Convairiety, Volume 2, Number 1, January 5, 1949 Page: 4 of 8
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Page 4
CONVAIRIETY
Jan. 5, 1949
WHAT GOES ON HERE?—No, your eyes don't deceive you.
The camera doesn't lie. That's John Maroldo-—all of him—in that
augmsntor tube. John (Dept. 240) is assisted by Al Martin (Dept.
230) whose 6 feet 31/2 inches bulk large by contrast.
San Diego Midget Specially Designed To
Get Into and Out of Tight Spots
“Whenever someone gets
into a tight spot, they call for
me.
“It’s seldom so tight a spot
that I can’t get into it.”
John Maroldo (Dept. 240 SD)
was speaking and he wasn’t
boasting. He was telling the plain
Hobbyist Specializes
In Perfectly Scaled
Models of Bomber
The scale-model B-36 bombers
and Convair-Liners built at home
by one Convair FW hobbyist are
so perfectly scaled and so exact-
ingly executed that Convair it-
self goes to him when it wants
a model!
The master hobbyist is Walter
E. Gray, of Engineering (Dept
6-6), who is fast nearing com-
pletion of the first known built-
to-scale model of the new B-36B
aircraft, the bombers with the
red tails and red wing-tips for
arctic operation.
It has been ordered by Con-
vair FW for display purposes.
The model, with a wing span
of 30 inches, will take approxi-
mately 60 hours to complete. It
is made of laminated mahogany
with an aluminum finish and will
weigh from eight to 10 pounds.
After the original model is
completed, Gray hopes to turn
out several similar models.
“The only trouble is, I can’t
afford to make one for my-
self,” he says. Of an unesti-
mated number of airplane
models he has made during
the past three years, Gray does
not own one.
Of all the airplanes he makes,
naturally the engineer favors
Convair models. He recently com-
pleted an order for six Convair-
Liners for American Airlines
personnel.
Gray is not content to confine
his B-36 work to his job and his
hobby. He simply likes airplanes.
He not only makes them, he flys
them. Both he and his wife,
Marge, hold private pilot’s li-
censes, and their greatest ambi-
tion is to own their own plane
—a real size model.
“That’s the reason I build
the scale models,” Gray con-
fesses. “So I can have a big
one.”
Gray’s models are not limited
to planes. He has made over 125
scale-model locomotives for the
railroad companies who own the
originals.
truth. John stands 4 feet 2 inches
tall and weighs 70 pounds. Aside
from being good at his regular
job on power plant controls, he’s
mighty handy in a close squeeze
For example, not long ago Jim
Stevens (Dept. 230 assistant fore-
man) was confronted with a
problem on a Convair-Liner des-
tined for Western Airlines.
“We needed to buck some
rivets in the stairway and the
access hole was only about
three inches in diameter. It
meant we might have to take
the stairway apart,” Stevens
recalled. “Then I thought of
Johnny and I borrowed him.”
What would have been a two-
day job turned into a two-hour
task as John’s small hand easily
entered the hole and did the job
Maroldo is 43 years old and
has been married since 1929. His
wife is 3 feet tall and weighs
45 pounds. They have no children.
Maroldo said his small stature
is just a phenomenon. He has a
brother who tops 6 feet.
“I guess I was just a sam-
ple,” John quipped.
Maroldo was in show business
for many years and covered the
country from coast to coast with
carnivals and circuses, singing,
dancing, clowning. He joined
Convair 5% years ago at Vultee
field and came to the SD plant
a year and a half ago.
30-INCH B-36 —Walter E.
Gray, of Convair FW Engineer-
ing (Dept. 6-6), touches up near-
ly completed B-36 scale model
he is making in his home work-
shop for Convair FW display
I purposes.
Liner Will
Show Off
On Tour
Delivery of five Convair-Liners
bo FAMA is expected sometime
this month and one of the first
planes to make the flight to
Argentina will stage demonstra-
tions for military men and airline
personnel in a half dozen South
American countries.
At the request of FAMA, Con-
vair crews will fly all planes to
Buenos Aires. Pilot William Eddy
will captain the demonstration
plane which also will carry Gil
Clark, manager of South Amer-
ican sales, Frank Sinclair, re-
gional sales manager, W. J. Bell-
iston and W. C. Robinson, flight
engineers.
The demonstration flight is
planned because of insistent in-
quiries from a score of South
American lines concerning the
Liner. The plane is ideally suited
to routes in this area as its most
economical range falls in line
with the average route plans. The
demonstration plane, which also
will carry a number of Argen-
tines who have completed a
training course at San Diego,
will pause first at Memphis,
Tenn. to perform for officials
of Chicago and Southern Airline
which operates planes to Vene-
zuela, Jamaica and the Carib-
bean. The plane will then fly to
Miami and thence to the capitals
of Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil
and Uruguay.
