 Proudly we hail. A New York City where the American stage begins, here is another program with the cast of Outstanding Player. Public service time has been made available by this station for your Army and your Air Force to bring you this story as proudly we hail the United States Army. Our story is entitled Sky Sweeper. This is the story of Sergeant Tom Adams who's but one of the thousands of skilled technicians, officers and men who serve in the Army Ordnance Corps at Arsenal's at the Aberdeen Proving Ground and around the world. Our first act curtain will rise in just a moment, but first, the man who measures up will succeed anywhere. For a life of excitement and adventure, join the United States Army. The Army is the Proving Ground, the place where the men and the boys part company, where in a few short months, you'll learn more about how to take care of yourself and how to lead others than you could in a lifetime of civilian activity. In the Army, your opportunities for advancement and leadership are unlimited, but you've got to have what it takes. The man who measures up here will succeed anywhere. Can you measure up? If you think you can, then here's an opportunity for you to serve your country and build a man-sized career for yourself that will take you as far as you want to go. Visit your local U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force Recruiting Station now. And now your Army and your Air Force present the proudly we hail production, Sky Sweeper. Aberdeen, Maryland, the Army Ordnance Proving Ground where the latest weapons, armor, and transport of the United States Army get the searching, rugged testing involved in final stages of development. These are the weapons of free peoples that are being forged. The weapons designed to help keep us strong and free. And at the workshops and firing ranges of Aberdeen unceasingly, new ordnance gets a grueling going over, rarely matched even under combat conditions. Jonesy. Yeah, Tom? We've got more coming over, haven't we? About three or four as I make it. On those first ones, were we on target? All the way, Tom, all the way. Didn't when the jet stepped the target up to 480? It didn't matter. It could have been weather balloons up there floating along it miles an hour. We weren't off by the width of an eggshell from the time you picked up the target. You know, Jonesy, I'm almost ready to say we've got a gun here. Keep your fingers crossed, Tom. Here comes the next target. Honor, Jonesy. Let's go. Jonesy, wait up a minute. Hey, you're looking pretty sharp, Phil. Headed in for town this afternoon? Yeah, I guess so. How'd it go today? Well, how'd what go? Come on, Jonesy, you can tell me. I was one of the detail hauling ammo out there for you this morning. You better ask the sergeant here. Did we give him a fill-in, Tom? Sorry, Phil. All performance data's off the record till the wraps come off. Major Holland's ordered. Oh, well, look, Tom, I've been trying to get the transfer over to your testing crew, and with any kind of a break, I might be on it with you next week. See, all I was wondering was... Well, you get that transfer, and you can stop wondering about what's going on. No kidding, Tom. If I get the green light to switch over, you won't turn me down? Saturday, Phil, and I've got a weekend pass starting in about an hour. You catch me feeling this good next week, and how could I turn you down? You heard him, Jonesy. I'm in. Provided you get the green light. I'll get it. If Tom Adams says I'm in, I'm in. All right, for me to take off now, Major, I've finished checking that third set of computations. Operation Baltimore again, Sergeant? Not Baltimore this weekend, sir. Judy and I are going out to a fishing camp on the bay. Fishing camp? That's early in the season. Oh, we're just opening it up and getting set for later on. The place belongs to Judy's folks, and they're meeting us out there tonight. Well, an afternoon out on the bay with your girl. Hmm. Tom, you'd better get out of here before I think up some way of trading places with you. Thank you, sir. You'll find this morning's results in the field safe in case you want to check them over before Monday. Oh, thanks. Thanks. I'll be getting at them now. Oh, but, Tom, that reminds me, you don't need re-briefing on security, but as we get to the end of this project, I'm asking everyone to be more careful than ever. I've tried to be all along, Major. Well, if anyone gets point blank about it, you're on a routine job. I, uh, haven't had trouble with anyone but Judy's father. He's quite a talker himself. And when he gets firing off, questions have me. Questions, Edge. You haven't... Oh, no, no, no, sir. As far as Mr. Wellington's concerned, I'm on the most routine job any soldier ever had. Matter of fact, he's beginning to think I ought to have more ambition and start trying to make something out of myself in the army. Ah, fine, fine. Well, my best to Judy, Tom, and have a good weekend. Thank you, Major. Those ducks are starting to swim into it sure again. I wouldn't dream of moving, Judy. After the paint job and the mopping up inside, all I'm going to do to your dad and mother turn up is watch the ducks tend to their housekeeping. Tom, you