Convairiety, Volume 6, Number 15, July 29, 1953 Page: 4 of 8
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Page 4
CONVAIRIETY
July 29, 1953
Glider Ace at Pomona
Chosen For U.S. Team
THE "OLD DAYS"—When Maj. A. D. Byrne of Air Force visited
Convair FW recently there was plenty of "chin music" as he encoun-
tered J. D. Stepp of Dept. 43. They hadn't seen each other since
they were prisoners of Nazis.
Mrs. E. j. Rae Dies
Funeral services were conduct-
ed July 7 for Mrs. Elizabeth J.
Rae, daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Robert (Scotty) Johnston, Dept.
102 SD, who died July 4 after a
long illness.
Mrs. Rae worked at Convair
during World War II in electrical
bench, Plant 2, and later at
Plant 1.
John Doig, Plant 2 factory
manager played the Scotch lament
on the bagpipes at graveside.
"If you happen to be on th' other side of town in th' department
store, on th' fourth floor, in th' pattern section . . . will ya pick up
a spool of black thread, number 40?"
FW Bride & 5D Groom
Meet Midway to Wed
Love laughed at the distance
between Fort Worth and San
Diego Divisions not long ago,
and a romance which began at
FW led to an altar at Yuma,
Ariz.
W. B. Weickersheimmer, re-
cently transferred from the
Convairiety staff at FW to the
staff at SD, found he couldn’t
face the coast alone. On the
spur of the moment, he made a
weekend rendezvous at El Paso
with his fiance, Pearl Bigham
(Dept. 3, FW), drove her on to
Yuma for a wedding ceremony
and thence to San Diego. This
week the newlyweds are back
in Fort Worth on a week’s de-
layed honeymoon before return-
ing to the coast.
“—and all the time, I thought
there wasn’t such a thing.”
Alaska Vacations
Two Convair FW employees
beat the Texas heat this month
by taking their vacations amidst
glaciers, icy streams and the mid-
night sun in Alaska.
For Louise Gill, it was a cruise
from Vancouver, B.C., to Prince
Rupert, Ketchekan, Juneau, Skag-
way, West Taku Arm and Wran-
gell.
For Melvin Smith, Dept. 24, and
his wife, it was an airplane trip
to Elmendorf AF Base, where
they visited relatives.
Convair Pomona’s Dick Everett, who has won so many
model airplane contests he no longer accepts trophies, next
month will go abroad—either in person or bv proxy—in
search of new laurels.
Everett, who is CRA Model
Club Commissioner, has been se-
lected by the Academy of Model
Aeronautics as the West Coast
member of a four-man U. S. team
to compete in the International
CATAPULT—Above, Dick Everett of Pomona launches one of
his "El Lobo" gliders. He set national record of 11 minutes, 24
seconds in air recently with this model. Below he holds several
of novel planes included in his "stable," two delta wings and one
twin-boomed, twin-engined "pusher-puller."
Reunion at Convair FW Recalls
500-Mile March as Prisoners
A trip to Fort Worth on Con-
vair’s SAM-SAC program proved
also to be a reunion for an Air
Force major and a Convair air-
craft assembler.
Reunited were Maj. A. D.
Byrne, of the 15th AF at March
Field, Calif., and J. D. Stepp, of
Dept. 43, who were on the same
B-17 when it was shot down over
Austria in February of 1944.
When Major Byrne came to
Fort Worth on business with Con-
vair, he drove to Cleburne in his
spare time to visit Stepp at his
home. Only then did he learn that
Stepp was working at Convair.
“We played a lot of chin music
about the ‘good old days,’ ” said
Stepp, “and brought ourselves up
to date on each other.”
Stepp explained that since
World War II, Byrne had con-
tinued in the Air Force.
“He’s had one tour of duty as
a bomber pilot in Korea,” Stepp
said, “and it appears that he may
soon get another.
“In the meantime, he’s had
some time in B-36’s.”
Byrne, Stepp and the eight
other crew members aboard the
ill-fated B-17 bailed out after the
plane had been seriously damaged
and was limping along on one
engine.
All were captured by the Nazis
and imprisoned in concentration
camps. (“Except for the time that
we were walking,” remembers
Stepp, “and that was plenty.”)
He was on an 80-day march
from Feb. 6 to April 26 in 1945.
The prisoners—numbering about
2,500—walked more than 500
miles before they were liberated
about 10 days before the Nazis
capitulated.
Stepp, who has been at Convair
since 1946, also has three uncles
at the plant: O. J. Stepp, a fore-
man in 47; Vernon Stepp, in 73;
and Wade Stepp, in 25. Stepp’s
family includes his wife and two
daughters, Judy, nine, and Jean-
nie, four.
Hostess Club Seeks
Convair SD Members
Convair SD girls who are single
and between the ages of 18 and 30
were invited this week to join the
U.S.O.-Y.W.C.A. junior hostess
club.
