Convairiety, Volume 13, Number 7, Wednesday, March 30, 1960 Page: 2 of 8
8 p. : ill. ; 44 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Page 2
CONVAIRIETY
Wednesday, March 30, 1960
Paints and Finishes For 880s, 600s
Tried Out in All Kinds of 'Weather'
SUCCESS—Col. James K. Johnson, left, 43rd Bomb Wing Com-
mander, and Col. D. M. Jones, director of the B-58 Test Force, con-
gratulate B-58 crew—Lt. Col. Leonard M. Legge, pilot; Capt.
Andrew Rose, bomb-nav operator; and Capt. Ray R. Wagener,
DSO operator—deplaning after 18-hour, 10-minute flight.
Hustler Refuels Two Times
During Endurance Record
Paints and finishes protecting
and decorating Convair 880s and
600s are being tried out in all
sorts of temperature and humid-
ity conditions in Convair San
Diego’s new environmental spray
booth in the SD materials and
processes laboratories.
Within the new facility, one
of the few installed by an indus-
trial firm, temperatures from 40
to about 100 degrees Fahrenheit
and humidities from 20 to 90 per
cent can be duplicated.
By spraying materials with dif-
ferent kinds of paints and fin-
ishes in various atmospheric con-
ditions, it is possible to estab-
lish when they should, or should
not, be applied, depending upon
weather.
“Finishes often will not adhere
properly to surfaces, or lacquers, |
Ground support equipment for
Convair planes soon will be go-
ing into a large “salt spray”
booth just erected in Convair SD
dynamics laboratories to see how
well they will withstand corro-
sion.
The new test facility, set up in
Bldg. 72 at Plant 1, is currently
the largest and most complete
of its kind available within the
company. (Convair Astronautics
is in the process of constructing
a facility of slightly larger ca-
pacity.)
The booth, 12 feet long, IVi
feet wide, and 8 feet high, is of
black polyethylene with a painted
aluminum floor. A 20 per cent
salt solution, twice as salty as
would be found in any coastal
atmosphere, is sprayed into the
booth together with heated air
to achieve high humidity. A bat-
tery of thermostatically-controll-
ed heat lamps on each side of
the booth raises the temperature
to 95 degrees F. within the
chamber. Each bank of lamps
totals 16,000 watts.
Plane components, antennas,
electronic control boxes, ejection
seats will be some of the equip-
ment submerged in the dense salt
spray. First tets will be run on
a fuel system check test cart for
for instance, will have a cloudy
appearance, if they are put on
during cold and humid condi-
tions,” explained J. C. George of
the paint, finishes, and corrosion
laboratories at SD.
“With our temperature and
humidity control room we now
can duplicate conditions within
the plant and tell exactly when
Astro Greets 300th
Employee at Offutt
OFFUTT AFB — Astronautics
has welcomed its 300th employee
here. He is Marion D. Hines, a
transfer from Vandenberg AFB.
Hines, a missile field test elec-
tronics checkout technician, has
been with Convair three years,
first with San Diego as an F-
102A mechanic, later with Astro.
the F-106A/B.
Each item will be placed in the
spray for 50 hours, approximat-
ing several years of exposure to
the most severe weather. When
tests start, explain dynamics lab
engineers, they will continue
around the clock, day and night.
Fifty gallons of the salt solution
will be used in every 24-hour
period.
Following exposure in the
steamy booth, all equipment will
be checked to see if it functions
properly. For instance, tubing,
mechanisms, gauges and regula-
tors of the F-106 fuel system
check test cart will be put
through exhaustive tests to tell
just how much effect long ex-
posure might have on their op-
eration. Each F-106 squadron
will be supplied with one of the
test carts for check-out of fuel
systems of the Convair-built in-
terceptors.
Designed by dynamics labora-
tories engineers, the salt spray
booth is one of the facilities un-
der supervision of M. C. Brady,
chief of SD dynamics laborator-
ies. In direct charge of its in-
stallation and operation is R. G.
Wingfield of utility controls
group, with G. A. Vasick, super-
visor.
different finishes can be applied
for best results.”
Specialists in the SD labora-
tories test batches of paint and
finishes received within the plant
for water resistance, Skydrol re-
sistance, drying time, gloss, and
application properties.
Months of exposure can be sim- !
ulated within a few days by dif-
ferent types of equipment in the
materials and processes labora-
tories located in the northwest
corner of Bldg. 5’s ground floor.
Besides the new lOxlO-foot en-
closed environmental spray
booth, laboratory facilities in-
clude two large salt spray cabi-
nets. In these, samples of paint
and other finishes are sprayed
with a salt solution to see just
how much resistance they offer
to corrosion. Samples are hung
in humidity cabinets where six
inches of heated water is agitated
with air to create humid, steamy
conditions. Ultraviolet and in-
frared rays in a weather-ometer
punish the painted surfaces like
the most intense sunlight, and
water sprays like rain through
a tropical sun, doing its best to
fade colors.
The bright Kelly green much
in evidence on Convair 880s roll-
ing off the production line was
chosen by a process of elimina-
tion in the paint laboratories in
conjunction with manufacturing
development, admitted George.
(The green coating is for pro-
tection only and is removed be-
fore planes receive their final
paint jobs.)