call it housekeeping, just to swim around out there? All right, all right. Let's get to some housekeeping that you will give the name to. What about ours? Ours? This was supposed to be Make Up Our Minds weekend. Remember? Well, look at the ducks now, Tom. That first one's diving in. Don't, don't try to throw me off, Judy. Once your father gets here, I'll be lucky to get in three words at a time till tomorrow night. And I've got something here to show you. Will you take this ring and wear it till we can get married? Tom, I... I know it's not too big a diamond. Maybe you'd call a setting kind of plain, but... Darling, it's the most beautiful ring I've ever seen in my life. Oh, babe. Well, honey, it's the way I was hoping you'd take it, but what about it? Does this mean... Oh, wait a minute, Tom. There's someone coming. I'll have all the time for anybody. Oh, here, keep the ring for now. We'll talk about it later. Yeah, but look, Judy, all I want to know is what... All you want to know is what, Tom? What mother and I brought out for this picnic dinner tonight? My mother! We didn't hear the car pulling. Oh, are you Mr. Wellington, Mr. Wellington? Oh, Tom, it's a pleasure to see you again. I hope Judy hasn't been working you too hard getting things open here. Working him too hard? Mother, this younger generation doesn't know the meaning of work. I don't say Tom's any worse than the rest of them, but I... Now, Dad, we've been working our heads off most of the afternoon, and there's your boat to prove it. All scraped, coughed, and painted. Hmm. That does look to be an improvement. I guess you youngsters haven't been wasting all the afternoon out here. Can I give a hand with anything in from the car, Mrs. Wellington? Thanks, Tom. There are a few bags to come in, but there's no rush about them. We men will tend to the bags, Mother. You and Judy take charge in the kitchen and start things going in there. Come on, Tom. Bag is detailed. Front and center. All right, there. That does it in the baggage, Tom. Now then, let's get down and look into that new dock project I was telling you about. I'd like to, sir, but I thought if Judy needed some help... No K.P. for us, Tom. We've got some serious dock planning to do. First, though, I'd like to know whether you've taken any steps along the lines I was suggesting to you last week. Steps, Mr. Wellington? About getting ahead in the Army. If there's anything more important than ambition and good-playing hard work, it's taking time enough beforehand to be sure that you know what you're aiming for. I guess you're right, Mr. Wellington. You've admitted you're on a routine job. Not much change one week after another. I didn't say I didn't find my job over at Aberdeen interesting. Now, you're putting a good face on it, but what else can it be but a blind alley? Let's face up to things as they are. Yeah, well, the thing is, Mr. Wellington... The thing is, Tom Adams, it's time you stirred yourself and made a move. Of course, this old tricked back of mine kept me from ever being in the Army myself, but I pride myself in knowing a little something about it as a long time observer. As far as I can see, all a man has to do is talk about it, man to man, with his first sergeant or company commander. Mr. Wellington, the thing is, I like the work I'm on. I haven't been asking to get shifted out of ordnance. Like it, Tom. When you told me yourself... Well, Mr. Wellington, maybe we'd better be going down and having a look at that duck. Oh, time enough, my boy, time enough for that. You haven't told me yet how the anti-aircraft situation is going. Anti-aircraft situation? I didn't say I was working on it. The ideas of mine, son, that I asked you to suggest to your superiors over there at Aberdeen. Oh, oh, you mean about the kites? Not just kites, boy, but big ones with long barbed wire tails on them. Throw up a couple hundred barbed wire kites around every city. And how could the enemy planes ever get in? Any ten-year-old boy can hold a kite string, can he? Yes, I suppose that's so, Mr. Wellington. And what about the high-level flamethrower? Yes, sir. I put both those suggestions in through channels, Mr. Wellington. Channels? You didn't go right to the top? Well, as a sergeant, sir, that wouldn't have been according to Hoyle. There's just one limit that I can see, Tom, and that's your lack of get up and go. Here, you're handed two brilliant new ideas. And what do you do? You just start mumbling something about two channels. Don't you have any imagination and ambition, Tom? Are you afraid Judy might stumble over the edge of this rickety old doctor? What? The way you two are holding hands, the man doesn't think you're afraid of going overboard. Dad, you might say that's what we have been doing. Going overboard? Dad, can't you see here? I'm... No, no, I promised Mother I'd tell her first. Tom, I'll go find it. I'll be right back. Well, what was I supposed to have noticed, Tom? Some new way Judy's doing her hair? I think Judy wanted to tell you herself, Mr. Wellington. Tell me what? Speak up, boy. Have you and Judy been choosing a location without even hearing how I figured it out? How you figured it out? The new dark, the new dark boy. What else