Convairiety, Volume 13, Number 6, March 16, 1960 Page: 4 of 8
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Page 4
CONVAIRIETY
Wednesday, March 16, 1960
“Tomorrow starts my third year as your supervisor, Mrs. Jordan
. . . Wouldn’t it be nicer if you didn’t speak of it as ‘The third
round’?”
SD's Ada Nickerson Packs
Her 10,000th Parachute
A Big Family
Barks, Meows, Chirps, Cackles,
Piteous Looks Spell Dinner
Convair San Diego’s only para-
chute rigger, Ada H. Nickerson,
marked a milestone in her career
early this month when she packed
her 10,000th chute.
She estimates that, of that
number, 8,500 of the chutes have
been packed during her nearly
17 years at Convair San Diego.
She has been packing parachutes
since 1938 when she learned the
trade and earned her CAA mas-
ter rigger’s license in Kansas
City, Kan.
She joined Convair SD Aug.
23, 1943, after moving to the
West Coast. Since then she has
presided over the parachute room
of SD production flight depart-
ment, located in Bldg. 4 at Plant
1.
She recalls that her first work-
ing location was in a hangar-
type building on the site of Bldg.
51. The parachute room was
moved the next year, in early
1944, to a building south of the
airport, near the present location
of the Standard Oil Service Sta-
tion. In the fall of 1945 it was
moved again, this time into Bldg.
4 where it has been ever since,
except for a couple of years dur-
ing the B-36 program when the
flight department was lodged in
the IAS auditorium off Harbor
Drive.
Mrs,. Nickerson has been pack-
ing chutes used by crews of ev-
ery Convair SD plane since the
B-24, and has the sole responsi-
bility of keeping the 120 com-
pany-owned chutes and F-106
drag chutes in top condition.
Those of test crews at off-site
bases, Palmdale, Edwards, and
Holloman, are sent back to Con-
vair SD plant for their periodic
checks.
Each parachute, with its more
than 70 yards of nylon and 28
lines, must be aired, checked, and
repacked every two months. Tim-
ing herself closely, Mrs. Nicker-
son says that it takes her about
half an hour to pack a chute for
10,000 CHUTES—R. C. Schae-
fer, Convair SD flight engineer,
watches as Ada H. Nickerson
packs his parachute as her
10,000th in 22 years of rigging.
use in a propeller-type plane.
Packing the high-speed, high-
altitude chutes used by crews of
jet craft takes almost twice as
long.
Never has a parachute packed
by Mrs. Nickerson failed to open,
as the 18 pilots who have “hit
the silk” with them, can testify.
Fifteen Convair crewmen, whose
lives were saved by her chutes,
honored Mrs. Nickerson at a spe-
cial dinner in 1953.
In the more than 20 years that
Mrs. Nickerson has been handl-
ing parachutes, she has seen very
little actual change in their con-
struction. “Of course, all para-
chutes now are made of nylon
instead of silk,” she explained.
“And practically all of them are
back chutes instead of the former
seat chutes, but, otherwise, those
used today are much the same
as they were 25 years ago.”
Greatest differences in modern
chutes are the automatic releases
and oxygen bottles incorporated
in parachutes designed for jet
planes.
Pleased as she is at the many
parachutes that have passed
through her hands over the years,
Mrs. Nickerson is especially
proud of the fact that she is the
only woman member of S.A.F.E.,
a national organization of sur-
vival and flight equipment spe-
cialists.
Convair Drivers
County's Safest
Convair FW claims the safest
driving record in its division of
the Fort Worth-Tarrant County
Commercial Fleet Safety Contest.
Announcement of this achieve-
ment for Convair, which won over
six other companies in its class,
came recently from the American
Society of Safety Engineers, FW
Chapter. According to chapter
chairman H. W. Loven, Dept. 3-6,
judging is based on miles driven
and the number of chargeable ac-
cidents during the year.
Winning this distinction gives
Convair FW the right to select a
“Safe Driver of the Year” from
among its traffic department em-
ployees. The title winner will be
presented with an engraved gold
watch at a March 17 meeting of
the South Side Lions Club.
A. M. McNeil, FW Dept. 20,
received the “Safe Driver” title
in 1957, the last time Convair
won its division in the Commer-
cial Fleet Contest.
AF Award Presented
To Mrs. Friedrich
An Air Force award for meri-
torious achievement to the late
Dr. Hans Friedrich was made to
his widow during the recent
Engineers’ Week observance.
