Convairiety, Volume 10, Number 15, July 24, 1957 Page: 2 of 8
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Page 2
CONVAIRIETy
Wednesday, July 24, 1957
GRADUAL MOVE—In foreground is new facility for Convair operations at Palmdale, some of it
still under construction. Arrows point to three quonset-type buildings of old facility which are still
in use. At left is "Volitan area" where administration headquarters continues to be located.
Palmdale Personnel Move in Shifts
Into Quarters at New Facility
The move to the new permanent
facility is in full swing at Convair
Palmdale.
Conversion of the manual PBX
board in Bldg. 301 to an auto-
matic dial board was completed
An Air Force TF-102A fresh
off the Convair San Diego and
Palmdale production line has
chalked up a remarkable per-
formance record—44 flights total-
ing over 50 hours without a single
“squawk.”
Flown by the 482nd Fighter
Interceptor Squadron at Seymour
Johnson AFB, N.C., the TF-102A
was used in the pilot transition
program. This program consists
of two familiarization rides for
each pilot prior to the time he
checks out in the F-102A. Pilots
of the 482nd FIS have all com-
pleted this transition program.
Except for routine maintenance,
July 12. All departments at the
new facility have received new
phone numbers and new direc-
tories have been issued. In con-
trast to the old facility, where
all calls were placed through an
changing tires, replacing hydraul-
ic fluid, etc., the trainer required
no work. And at no time during
this period was it “written up”
by either pilots or maintenance
personnel.
Air Force personnel called the
feat “rare indeed.”
Maintenance Officer John Pal-
adino said: “In all my years in
aircraft maintenance I have never
seen this accomplished with an
aircraft fresh from the factory.
“I feel this performance grew
out of three things: good accept-
ance inspection; excellent daily
pre- and post-flight inspections
by the crew and the quality of
the Convair product.”
operator, inter-department calls
at the new facility may be dialed.
The manual switchboard system
will be maintained at the old
facility until all departments have
made the move.
First phase of the shift con-
sisted of relocating some depart-
ments from temporary areas in
Bldg. 301 to permanent quarters
in Bldg. 301B (administration
building). Included were pur-
chasing, material control records
and technical orders library,
Hughes office, plant engineering
offices, industrial engineering of-
fices, cost reduction, USAF qual-
ity control, inspection, and train-
ing.
Phase II last week included
preparation of these areas in
Bldg. 301 vacated by Phase I
moves including construction of
office partitions and stock crib-
bing, and relocations within the
building.
Upcoming Phase III will in-
clude relocation of all indirect
departments not tied to produc-
tion from Volitdn area to Bldg.
301B. These include accounting,
industrial relations (including the
Convairiety office), plant man-
ager, manufacturing control sup-
ervisor, special projects group,
chiefs of field operations and
operations services, USAF pro-
duction, inspection and property,
and quality control and inspection.
Following moves, running into
next month, will include excava-
tion of Volitan and Butler sites
with some departments moving
into Bldg. 307. Last departments
slated to move from the old facil-
ity are maintenance and shipping
and receiving with their moves
awaiting completion of Bldg. 308.
West Germans
Consider 102s
Convair San Diego has hosted
or will host visitors from almost
every section of the globe during
July.
For the most part, these visi-
tors are small groups of govern-
ment or business officials who
call at San Diego to discuss Con-
vair’s commercial transport pro-
grams—the current 440 project
or the coming 880 jet transport
program.
However, a growing number of
military leaders are interested in
Convair’s defense weapons, prin-
cipally the F-102A interceptor.
Typical was a visit this week of
a 20-man West German Air Force
technical team. They came to
evaluate the F-102A as a possible
weapon for their re-activated air
arm.
Convair hosts about 30 of the
top military leaders of the Amer-
icas July 29 when the Inter-
American Defense Board visits
San Diego. This group includes
top military planners from every
branch of the service.
Commercial business drew visi-
tors from Japan, Netherlands,
Venezuela and Spain earlier this
month. A group from Thailand
will be on hand Friday (July 26)
with a Brazilian delegation slated
for a visit Aug. 5.
FIRST DELIVERY—E. E. Finch, left, modernization manager at
Convair Fort Worth, greets Capt. Roy Jackson, who accepts de-
livery of first F-I02A to undergo test-to-tactical modification at
Fort Worth. Looking on is Leonard Roe, customer acceptance
supervisor. Ship now is operational with 438th Fighter Interceptor
Squadron at Kinross AFB, Michigan.
QUALITY PLUS—This Air Force TF-I02A completed 50 hours
of flight without "squawk" of any type, a rare feat for any new
aircraft. Lt. Col. James M. Thomas, right, commander of the 482nd
FIS at Seymour. Johnson AFB, N.C., and Capt. John Paladino,
maintenance officer, pose with ground crew who performed main-
tenance tasks.
TF-102A Fresh From Factory
Flies 50 'Squawkless' Hours
880 Salesmen Report
Jet Ideally Suited to
Europe Airline Needs
A determined sales assault on
the world market on behalf of
Convair’s 880, all-jet transport,
was made this summer by three
representatives of commercial
sales.
Just back from a two-month
trip covering Europe, the Middle
East, Far East, and Australia-
Asia are A. W. Abels, assistant
director—commercial sales;
George Prill, European manager;
and K. C. “Ken” Gordon, assist-
ant manager, commercial sales.
