Convairiety, Volume 12, Number 6, April 1, 1959 Page: 2 of 8
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Page 2
CONVAIRIETY
Wednesday, April I, 1959
FLOATING?—Camera angle gives impression that cocooned
F-102 is floating like a blimp with nose attached to crane. Actually,
it is swinging from sling. Planes were unloaded from aircraft carrier
recently at Naha, Okinawa, after trans-Pacific crossing.
F-102A SQUADRONS
WIN SAFETY HONOR
FOR FLYING RECORDS
Two F-102A squadrons have
received recognition for safe fly-
ing records.
Geiger Field’s 498th Fighter-
Interceptor Squadron at Spokane,
Wash., was nominated in Febru-
ary for the Air Defense Com-
mand flight safety certificate of
meritorious achievement.
The F-102 equipped FIS com-
pleted an entire year of flying
without suffering an accident.
The unit flew 6,660 hours with-
out accidents from January, 1958,
through January, 1959, Lt. Col.
F. D. Willis, squadron command-
er, announced.
Last accident charged to the
498th occurred early in January,
1958, while the squadron was de-
ployed for missile firing practice
at Tyndall AFB, Fla.
The 482nd FIS at Seymour
Johnson AFB, Goldsboro, N. C.,
was presented a plaque for acci-
dent-free operations from Octo-
ber, 1957, to October, 1958. Ac-
cording to base officials, the
482nd, commanded by Lt. Col.
James Thomas, has not had an
accident since then.
ARRIVAL—At left, Col. Lester Johnsen, 51st Fighter Interceptor Wing commander, tears plastic
protection skin for better look at F-102 on arrival of new ships at Okinawa. Delta interceptors will
join defense of Ryukyu Islands. At right, first plane leaves carrier deck.—USAF photos.
15,000-Mile, Two-Way, Wire System
Connects All Dynamics Divisions
All divisions of General Dy-
namics Corporation are now
interconnected with a 15,000-
mile Western Union wire system
providing instantaneous two-way
communications between 62 plants
and offices across the continent.
In formal inauguration cere-
monies last week at General Dy-
namics’ headquarters in New
York City, Earl D. Johnson,
executive vice president, sent the
first official message including
the statement, “Fast, accurate
communications play an import-
ant part in the operation of our
business, and these facilities
represent another step forward
for General Dynamics.”
Allen D. Marshall, General Dy-
namics vice president, under
whose supervision the system was
inaugurated, said, “The private
wire system we are leasing from
Western Union will permit us to
exchange information immediate-
ly and constantly among all
points in our organization.”
Convair President J. V. Naish
observed that “the new system
will provide improved communi-
cations not only between our
General Offices and Corporation
headquarters in New York, but
also between Convair offices and
plants from coast-to-coast.”
Messages are punched on per-
forated tape by operators at
originating points and trans-
mitted automatically by push-but-
ton selection to the desired des-
tinations.
Each message passing through
the switching centers is auto-
matically numbered in sequence,
providing a running record of all
communications transmitted.
A priority arrangement per-
mits instant transmission of ur-
gent messages.
Three message centers in New
York, San Diego, and Fort Worth
are connected directly with West-
ern Union’s national and inter-
national public message network,
enabling all General Dynamics’
offices to transmit telegrams to
other companies and persons.
Major General Dynamics cen-
ters linked by the system are
Convair’s San Diego and Astro-
nautics Divisions and Stromberg-
Carlson facilities in San Diego,
Calif.; Convair Pomona; Convair
Fort Worth and Daingerfield;
Canadair Limited in Montreal,
Canada; Electric Boat Division in
Connecticut; Stromberg-Carlson’s
headquarters at Rochester, N. Y.;
Liquid Carbonic in Chicago, 111.;
and Electro Dynamic in New
Jersey.
Five Convair Persons Killed
In Auto, Light Plane Accidents
A tragic weekend saw four
Convair people and an AF officei
assigned to Convair fatally in-
jured in light
plane crashes
and auto acci-
dents.
