Convairiety, Volume 12, Number 6, April 1, 1959 Page: 4 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.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Page 4
CONVAIRIETY
Wednesday, April I, 1959
No Yard to Mow
Westfall Family Settles Down
In Danish-Built Home Afloat
CONVAIR QUEEN — Beauti-
ful Susan Beatty, 20, secretary in
Dept. 15 at Convair SD, was
proclaimed "Queen of the 1959
Yellowtail Fishing Derby" in San
Diego which is under sponsorship
of the local Junior Chamber of
Commerce.
Convair Joins
Pilot Society
Convair, a division of General
Dynamics Corporation, recently
became a corporate member of
the Society of Experimental Test
Pilots.
The society was founded in
September of 1955 to unite the
efforts of experimental test pilots
toward promoting aeronautical
design, flying safety, and the
art of test flying through inter-
change of information, without
affecting the competitive struc-
ture of the industry.
Convair engineering test pilots
have from the beginning played
an important role in the organiza-
tion. R. L. Johnson (Edwards),
former vice president of SETP,
and D. P. Germeraad (San Di-
ego) were elevated to the grade
of associate fellow in 1958, and
John Fitzpatrick (Holloman),
former program chairman, "was
elevated to that grade last month.
C. E. “Chuck” Meyers (Ed-
wards) served as secretary last
year and was elected vice presi-
dent this year. W. H. Harse and
J. K. Stuart (both Edwards) and
J. M. Elliot (San Diego) have
been members since 1956. Harse
is currently serving as chairman
of the escape and equipment com-
mittee.
Present activities of SETP are
centered about the air collision
problem and the contribution of
the professional test pilot to the
space age.
Tracy Brooks
In New Post
Tracy Brooks has been ap-
pointed to the new post of col-
lege relations administrator for
Convair, R. H. Biron, vice presi-
dent-administration, announced.
Brooks, formerly executive de-
velopment administrator for Con-
vair SD, will coordinate the re-
cruiting activities of all divisions
of Convair.
A native of Chicago, 111.,
Brooks came to Convair SD in
February of 1945 as a job analyst
in industrial relations. In 1946
he transferred to engineering as
personnel engineer and was ap-
pointed engineering personnel ad-
ministrator in 1948. A year ago
he was named administrator of
executive development.
Brooks holds a B.S. degree in
business administration from the
University of Michigan. Before
joining Convair he had been a
management consultant for Booz,
Allen and Hamilton in Chicago,
and previous to that personnel
manager at U. S. Cartridge Co.
of St. Louis, Mo., and Carnegie-
Illinois Steel Co., Chicago.
CONVAIR DAUGHTER
TV STAR AT AGE 4
A veteran trooper at 4 years
old, little Bobbie Lynn Cardenez,
daughter of Clarita Cardenez of
Convair-SD Dept. 603, is now
appearing weekly on television.
Bobbie, who has been doing her
special tap dance and acrobatic
routines before the public since
she was 2%, is being featured on
the Vincent Marasco TV Show-
house over Channel 6 Friday
evenings and Saturday mornings.
Television is nothing new to
the little performer who has al-
ready danced on Panorama Paci-
fic, Queen for a Day, and the
Harold Keen show.
A specialty is the cane dance,
which is rarely attempted by
children under 10. According to
her mother, Bobbie would rather
practice her steps than play. “In
fact, to Bobbie, her dancing IS
play!”
TROUPER—Little Bobbie Lynn
Cardenez receives plaudits from
her mother, Clarita Cardenez of
SD Plant 2 (Dept. 603), and Byrd
Holland, director of TV program
on which Bobbie appears weekly.
BE-WITCHING—Fran and Vic
Westfall (SD Dept. 129) proudly
display new "home," 35-ft. Dan-
ish-built cutter, "Red Witch."
Brassy renditions of the
“Twelfth Street Rag” on a slide
trombone are fairly commonplace
in jazz circles, but a Convair As-
tronautics man plays it with one
foot!
That’s right, he pumps the
slide with one end firmly clinched
between his first two toes.
Clyde Helmer, a member of
Astro’s communication depart-
ment, has been utilizing this trick
for almost a decade. It has
earned him two world tours, a
nationwide television appearance,
plus the opportunity of perform-
ing before some 50,000 persons
around the globe.
Helmer learned to toot his
trombone at a Biwabek, Minn,
high school. To break the mo-
notony of rehearsals he used to
slip off one shoe—and use his
foot to work the slide. That
started it.
Moving to California, Helmer
enrolled at UCLA and forgot his
old trick. He did gain fame as a
trombonist with Red Nicholas and
Pete Daly and took his own
group, the Rampart Street Six,
to a Dixieland Jubilee in Los An-
geles, considered the “world’s
series of jazz.”
Armed with a music degree,
Helmer found his career inter-
rupted by a tour of service duty.
He reported to Fort Ord and
promptly landed a place in the
base band.