The finish itself is a corrosion-
resistant acrylic to protect ex-
posed surfaces of Convair’s trans-
ports during production opera-
tions. But the gaudy green color
was added to distinguish the
skins painted with the acrylic
from those covered with other
finishes for other purposes.
“We had to have a distinguish-
ing color to show that certain
parts had been treated with the
acrylic,” explained George. “In
its natural state, the type of
acrylic being used is of a yellow
shade, which could be confused
with primer.”
The green acrylic now seen on
many unfinished planes is the
same type of resin with pigment
changes as the familiar gleaming
white which decorated the first
three completed Convair 880s.
The protective green will cover
1,050 square feet of each 880 and
1,200 square feet of the 600s,
the exposed parts of the fuse-
lage and upper and lower sur-
faces of the wings. Its peculiar
properties make it especially re-
sistant to scratches and corro-
sion; allow it to be drilled
through or riveted easily; and
protect the outer skins through-
out the entire assembly proced-
ure. It can be easily removed
by common commercial solvents.
Other finishes used on Con-
vair’s jet transports, lacquers
used in the interior of the planes,
enamels, sealants, epoxies,
Scotchweld primer, and different
types of cleaning solvents for
painted and unpainted surfaces
have been checked out in the lab-
oratories. Recommendations are
made to SD design groups and
to airline customers for the best
type for the purpose.
B-58 No. 12—“Mary Ann”—
made a routine flight of 18 hours
and 10 minutes this month to set
a new Hustler “endurance rec-
ord.”
Piloted by Lt. Col. Leonard M.
Legge, the B-58 took off from
Carswell AFB at 6:48 p.m. March
22 and landed on the same strip
at 12:59 p.m. March 23—a flight
of about 11,000 statute
miles.
“Mary Ann” was refueled
twice during the flight.
The flight was part of acceler-
ated service tests being con-
ducted by the B-58 Test Force at
Carswell on the new tactical J79-
5A engines. It was the sixth
flight in 15 days of testing, dur-
ing which Hustlers logged a total
of 67 hours and 15 minutes.
Rounding out the SAC crew
on the flight were Capt. Andrew
Rose, bomb-nav operator, and
Capt. Ray R. Wagener, DSO
operator.
“The flight was routine and
without incident,” Colonel Legge
said.
“We flew roughly in a triangu-
lar pattern most of the time—
from San Angelo to Albuquerque,
N. M., to Dalhart, to Wichita,
H W. Gilliland
Safest Driver
H. W. Gilliland, Dept. 20-2,
was named Convair FW’s safest
driver, climaxing the Fort Worth -
Tarrant County Commercial Fleet
Safety Contest, in which Convair
FW scored the safest driving rec-
ord in its division.
Gilliland, who was selected
from a group of Convair FW
traffic employees who have acci-
dent-free records for five years,
received an engraved gold watch.
B. R. Main, general foreman
in traffic department, was award-
ed the first-place certificate in
recognition of Convair’s winning
over the six other companies in
its class in the Commercial Fleet
Contest, sponsored annually by
the American Society of Safety
Engineers.
Kan., to Dallas—at normal cruise
speed.”
Previous longest single flight
for a B-58 Hustler was 13 hours
and 10 minutes, also flown by
B-58 Test Force personnel.
On hand to greet the crew after
the flight were Col. D. M. Jones,
director of the B-58 Test Force,
and Col. James K. Johnson, 43rd
Bomb Wing commander.
“We were highly pleased with
the results,” Colonel Jones said.
Colonel Jones gave “a lion’s
share” of the credit for the suc-
cess of the mission to the main-
tenance crew.
Team Selected
To Push TB-58
Frank W. Davis, Convair vice
president-FW manager, has ap-
pointed a team of top-notch en-
gineering and development per-
sonnel to expedite completion of
the first B-58 trainer bomber.
Appointed were Charles Green,
project engineer; Dave Halsey,
assistant manager of develop-
ment; and Jim Ivy, superintend-
ent of development manufactur-
ing, who has been assigned full
time to direct on-floor manufac-
turing activities.
Hustler No. 11 is the first of
three B-58s slated for conversion
to the TB-58A configuration.
Davis urged all personnel con-
nected with the trainer conver-
sion to “direct every effort” to-
ward supporting the program.
Pro Ball Club Head
To Speak at FW
Lamar Hunt, president of the
newly-formed American Football
League and owner of the Dallas
Texans, will be special luncheon
speaker at an April 13 seminar
of American Society of Training
Directors.
The seminar will be held from
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Hotel
Texas. Hoyt Clark Jr. of educa-
tional services at Convair FW
is program chairman.
STEAM BATH—R. G. Wingfield, SD dynamics lab engineer,
appears like a man from outer space in his plastic hood as he
emerges from large salt spray booth at Convair SD.
Ground Support Equipment Gets
'Salt Spray' Treatment at SD
PAINT PUNISHERS—At left, A. F. Hooper, chemist in Convair SD paint, finishes, Clifford Fennell, lab technician, is seen through window spraying specimens in new
and corrosion laboratories, submerges paint samples in salt spray tank. In center, SD temperature and humidity control room while J. C. George sets controls.
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General Dynamics Corporation. Convair Division. Convairiety, Volume 13, Number 7, Wednesday, March 30, 1960, periodical, March 30, 1960; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth777380/m1/2/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, Fort Worth.