Show U S aviation industry Is growing up but dont dare call it a war boom seven west coast plants working at full steam employ men r by GREGORY LANDIS released by western newspaper union tags ANGELES late one in 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 e moving on barges from new yorks north beach airport to wait i ing freighters which would carry them through warin war in bested waters to great britain this was the gunning gunnin 9 signal for american aviation but it was not unexpected early this year france and britain began buying war planes from firms like lockheed D douglas 0 R ryan yan and consolidated in fact those were nine american made french planes which engaged 27 nazi craft in the first dogfight dog fight of world war II 11 a few days ago airplane manufacturers arent going off half cocked just because the at arms s embargo has been lifted nor is their expansion during 1939 being based on a wild hope for war profits 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 orders and those from abroad has changed the industry from a starving infant into a strapping youngster many foreign orders lockheed is a good example of the seven major plane factories scattered up and down our pacific coast lockheed is located at burbank 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 so efficient is the ryan pilot training system that all neophyte army war birds now get basic instructions at nine such schools thus randolph field texas the basic army air school no longer takes green horns lockheed has completed most of the big bombers ordered by britain before the war started and is starting on an order of 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 U S orders come first Lock heeds military backlog of orders last month stood at about including quite a few of the 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 given second position to foreign orders Lock heeds physical problem lern Is ITT A 4 NIA 0 V 1 77 A all A peek inside the north american aviation inc plant at inglewood ginglewood Ing lewood calif subsidiary of general motors and one of the nations leading aeronautics concerns being built here are basic combat and 0 47 observation ships typical her square feet of floor space is double the capacity of last year but there still enough room but the plane ni manufacturers are W wise ise enough to look forward a few years rather 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 and consolidated factories ryan which got Us its start in 1923 1926 when a slim young fellow named lindbergh asked for tor a plane capable of flying miles specializes in teaching pilots and building training planes ships get bigger Big too consolidated right next door to ryan 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 wt feet high the largest ever used on a ship those flying fortresses youve read about come from boeing which also builds pan american clippers and strato liners up seattle way they used to make great ado about C christening new ships and watching them take the air for the first time but nowadays its mere routine boeing has 39 flying fortresses of the B 17 B type to turn out for the army about one third of which are already finished soon start on an order for more fortresses of the B 17 C type sandwiched in are nine strato liners at a copy minus the eri engines gines and six more clippers for pan america at a total cost of work on precision schedule strictly speaking none nond of the factories use an ad as assembly line but boeing comes closer than the others assembly is arranged to eliminate a lot of workmen in the final stages one crew works on wings another on the main fuselage and athard on the tall tail section in the final stages all units are pieced together and prestol presto a finished plane in the long view this industrial expansion makes an encouraging picture there are worth of army and navy contracts awaiting completion this is as close as you can get to the actual number of warplanes war wa planes being built there are men at work in seven pacific coast factories alone and their pay envelopes contain a week that means good times on the west coast and its not a war boom either the manufacturers themselves taking the entire matter 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 for experimentation and new developments then look what happened along came uncle sam with a lot of new ideas and a fetish for making his air force the worlds best today air minded from the kids in college to their grandmothers you cant stop a boom like that |