The five Liners probably will
be delivered at two week inter-
vals, permitting the same Con-
vair flight crew to ferry all
ships.
240’s DOMINATING
CARIBBEAN TRAVEL
The Convair-Liner is not un-
known in Latin America now.
Pan American, which has been
flying Liners for some time out
of Miami, has virtually replaced
all DC3’s and DC4’s in the Carib-
bean with 240’s. Liners are fly-
ing regularly into Venezuela,
Panama and Colombia.
Daingerfield Scores
Good Safety Record
Convair’s Ordnance Aerophys-
ics Laboratory at Daingerfield,
Tex. is currently in the midst of
a prolonged period free of lost
time injuries.
As of mid-December, the last
lost time injury was July 19,
1948. Prior to that, however, the
Laboratory scored nearly two
years—from June 1, 1945 to May
29, 1947—without lost time due
to injury. This covered approxi-
mately 350,000 man hours. Since
the Laboratory was established,
there have been eleven accidents
serious enough to cause lost time.
Of the eleven men involved, only
five suffered accidents serious
enough to cause more than one
or two days lost time in each
case. The total lost time amounts
to 59% hours. Both employees
and group leaders were praised
as mutually helpful in reporting
and correcting hazardous condi-
tions.
L-13 Makes First
Flight Since July
The first L-13 to fly since July
1 made a test hop at Lindbergh
Field Dec. 29 with Convair Pilot
Phil Prophett at the controls.
L-13’s, of which more than 200
are stored at SD, have been
grounded for several months
pending an engine fix. The flight
was authorized by the Air Force
after tests at Wright-Patterson
Field, Dayton. A contract to
modify the 200 at SD has been
awarded to Nelson-Kelley Co.
The AF will modify the approxi-
mately 100 which already have
been delivered.
EIGHT BALLERS—SD Works
Manager Ernest Wenigmann
gives "thumbs down" and Fac-
tory Manager Paul Stevens regis-
ters peeved dismay as latter
receives "eight ball" because his
department ranked at bottom of
SD Housekeeping list. Stevens
reads riot act to superintendents
John Doig, Jerry Torrance, John
Hopman, John Petit, Al John-
son and Steve Barinka. At left,
Stevens literally gets "behind
eight ball."
TOY MECHANIC—D. R. Curtis, Convair FW electrical in-
spector (Dept. 27-5), claims he's still a "kid at heart." His favorite
pastime is making toys in his home work shop. Here, he is shown
tightening, up a screw in an electric station wagon made as a
Christmas present for his son, Donald, 3. The toy auto can travel
12 miles per hour.
Toy Station Wagon Powered by Electric Motor
And Capable of 12 MPH, Built as Present
To the ears of D. R. Curtis,
Convair FW electrical inspector
(Dept. 27-5), nothing is sweeter
than the contented purr of an
electric motor. Electricity is not
only his bread and butter, but
his hobby as well.
He played Santa Claus to his
small son, Donald Jr., 3, on
Whole Pound Lost
In Birth Excitement
Harold W. Ames, FW Nose and
Tail (44), had an excuse to get
excited when he reported the
birth of his first baby to CON-
VAIRIETY. In fact he was so
excited that he deducted a pound
from Harold Jr.’s weight. Instead
of 6 lbs. 3 ozs., the Ames heir
actually weighed 7 lbs. 3 ozs.,
and Ames wants everyone to
know it.
STEAK DINNER
A steak dinner party was held
by the Chemical Laboratory sec-
tion of Convair FW Engineering
Test Laboratory (6-7), on Dec. 10
at the Seibold cafe. Guests were
Desby Smith, Ruth Voigt, Mr.
and Mrs. Joe Gambill, Mr. and
Mrs. E. M. Kinch, Mr. and Mrs.
K. E. Dorcas, Mr. and Mrs. N. H.
Simpson.
Christmas morning with an elec-
tric station wagon, which he
made in his home workshop.
The auto is powered by an
electric automobile starter motor
driven by a storage battery. It
is capable of 12 miles an hour.
While still under production,
the auto was so popular that all
the neighboring dads would sneak
in for a look after the children
were in bed. “They even came
from Hillsboro to preview the
new model,” says Curtis.
Curtis also turns out toy speed
boats and gasoline model air-
planes in his workshop. His next
favorite hobby is taking movies
of the neighborhood children who
come to play with the Curtis-built
oys. “Guess I’m just a kid at
heart,” he added.
(“Lost all my money through
hole in pocket. Needle and thread
on table. Thanks, dear.”)
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Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation. Convairiety, Volume 2, Number 1, January 5, 1949, periodical, January 5, 1949; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1117940/m1/4/?q=%22~1~1%22~1: 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.