Convairiety, Volume 6, Number 13, July 1, 1953 Page: 8 of 8
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Page 8
CONVAIRIETY
July I, 1953
Foreign Correspondents'
Report on Adventures
Of CV Planes Abroad
Alitalia’s first model 340 has gone into service in Italy.
Philippine Air Lines’ new plane is making “character”
on the mainland.
Convair T-29s customarily demonstrate on one engine
to make new students feel safer.
These were highlights this week of reports from Con-
vair SD “foreign correspondents,” the field service engi-
neers who help keep Convair planes functioning properly
both at home and abroad. ». .... , , T7 77 .7F
first flight with new cadets it is
customary for the pilot to full
feather the left prop of his T-29
and fly for some time to instill
confidence that the plane is safe
and will fly on one engine!”
From Ellington AFB, Houston,
Tex., Service Engineer Howard
Craig wi'ites:
‘‘After the May 6 Convairiety
was distributed here I received a
lot of phone calls asking what was
so outstanding about four T-29Bs
at Harlingen AFB passing the
100-hour monthly flying mark,
when Ellington has eight. . . . ”
“On Armed Forces Day we had
a T-29 on display and everyone
I talked to had a good word for
the ship. Some couldn’t under-
stand how such an attractive plane
could have been built anywhere
except in Texas . . . but I ex-
plained Convair also builds the
B-36 at Fort Worth and that
made everyone happy.”
* * *
E. J. Griffin, service engineer
assigned to Aerolinee Italiane
Internazionali, based at Rome,
Italy, reports:
“Alitalia’s first model 340 went
into regular service May 15, fly-
ing Rome to Geneva via Nice, re-
turning the same evening, three
times a week. Passengers were
quite pleased. . . .
“Alitalia flight and mainte-
nance personnel are as careful of
their new airplane as a mother
with a baby. Their reception and
care of the ship is exceptional by
any standard. They have con-
structed a set of mobile stairs to
superimpose over the main en-
trance stairs as soon as the ship
goes into its hangar to guard
against any damage to the stair-
way by maintenance personnel.
Floor mats also are placed inside
to catch any dirt that is tracked
in . . . They insist on the ship
being .spotless.
“Pilot flight training is being
conducted by Convair’s A. P. Wil-
son, at such times as the airplane
is available between operational
flights and ground maintenance.
They speak highly of his under-
standing and help.”
(Ed. note: Alitalia’s second
airplane was undergoing flight
testing at San Diego last week
and doubtless will be in Italy
soon.)
* *
“This is one of the most attrac-
tive air bases I have ever seen,”
Walter W. Pentecost, service engi-
neer, writes from Harlingen AFB,
Texas.
“Buildings are grouped in a
semi-circle, all within walking dis-
tance. The flight line has three
large hangars, though not large
enough for the T-29, and a larger
one is under construction. This
will house four T-29s at one time.
In World War II this was a gun-
nery school and there were several
B-24s here. You can still see
empty shell cases imbedded in the
asphalt.
“The first T-29 mission was
flown here Aug. 10, 1952, soon
after the base was reactivated.
As a matter of interest, on the
“I’d elope down a ladder like
other girls do if we didn’t live
in a basement apartment.”
Although all of Convair’s “for-
eign correspondents” are unusual-
ly easy to read—considering they
are technical men — the Con-
vairiety palm for excellence in
human interest reporting must go
to Mel Clause, assigned to Aero
O/Y (Finnish Air Lines) at Hel-
sinki. Here is some of his catchy
prose:
“Suomi spring is in full blossom
here. The country is green and
dandelions carpet the roadsides.
The days are long. The sun ‘slow-
ly sinks’ about 9:30 p.m. and rises
about 3:30 a.m. Even at midnight
one can walk about without feel-
ing a pressing need for a lantern.
“The song birds get in many
hours per day, but it must be a
trying season for nocturnal crea-
tures. The average daily utiliza-
tion of owls must be at a low
figure during the summer.
“As a weekend pastime I have
been doing some private flying in
the only Cessna in Finland. All
labels are in Finnish, however, so
I play the knobs by ear, rather
than by note. Though my U. S.
license is valid in Finland, there
was a familiarization course in
regulations. After a check ride
with the air traffic inspector, the
machine and I were pronounced
‘Man and Cessna.’
“It’s only about 16 miles from
Malmi airport to the boundary of
the Russian base at Porkkala. To
prevent looking over the boundary
and observing the comrades busily
engaged in making peace, a re-
stricted zone surrounds the actual
limits of the base. So, in effect,
there is here an eleventh Com-
mandment in aviation: ‘Thou shalt
not peer over Porkkala fence.’
“Following the maami-eating
Easter season and the simaa-im-
bibing * May Day holiday, the
months of viili eating are with
us.** ”
* Non-alcoholic.
** More fully described in the
author’s treatise “Fun in the
North,” or “Through Finland
With Knife, Fork and Cork-
screw.”
* * *
Philippine Air Lines, which
took delivery several weeks ago
on its second Convair-Liner model
340 at San Diego, has been put-
ting its first ship through its
paces. Wallace H. Casselberry
describes a special Manila to
Hong Kong flight thusly:
“Gross weight on the May 24
flight was 44,000 pounds, includ-
ing 8,200 pounds of fuel. Thunder-
heads were encountered a half
hour from Kaitak airport. ... It
took 20 minutes for an instru-
ment let down by first homing on
Wanglan Island, the farthest is-
land seaward from the mainland,
then turning 180 degrees under a
500 foot ceiling and approaching
Hong Kong through the NW pass
between Hong Kong and the
mountains on the mainland.
