Convairiety, Volume 12, Number 6, April 1, 1959 Page: 1 of 8
This periodical is part of the collection entitled: Convair/General Dynamics Newsletters and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, Fort Worth.
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Fort Worth and
Daingerfield
EDITION
Fort Worth news office:
ext. 2961; Daingerfield news
office: ext. 424
SAN DIEGO, POMONA, ANTELOPE VALLEY, VANDENBERG AFB, CALIF.
AFMTC, CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA., FORT WORTH, TEX.
SEVEN-UP—Taxiing in at Convair Fort Worth is airplane No. 7 after completion of project "Seven-
Up." Hustler had just made another simulated mission which included dropping disposable pod on
target in New Mexico.
DATA FIRST—Pilot Ray Fitzgerald opens canopy of supersonic
bomber here. Before he does anything else, he hands paperwork to
waiting engineer. Purpose of project was to demonstrate range
capabilities.
Dynamics' Backlog
Set at $2 Billion
Convair FW Wins
Atom Plane Nod,
Teamed With GE
It’s official now that Convair Fort Worth is recognized
as the nation’s top team to build the nuclear powered
QivpvQ’Fi' rvF i"Via fntiirp
Convair FW was notified in Washington, D.C., that it
had been picked as winner of a competition to design an
General Dynamics Corporation
closed 1958 with a business back-
log of more than $2 billion, Presi-
dent Frank Pace Jr. told share-
holders in the annual report is-
sued last week.
Calling 1958 a period of out-
standing achievement for the
company, Pace reported that
sales were $1,511,456,261, second
only to the record year of 1957
when the figure was $1,562,538,-
900.
With an estimated $2,095,000,-
000 backlog at the end of 1958,
Pace said that an estimated addi-
tional $645,000,000 in contracts
was in negotiation as of Dec. 31,
1958.
“Quality makes dollars and
sense—”
That’s the slogan going up
throughout Convair Fort Worth
today in the newest phase of the
continuing plantwide cost cut-
ting effort on the P-58 and other
programs.
“Quality makes dollars and
sense to you as an employee, to
Convair, to the Air Force and to
the taxpayer as well,” said J. Y.
McClure, manager of quality
control.
“This is because quality work
means a minimum of wasted
work and wasted materials—the
biggest items of controllable cost
at the division.”
“Miss Thrifty” posters appear-
ing throughout the plant make
the point this way: “Quality
9,909,822 common shares out-
standing were equivalent to $3.71.
This compares to $4.80 per com-
mon share based on 9,224,419
common shares outstanding at
the end of 1957. The increase in
common shares outstanding for
the year 1958 was primarily the
result of conversion of the corpo-
ration’s 3% per cent convertible
debentures into common stock.
Pace told shareholders that ex-
pansion and speed-up of corpo-
rate research and development
programs have entailed large fi-
nancial outlays. He pointed out
that research and development
costs for the 880/600 jet airliner
program amounted to $24,012,620
(Continued on Page 8)
makes dollars and sense—and
pays off for YOU in three ways:
“—More job security (because
it helps protect our AF contracts
and will help us obtain others in
the future);
“—Less needless work (because
a job done right the first time
need not be done again); and—
“—More self-satisfaction (be-
cause it is only human to experi-
ence a feeling of self-satisfac-
tion upon completing a good
job).”
McClure emphasized that these
quality factors apply in each job
at Convair—whether the job is
that of an hourly employee on the
line or at a bench or machine, or
whether it is that of a supervisor,
department head or manager.
(Continued on Page 8)
Range Capabilities
Of Hustler Tested
During 'Seven-Up'
Tests were successfully com-
pleted in March on Convair Fort
Worth’s “Operation Seven-Up” as
Test Pilot Ray Fitzgerald touched
down with significant range
capability data.
In order to accurately demon-
strate B-58 capabilities, the plane
made three different flights
which included three pod drops.
The tests with pod drops were
conducted over New Mexico at
the Holloman AFB range. In ad-
dition to demonstration of range
capabilities, pod drops were uti-
lized for ballistic data.
Charles F. Crabtree of Dept. 6
was project team captain.
“I want to thank everyone con-
nected with the project for their
excellent support and teamwork,”
Crabtree said.
Now that this B-58 has com-
pleted the project, it will go into
an Air Force category II pro-
gram in the near future. In this
project, the plane will be flown
by an Air Force crew from Ed-
wards AFB but will home base
at Convair Fort Worth.
