Convairiety, Volume 7, Number 8, Wednesday, April 21, 1954 Page: 1 of 8
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Vol. 7, No. 8
Wednesday, April 21, 1954
Fort Worth and
Daingerfield
EDITION
Fort Worth Division news
office: ext. 5290.
Daingerfield Division news
office: ext. 424.
ON THE SET—Dressed as an Air Force lieutenant colonel, Actor Jimmy Stewart is pictured at
Carswell AFB in scenes from forthcoming Strategic Air Force movie which will feature B-36s.
Davis Appointed
Chief Engineer
At Convair FW
Frank W. Davis has been named
chief engineer for the Fort Worth
Division, August C. Esenwein,
vice president and division man-
ager, announced late last week.
Davis, formerly assistant to the
vice president—engineering, will
take over his new duties May 3.
He succeeds J. W. Larson who
has left the company.
Born in Charleston, West Vir-
ginia, in 1914, Davis is a gradu-
ate of California Institute of
Technology, Pasadena, Calif. He
was a Marine Corps pilot for four
years before joining Convair’s
Vultee Field Division at Downey,
Calif., in 1940 as an engineering
test pilot.
At the Vultee Field Division,
Davis was chief of aerodynamics
and flight test, and also served
as assistant chief engineer. He
was the first pilot in this country
to fly a turboprop plane—the
Convair XP-81 experimental es-
cort fighter developed for the
U. S. Air Force in 1945.
In 1947 Davis joined Convair’s
San Diego Division engineering
staff, where he served as chief
design engineer. He was closely
identified with the development
of the XF-92A, the world’s first
delta wing airplane, the new F-
102 all-weather supersonic inter-
ceptor, and several other Convair
projects. He was appointed as-
sistant to the vice president—
engineering in December, 1952.
His duties in this job primarily
were in the field of research and
development.
The Convair Turboliner was under magnifying glasses
again this week for another inch-by-inch Air Force inspec-
tion at Convair FW.
This time its an Air Force “Contract Technical Com-
pliance Board.”
This is a board which goes over
the plane item by item to verify
that Convair crews have incor-
porated all technical items ex-
actly as specified in the contract.
The board is headed by Col. H.
H. Bowe Jr., of Air Materiel
Command headquarters, Dayton,
Ohio. Other members are Lt. Col.
J. D. Gilmore and Col. C. K.
1HHB
m
(For pictures of Air Force Tur-
boliner, see Page 3.)
CHIEF ENGINEER — Frank
Davis, formerly assistant to the
vice president - engineering, now
chief engineer of Fort Worth
Division.
LUNCH AT CONVAIR—Film Actor Jimmy Stewart took time
Wurzbach. The board is assisted
by a number of other military
and civilian specialists.
Starting their inspection in the
development department area of
the hangar building yesterday
(Tuesday, April 20), they are
scheduled to complete their work
tomorrow.
- Only a week before, another
group of specialists gave the new
JH ^ turboprop-powered transport a
thorough going-over. They \vere
high-ranking officials of the Civil
Aeronautics Administration of
Washington, D.C.
The group was headed by W.
H. Weeks, chief of the CAA’s
aircraft engineering section. The
visit was a part of the CAA’s
study to arrive at the rules and
regulations which eventually will
be applied for turbine-powered
aircraft used in civil operations
in the future.
As a military transport, the
YC-131C will be considerably
faster and have a much higher
service ceiling than its model 340
counterpart.
The plane is expected to go
into extensive flight test program
this summer to prove its economy
Drive Triples
$100 U. S. Bond
Buyers at FW
Fort Worth Division al-
most tripled the number of
its $100 bond buyers in the
first day of the “Five for
Fifteen Club” U. S. Savings
Bond campaign last week.
First day’s report (latest avail-
able at press time) showed that
the number of employees buying
bonds by paycheck deductions of
$5 per week or more increased
from 746 at start of the drive to
2,054, and many departments were
yet to report.
Participation showed only a
slight increase, from 64 to 65 per
cent.
(Continued on Page 2'
out from acting in B-36 movie to lunch with Lt. Col. C.
Savage, AF plant representative at Convair FW.
Jimmy Stewart Pays Convair Visit
While Acting in Movie About B-36
Doc" of operation and maintenance.
