Convairiety, Volume 13, Number 6, March 16, 1960 Page: 5 of 8
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Wednesday, March 16, 1960
CONVAIRIETY
Page 5
NEWS FROM OTHER
DYNAMICS DIVISIONS
General Dynamics Corporation, created in April, 1952, as suc-
cessor to Electric Boat Company, is composed of seven divisions and
a Canadian subsidiary, Canadair Limited, of Montreal, airframe
builders. 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, in-
dustrial and medical gases.
General Atomic of San Diego, Calif., nuclear research, devel-
opment, production.
Electro Dynamic of Bayonne, N. J., electric motors, generators.
Material Service Division, Chicago, 111., building materials, con-
crete products and coal.
* * *
Battle Situation Reproduced
On TY Tube at Command Post
SAN DIEGO—A lightning-fast
new tactical communications sys-
tem which instantly displays bat-
tle area reports on the face of a
TV-type tube at rear line com-
mand posts, has been developed
by Stromberg-Carlson here, in co-
operation with the U.S. Marine
Corps.
This revolutionary concept for
high-speed field intelligence gath-
ering and display is known as
BASIC, for Battle Area Surveil-
lance and Integrated Communica-
tions.
Fully-operational units will be
field tested by the Marine Corps
Equipment Board, Quantico, Va.,
in June.
BASIC equipment consists of
small, hand-held push-button mes-
sage generators, a portable data
processing unit, an electric type-
writer readout and a direct view
display unit.
Message generators are used
by forward observers to swiftly
transmit intelligence reports to
a division command post. The
message is set up by the observer
through a series of rotary switch-
es, and sent in a single short
burst over his standard field com-
munications equipment.
The message is received, pro-
cessed and displayed within three
seconds of transmission.
Target location symbols are
geographically positioned on a
standard military map, optically
registered to the TV-type tube
face. Key personnel thus get an
instant comprehensive picture of
the entire tactical situation.
As intelligence on movements
in the combat area is received by
the command post, it is also auto-
matically presented on typewrit-
ten cards as a permanent record.
Information on up to 50 targets
may be displayed on the tactical
map. Because of its high trans-
mission rate, the system adds
security to field communication.
The small size of the BASIC
message generators permits for-
ward observers to be on foot, in
jeeps, tanks, helicopters, or air-
craft—anywhere the Marine can
operate normal field radio or tele-
phone equipment.
UP FRONT—Marine forward observers demonstrate message
generator to report “enemy” tank. By pressing transmission button,
entire message is sent in short burst and three seconds later it
shows up on tactical map at rear line command post.
Lester Crown and Frank Nugent
Named General Dynamics VPs
NEW YORK — Directors of
General Dynamics have elected
two officers of the Material Serv-
ice Division of Chicago, 111., as
vice presidents of General Dy-
namics Corporation.
Lester Crown, a vice president
of Material Service and president
of the subsidiary Marblehead
Lime Company, and Frank Nu-
gent, president of another sub-
sidiary, the Freeman Coal Min-
ing Corporation, have been named
to fill the new corporate posts.
Both retain their present posi-
tions with Material Service which
Frank Nugent Lester Crown
was merged into General Dynam-
ics in January.
Lester Crown is a graduate of
the Northwestern University In-
stitute of Technology and the
Harvard Graduate School of Bus-
iness Administration. In 1945 he
was employed as an assistant
metallurgist at the Andrews Steel
Company in Newport, Ky. From
1949 to 1950 he was a research
chemist at the Medusa Portland
Cement Company of Cleveland.
He joined Material Service in
1950 as an engineer.
Frank Nugent, a native of
Evanston, 111., started his business
career with the Chicago, Rock
Island and Pacific Railroad Com-
pany. He joined the Freeman
Coal Mining Corporation more
than 30 years ago. He became
vice president in charge of sales
in 1929, executive vice president
in 1946 and president in 1957.
Under his leadership Freeman
Coal has risen to the position of
seventh largest commercial coal
producing company in the United
States, with an output of approx-
imately seven million tons per
year from mines in central and
southern Illinois districts.
BIG BOAT—At top is XPB2Y-1 (later called Coronado) ready for launching at Consolidated sea-
plane ramp in December, 1937. Prototype had single-finned tail, later modified because of unsat-
isfactory directional stability. Final solution was broad twin tail. In lower photo is PB2Y-5, last of
patrol-bomber series. Radome ahead of wing is distinguishing characteristic. Many became long-
range Navy transports.
XPB2Y, Called Coronado,
Result of Navy Contest
(This is No. 30 in Convairiety's
continuing history of Convair.)
