Convairiety, Volume 12, Number 13, June 24, 1959 Page: 2 of 8
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Page 2
CONVAIRIETY
Wednesday, June 24, 1959
Quiet Nests' Prepared
For 880 Passengers
Passengers aboard Convair 880s
will be riding in “nests” of “cot-
ton” padding when the jet trans-
ports go into actual service next
year.
Over 1,000 pieces of fiber glass,
of all shapes and sizes, are being
tucked into the interior of each
880 to protect passengers from
noise generated by engines and
other of the plane’s operating
systems.
More than 600 different shapes
of fiber glass batts wrapped and
stitched into plastic fabric covers
880 "PADDING"—From left,
Dorothy McEwen, Bee Farmer,
and Mary Lou Samarron, all of
Convair SD Dept. 138, fit fiber
glass sound - proofing material
into I Ith forward fuselage sec-
tion.
are clipped to the plane’s frames
and laced in with nylon cording.
The pieces range in thickness
from one to four inches, and in
size from six inches square to the
large 14-ft. long by 20-in. wide
pieces that are shaped to fit
around each of the 88 windows.
The sound-proofing material is
installed in each major section of
the 880—the forward nose fuse-
lage, tail, overwing barrel — as
they are being built. Depts. 138,
139, and 146 are each responsible
for the installation of each sec-
tion’s sound-proofing before they
go into mating. The joints be-
tween the sections are sound
proofed after mating by Dept
148 in major mate.
“We find, in our department,
that women are better at fitting
in the sound-proofing pieces than
men,” said C. M. Bradley, Dept.
138 foreman. “The girls are ex-
perts at installing the numerous
shapes and sizes of batts and lac-
ing them securely into the proper
places.”
Fiber glass pads are placed be-
tween the skin and any installa-
tions to go into the plane before
the structural tie-ins are made.
For instance, in the forward fuse-
lage, specially-shaped batts are
laced into locations to serve as
backings for the radio rack, elec-
tric rack, flight engineer’s panel,
and underneath the cargo floor.
Four vendors supply the fiber
glass sound - proofing material,
cut to shape and fitted to Con-
vair SD’s specifications — H. I.
Thompson Fiber Glass Co., Sea-
man Products, En-Fab Co., and
Johns Manville Co. Any altera-
tions made necessary by change
in engineering design are made
in Convair SD’s tubing and fab-
ric department.
SUBMERGED—Convair 880 fuselage goes under water in giant
hydrostatic test tank at SD seaplane ramp as pressure cycling begins
to test wear and tear equal to 50,000 flights. Divers will evaluate
damage during testing.
'Balloon' Antenna Assemblies
To Serve Detection System
Huge balloon-like objects are
being tested by Convair SD elec-
tronics section as part of its re-
sponsibility in furnishing anten-
na assemblies for an Air Force
detection system.
Convair San Diego is acting as
subcontractor for its sister divi-
sion of General Dynamics Corpo-
ration, Stromberg-Carlson, in the
design and development of 15 as-
semblies for the Rome Air De-
velopment Center, Rome, N. Y.
The project is known as GPERF
(Ground Passive Electronic Re-
connaissance Facility).
The assembly consists of an-
tennas housed in air-inflated
radomes which are bolted to steel
towers. The large radomes, look-
ing like flat-bottomed balloons,
are made of dacron coated with
Hypalon, a synthetic-type rubber
sizing. They range in size from
over 11 ft. to 44 ft. in diameter.
The towers and antennas are
being built in the Convair SD
plant while Muehleisen Mfg. Co.
of San Diego is constructing the
radomes.
PITCH AND YAW
Atlas "D"
Mercury Atlas-Able Atlas-Discoverer
i
Vega
Atlas-Centaur
Atlas, Space Age Wheelhorse, to Power
Five Different Exploration Projects
A real “Sunday punch” in the
field of space explorations is be-
ing readied by Convair in the
form of five members of the Air
Force Atlas “family” of space
vehicles.
Each of these has been as-
signed a specific task. And each
has a common trait in that the
Atlas ICBM, now in production,
provides the initial or booster
power thrust to send it along its
journey toward space.
Convair Astronautics, builder
of the Atlas, is now at work on
all five programs.
