Convairiety, Volume 12, Number 22, October 28, 1959 Page: 5 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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Wednesday, October 28, 1959
CONVAIRIETY
Page 5
NEWS FROM OTHER DIVISIONS
OF GENERAL DYNAMICS CORP.
General Dynamics Corporation, created in April, 1952, as successor to Electric Boat Company, is
composed of six divisions and a Canadian subsidiary, Canadair Limited of Montreal, airframe build-
ers. The divisions are:
Convair, head offices at San Diego, Calif., aircraft, missiles and space systems.
Electric Boat of Groton, Conn., submarines.
Stromberg-Carlson, of Rochester, N. Y., telecommunications, electronic equipment.
Liquid Carbonic of Chicago, 111., carbon dioxide producer, industrial and medical gases.
General Atomic of San Diego, Calif., nuclear research, development, production.
Electro Dynamic of Bayonne, N. J., electric motors, generators.
First CL-44, Conventional Side-Loader,
Leaves Factory, Swing-Tails to Come
First CL-44 Canadair’s new
turboprop transport, has left the
factory at Montreal and Can-
adair reports serial production is
well advanced.
The airplane, largest ever built
in Canada, has these dimensions:
wing span, 142 feet, three inches;
wing area, 2,075 square feet;
length, 136 feet, eight inches;
height, 38 feet, seven inches;
cabin length, 98 feet, seven
inches; cabin height, six feet,
nine inches; cabin width, 11 feet,
five inches.
Powerplant is four Rolls-Royce
Tyne turboprops, 5,730 e.h.p. with
16-feet diameter de Havilland
propellers. Speed is up to 400
mph with cruising at 370. Maxi-
mum range is 6,275 statute miles,
carrying a payload of 33,700 lbs.
Maximum weights at takeoff and
landing are 205,000 lbs. and
165,000.
Pictured below is the conven-
tional side-loading version of the
transport, 12 of which have
been ordered by the Royal Cana-
dian Air Force. Swing-tail, rear-
loading versions for freight
transport have been ordered by
Flying Tiger Line (10 on order)
and Seaboard and Western Air-
lines (five on order).
First flight of the CL-44 is ex-
pected by mid-November.
Canadair this month published
issue No. 1 of a “Canadair Forty-
Four News Bulletin” which will
report progress on the new
freighter-airliner project.
POSED—First Canadair Forty-Four, long-range, four-engine turboprop transport, poses on tarmac
behind Canadair's Montreal plant. It is largest aircraft ever built in Canada. Swing tail loading
versions of this aircraft will follow later.
Nuclear Project Managerships Assigned
Three Engineers by Electric Boat
Holt Ordered
To Rome Office
Grady Holt of engineering has
left Convair Fort Worth to open
a new Convair field office at
Rome, N. Y.
His appointment was announced
by Ken Campbell, Convair Day-
ton office manager, to whom the
new Rome office will report.
Holt’s job will be to maintain
liaison with the AF’s Rome Air
Development Command (an Air
Research and Development func-
tion) and Rome Air Materiel
Area.
At Rome the Air Force con-
centrates its work on ground
communications and development
and procurement of electronic
items and systems.
Holt was a senior aerophysics
engineer at Fort Worth, where
he joined the company in May
1954. He took a B. S. and an
M. A. in math at University of
Tennessee. He is moving his
wife and children to Rome.
Industrial Engineers
To Hear About Costs
“Indirect Costs” will be the
theme of a problem-solving semi-
nar Nov. 13 sponsored by the
Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter of the
American Institute of Industrial
Engineers.
H. W. Gibbs Jr., Dept. 8, is
in charge of arrangements. The
seminar will begin at 8:30 a.m.
at Colonial Country Club.
Topics will include finding
profit leaks, measuring overhead
labor and how supervisors can
control costs.
Gibbs pointed out that control
of indirect costs is becoming in-
creasingly vital. This is due to
ever stiffer competition for the
Air Force dollar.
Reservations or additional in-
formation may be obtained from
Gibbs at ext. 2847 or CR-5-2253.
GROTON — Three engineers
have been assigned nuclear proj-
ect managerships at Electric
Boat Division.
Thomas W. Dunn of Stoning-
ton, head of the Triton nuclear
project since 1955, was named
project manager for Electric
Boat’s participation in an Atomic
Energy Commission program
called Natural Circulation Re-
actor (NCR). Dunn will head an
EB staff working on design and
construction of an NCR power
plant whose principal target will
be substantial simplification of
nuclear submarine propulsion
Stromberg-Carlson
Vice Pres. Appointed
ROCHESTER — Appointment
of Richard C. Palmer of Chevy
Chase, Md., as a vice president
of Stromberg-Carlson Division
was announced this month by
Robert C. Tait, president.
Palmer will manage Strom-
berg-Carlson’s office in Wash-
ington, D. C. In addition to his
Washington responsibilities he
will assist Stromberg - Carlson
management in Rochester in the
coordination of company - wide
government relations programs
and military marketing. He
comes to Stromberg-Carlson from
Fairchild Engine and Airplane
Corporation.
"Oh, I'm just putting in a new
washer."
systems by elimination of the
main primary coolant pumps.
John A. Serrie has been named
to replace Dunn as Triton project
managex1.
Ira A. Glass Jr. becomes Tulli-
bee project manager. Glass re-
places Joseph D. Pierce, previ-
ously assigned to manage the
newly - formed contract control
department.
