud Nelson, load, PBY tanker Wh Bill Archibald, seated, end Jay Peterson pinpoint fire after receiving call from Arcadia. Carl Milligan, Gordon Kiern and Bud Nelson, lefl to right, load tanker plane borala slurry. Chuck Colver sends'flash of new blaze from Forest 1 Service's' fire dispatch office In Arcadia..