“Musicians were plentiful and
I knew sooner or later I would
have to take up ‘KP’ duty, a dis-
heartening chore to me,” Helmer
said. “So I revived my old trick
and started to appear as a solo-
ist and novelty act at base
shows.”
His fame spread and Helmer
jumped from one service show to
another. He transferred to Fort
Lee, Va., and promptly won an
Army talent show. He later ap-
peared with Arlene Francis on
her nationwide “Talent Patrol”
TV program.
The family of Vic B. Westfall
(Convair SD-Dept. 129-0) is
settled in its new home.
In this case, the Westfall home
is—as it has been for over five
years—aboard a boat tied up at
the Silver Gate Yacht Club on
Shelter Island at San Diego.
But, as of a couple of weeks
ago, Mom, Pop, Vicki, 11, Clyde,
9, and Chela, the family cat,
moved into the three cabins of
their new 35-ft. Danish-built cut-
ter, called the only boat of its
type in existence.
Westfall climaxed several
years’ planning when he took
delivery of the “Red Witch” at
Newport Beach last month. The
boat, designed by the Copenha-
gen marine architect, Knud Han-
sen, from 150-year-old plans of an
Formosa, Okinawa, Japan, Ko-
rea, Hawaii, Panama and the
Caribbean area much to the de-
light of the Armed Forces at
each point.
Helmer came up for discharge,
then turned around and signed
as a civilian performer with the
USO for a tour of Europe. This
lasted six months.
Friends are still amazed at
Helmer’s contortions in playing
“footsy” with his trombone. Six
feet tall and 230 pounds, he has
to “reach over” a 42-inch waist-
line.
Helmer is still a feature at-
traction in jazz circles at a Del
Mar club called the Powerhouse.
Few weekends go by that he is
not asked to remove a shoe.
“It’s old stuff now, but I still
wear out a few pairs of socks
each month,” Helmer said.
inter-island trading vessel, was
built by a Danish boat-building
family of three generations.
The sail boat had been in the
building since August of 1957.
“Unique features of the ‘Red
Witch,’ as we have named her, at-
tracted so much attention that
she was kept in Denmark several
months after she was finished so
that people from all over Europe
could see what she looked like,”
Westfall said.
The boat carries the original
cutter rig with three head sails—
a square sail, topsail, and gaff
head main sail. It is the first
boat, less than a 45-footer, to be
built with a “great cabin aft”
(cabin in the stern).
It sleeps six, two bunks in
each of the three cabins. Each
cabin has its own hatch and plen-
ty of clearance—6-ft. head room.
The boat is equipped with a Mer-
cedes-Benz 37 hp engine for
auxiliary power.
“It is strictly a cruising ves-
sel,” explained Westfall. “There
is no electricity aboard. Kerosene
is used entirely for all purposes
—cooking, heating, and lighting.”
Mrs. Westfall said that she en-
joys the simplicity of keeping
house in a boat. “It only takes
half an hour to have everything
spotless, and when the deck is
hosed down, the yardwork is
done, too!” Having two indus-
trious brass polishers in the
family makes the work easier
yet as both Vicki and Clyde like
to keep the knobs and fixtures
shining.
Ordered through Scandia Im-
ports of Newport Beach at a cost
of $24,500, the cutter arrived in
Wilmington aboard the SS Lions-
gate after a month’s voyage from
Copenhagen.
For the present the Westfalls
will be sailing their “Red Witch”
to nearby places on weekends,
but eventually they hope to strike
out on a world cruise.
Jet, Rocket Experts
Attend Institute
About 100 jet and rocket com-
bustion experts attended the
March 23-24 session of the West-
ern States Section of the Com-
bustion Institute co-sponsored at
San Diego by SD State College
and Convair scientific research
department.
Main banquet speaker was Dr.
Edward P. Ney, professor of
physics of the U. of Minnesota,
who talked on “Van Allen Radia-
tion Belts—Artificial and Natu-
ral.”
Among subjects covered by the
15 technical papers read during
the two-day meeting were prob-
lems of detonations in solid pro-
pellants and experimental re-
search in high-energy fuels.
"Let's just stand here and rest a minute . . . my feet are
KILLIN' me . . ."
Next came an invitation to tour
Far East Army bases and he
tooted and pumped across Alaska, "Twelfth Street Rag."
TOE TALENTED—Clyde Helmer of Astro demonstrates tec!
nique that won him two world tours, nationwide TV appearanc
and many fans while an Army enlisted man. Six-foot, 230-poun
Helmer still performs feat before local audiences. His favorite
COZY—The Westfalls (left to right)—Fran, Clyde, Vicki, and
Vic—gather in main cabin of "Red Witch" for cozy evening of
homework, reading, sewing.
Trick of 'Toe-Sliding' Trombone
Takes Astro Man on Europe Tours
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.
Matching Search Results
View six places within this issue that match your search.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.
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/m1/4/?q=%22~1%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.