The movie industry invaded
Fort Worth recently and spent
the biggest part of the time right
across the way from Convair FW
filming a movie in which the B-36
will play a big part.
The scene was Carswell AFB,
where Paramount stars spent
days waiting for Texas sunshine,
and hours waiting for the direc-
tors to give the nod on a scene.
The first day on the set was
spent trying to get Jimmy
Stewart through the entrance
at Carswell.
Each time he tried to enter,
the air policeman on duty told
him he couldn’t “admit a
civilian without identification.”
“I’m not a civilian, but I wish
I were,” Stewart replied.
And so it went all day long.
(Stewart plays the role of Lt.
Col. “Dutch” Holland, a re-
serve officer, recalled to active
duty from a $70,000 a year
baseball job.)
Stewart managed to find time
to get an inside look at Convair
FW. He had lunch there and
toured the plant.
June Allyson, Frank Lovejoy,
Barry Sullivan, Henry Morgan
and Jim Millikan were also on
hand at Carswell for the week of
filming.
The movie, “Strategic Air Com-
mand,” is being filmed in a new
color process called “Vista Vis-
ion,” and is being directed by
Tony Mann.
B-36 interior shots are being
made in Hollywood on a set built
by Paramount with the help of
government—a n d Convair—fur-
nished parts and components, and
with the aid of Convair develop-
ment department supervision and
hourly personnel.
Share Holders Vote
On Merger April 29
Convair share holders will vote
next week (April 29) on a pro-
posed merger into General Dy-
namics Corp. Assuming a favor-
able vote, Convair will retain its
name and identity, but will func-
tion as an integral part of the
General Dynamics organization.
Col. Dillon to
Leave Convair
Col. James F. McCarthy, Jr.,
USAF, next week will succeed
Col. Stephen P. Dillon, USAF, as
Air Force plant representative at
San Diego.
Col. Dillon’s next assignment
will be with the Strategic Air
Command, at Spokane, Wash.
Col. McCarthy, who reported at
San Diego last week, is a native
of Hillside, Long Island, New
York, and was educated at New
York Military Academy and at
Norwich University, Northfield,
Vermont.
He entered the Air Force in
June of 1940 as a second lieu-
tenant and by 1944 had advanced
to command of a fighter group in
the European theater. From 1947
to 1949 he served in the Far
East and early in 1950 reported
to the Air Materiel Command,
Procurement Division, Aircraft
Branch, as chief of fighter sec-
tion. In this capacity he was re-
(Continued on Page 2)
Texas Electric Head
To Speak for Club
J. B. Thomas, president of
Texas Electric Service Co., will
address Convair FW Management
Club members April 28 on “Civic
Interest.”
Thomas will be introduced by
A. E. Northcott, program chair-
man, at the 6 p.m. meeting at the
Casino.
The I. M. Terrell Senior High
School chorus and Glenna Carter,
daughter of Convair Engineer
Glenn Carter, will entertain.
Hopkins Predicts Vast Peaceful
Potential For Atomic Energy
Mankind faces a choice in the atomic age between self-
control or self-destruction, John Jay Hopkins, chairman of
the Convair Board of Directors recently told members of
the Vancouver, B. C. Board of Trade.
Hopkins, also board chairman
of General Dynamics Corp. and
Comparing the John Jay Hopkins
impact of peaceful atomic energy
on the world’s economy to the
great discoveries of fire, steam
and electricity, he said: “Prob-
ably as a form of energy, its uni-
versal character will prove some-
what greater than that of steam
and will merge into and comple-
ment the tremendous era of elec-
tricity in our daily lives.”
Pointing out that “more than
1,000 firms in Canada and the
United States are already em-
ploying the atom in every-day
operations,” Hopkins predicted
atomic - powered airplanes and
trains in the not-distant future
and pictured “a world in which
atomic energy heats and powe v?
our factories, lights our citi°s,
cooks our food, cures our ills
(Continued on page 2)
'C-T-C' Board
Looks Over
AF Turboliner
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Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation. Convairiety, Volume 7, Number 8, Wednesday, April 21, 1954, periodical, April 21, 1954; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth777505/m1/1/: 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.