Show U E S aviation industry Is growing up but dont doia dare call it a war boom seven west coast plants working hatfull at full steam employ men by GREGORY LANDIS released by western newspaper union ANGELES late one ES afternoon the news sped out of washington that congress had lifted the arms embargo next day president Roosevel ts proclamation placed cash and carry in effect within a few minutes huge bombers were moving on barges from new yorks north beach airport to waiting freighters which would carry them through warin war in bested waters to great britain this was th the e gunning signal for american aviation but it was not unexpected early this year france and britain began buying war planes from firms like lockheed douglas e R ryan yan and consolidated in fact those were nine american amerlean made french planes which engaged 27 nazi craft in the first arst dogfight dog fight of world war II 11 a few days ago airplane manufacturers arent going off half cocked just because the arms anna embargo has been lifted lit ted nor is their expansion during 1939 being b based d on a wild hope for war profits buil but uncle sam has placed enough orders with them to bring his air force to something like planes by 1941 and this coupled with commercial iclal orders and those from abroad has changed the industry from a starving infant into a strapping P ng youngster many foreign orders lockheed is a good example ot of the seven major plane factories r scattered catt ered up and down our pacific c coast ast lockheed is located sit at burbank bank and as you approach from the air it looks like a giant factory whose walls have been knocked out by the pressure of expansion from within which is just about the case L lockheed 0 has completed most of th the big bombers ordered by brit WAN A peek peck inside the north american aviation inc plant at Ing ginglewood inglewood lewood calif call subsidiary of general motors and one of the nations nati ores leading aeronautics concerns bet being ng built here her e are basic combat and 0 47 observation ships aln before the war started and Is starting on an order of so 80 similar planes for the australian government in addition the plant is turning out about 10 commercial transports each month A year ago last month lockheed had 2700 employees last march there were and this fall it was stepped up to with a monthly payroll exceeding a million dollars V U S orders come first bockh eeds military backlog of orders last months month stood at about including quite a few of the 33 38 interceptor pursuit planes which the united states army has ordered american army and naval aircraft manufacturers are careful to point out is not being glyen given second position to foreign orders Lock heeds physical problem is typical her square feet of floor space Is double the capacity of last year but there still enough room but the plane manufacturers are wise enough to look for ward a few years r rather ather put on the finishing touches outdoors than invest in new factories which a few years hence might be ghosts down south at san diego find the same bustling at ryan kyan and consolidated factories ryan byan which got its start in 1928 1920 when a sum slim young fellow named lindbergh asked fora for a plane capable of flying miles specializes in teaching pilots and building training planes ships get bigger too consolidated right next door to ryan hyan and boeing up in seattle are building most of uncle sams mammoth planes in side by side assembly lines at consolidated find army and navy bombers almost as big as the yankee clipper the army plane has wheels that stand 4 feet high the largest ever used on a ship those flying fortresses youve read about come from Bo Boeing bing which also builds pan american clippers and up seattle way they used to make great ado about christening new ships and watching them take the air tor for the first time but nowadays its mere routine boeing has 36 lying fortresses of the B 17 B type to turn out tor for the army about one third of which are already finished soon start on an order for more fortresses of the B 17 C ci type sandwiched in are nine strato liners at a copy minus the engines and six more clippers tor for pan america at a total cost of the manufacturers themselves taking the entire matter tn in stride are inclined to lean back in their chairs and talk about the effect it will have on future A few years ago they point out the industry was just limping along without money tor for experimentation and new developments then look what happened along came uncle sam with a lot ot of new ideas and a fetish tor for making his bis air force the worlds best today air minded from the kids in college to their grandmothers you cant stop a boom like that |