Convairiety, Volume 14, Number 2, Wednesday, January 18, 1961 Page: 3 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, January 18, 1961
CONVAIRIETY
Page 3
COLD SPOT—Northeast Airlines' first Convair 880 meets Old Man Winter for
first time as it stands on snow-banked Boston airport in near-zero weather last
month. Worst storm ever to hit area blew up as rousing send-off to 880s carrying
passengers from wintry Boston to warmer Florida climes in mid-December.
Vast Capability For Space Material
Tests Offered by SD Laboratories
Completion of Convair San Die-
go’s new engineering materials
and processes laboratories this
month brings to Convair one of
the finest laboratories of its kind
in the country.
R. C. Loomis, Convair vice pres-
ident and San Diego manager,
emphasized the wide scope of
laboratory capabilities now avail-
able at Convair SD in announcing
the culmination of the year-and-
a-half renovation program.
Thirty separate laboratory
functions for research and devel-
opment into every phase of fab-
rication for aircraft and space
vehicles are now operating in the
remodeled and expanded area on
the lower floor of Bldg. 5 at
Plant 1. Properties and inactions
of every type of material —
metals, plastics, ceramics—can be
analyzed and evaluated, from re-
action to extreme high and low
temperatures to susceptibility to
fungus or corrosion. Liquids —
such as jet fuels—sealants, ad-
hesives, finishes are studied for
composition and effectiveness.
Work is carried on constantly
in the development of new
types of materials and proc-
esses for use in space vehicles
in years to come.
“Our modern and up-to-date
materials and processes labora-
tories make it possible for Con-
vair to maintain pace with the
space age,” said W. M. Suther-
land, group engineer in charge
of the lab operations.
Remodeling the northwest sec-
tion of Bldg. 5 began in July a
year ago. Atomic Investments
Inc., general contractor, com-
pleted first phase of the $600,000
renovation program in February
of last year, finishing the entire
project this month. Laboratory
work continued without interrup-
tion throughout the whole renova-
tion period. SD plant engineering
drew up specifications and co-
ordinated construction.
With 3,400 square feet added
to the original laboratory area
the total space now includes
18,700 square feet, stretching 125
feet along the west side of the
building and 170 feet along the
enclosed area’s south limits.
Modern fluorescent lighting;
new work counters, cabinets, and
hoods; decorative color scheme
with combinations alternated in
separate lab sections highlight
the remodeled space.
The entire laboratory area
will be air conditioned or heated
and ventilated by units in-
stalled on the mezzanine. Also
on the upper level are sections
for metallurgical special proj-
ects, metallography, and glass
blowing.
On the lower level are located
separate lab areas for lab func-
tions: mechanical properties,
creep test, heat treatment, vac-
uum fusion, welding, ceramics,
thermal properties, X-ray dif-
fraction, emission spectroscopy,
analytical chemistry, microchem-
istry and bacteriology, radiochem-
istry, vacuum metallurgy and
plasmatron, absorption spectros-
copy, nuclear magnetic resonance
and mass spectroscopy, organic
chemistry, chemical processes,
plastics and adhesives, finishes,
corrosion, electrochemistry, high
vacuum, hazardous testing, paint
application, accelerated weather-
ing.
Storage rooms are provided on
the mezzanine and a 14x21-ft.
stockroom on the first floor.
Administrative, engineering,
and clerical offices are on the
second floor of Bldg. 5 in the
5-2-H area along the center aisle.
Offices are connected by direct
inter-com system to laboratories
below.
Major items of new equipment
now going into the laboratory
include a portable mass spectro-
meter capable of analyzing gases
in minute concentrations, metals,
and a wide range of organic and
plastic materials; a high rate of
loading machine to subject spec-
imens to fast-acting forces under
various temperature conditions;
and a vacuum balance which auto-
matically records weights of
material in controlled atmos-
p h e r e s and temperatures, or
changes in weight over periods
of time.
Sutherland said that the new
materials and processes labora-
tories will be thrown open some
time soon for an inspection tour.
F-102s Trouble-Free
During Service in
Air National Guard
Convair-built F-102As, as-
signed to the Texas Air National
Guard at Ellington AFB, near
Houston, are piling up a record
of trouble-free hours in the air
since their arrival there last fall.
Don Abele, Convair SD logis-
tics support representative, and
Clyde Fox, SD field service rep-
resentative, report that the Con-
vair jets had, up to early this
month, flown 969 hours in one
of the smoothest conversions they
had ever witnessed.
Not one of the craft has been
grounded due to lack of a part
since they went into action with
the 111th. Capt. Ted Plant, com-
mander of the 147th MATRON
Base Supply, attributes the per-
formance record to efficiency of
his own crew and cooperation of
all maintenance and supply per-
sonnel.
*Temporary* Position
Lasts For 10 Years
Joe Lestrans didn’t need the
timepiece given him at his re-
tirement this month to keep
him on the job during his 10
years with timekeeping at Con-
vair SD.
He had never been absent
a single day from the time
he was hired by A1 Vernon,
timekeeping general supervisor,
Nov. 3, 1950. He took the job
just to “try it out”—at the
most, for six months, before
moving to Los Angeles. Those
six months stretched into 10
years without an absence, or
tardy mark, barring a couple of
emergencies!
Redstone Arsenal
Men Join Seminar
Three men from Redstone Ar-
senal in Huntsville, Ala., are
among the 40 attending the fifth
Convair FW value control sem-
inar.
Sessions started Jan. 9 and end
Jan. 20.
Carl G. Estler, Charles J.
Borum and Harry H. Hepler are
attending the seminar with an
eye to setting up a program at
Redstone.
“We’re extremely pleased t o
have these men participate,” said
B. W. Kahla, deputy division
cooi'dinator for the program.
Electrical Engineer
Dies on Hiking Trip
Frederic T. Bankerd, 48, SD
Dept. 6 electrical engineer, suf-
fered a heart attack and died Dec.
31 while hiking with companions
in Arizona.
A native of that state, he had
been with Convair 15 years. He
was a member of the Sierra Club
and the Convair Spanish class.
Surviving are a brother and two
sisters.
NEW QUARTERS—Shown above are few of 30 lab functions now located in
modernized materials and processes laboratories area in Bldg. 5 at Convair San
Diego. At left, Harold Pearson, Harold Hunt, Gordon Picotte, Bert Bergstrom check
materials and panels for defects in plastics and adhesives section; (top center)
John Trias and Anita McGowan in microanalysis and fungus area; (top right) Ray
Reschan stands beside centrifuge in electrochemistry lab; (bottom center) E. E.
Keller at nuclear magnetic resonance control panel analyzing chemical structure of
materials; (bottom right) Gordon Sawyer looks through window into furnace and
Gerry Langford places material in oven in heat treatment area. Sketch above
points out lab area location in northwest section of Bldg. 5’s ground floor.
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General Dynamics Corporation. Convair Division. Convairiety, Volume 14, Number 2, Wednesday, January 18, 1961, periodical, January 18, 1961; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth777511/m1/3/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, Fort Worth.