Abels and Prill toured Europe
for the better part of six weeks,
making sales presentations to all
the major European airlines on
the 880. Lines
which heard
about the plane
were S A S ,
Scandinavia;
Sabena, Bel-
gium; KLM,
Dutch; Swiss-
air, Lufthansa,
Finnair, Iberi-
an Airlines of
Spain, and
LAI and Ali-
talia, two Ital-
ian lines which A- W- Abe,s
are expected to merge soon.
The Convair representatives
found the European airlines much
interested in the 880, and said the
jet transport would prove ideally
suited to the needs of most of
them. And Convair’s proposed
delivery schedule appears to dove-
tail with equipment plans of most
of them as well, Abels said.
While the others were in Eu-
rope, Gordon was heading “down
under” to see Quantas Interna-
tional, Trans-Australia, Austra-
lian National Airways, TEAL
(Tasmania), and Philippine Air-
lines.
Prill, who incidentally is to
leave San Diego the last of July
to take over as manager of Con-
vair’s European office at Geneva,
Switzerland, left Europe for a
swing through South Africa and
the Middle East, contacting South
African and Pakistan Interna-
tional Airways and airlines in
India, Thailand, and Japan.
“All the European airlines
are carefully analyzing the
equipment picture before pur-
chasing new equipment,” Abels
said. “All of them, however,
recognize that they will have a
need for a medium-range trans-
port such as our 880.
“We need one major Euro-
pean airline to ‘break the ice’
with an order for 880s,” he
added. “When that happens, I
believe we’ll have all the busi-
ness we can handle.
“Most of these lines, too,
have ordered other planes for
their transatlantic runs. They’d
like to start getting medium-
range jet transports in 1961-
62.”
In the Mid East and Far East,
Prill found the airlines in the
throes of a tremendous expan-
sion, some of them reporting 100
per cent increases in passenger
travel in a single year. Most are
only now going from DC-3s to
four-engine equipment and,
“Frankly, they’re not ready for
jets now, but they will be by the
time we start delivering the 880,”
Prill said.
He compared the present situa-
tion in that area to the air trans-
port picture in the United States
in the mid-1930s. The present
high-density, short-haul operation
there has no need of a long-range
jet transport, Prill said. But the
large-capacity, short-to-medium-
haul 880 will just suit most of
these lines, he said.
Prill found all the European
operators he talked to high in
their praise of Convair’s 440 Met-
ropolitan. They said this twin-
engine transport had proved ex-
ceptionally well suited to their
needs, was an economical, com-
fortable airplane from both pas-
senger and airline standpoints,
and had proved trouble-free and
low in maintenance costs.
“Success of this plane and its
reputation with the European
airlines should be a big factor in
our favor when it comes to sell-
ing them our 880,” Prill said.
He said Convair expected to
find “real tough competition from
a number of good airplanes” in
its bid for a share of the Euro-
pean jet transport business.
“In the jet field, we’re compet-
ing against Douglas DC-8 and 9;
Boeing, with nine versions of the
707; the Vickers VC-10, DeHavil-
land Comet IV, and Sud-Avia-
tion’s Caravelle.
“The turboprops include the
Lockheed Electra, Bristol Brit-
tania, and the Vickers Vanguard.”
STROMBERG-CARLSON
GETS BIG CONTRACT
Stromberg-Carlson Division of
General Dynamics Corporation
has been awarded two contracts
amounting to almost $19 million
by the Air Materiel Command.
The larger, over $171/2 million,
is for passive electronic equip-
ment.
GUARD DUTY — San Diego
trio on training duty with I 14th
AAA Brigade (California Nation-
al Guard) prepare to unveil Army
Nike-Ajax missile. From left, Ma-
jor Jack Atkins (SD Dept. 6 illus-
trator in engineering procedures),
Capt. William Hedrick (Astro-
nautics Dept. 500 test engineer),
Capt. Robert Mitchley (Astronau-
tics Dept. 772 assistant foreman).
(USA photo.)
Napier to Take Delivery on 440
For Conversion to Turboprop
D. Napier & Son, Ltd., of Lon-
don, England, will take delivery
early in August on a Convair 440
Metropolitan which will be refit-
ted with Napier Eland turboprop
engines at Santa Monica. The
plane is scheduled to start
through a CAA certification pro-
gram for the Eland engine con-
version kit sometime this fall.
The 440 will be flown to the
Pacific Aeromotive Engineering
Corp., which is to handle the re-
engining job. PacAero occupies
the former Lear facility at Santa
Monica, where the prototype 440
underwent initial tests.
Napier for some time has been
flying a Convair 340 equipped
with its turboprop power plants.
This plane, considered a flying
test bed for the Eland conversion,
has piled up several hundred fly-
ing hours in test and demonstra-
tion flights, and from this plane
was developed the Eland repow-
ering kit which Napier plans to
sell to other Convair users.
Cruziero do Sul of Brazil,
which has four Convair 340s
and four 440s on order, pres-
ently is considering conversion
kits.
A second Brazilian airline,
REAL, also is planning an Eland
conversion for four of its Con-
vairs. REAL has purchased 14
Metropolitans, and has taken de-
livery on four.
Napier claims the Eland con-
version kit is equally well adapt-
ed to the 340 and 440 models.
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General Dynamics Corporation. Convair Division. Convairiety, Volume 10, Number 15, July 24, 1957, periodical, July 24, 1957; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1118035/m1/2/?q=war: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, Fort Worth.