The pilot in the cockpit of a jet fighter on a combat mission is a busy man. Besides flying his skittish aircraft, he must navigate, search for ground targets, avoid enemy antiaircraft and watch out for enemy fighters. No pilot has enough hands, eyes and brains to do all these jobs perfectly. Last week the Air Force told how it had teamed up with William P. Lear, winner of the 1950 Collier Trophy for aviation, to take some of the job of flying and fighting the airplane off the jet pilot's neck.

Automatic pilots...