Lorrain Clark
of Convair SD
Dept. 230 was
fatally burned
in a crash of a
light plane near
Camp Pendleton
March 21. Mrs.
Clark has been
with Convair for
nine years.
Pilot of the plane, James Saf-
tig, SD Dept. 230 supervisor, was
hospitalized with severe burns in
the same crash. He died last
week.
James Saftig
CRA commissioner of Aero-
modelers, Solo Flyers, and the
Glider Club, Saftig recently was
elected president of the CRA
Council at Convair SD.
Saftig was nationally and in-
ternationally known in airplane
modeling circles. He is survived
by his wife, Beatrice.
In another light plane crash
the next day, on Highway 80
Col. Stapp to Talk
For Rocket Society
Col. John Paul Stapp, known
as the “fastest man on earth”
because of tests he made aboard
a 632 mph rocket-propelled sled
in 1954, will speak at North
Texas Section meeting of the
American Rocket Society April
18.
“Space Medicine” will be
Colonel Stapp’s topic at the meet-
ing scheduled for Western Hills
Inn on Highway 183.
Colonel Stapp, the society’s na-
tional president, is now chief of
the aero medical lab, Wright Air
Development Center at Wright-
Patterson AFB.
Convair Man Chosen
For Guard Ceremony
Carlton J. Shepard of Convair
SD Dept. 6 will represent Cali-
fornia and the 251st AAA Group
at dedication ceremonies of the
National Guard Memorial Build-
ing May 3 in Washington, D. C.
A specialist second class in the
California Army National Guard,
Shepard will join representatives
of other state national guard
units selected to take part in a
parade of flags.
near Pine Valley, George Hard-
ing, Convair Astronautics Dept.
154, was killed.
John G. Andrews of Convair
SD Dept. 292 was fatally injured
when struck by a car as he
walked across Highway 101 in
Solana Beach.
Capt. David Otis Catching, AF
officer stationed at Convair SD,
was killed in an auto accident
on Highway 395 on Saturday
evening. A B-24 pilot in World
War II, Catching had been as-
signed to Convair in the fall of
1954 from Kelly AFB, San An-
tonio, Texas. He was chief of
the production unit in the AF
plant representative’s office.
M. C. COPOLD DIES
SUDDENLY AT SD
M. C. Copold, Convair SD
manufacturing specialist, died
suddenly in a San Diego hospital
March 23.
Copold, who joined Convair at
Fort Worth in 1948, had headed
up SD Division’s numerical con-
trol activities
since they were
first inaugur-
ated.
Coming to SD
engineering de-
partment in
1952, he had
been supervisor
and then chief
of manufactur-
ing development
before being
named coordi-
nator of numerical control Sept.,
1957. He was appointed manu-
facturing specialist the fall of
1958.
At Fort Worth he was a senior
design engineer working on the
B-36, YB-60, and preliminary de-
sign of the B-58.
A native of New Jersey, he
attended New York and Rutgers
Universities and had worked for
General Motors Corp., Fairchild
Aircraft Corp., and North Ameri-.
can Aviation before joining Con-
vair.
He was first chairman of Air-
craft Industries Association na-
tional committee on numerical
control, instructor of numerical
control classes in the U. of Cali-
fornia Extension program, and
held many patents outside of
Convair on his developments.
He is survived by his wife,
Freeda; and two children, Justine
and Steven.
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OPENING DAY—New communication network, linking General Dynamics Divi-
sions and facilities with each other as well as key points across U.S., went into
operation late last month. At far right, Walter P. Marshall, president of Western
Union, gives pointers on equipment to Earl D. Johnson, General Dynamics executive
vice president. Photo at far left, taken at Convair Fort Worth, shows Betty Szedeli,
Veta McClure and John Howell examining tape. In center is communications
headquarters at San Diego with Yvonne Winn, Bee Levenson, Fern McMahon and
Merle Fullerton working machines.
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General Dynamics Corporation. Convair Division. Convairiety, Volume 12, Number 6, April 1, 1959, periodical, April 1, 1959; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1117943/m1/2/?q=%22~1%22~1&rotate=0: 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.