were we talking about? Oh, yes, yes, sir, yes, sir, yes, sir, the dark. The way I see it, Tom, the chief's trouble with this old dark is the side of the cove that is dark. If the people who put it there just use the heads a little to start with, they... Use their heads how? Built the dark in the far side, boy, where it's got more sun all day. That's how. It's plain as two times two, isn't it? Well, I don't know, Mr. Wellington. The way most of your wind comes that far side of the cove would seem to be pretty unprotected. Unprotected? Do you think you're dealing with full ocean surf right here, Tom? This is just Chesapeake Bay. I know, but when some of these storms kick up even in the bay... Tom, are you deliberately trying to put your judgment above mine? I didn't mean it that way. I thought you wanted my opinion. Well, I'll be very glad to have it, but I want a reasoned opinion. Not just some irrelevant talk about a few showers that might come along. Look, Mr. Wellington, it's your dark, and I'm not trying to tell you how to... Tom, I'm ordering the new dark pilings driven on the far side of the cove. And if you don't think that's exactly the place they ought to go, then all I can say is that you don't... Jonathan, will you please give over playing engineer? Playing engineer, mother? After all, my years of experience... How did you heard the news? News? Don't you even see the ring now with Judy holding it in front of your eyes? Well, of course, now that you... Dad, couldn't you tell when you came down before what Tom and I had just decided? They're engaged, Jonathan. Now, can you gather your wits and give Judy your blessing while I kiss my new son-in-law-to-be? Oh, Tom, it's a pity to catch her halfway through your Sunday supper, but that phone call I just took is for you. For me, Mrs. Wang? It's long distance from Aberdeen. Oh, thanks. Keep some waffles hot for me, Judy, huh? Hello? This is Major Holland, Tom. I'm sorry to be breaking into your weekend time. Anything wrong, Major? No, no, no, but I wondered if you knew yet what time you plan to be back here tonight. About 10, sir. The Wellington's were going to drive me around. But if anything's come up to... No, no, 10 will be fine. I appreciate it if you drop by at my office then before you turn in. Glad to, sir. But if you'd rather have me... No, no, stick to your schedule. There's some points I want to go over with you before I lay out tomorrow morning's run, but they won't take us a quarter of an hour to clear it up. I'll be working through here through, well, after 11. So I'll see you when you get here, Tom. Whatever you say, Judy, and whatever you say, mother, I call it outrageous. Jonathan, dear, you're getting whipped up over nothing. We dropped Tom back at Aberdeen at the time we meant to, and he said himself the phone call was no more than... You can pass it off, mother, but I say if Tom was on an important job there, he wouldn't be at the beck and call of... Oh, Dad, you're way off. The thing is... The thing is, Judy, I've been trying to get Tom to make something of himself in the army. And now that he's actually coming into our family, I'd say it's time I took some action. Now, Dad, please don't spoil things by trying... Spoil things, Judy. Boy, I'm going to fix them up for you and Tom. I'll get over to Aberdeen myself. To Aberdeen. To Aberdeen. And I'll see Major Harlow myself and see if we can get Tom Adams a decent assignment in this man's army. You are listening to the proudly-behaved production Sky Sweeper. We'll return in just a moment for the second act. Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes was the command at Bunker Hill. So our musket men of 75 held off until the enemy closed in and then they let them have it locked, stock and barrel. Well, the army's come a long way in the last 178 years. Nowadays, our soldiers can track a jet plane 10,000 feet overhead and flying at 600 miles per hour. With the army's supersonic equipment, skilled army technicians can help protect our towns and our country from the enemy. With army radar and electronics, our soldiers get the best kind of training. Training that you'd have a tough time trying to duplicate anywhere else. You can learn to be a man of the hour yourself by enlisting directly from one of the army's technical schools like the Fire Control Repair School, for instance. Your local U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force Recruiting Station will be glad to help you. Join the army, the team with 178 years of proud achievement. Join the army and make your country proud of you. You are listening to Proudly We Hail and now we present the second act of Sky Sweeper. The following day on the firing range at the Aberdeen Proving Ground. What are you taking this morning, Tom? Computer or radar? I'll take the computer, Jonesy. I'm on target, Tom. All set? All set. Tom, we're on that target as if it were painted up there. Tom commissioned officers club at Aberdeen two nights later. Hi, Tom. Hi, Phil. You're not writing a letter to that girl of yours tonight, huh? Just because she gave in and said she'd marry up with you. You're late, Phil. I wrote and mailed two nights later an hour ago. Yeah? Oh, thanks, Jonesy. I'll