The Eagle, Volume 2, Number 36, Thursday, January 6, 1944 Page: 1 of 4
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.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
/
Vol. 2, No. 36 Thursday, January 6, 1944 Fort Worth, Texas
Foremen Plan
Installation
Of Officers
Installation of 1944 officers will
feature the January meeting Sunday
of the Fort Worth Division Fore-
men’s Club at Hotel Texas. The
program in the Crystal Ballroom
will begin at 7:30 p. m.
Works Manager S. J. Powell will
announce plans for the Fourth War
Loan drive, and Erwin Lovelace will
lead the group in singing "America.”
A. L. Crossley, general foreman
of Covering and Upholstery, will be
installed as president, succeeding E.
E. Cain of Tool Cribs. Other in-
coming officers are Marty Witkow-
ski, Final Assembly, vice president;
Fred Buehler, Production, secretary;
and J. Shackelford, Jigs and Fix-
tures, treasurer.
Board of Control members in-
clude the officers and W. G. Locke,
Field Operations; L. C. Pfeil, Jigs
and Fixtures; H. R. Busboom, Tool
Cribs; F. J. Mathews, Finishing; R.
E. Carey, Anodize and Heat Treat;
and the retiring president.
Retiring officers, in addition to
Cain, are F. S. Perkins, Mechanical
Maintenance, vice president; F. E.
Williams, Final Assembly, secretary;
M. C. Weber, Tool Planning, treas-
urer; and board members Crossley,
Witkowski, S. O. Key of Tubing
and R. G. Heinrichs of Material and
rurcnasing.
B-24 First Plane
To Land on New
Island Airfield
First airplane to land on an air-
field constructed on Guadalcanal by
perspiring U. S. Navy Construction
Battalions was a B-24 Liberator, ac-
cording to one of the men who
helped build the field.
"In fact, the B-24 landed before
we had the steel matting down on
the runway, but she made it all
right,” said Hugh N. Witcher, Sea-
bee brother of W. C. Witcher, Jr.,
Second shift Wing Sub-Assembly
foreman.
Twenty-three-year-old Hugh was
back in Fort Worth for a visit with
his parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. C.
Witcher, and his brother at Convair,
after spending 16 months overseas
—a year of which was spent on
steaming Guadalcanal.
Witcher said he saw many B-24’s
during his sojourn on Guadalcanal,
including one that made a landing
with one flat tire, two motors dead,
the top turret shot away and the
wing and tail assembly badly dam-
aged by enemy fire.
Cooperation Asked
From Transit Firm
Cooperation of the Fort Worth
Transit Co. in maintaining adequate
and dependable bus service to the
plant has been solicited by Con-
solidated Vultee in connection with
the Work-to-Win program, Wil-
liam H. Wright, assistant to the
manager, announced today. Need
for every employe to be at work on
time every day was emphasized in
a letter to A. J. Rowe, transit com-
pany transportation superintendent.
KEEP PUNCHING—Ready for Convair’s Work-to-Win program, to start
Saturday are Walton Howard, left, and Curtis Ussery, Wing work-
ers. All that’s necessary to be eligible for the $8,000 in War Bonds
awarded each four-week period is perfect attendance.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Hearty Approval Given
Work-to-PVin Program
Convair’s Fort Worth employes*
this week voiced hearty approval of
the Work-to-Win program which
will begin here Saturday
Work-to-Win, which will offer
$8,000 every four-week period to
employes who always are on the
job, should help to eliminate un-
necessary absenteeism and improve
morale of employes was the con-
sensus of opinion of Fort Worth
Division personnel.
Joel G. Thompson, who works on
the giant Birdsboro hydropress in
Drop Hammer and hasn’t missed a
day’s work since coming here al-
most six months ago, says "I don’t
see how it can miss—employes have
everything to gain and nothing to
lose by being here every day and
getting a chance at those jackpots
in addition to their regular pay.”
Both Ruth S. Reno, Tool Plan-
ning, Second shift, and Bernis Lynn,
Second shift riveter in Fuselage
Tail, believe the Work-to-Win pro-
gram will prove an added incentive
to employes to be at work.
E. L. Frady, who installs baggage
racks in B-24’s in Final Assembly,
said that while he and his wife, who
installs trailing edges on the wings
in C-87 Final Assembly, have not
(Continued on Page 3)v
CIP Results
.Show Savings
More than two and a half mil-
lion man-hours have been saved in
Consolidated Vultee’s Fort Worth
plant during the past year as a result
of cost improvement ideas submit-
ted by supervisory personnel, Chair-
man W. T. Blake revealed today in
a report covering the 12-month pe-
riod ending Nov. 30.
Of 1,506 ideas suggested for im-
proving methods, increasing output,
conservation of time and materials,
or elimination of safety and health
hazards, almost one-third were
adopted by the Cost Improvement
Plan committee, Blake said.
The plan was installed here in
August, 1942, and has resulted in
the saving of 2,813,911 man-hours
since its inception, the report stated.
The Cost Improvement group, a
section of Industrial Engineering,
acts as a clearing house for propos-
als by supervisory personnel. Sug-
gestions from other employes are
handled by a separate group and
awards paid on the basis of individ-
ual merit.