Others involved in “Operation
Seven-Up” flights included
George Davis, J. D. Taylor and
B. D. Miller.
Convair Leads
All in Safety
Convair’s four major divisions
placed first, second, third and
fourth in the 1958 National Safe-
ty Contest for aircraft manufac-
turers conducted by the National
Safety Council.
For the second time in three
years Convair Pomona won first
place in the contest. Convair
San Diego, which was first last
year, placed second; Astronau-
tics Division, which was second
last year, placed third; and Con-
vair Fort Worth was fourth, af-
ter placing seventh last year.
The contest is judged on the
basis of the accident frequency
rate of each participating com-
pany. This rate indicates the
number of accidents occurring per
million manhours worked. Po-
mona’s rate was .31, SD’s was .45,
Astro’s was .60 and FW’s was
.69. Average among all competi-
tors was 2.15.
Fort Worth Division has been
notified that its 1958 perform-
ance has earned the division an
Award of Honor, according to
Fred Temple, chief safety engi-
neer.
It is the first time since 1955
for FW to win the award.
FW’s severity rate during the
year was 23 days lost per million
manhours worked.
atomic powered bomber.
Frank W. Davis, Convair Fort
Worth Division manager, ex-
pressed pleasure at the announce-
ment. He was notified by Richard
Horner, assistant secretary of the
Air Force. Newspapers learned
of the decision through Horner
and Congressman Jim Wright of
Fort Worth.
A fleet of such bombers—which
could fly anywhere in the world
and return without refueling—
could maintain continuous air-
borne alert and be ready to strike
at a moment’s notice if an ag-
gressor should attempt to attack
the United States.
Said Andrew Kalitinsky, Con-
vair Fort Worth nuclear pro-
gram manager: “A fleet of nu-
clear powered aircraft such as
(Continued on Page 8)
CONGRATULATIONS—Convair Fort Worth's T. F. Paniszczyn,
left, is recognized as winner of the 1958 President's Award by
Division Manager Frank W. Davis at March Management Club
meeting,. Paniszczyn, who saved company $64,360 by his ClP, will
actually receive award at next October's top management meeting.
1,700 Hear Frank Davis'
First Talk Before Club
Convair Fort Worth’s Division Manager Frank W.
Davis painted a fairly rosy picture for the division’s fu-
ture at the March Convair Management Club meeting but
stressed a need for continued plantwide cost reduction.
An estimated 1,700 hearc
the club since his promotion to
division manager. His topic was
“Where we’ve been . . . where we
are . . . and where we’re going.”
He said that Convair Fort
Worth can look forward to get-
ting the supersonic B-58 fully
operational and also for further
expansion in the nuclear pro-
gram.
“In order to get the B-58 fully
operational, everyone in the plant
must have a sense of ‘urgency’
toward what we’re trying to do,”
he said. “We all must work to-
gether, because everyone’s ideas
count.”
Davis symbolically described
Tickets on Sale For
'Creativity Program'
Ticket sales for Dr. G. Herbert
True’s one-man “creativity” pro-
gram slated for April 25 at
Ridglea Country Club got under
way the early part of last week.
Dr. True, a 35-year-old self-
described huckster, will be spon-
sored by the Convair Fort Worth
Management Club in a unique
half-day personal development
session. Members have been
promised ways to put new pur-
(Continued on Page 8)
Davis’ initial address before
the need of everyone’s help with
a comparison of an empty box
and a box filled with cannon
balls, marbles, sand and water.
“In order to fill the box, one
must put in the cannon balls
which represent the big ideas.
Then there is still room for the
marbles, or the little ideas,” he
further added.
In taking stock of where the
company has been in the past
year, Davis listed some of the ac-
complishments throughout the
last 12 months. Some of these in-
cluded successful mid-air refuel-
ing, the cold weather tests at
Eglin and in Alaska, the upped
production and most important of
all, the downward trend in costs.
Other achievements during the
year included new customers for
the division’s nuclear capabilities,
work on the Atlas thrust section
by which Convair Fort Worth
people helped put the Atlas into
orbit, the improved capabilities
of employees who sharpened
their skills in 2,190 training
classes, improved reliability and
improved schedule position.
“Eight and a half million dol-
lars have been invested in the
Convair Fort Worth Division to
(Continued on Page 8)
Earnings per share based on
Quality Work Advocated
As Way to Reduce Costs
Upcoming Pages
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General Dynamics Corporation. Convair Division. Convairiety, Volume 12, Number 6, April 1, 1959, periodical, April 1, 1959; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1117943/m1/1/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, Fort Worth.