EB Purchasing
At $40 Million
GROTON — Atomic submarine
building here has pumped nearly
$40 million into the nation’s
economy during the past year
according to figure released re-
cently by General Dynamics Cor-
poration.
The money went to 2,874 dif-
ferent business firms in practi-
cally every state as the shipyard
wrote more than 34,000 purchase
orders for materials and services.
Of the firms receiving orders,
77 per cent are classified as
“small” businesses, employing
less than 500 persons.
Geographically, the Middle At-
lantic States did the biggest
volume of business with the ship-
yard. Next in line was New Eng-
land.
S-C Sales Manager
Named at San Diego
SAN DIEGO—George W. Mc-
Ginley has been appointed sales
manager of Stromberg - Carlson
at San Diego, Warren C. Dunn,
manager of marketing, announced
this month.
McGinley will be responsible
for all sales activities of high-
speed electronic printers, data
display and recording devices,
CHARACTRON shaped beam
tubes and other electronic equip-
ment.
EARLY AIRPORT—D-5 observaiion plane is shown at Ithaca,
N.Y., airport, one of nation's earliest municipal fields.
95 mph U.S. Speed Record
Claimed For Thomas' D-2
(This is installment No. 20 in
Convairiety's continuing history
of Convair Division of General
Dynamics Corporation.)
Following his association with
Glenn H. Curtiss, B. Douglas
Thomas joined Thomas Brothers
Co. of Bath, N. Y. He was no
relation to William T. Thomas,
the firm’s founder.
For Thomas Brothers he de-
signed a new biplane, the T-2,
an effort to improve on the
Model J drawn for Curtiss.
Designer Thomas was unsal-
aried but worked under an agree-
ment that he would supervise
construction and receive half the
profits. Work began at Bath but
the company transferred opera-
tions to Ithaca, N. Y., Dec. 7,
1914, where the Board of Trade
had offered an attractive induce-
ment—a year’s free rent on a
three-story building on Brindley
Street. The flying school was
set up on one of the country’s
earliest municipal airports, a dirt
runway carved through a peach
orchard on the shores of Lake
Cayuga.
The T-2 flew in the spring of
1915. A British purchasing com-
mission tested it and placed ord-
ers for 24. Hopes for additional
orders faded, however, because of
a growing shortage of Curtiss
OX engines used to power the
plane. Consequently, the company
on Aug. 5 founded its own en-
gine-building auxiliary, Thomas
Aeromotor Co. Its first product
was the 135 hp Thomas Model
8, a geared vee type designed by
George Able and Harold Bliss,
two officers of Aeromotor.
Thomas designed the D-2 for
this power plant, and the com-
pany claimed an unofficial Amer-
ican speed record of 95 mph. A
contemporary volume of Jane’s
Aircraft pictured the D-2 as the
first U. S. plane to exceed 100
mph.
(Howard O. Welty, now of
Astronautics Division, who re-
searched this history of Con-
vair, commented on the Jane’s
statement: “Even in those
days, airplanes sometimes
made their fastest times on
typewriters.”)
A pair of pontoon-equipped D-
2s designated Model HS were
sold to the Navy in 1916.
By the latter part of 1916 it
was apparent that the Thomas
enterprises would require addi-
tional financing if they were to
remain in business. This led to
organization of the Thomas-
Morse Aircraft Corp. on Jan. 31,
1917. The Morse Chain Co. of
Ithaca paid off the indebtedness,
put up working capital and took
control as the only stockholder.
(A principal stockholder in Morse
Chain was Herman H. Westing-
house, of the air brake family.)
Frank L. Morse, president of
the parent company, headed the
new corporation. W. T. Thomas
was named vice president, and
the Thomas Brothers’ general
manager, J. A. Fried, became
treasurer. B. Douglas Thomas
continued with the organization
as chief aircraft design engineer.
Except for the post-war S-7
trainer, he was responsible for
all aircraft designs produced by
Thomas-Morse during the life of
the company. (W. T. Thomas
left the firm about 1921, and
for many years devoted his time
to building and flying powered
model aircraft.)
★ ★ ★
'Observation'
Ships Popular
Thomas Brothers D-5, pictured
at the top of this page, was a
two-place “observation” biplane,
built in 1916. Two were built
and sold to the Army Signal
Corps Aviation Section. Span
was 52 feet, nine inches; length
29 feet, nine inches; gross weight
2,550 lbs. Wings were of un-
equal span (the lower wing was
34 feet). Its engine was Thomas
Model 8,135 hp, maximum speed
86 mph. It could climb to 3,600
feet in 10 minutes.
“Observation plane” is an un-
used military classification today.
However, it was of major im-
portance in the 20s and 30s. Post-
World War I doctrine gave com-
bat aviation three functions—to
attack the enemy in the air (with
fighters) and on the ground
(bombers) and to work with
friendly ground forces (observa-
tion plane). Army procurements
in the 10 years from 1921 through
1930 included 208 bombers, 695
fighters and 1,593 observation
planes.
SERVICE
I m sorry you got your hopes up, but we can't just total up
your gas bills and call it 'loss by fire' . . ."
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General Dynamics Corporation. Convair Division. Convairiety, Volume 12, Number 22, October 28, 1959, periodical, October 28, 1959; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1117954/m1/5/?q=%22~1~1~1%22~1&rotate=0: 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.