During early PBY production,
a new flying boat was coming
along. This was the XPB2Y-1,
winner of a Navy design compe-
tition in late 1935 for a four-
engine patrol bomber. It devel-
oped as a greatly enlarged and
refined version of the PBY, a
clean cantilever monoplane from
which the last external bracing
had disappeared. Its gross weight
was 66,000 pounds, more than
double the PBY. It could carry
six tons of bombs, three times the
load of the smaller sister.
The XPB2Y-1 made her first
flight in December of 1937. Nine
months of testing and modifica-
tion of hull and tail assembly
were required before the big ship
was ready to turn over to the
Navy, on Aug. 24, 1938. After
the British started wartime pro-
curement of the boat they called
it Coronado, a name that came
into general usage. They had al-
ready given the PBY its famil-
iar name, Catalina.
The late 30s saw the great
pioneer development of trans-
oceanic airlines by Pan Ameri-
can, which started crossing the
Atlantic in 1939. The flying
boat still was queen of the
seas. Not until the second
World War would four-engine
planes prove their dependabil-
ity over long reaches of water.
Pan American stirred the im-
agination of designers in 1937 by
inviting manufacturers to submit
plans for a flying boat that could
carry 100 passengers and a crew
of 16 a distance of 5,000 miles
nonstop. Such a boat was beyond
the capabilities of power plants
then available. In 1938, however,
Consolidated began construction
of a company-venture flying
boat, the Model 31, that was
planned as a commercial sea-
plane capable of carrying 52 pas-
sengers. It employed the unique
Davis wing and Fowler flap, and
was the first aircraft to use the
new Wright 3350 Duplex engine
and a 16-foot propeller.
Toward the end of 1938 the
PBY contracts with the Navy
were largely fulfilled and Con-
solidated’s payroll had dwindled
from the 1937 peak of nearly
4,000 to some 1,200 workers. In
December, Chief Engineer I. M.
Laddon and Charles A. Van Dus-
en, a Consolidated vice president,
flew to Seattle to confer with
Boeing Airplane Co. officials on
the possibility of sharing a Boe-
ing contract for B-17 bombers.
The conferees agreed there was
not enough work to divide.
But the Munich conference had
taken place in September, and the
picture was about to change for
the aviation industry. In Decem-
ber a large order from France
kept the Pratt and Whitney en-
gine plant at East Hartford from
shutting down. In January Presi-
dent Roosevelt urged appropria-
tion of $300 million for Army
aircraft of increased range, speed
and capacity. In April Congress
authorized purchase of 3,251 mil-
itary planes. The great procure-
ment program that was to reach
a climax in 1943-44 was under
way.
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“CONFIDENTIAL
CONRAD”
“Now I wouldn’t tell this to
anybody but a guy like you who
can keep his mouth shut . . .”
World Politics
Course Begins
Kicking off the latest liberal
arts classes, sponsored by Con-
vair FW Management Club, was
the class in World Politics which
began March 14.
Set to go on March 17 is a
class in Economic Reasoning, fol-
lowed by sessions on the Ways
of Mankind, beginning March 18.
Registration for these two classes
—$15 for husband-wife teams and
$10 for singles—must be made
with D. B. Tallon, ext. 3659, by
the day before class begins.
Economic Reasoning, taught by
Dr. Herbert R. Mundhenke, chair-
man of the department of eco-
nomics at Texas Christian Uni-
versity, deals with theories and
practices of our present day busi-
ness society.
Ways of Mankind is a course in
human relations, including a
study of various cultures through-
out the world. Instructor for this
class is Dr. William J. Hammond,
chairman of TCU’s history de-
partment.
Dr. August O. Spain, chairman
of the government department at
TCU, will teach the world poli-
tics course. These sessions will be
concerned with issues and events
in current world affairs.
PANEL DISCUSSION—Members of Weapon Systems Support
committee from General Dynamics Corporation divisions at opening
session of Feb. 23-24 conference at Convair San Diego are (from left): W. R. Swaim,
Convair Fort Worth; H. N. Bowes, Electric Boat; F. L. Cook, Convair SD; N. G. Hart-
well, FW; W. E. Barnes, Astronautics; J. J. Wheeler, SD, chairman of meeting; C. S.
Brandt, SD; D. R. Rutland and R. W. Wollenweber, Convair Pomona; R. D. Braggins,
Electric Boat; N. E. Armstrong, SD; R. W. Geis, FW.
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General Dynamics Corporation. Convair Division. Convairiety, Volume 13, Number 6, March 16, 1960, periodical, March 16, 1960; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1118017/m1/5/: 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.