Work-to-Win Starts
Saturdayf Employes
To Receive 58/000
Workers Asked
To Give Blood
A departmental contest among
Convair employes to aid a drive to
increase Fort Worth’s output of
blood plasma to the American Red
Cross was announced today.
Fort Worth Division departments
will vie for places on a plant honor
roll on a percentage basis figured
from donations in proportion to
departmental personnel strength.
Monthly standings will be an-
nounced and at the end of a six-
months’ period, names of all donors
in the winning department will ap-
pear in The Eagle.
Employes are asked to fill out an
appointment blank, appearing else-
where in The Eagle, and deposit it
in an Employe Suggestion box not
later than Monday.
These blanks will be turned over
to the Red Cross Blood Donor Serv-
ice, which will notify employes
when to report at 300 Taylor Street
for their contributions. Appoint-
ments will be arranged so as nor to
contact with working hours.
LeRoy N. Olmsted, chairman of
the city’s Blood Donor Service, says
the Fort Worth quota, beginning
January 10, has been increased 20
per cent to 1,500 pints weekly in
anticipation of greater battles yet
to come on the world warfronts.
Mail Bank Service
Offered Employes
Arrangements have been com-
pleted with Fort Worth banks for
the Employe Services department
to aid Convair employes with a
banking service by mail, Eugene
Crosier, Employe Services manager,
announced today.
The plan was devised so em-
ployes will not have to take time off
from their jobs to open accounts
and make deposits. Instead, Crosier
will handle all details of either open-
ing new accounts or making em-
ployes’ deposits by mail. Employes
interested should contact the Em-
ploye Services manager.
Prideful of Last Year's Achievements at the Fort Worth Division,
Convair Employes Plan More Liberators in 1944
Convair employes of the Fort
Worth division today buckled into
a new year of effort, hailed by their
part in the promise of an ultimate
victory and backed by 12 months of
notable achievement.
The year 1943 ended on the roar
of mounting production and new
expansion as the lengthening lines
of B-24’s and C-87’s blazoned new
pathways eastward across the At-
lantic and blasted a triumphant
island roadway westward over the
Pacific.
During the 12 months just com-
pleted, Convair employes at Fort
Worth heard the B-24 praised by
men who had flown them through
the embattled skies of Africa, Eu-
rope and the Southwest Pacific.
Back from the battle fronts and
the conference tables of the world
came tales of the C-87’s, transport
sister-ship of the B-24, that carried
notables of the United Nations on
Globe-girdling trips.
It was just a year ago that the
public saw its first picture of the
double assembly line of the Fort
Worth plant, revealing for the first
time the magnitude of the world’s
largest aircraft plant.
In that first month of 1943 the
first units of Liberator Village were
just nearing completion.
Lt. Gen. William S. Knudsen, war
production chief for the War De-
partment, visited the Fort Worth
plant where he saw the building of
the C-87, the plane that a few
months later carried him on a
28,000 mile tour of the Pacific, and
its battle-brother, the B-24.
In February, Convair employes
formed in block-long lines to see
the world premiere of the movie,
"Consolidated’s Fighting Planes”
(Continued on Page 4)
Attendance Plan
Approved by WLB
With the starting gun in
the $8,000 Work-to-Win
program due to fire Satur-
day, Convair employes
marked the New Year with
attendance resolutions borne
of determination to make
every day count in the build-
ing of Liberators for the-
United Nations in 1944.
Work-to-Win, which will result
in the presentation of 80 awards
ranging from $1,000 to $25 to Con-
vair employes each four-week pe-
riod, is designed to reward loyal
workers for constant attendance
throughout the year.
Program Endorsed
Prior to installation of the pro-
gram here, Consolidated Vultee of-
ficials secured the approval of the
Army Air Forces and the National
War Lab^r ttoard. A similar "^r-up
has uv.cn in effect at the SDic^vj
Division for almost'a year.
Under the plan, Convair employes
boasting perfect attendance records
each month will be eligible to par-
ticipate in a public drawing for the
$8,000 in awards. The first draw-
ing is scheduled in early February.
Only employes paid on an hourly
or bi-weekly salary basis will be
eligible for the awards, all of which
will be paid in War Bonds and
Stamps. For instance, the top award
of $1,000 will be subject to $210 in
federal taxes, but its net value of
$790 will result in a maturity value
of $1,052.
Rules of Plan
In order to have a perfect attend-
ance record, an employe must work
a minimum of eight hours, or six
and a half on Third shift, during six
days of each work week. Employes
must start work at the time of their
regular shift; otherwise, they will
not be credited with a full day’s
work. Each employe will be al-
lowed one tardiness of not more
than 10 minutes each week.
Termination of an employe’s serv-
ices for any reason prior to the dates
of the drawings will disqualify that
person from the right to participate.
War Bond Deliveries
Delayed in January
Delivery of War Bonds pur-
chased by payroll deduction
will be delayed an average of
one week during January, due
to necessity of tabulating num-
ber changes and employes’
withholding tax returns, the
War Bond section announced
today. All bonds, however,
will be stamped with issue
date in conformance to date
of purchase. Cash bond de-
liveries will not be affected.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation. The Eagle, Volume 2, Number 36, Thursday, January 6, 1944, periodical, January 6, 1944; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth777569/m1/1/?q=+date%3A1941-1945: 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.