The club has a full schedule of
social events planned for the
summer months. All events are
jointly sponsored by the Y.W.C.A.
and the 11th Naval District. Ap-
plication may be made at 214
Spreckels Bldg., M-8-1893.
Convair Couple Plan
Honeymoon Abroad
Ray S. Stewart, Dept. 6 SD, and
Jean C. Anderson, formerly Dept.
1-25, were married July 25 in the
First Presbyterian Church at San
Diego. A reception followed at
the La Jolla Beach and Tennis
Club.
Glider Championships for the
Nordic A-2 class of model gliders.
The event is planned for August
21-23 in Lesce-Bled, Yugoslavia.
Should Everett be unable to at-
tend, contest officials will ap-
point a proxy to fly his gliders.
“I certainly would like to make
the trip, and I had planned to
take my vacation about that
time,” Everett said. “However, if
I go I will have to travel by air
both coming and going, and that
may prove too expensive.”
Nationally famous as a model
builder and flyer, Everett was
selected for the team because of
his outstanding record. Last year
he was a contest director for the
National Model Meet at Los Ala-
mitos and couldn’t, compete, but
the year before he won two first
places, two seconds and four
fourth and fifth places in the
National, and lost out in the na-
tional championship sweepstakes
by only two points. He won two
first places the previous year. He
has also won so many local, state
and regional contests that he has
lost count.
Although he builds and flies all
types of model airplanes, Everett
now specializes in gliders. Only
last month he set a new na-
tional record of 11 minutes and
24 seconds aloft for hand-launched
gliders with his original design
“El Lobo.”
“Gliders appear to be less com-
plex than powered models, but
actually they require better engi-
neering and they are far more
difficult to fly,” Everett explain-
ed. “The only secret of the ‘El
Lobo’ is its near-perfect aero-
dynamic force arrangement. Its
directional and lateral stability is
such that when the model is
forced into a spin by gusts or
strong thermal action it will re-
cover by itself—and that’s a rare
characteristic in hand-launched
gliders.”
Another of Everett’s original
designs, the “El Nordo,” will be
used in the International meet in
Yugoslavia. Much larger than
the “El Lobo,” this glider is
launched with a 100-meter tow
cable and is equipped with a “de-
thermalizer,” which goes into ac-
tion after the glider has been
aloft for five minutes. It causes
the tail to pop up to a 45-degree
angle, placing the glider in a stall
and causing it to fall gently to
the ground.
“So far I’ve had bad luck with
the ‘El Nordo,’ mostly on the
ground. But I’ve seen enough of
it in the air to know that it’s a
good, sound glider,” Everett said.
“Although I’ve never won a con-
test with it, one built from my
plans and flown by Jerry Robert-
son of Phoenix set—and still
holds—the junior national rec-
ord.”
Everett has been building and
flying models for about 20 years,
and at present is columnist for
“Air Trails,” a model airplane
magazine.
Their wedding trip will take
them to Europe. While there they
will visit Stewart’s brother in
Holland. The couple will sail
from New York August 4.
QUICK LESSON—Charles L.
Page of Dept. 30 at FW had
been a Convair man less than a
week when he learned value of
safety glasses. Cutter broke off
and fragment smashed lens but
failed to injure him.
C. R. Brown H. M. Bruce
Two Naval Officers
On Convair Pomona
Duty Raised in Rank
Two promotions were an-
nounced recently for Navy per-
sonnel stationed at Convair Po-
mona.
Wearing a new half stripe is
Lcdr. C. R. Brown, Sr., USN Ad-
ministrative Officer in the Naval
Inspector of Ordnance’s office. He
was promoted from lieutenant to
lieutenant commander early this
month. A veteran of 18 years’
service with the Navy, Lcdr.
Brown became a warrant officer
in 1942 and was commissioned an
ensign in 1943. Before joining the
NIO staff at Convair in April,
1952, he was with the staff of the
Commander Naval Forces, Far
East, for two years.
Promoted from radio electrician
(warrant officer) to chief radio
electrician (chief warrant officer)
this month was Harold M. Bruce,
electronics officer for the Navy
Guided Missile School. Mr. Bruce,
who joined the Navy in 1937 and
was at Pearl Harbor aboard the
USS Wasmath on Dec. 7, 1941,
accepted his recent appointment
at a ceremony July 6.
Lcdr. William Dubyk, USN,
this month joined the staff of the
Naval Inspector of Ordnance at
Convair Pomona as Inspection Of-
ficer. Lcdr. Dubyk reported July
15 after a tour of duty at the
Naval Gun Factory in Washing-
ton, D. C.
Medal Presented
Robert B. Faulkner, electronics
technician first class, USN, staff
instructor for the Navy Guided
Missile School at Convair Po-
mona, was awarded the Navy
Good Conduct medal at a July 6
ceremony.
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Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation. Convairiety, Volume 6, Number 15, July 29, 1953, periodical, July 29, 1953; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1117982/m1/4/: accessed July 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, Fort Worth.