Col. Otto Glasser, first Atlas
program director for the Air
Force Ballistic Missile Division,
made the presentation.
Dr. Friedrich was assistant
chief engineer — development at
Convair Astronautics.
More AF Units
Getting F-106s
Two new F-106 Air Force
squadrons are in the process of
being activated, one in Michigan
and one in North Dakota.
Minot AFB, N.D., received its
first F-106, Convair-built fighter-
interceptor, last month for train-
ing purposes. The 5th Fighter-
Interceptor Squadron there, part
of the 32nd Fighter Group, is now
getting F-106s on schedule for a
normal squadron complement.
Convair SD field service repre-
sentatives at the Minot base are
D. W. St. Pierre, F. P. Cuneo,
and W. F. Eddy.
First of two F-106 squadrons
to be assigned to Selfridge AFB,
Mt. Clemens, Mich., the 94th FIS,
is now being activated. Second
F-106 squadron at the base will
be the 71st FIS.
Dean Marks and R. R. Bass are
assigned to Selfridge for Convair
SD support.
F-106s will be going to Mc-
Chord AFB, Tacoma, Wash.,
within a few weeks to replace the
F-102s of the 318th FIS.
F-102s Recalled
From Thule
The F-102-equipped squadron
stationed at Thule, Greenland, is
soon to be de-activated, according
to a recent Department of De-
fense announcement.
The squadron, 327th FIS, has
been based in Greenland since
June, 1958, when it was trans-
ferred from George AFB, Calif.
Ivan H. Bullard, Convair SD field
service representative, has been
with the 327th since July, 1959.
He replaced Cliff Harrell who had
gone to Thule at the time the
327th was sent there the year
before.
Bullard writes that 90 mph
winds during January did con-
siderable damage at the base.
Crews had to work around the
clock removing snowdrifts from
the runways, ramp, and the heavy
drifts which blocked the hangar
doors. Bullard will return to San
Diego within the next few weeks.
Estimating Society
Chooses April 5 For
Workshop Meeting
Five Convair SD and Astro
men will be moderators at a work-
shop meeting of the Industrial
Estimating Society of San Diego
slated April 5 in the Lafayette
Hotel starting at 6 p.m.
They are T. J. Sullivan, SD
assistant division manager, cus-
tomer service, contracts and ma-
terial; Roy Ashe, Convair direc-
tor of estimating; W. W. Whit-
tier, SD spares estimating super-
visor; W. L. Young, Astro man-
ager of operations; and G. M.
Robertson, Astro assistant chief
engineer-administration.
Membership in the estimating
society now totals 116, including
representatives of all San Diego
aircraft firms as well as the Air
Force. Convair SD and Astro
persons interested in joining can
obtain more information by con-
tacting either J. A. May, ext.
1451, Plant 1; or A. F. Kreiger,
ext. 3341, Astro.
Main speaker at the March
meeting was Paul R. McDonald of
Procurement Associates who
spoke on the “Art of Negoti-
ating.”
SD Service Engineer
Tells Club About 880
R. H. Geary, Convair SD serv-
ice engineer in the transport pro-
gram, spoke on the Convair 880
at a recent meeting of the Ken-
sington-Talmadge Men’s Club.
He explained different facets
of the 880’s design as they will
affect passengers’ comfort and
safety. A film showing flight
testing of the 880 and colored
slides of 880 interiors interested
the more than 100 members and
guests.
Frank Freeman of SD-Dept. 6
heads the group as president.
When Ada Hamm of Convair
SD’s engineering library prepares
dinner it’s no small chore. She
has more than 250 “mouths” to
feed.
Quite an assortment gathers
around the table. All are hungry.
They chirp, sing, cackle, bark,
meow, and even “beg.” The fol-
lowing are members of the “fam-
ily”: seven guinea pigs; ten
chickens; 12 canaries; one cat;
three dogs; two goldfish; 14 para-
keets; two Java Rice birds; 200
tropical fish; 14 finches; two
rabbits; and Horace.
Horace is a turtle. When hun-
gry, he sticks his neck out of his
shell as far as possible, and
directs a piteous look in Ada’s
direction.
A large family?
Not really, Ada explains. A
year ago it numbered closer to
300. That is until some children
opened the cages in the aviary.