Actually, it can be said this
Atlas family contains six mem-
bers, rather than five. The Atlas
has already proven its ability to
boost itself into orbit without the
use of additional rocket stages.
(Astro has outlined a pro-
posed Project Outpost which
would utilize this trait. An
empty Atlas tank in orbit
would be outfitted for living
and working quarters for men
who would conduct preliminary
studies of life in space.)
There is little doubt that the
Atlas is slated to become the
wheelhorse of the early space
age, due largely to its connec-
tion with the Convair family of
space vehicles. At least four
“firsts” are now slated for the
Atlas space vehicles.
One first, quick to capture the
imagination of all, is Project
Mercury (Atlas/Mercury), the
program to put the first manned
U.S. satellite in orbit.
It consists of a capsule (Mc-
Donnell Aircraft) roughly conical
in shape, approximately seven
feet across the base and 10 feet
high. Atlas will boost the cap-
sule into orbit at an altitude of
100 to 150 miles for up to 24
hours. Retarding rockets and
parachutes will enable the cap-
sule to return to earth after that
period.
Vega is a multi-stage rocket
slated to become the first U.S.
space vehicle in the “medium
energy” class. Coupled with At-
las will be a second stage, also
Convair-built; and a third stage
provided by Jet Propulsion Lab-
oratory. Vega will be able to
put a 5,800-lb. weather satellite
in orbit 300 miles above the
earth or to send a half-ton pay-
load to the moon. Vega also
could put a 740-lb. experimental
communication relay into the
22,000-mile or “24-hour” orbit.
Project Centaur (Atlas/Cen-
Convair FW Men
IRE Officers
Three Convair Fort Worth men
were elected to key positions in
the Fort Worth section of In-
stitute of Radio Engineers this
month.
Named were: Graham H. Rob-
ertson, chairman; Felix Quirino,
vice chairman; and W. D. Ray-
mond, secretary-treasurer. All
are in Dept. 6.
At the final meeting June 5
at Ridglea Country Club, Jorman
I. Koski, 1959 chairman, com-
mended members for their work
in forming two new professional
group chapters.
Mel Gordon and Quirino were
instrumental in organizing chap-
ters in reliability and quality
control and radio frequency in-
terference. The latter is the first
of its kind in the United States.
taur) will become the first U.S.
space vehicle in the “high en-
ergy” class.
As such it will be capable
initially of putting five-ton pay-
loads into satellite orbit or send-
ing 2,000-lb. payloads to the
moon. Centaur is made up of an
Atlas, plus a Convair-built upper
stage of the Atlas type. The
upper stage uses the first U.S.
liquid hydrogen rocket engine
(Pratt & Whitney). If needed,
a third stage (similar to Vega’s)
can be adapted for additional
capabilities.
Project Discoverer (Atlas/Dis-
coverer) will orbit instrumented
payloads in polar orbit. It in-
volves an Atlas booster, plus a
second stage being built by Lock-
heed Aircraft.
Atlas/Able 4 consists of an
Atlas booster, plus four addition-
al stages to be fired into inter-
planetary space.
Atlas boosters for Vega and
Centaur are being modified by
building tankage sections a uni-
form 10 feet in diameter in lieu
of tapered forward ends, as used
with the ballistic missile.
Association to Hear
SD Patent Attorney
Robert O. Richardson, Con-
vair patent attorney, will ad-
dress the San Diego Patent Law
Association tomorrow night
(June 25). With slides and re-
cording tape as aids he will
trace the history of a patent ap-
plication through the U.S. Pat-
ent Office from rejection by the
examiner and Board of Appeals
to a favorable decision by the
U.S. Court of Customs and Pat-
ent Appeals.
LISTENING POSTS—Huge 160-in. balloon-like radome, part of detection system being developed
by Convair SD for Stromberg-Carlson, being inflated for testing. Convair San Diego men respon-
sible for radome design are Dalton Bell and R. W. Quint of electronics section (Dept. 6-70).
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General Dynamics Corporation. Convair Division. Convairiety, Volume 12, Number 13, June 24, 1959, periodical, June 24, 1959; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1117959/m1/2/: accessed June 12, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, Fort Worth.