see you around, Tom. Yeah. Hello? Judy, how are you? No. Judy, you can't come barging over here as if you... Look, Judy, if your father starts bending the major's ear and the major ever thinks I had anything to do with it... Believe me, after Judy called last night, I did everything I could. No, no, no. Just take it easy, Tom. You can't be blamed for what someone else decides to do. And when a gentleman's your future father-in-law, I can see how your hands might be tied. I just wish my tongue could have been tied here before I ever let him get hold of your name. Yes, Major Holland speaking. There's, uh, Mr. Wellington outside. He has a pass that's got appointment with you. Right. Send him in, Kennedy. Major Holland, you're not going to let him out. Now at ease, Tom. And what you've told me, I'm not sure I'm not going to enjoy meeting Mr. Wellington. Major Holland, I am J.V. Wellington. Well, I'm glad to know you, sir. Uh, can I have a chair? Uh, thank you. Why, Tom, I didn't see you there at first. How are you, Mr. Wellington? I asked Sergeant Adams to stand by, Mr. Wellington. As I understand it, it was about the sergeant you wanted to see me. Oh, well, I have nothing I couldn't say before, Tom, Major Holland, but I had expected to speak rather frankly. More or less, an unmanly man-based. Major Holland, I can clear out- No, no, no, no. Hold on, Tom. But wasn't you had in mind, Mr. Wellington? Well, it's a little awkward to say in front of Tom, but as his prospective father-in-law, I have a natural interest in what he's doing and what he expects to do with himself. That's understandable. Look, Mr. Wellington, Major Holland's a busy man. He can't take up his whole morning- Tom, if you don't mind, I'd say we'll move faster on this without interruptions. Now, you tell me you're interested in what the sergeant's doing, Mr. Wellington. Within the limits of what's classified and what isn't, of course. Well, then, as I understand it, he's on pretty much of a routine assignment. Good going, Tom. I beg your pardon, Major. Well, in this particular section, Mr. Wellington, we don't encourage too much shop talk outside. Oh, incidentally, I might tell you we found Tom Adams to be a good soldier. I'm glad to hear that, Major. The sergeant was recommended for office as candidate school a month ago, and I took pleasure in endorsing the papers myself. Major Holland, you didn't tell me. You'll go when you finish the job you're on, Tom, and that'll be sooner than you think. The point is, Mr. Wellington, what Tom's been doing here is about as far from a routine job as an assignment could be. He's been on a high priority project and doing excellent work at it. Oh, well, I am glad to hear that. I'm glad to know that. I'll even go a little further, Mr. Wellington. If you and Mrs. Wellington and your daughter would care to see exactly what Tom's been working on, I'd suggest you make use of the passes I've asked Sergeant Kennedy outside to prepare for you. They'll be ready as you leave. Major Holland, you've been hammering security into us ever since we... We're taking the wraps off T-83E1 and T-69 as of next week, Tom. Here, have a look at this order that came in this morning. On the 25th? Major, we're actually giving a public showing on the sweeper over at Fort Meyer on the 25th? The 25th. And if your affair is allowed, Mr. Wellington, I hope your wife, yourself and that fine daughter of yours will be at Fort Meyer next week. Well, of course we... If you get there, Mr. Wellington, I'd say you may feel a little better about how Sergeant Adams and quite a few more have been putting in their time. The project Tom Adams had been helping complete final tests on at Aberdeen was the sky sweeper. The Army's new rapid-firing radar-controlled 75-millimeter anti-aircraft gun. And it was astonishing to more than the Wellingtons on the day press and public had their first look at this marvel of modern American ordnance. Major Holland, I... I'm looking at it and I still can't believe it. You say that gun finds its own moving plane targets and throws 45, 12.5-pound shells a minute at them? Just like a... well, just like an artillery machine gun? Yes, that's pretty much what it is, Mr. Wellington. The Army's largest caliber automatic artillery weapon. As far as we know, it's the first cannon in the world with radar, computer and gun on one carriage. The first one with gun and... Major, you say that radar rig on the left side of the gun can spot enemy planes as far as 15 miles away? Yes, and under certain conditions it can spot moving tanks, Mr. Wellington. Normally, the radar scanner sweeps the whole sky automatically once every 40 seconds. If it picks up a hostile plane, it throws the target data over to the computer and keeps tracking it to within range. The computer's in that console there, you see, on the right side of the gun? Now where the second operator is, the oncologist beyond time. Yes, right. Now, one man's on the radar, one on the electronic computer. Once the gun's touched off, it can keep reloading and firing itself automatically. What was it you said the computer does after the radar finds a target, Major Holland? It works out range, speed and course of the target plane