Harmony, however, reigns in
the family itself. The guinea pigs
live on the lower floor of the
aviary. The rabbits stare out of
their cages into the chicken yard.
The cat and dogs patrol the
area.
According to Ada, only the
chickens are earning their keep.
They are auracandes and lay
bluish-green eggs. Ada claims
they taste better for breakfast
than the common, white variety.
As things stand now Ada
doesn’t expect to purchase any
newcomers for the family. In fact,
Five men from Convair FW and
four from Convair SD will take
part in panel discussions or pre-
sent papers at the National Aero-
nautic Meeting of the Society of
Automotive Engineers April 4-8
at the Hotel Commodore in New
York.
Four of the FW contingent will
take part in a panel discussion in-
volving the B-58 reliability pro-
gram. M. L. Hicks, assistant FW
operating division manager, is
panel leader and J. L. Coburn,
FW reliability project administra-
tor, is panel secretary. Partici-
pating in the discussion will be
N. H. Simpson, FW manager of
Con-Trib Votes
Bus For Zoo
San Diego Zoo will have a new
72-passenger bus, thanks to a
$13,300 contribution from Con-
vair San Diego Employees’ Con-
Trib-Club.
F. H. McLaughlin, Model 8 su-
perintendent at Plant 2 and Con-
Trib-Club Committee member,
presented a check for half of the
amount to Dr. Charles Schroeder,
zoo director, early this month.
The balance will be given in two
equal installments.
The bus will be used to trans-
port school children from their
schools to the zoo for tours and
educational activities.
Other donations approved by
Con-Trib-Club at the last com-
mittee meeting included $200 to
Lakota Tarca Oyanke and $200 to
Diabetes Association of Southern
California, both organizations at
Antelope Valley; $3,000 to San
Diego YMCA; $500 to Theatre
and Arts Foundation of San Di-
ego County; and $3,500 for home-
maker service activities of SD
Family Service Association.
"... and we turned in our power
mower as a down payment on the
pool.”
baby guinea pigs are expected
soon.
“We’re doing fine,” Ada as-
serts. “I don’t think that we’ll
have to ‘adopt’ any more into the
family circle.”
FAMILY AFFAIR — Ada Hamm
of Convair SD’s engineering li-
brary tucks chicken and guinea
pig under arm, two of bewilder-
ing assortment of pets she cares
for at San Diego home.
reliability, and R. D. Chase, FW
senior aerophysics group engi-
neer.
E. W. Feddersen, FW chief of
manufacturing research and de-
velopment, will present a paper
on “Production Forming of Ma-
terials by High Energy Rate.”
Convair SD participants include
W. H. Bond and R. F. Mawhinney
Jr. (both Dept. 6) who will pre-
sent a classified paper on the
“Design Aspects of an Air
Breathing Booster.”
C. L. Blake, Convair staff engi-
neer, will discuss “A New De-
sign Approach for Supersonic
Transport.” A paper to be given
by J. F. Brady Jr. of Convair
SD’s advanced project office is
entitled “Potential of Nuclear-
Powered Aircraft for Commercial
Cargo.”
Esenwein Speaker
At Joint Meeting
August C. Esenwein, Convair
executive vice president, will dis-
cuss “Engineering With a Con-
science” as main speaker at a
joint dinner meeting of three en-
gineering societies tomor-
row (March 17) in the Lafayette
Hotel Gold Room in San Diego.
Meeting together will be San
Diego chapters of the American
Rocket Society, American Society
of Mechanical Engineers, and
California Society of Professional
Engineers. A 6 p.m. social hour
will be followed by dinner at 7
and meeting at 8.
At Astro, tickets can be ob-
tained by contacting Dan Heald,
ext. 2234. Handling tickets at
Convair SD are Jack Shue, ext.
1356, and Pieter Snyders, ext.
2311, both Plant 1.
Technical Courses
Begin This Month
Enrollments are still being ac-
cepted for several trade extension
courses being offered this month
at Technical Institute at FW.
The courses and starting dates
are: Blueprint Reading, March 22;
Phase IV Electronics, and Phase
III Electronics, March 15; Phase
II Electronics, April 4, and Ap-
plied Plastics and Fiberglass,
March 29.
Convair Men to Present Papers
At National Aeronautic Meet
Upcoming Pages
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General Dynamics Corporation. Convair Division. Convairiety, Volume 13, Number 6, March 16, 1960, periodical, March 16, 1960; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1118017/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.