“It might be noted that Kaitak
is considered one of the most
difficult and dangerous airports
to approach in the world. PI-C340
maneuvered beautifully in both
its landing and take-off and was
praised highly by airport officials.
It was on display during the two-
hour stop. ...”
SUPER SNOOT—Even comedian Jimmy Durante will have to take back seat to new "nose” re-
cently installed on Air Force's XC-99 cargo transport. The new installation houses radar equipment
which helps the Convair-built giant "smell out" other aircraft or mountains.
FW Division Presented
Three Safety Awards
FW Division of Convair captured three safety awards
Thursday, June 18, at a special Triple S-S-S program at
the 50-foot aisle.
IOG-HOUR MEN —- Howard
Craig,, Convair field service engi-
neer at Ellington Air Force Base, Texas,
is shown handing T-29 lighter to S/Sgt.
Gus Eliason. Crew chiefs were honored
recently for keeping their T-29s in air
100 hours or more during May. At right
are A/lc W. E. Emmerick and S/Sgt.
C. E. Norris. On steps, left to right:
S/Sgt. R. K. Allison, A/lc C. E.
S ha II er, T/Sgt. J. W. Hicks, T/Sgt.
Raymond Thompson (receiving lighter
for A/lc Robert Englhardt), S/Sgt.
Angelo Pizzalato.
T-29s Help AF
Beat Weather
Convair T-29s took a leading
role at Ellington Air Force Base,
Texas, during the last few months
in getting the base back on sched-
ule after continued bad weather
had put training operations 340
missions “in the red.”
In fact, it was a T-29 (T-29
B-51-5171) that made the final
flight putting the base “in the
black” and ending “Operation
Goose Egg,” a fitting name for
the drive to reduce the incom-
pleted missions to zero.
Pilots, students, maintenance
crews and airplanes worked over-
time for weeks to accomplish it,
Howard Craig, Convair’s field
service engineer at Ellington re-
ported. In so doing, a number of
T-29s went far over the 100-hour-
a-month mark and Craig recently
presented T-29 lighters to eight
of these crew chiefs. Outstanding
was the plane maintained under
A/lc Robert Englhardt which
had high flight time on the base
for T-29s both in April and May.
By coincidence it was the ship
that ended “Operation Goose
Egg.”
FW Management Club
Suspends Meetings
Ray Kendall, president of Con-
vair FW Management Club, an-
nounced this week that meetings
of that organization are discon-
tinued until September. Action
was taken as a result of a poll
of members.
In presenting the awards, A. F.
Allen, president of Texas Employ-
ers Insurance Association and a
director of the National Safety
Council, said:
“The 1952 safety record of Con-
vair FW Division has been an
outstanding one. The interest and
the efforts of employees, super-
visors and top management have
won for them three major safety
awards.”
The highest safety award of the
National Safety Council, “the
award of honor,” was presented
to August C. Esenwein, FW
Division manager, for improve-
ment of 55 per cent in the dis-
abling injury record and 81 per
cent improvement in the severity
record, as compared to the record
for the aircraft manufacturing in-
dustry of the United States.
Esenwein accepted the award
and presented it to Unit 2 of final
assembly for having the best shop
safety record in 1952.
“To you L. H. Allen, as gen-
eral foreman, and R. S. Sears,
representing the Employee
Safety Committee, it is my
pleasure to recognize through
this award your department for
having worked the entire year
of 1952 without a disabling in-
jury or a doctor case and ac-
cumulating 1,693,361 man hours
before this record was ended
Feb. 10, 1953,” Esenwein said
in presenting the award.
The second place award in the
Aeronautical Industries safety
contest of the National Safety
Council was presented to Esen-
wein by Allen. This was awai’ded
for only 1.49 injuries for each
million man hours of work. First
place winner, Northrup Aircraft
Corp., had a record of 1.23 in-
juries per each million man hours.
B. G. Reed, assistant FW Division
manager, was formerly manager
there.
Esenwein in turn presented this
award to F. E. Williams, general
foreman, and C. R. Ingle, Em-
ployee Safety Committee member
representing Dept. 73, electrical
bench. The department has ac-
cumulated more man hours with-
out disabling injury than any
other department in the FW
plant. The last disabling injury
occurred July 6, 1950, and they
have worked 4,385,980 man hours
with their record still continuing.
The last award was presented
by Allen for the third successive
year. This first place award of
the Texas Safety Association for
aircraft manufacturing in Texas
was presented to Esenwein, who
in turn presented it to represen-
tatives of Dept. 14, tool service:
G. A. Frazier, general foreman,
and J. T. Davidson, of Employee
Safety Committee. Their depart-
ment has worked more than five
years without a disabling injury
and has accumulated 3,885,918
man hours since Dec. TO, 1947
with the record still continuing.
L. L. Turner, special assistant
to Esenwein, introduced platform
guests. They were Reed, assistant
division manager; H. C. Deckard,
night manager; Col. E. B. Gentry,
acting commanding officer of
Southern Procurement District;
Lt. Col. C. (Doc) Savage, AF
plant representative; Councilman
J. B. Ellis, Dr. W. J. Danforth and
L. W. Graff of the Fort Worth
Safety Council; E. C. McFadden,
vice-president of the Texas Safety
Association; and H. H. Engelman,
chairman Fort Worth chapter,
American Society of Safety Engi-
neers.
The CRA band played several
selections at the opening and clos-
ing of the program.
SYMBOL—Plaque recognizing safety record at Fort Worth is
held, left to right, by August C. Esenwein, FW Division manager,
George Frazier and J. T. Davidson, both Dept. 14 FW.
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Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation. Convairiety, Volume 6, Number 13, July 1, 1953, periodical, July 1, 1953; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1118023/m1/8/?q=%22~1%22~1&rotate=90: 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.