instantaneously, Mrs. Wellington, and feeds that data to the power control. Now, not where the target is at any moment, but where it's going to be at the exact second the shell reaches it. They're shooting ahead of it. Right again. Except in this case, the computer isn't going by guess and maybe. It keeps correcting course and holds the moving gun locked on that target until it's destroyed. Now, out where the target and that 12 and a half pound shell are meeting. You think the gun can do all that, Corporal? Look, Miss Wellington, that sky sweeper can do everything but pass out cups of coffee to the guy's handling it. I suppose I should know this, Corporal, but what happens at night or in a heavy fog if the plane comes in fast, you can't even see. Miss Wellington, that radar finder doesn't know darkness and fog from high noon on a sunny day. Midnight or morning, high or low, either side of the sound barrier. He can pick up any enemy plane and knock it down up to four miles away. Corporal, I almost feel sorry for any enemy pilots who try coming in against something like that. But they wouldn't have a chance. Well, let's hope they feel sorry enough for themselves not to try coming in. No planes have to tangle with this gun for keeping themselves. You know, I'm still clogging, Major. You say that this ten-ton setup here can be hauled anywhere and be in operation five minutes later? On rougher level terrain, Mr. Wellington, emplaced in with radar functioning within five minutes, can even be carried by plane. And all the while, I thought Tom Adams was marking time on some routine duty. He's been on this. Yes, he and quite a few hundred more. Tom's been one of the testers since we got it at Aberdeen, Mr. Wellington. But the development of this gun began back in 44. The Ordnance Corps first started making up its specifications for the Sky Sweeper during World War II when plane speeds began stepping up. At Watertown Orson, it's very challenging. Well, hi, Judy. I'll be with you in a minute. Honey, I'll have a 20-minute break as soon as we get the gun jacked up and back on its mount. Do you think your folks would like to get some coffee over at the post? Tom, if you tried to get away today without letting Dad shake your hand, I honestly think he'd explode. He got that much of a kick out of seeing the gun? A kick out of it. Darling, he's back there trying to tell people his future son-in-law practically invented, designed, and made the Sky Sweeper single-handed. Ordnance technicians were sweating out all the tough details on this long before I ever got in the Army at Orson. Those are factories all over the country. Tom, you'll have to go easy on Dad. He's just learning how to be as proud of you as I've always been. Wait a minute, Judy. After today, I think it's the Army you'd better start getting proud of. Darling, I am proud of the Army, but I'm marrying just one sergeant named Tom Adams. And all I can really think about... Maybe you'd better concentrate on that coffee break. Look, I'll see you in about 10 minutes. I'll get Dad and Mom. We'll be over by the barrier. More coffee, Dad? No, no, thanks, Judy. I think I have a phone call to make. A phone call, Mr. Wallingham? A new dock out of the fishing camp, Tom. You remember where I thought it ought to be put on the far side of the cove when you thought it should stay on the near side? Well, I don't see as it matters too much one way or the other, Mr. Wallingham. If you'd rather have it on the far side... Oh, look here now. Do you think I don't know good advice from a good man when I get it? I'm calling that contractor and telling him the dock goes on the near side. Oh, Dad, you don't have... And if Tom says to run the dock clear out to the middle of the bay, that's exactly where it's going to go. We'll be back in a minute, Tom. And if you and Judy will put up with me, I'd like to do some listening while you tell us more about that reading, writing and arithmetic figuring gun that you and the Army have got out there. Young man, if you're a high school graduate, if you have a leaning toward the world of science, there's a big opportunity waiting for you in the United States Army. If you're qualified, you can now enlist directly for guided missile schooling. You'll get eight weeks of basic training at the famous Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. Then you can choose whether to go into guided missile repair work or into the field of electronics. You'll be assured of lifelong employment because your highly specialized training will make you stand up. Your technical skill will make you a valuable asset to the whole industry of electronics. Visit your local U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force Recruiting Station. Get all the details on how you can qualify to enlist in the Army for guided missile training. This has been another program on Proudly We Hail, presented transcribed in cooperation with this station. Proudly We Hail is produced by the Recruiting Publicity Center for the United States Army and United States Air Force Recruiting Service. This is Kenneth Banghart speaking and inviting you to tune in this same station next week for another interesting story on Proudly We Hail.