| Show they beat plowshares into swords workers in a farm implement factory are turning out one of greatest fighting machines of the war 1 1 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON released by western new newspaper paper union HEN the com completed plated history WHEN of our st struggle juggle with japan finally is writ written ten considerable attention should be given the story of how an agricultural implement parts manufacturer who whose se products are used every day in every r ural rural section of america developed one of the te most spectacular fighter vehicles of the war the company is ingersoll steel disc division of borg warner corporation po ration the war weapon its en ginders designed and that one of its factories manufactures is the beach B uster buster 3 the very latest development v elop ment in amphibian invasion n tanks the beach buster made its combat debut at okinawa its performance met with favor from high navy and marine officers so much so that space in the history books of the future might as well be reserved now so its story may be told to the japs the amphibian tanks that have equipped our invasion forces the 1 the 2 the 4 and now the beach buster have proved a lethal headache so while the record of their wartime usefulness cannot be completed until final victory a sidelight on their development and manufacture is in order now it is a recital of which every american and particularly every farmer can be proud As early as 1933 the problem of designing an amphibian tractor capable of taking relief deep into the mangrove swamps of the florida everglades was assigned to donald roebling Ko ebling a year around resident of clearwater by his father young roebling sprang from a line of inventors his grandfather col washington roebling being the designer of the famous brooklyn bridge and he and his father had seen with their own eyes the devastation human misery and helplessness that had been left in the wake of the 1933 florida hurricane roebling knew that only 0 a vehicle that operated equally well on land and water could do the job that was needed for six years he experimented at clearwater clear water with models he ele designed and tested hulls and tractor treads power plants and gear ratios rat is and finally the first roebling amphibian the 1 or alligator rolled from his machine shop at clearwater that vehicle later was demonstrated to the navy off the virginia coast at a time when our military forces were occupied in peacetime war maneuvers british military officials eyed the performance of the 1 with keen interest for they were already at war early in the fall of 1941 C S davis president and roy C ingersoll vice president of borg warner were called by the navy to washington they agreed to study design and suggest improvements of the roebling amphibian tank for even then we were close to war the result of that agreement was typically american not a marine expert but an automotive engineer ben A was charged with responsibility in the job he began experiments and design in the borg warner laboratories at rockford U an ingersoll factory at kalamazoo mich contracted to build 50 of the alligators for the navy and folks along historic rock river which winds through downto downtown wn rockford Poc kford began to stay awake sights because of that fellow swen less strange goings on while was applying automotive principles to a seagoing sea going job and as he himself now admits in orp orating unorthodox designs that 77 7 F 7 I 1 I 1 I 1 1 1 I 1 77 J A I 1 S 4 alv z A rw r W K A I 1 7 hitting the beach at okinawa these united states mar es are uni bading machine guns and equipment from a beach buster no marine engineer would waste time with the ingersoll company began and completed its first am track contract meanwhile such agricultural necessities as heat treated spring teeth for harrows cultivators tiva tors beeders and rakes continued in production later ingersoll received a contract to manufacture the 2 on a design supplied by the navy hundreds of as were manufactured before the often accelerated contract was completed ahead of schedule I 1 meanwhile had put together an amphibian tank that today as the beach buster is reputed to incorporate a greater amount of automotive design than any marine craft that floats it worked but before it was presented to the navys bureau of ships watching tests in florida was seized with an inspiration returning hurriedly to rockford he worked for 48 43 uninterrupted hours emerging with the design for a ramp gate which can be raised and lowered at the rear of the 9 am track this single feature is credited I 1 with saving hundreds of lives using it our invasion forces unload men equipment ammunition or supplies while facing the enemy an entire tank load of materiel may be yanked out in a matter of moments the importance of this is more fully realized when it is known that the beach buster easily handles pounds of cargo or 50 men fully equipped danger of stalling in the face of the enemy is avoided by the tanks hy dramatic transmission which feels for the beach shifting automatically mati cally to the required gear ratio without attention from the dr driver iver i as soon as the tracks on which it runs encounter counter en any obstacle numerous battle reports have come back to kalamazoo to the men and women who make the am ain tracks of the prowess of their product tough landings they have made easier almost impossible landings like tarawa carawa saifan and m most ost recently iwo jima they have made possible rear adm C II I 11 I woodward told them last march wh when en the navy returned for permanent exhibit the pilot model B alphi amphibian bian tank that had designed at rockford other facts were revealed by admiral woodward tarawa carawa proved the absolutely indispensable for successful amphibious attack that at saifan the were stars of the show sliding over reefs hitting the beach with guns blazing plowing ng through the jungle and most am amazing az that the made mad a s surprise arp rise mile sweep in a flanking movement around the southern horn of leyte from iwo jima maj gen keller y 4 Z M U v japs J ap s eye view of a beach buster baster as it roars ashore in a ian landine attack E rockey commanding the fifth marine division wrote to his friend roland D doane ingersoll sales manager naturally the tailgate tail gate jobs were much more useful but all of them really saved our bacon in the early days of the show sho w because they were the only vehicle that could negotiate the sand hills leading from the waters edge to the fighting zone so the carried the beans and bullets directly from the ships to the front line units and carried the wounded on the return trip and they did this for some five or six six days before we could get our motor transportation running such reports heartened the ingersoll workers but production schedules ules were upped again and again in the fall of 1944 additional employees were sorely needed and ingersoll officials tried a novel experiment into such typical rural michigan communities as paw Paw Augusta vicksburg schoolcraft decatur and lawton 10 towns all told within a 30 mile radius of kalamazoo moved a caravan in whose success the american people had a stake the caravan was fashioned around a newly completed beach buster accompanying it were navy veterans including a navy nurse just home from battle duties the vets told their stories and follow up crews r received job ob applications the next day from those who wanted to join ingersoll many were from farmers who had harvested their crops the caravan idea rates as the spearhead that helped beach buster employment rise at inger from a peacetime to more than 1800 persons national recognition of the production record of these workers f followed 01 last march 26 when vox pop broadcast its regular weekly program from kalamazoo interviewed plant employees it came again on may 21 when the army navy E was awarded the borg warner factory inaugurated another novelty with free rides on the amphibians as a reward to workers for superior attendance records the practice interfered not at all with routine as all tanks are battle tested on land and one in every 50 is tested on water before they are placed in pairs on flat cars and started westward from kalamazoo with the help of navy engineers constant tests are being conducted on the am tracks and refinements that are indicated by battle performance added the headquarters of ben has been moved to kalamazoo and the results of his research are proved daily on lake land and in swamp coordinator co of all this activity is R S bob ingersoll Inger soU son of roy and grandson of the late S A ingersoll berso ger soll 11 founder of the company his two uncles harold G and stephen L ingersoll are directors dir actors of the borg warner organization harold manages the ingersoll plant at new castle ind stephen L established the west wea pullman works in 1929 when the emergency of world wo ald war 11 II arose four ingersoll plants at chicago chicago heights new castle ind and kalamazoo mien mich were in operation those who knew him say that had S A ingersoll Inger soU been alive to participate he would have found abiding abidin 9 satisfaction in the promptness with which all four were converted from producing implements of peace to instruments of war for here truly is is a company that has beaten clow shares into swords |
