ROHR ROHR AIRCRAFT CORPORATION M a G a Z I N E
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ROHR ROHR AIRCRAFT CORPORATION M a g a z i n e MAIN PLANT AND CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS: August I960 Cbula Vista, California MANUFACTURING PLANT: Riverside, California ASSEMBLY PLANTS: Auburn, Washington and Winder, Georgia -m% •«i. mm ittt Mi ^F7f-~^ h 1940 - 1960 I ti BEATINGTHOEES "XVRohr's New Honeycomb Core Machine JKXX/ Eases Production Problems EN men started pushing the honeycomb and then brazed to thin dustry learned, would give the re- speed of airplanes up toward skins, or face sheets, also of stainless quired protection. the speed of sound it soon became steel to form an extremely strong, Rohr and several other companies apparent that more than one barrier light and heat resistant structure, have been producing stainless honey- would be met before aircraft could Using this material in the critical heat comb panels of this kind for some fly at Mach II or Mach III. They areas of a Mach II aircraft, the in- time. Rohr builds such panels for the realized that better power plants alone would not suffice to get a plane to supersonic speeds much over Mach I. It was apparent that even the sturdy structures of the subsonic or Mach I jets would come completely "unglued" at high Mach numbers. The aluminum structures were cer tain to fail when they encountered the skin friction temperatures gener ated by such speeds. Sonic vibrations also had to be overcome. And all of this has to be done without substan tial increases in weight. Stainless steel offered the heat re sistant qualities and the strength needed at all temperatures but the material was too heavy when used in the same way as lighter metals. Many companies, Rohr among them, experimented with various materials and structures and eventually the brazed stainless steel honeycomb sandwich structure was hit upon as the best solution to the heat, sonic vibration and strength-weight prob lems. It was found that strips of stainless steel foil as thin as .005 of an inch could be welded together into a ¥&#• - •": Fred H. Rohr, chairman of the board, inspects operations on one of the core mac ines developed under his personal supervision. They are now in production. —— mWBfi • • y&M make it in continuous sections of al most any desired length or width. This is a decided advantage in the production of large airframe surfaces, since the previous practice of welding jWFjorfflE together small sections of core in creased weight, production time and the possibility of built-in flaws. Core produced on these new mach ines has a new degree of uniformity CllERY flflDS —with each square cell just like the next one—and closer tolerances on thickness. The machine can produce core in any thickness up to five inches and in any cell size from 3/16 i*^f A New Concept inch to 3/8 inch. Core can be per forated where required. Although the machines have been operating on a production basis a relatively short time, the core has Structurally slroiig brazed honeycomb uutdwich panels require perfectly been accepted, after rigid inspection An Indtiiftry formed core. and testing, by several major air frame producers and is being used in Convair B-58 Mach II bomber and universal use of this surprising ma for the McDonnell F4H II Phantom, terial. sandwich panels being built by Rohr a Navy interceptor. The Mach III Not only do these new Rohr mach for some of our most advanced air B-70 bomber being developed by ines make better core faster, they can craft. North American Aviation will em ploy substantial quantities of stain A small dirt airstrip between South Bay and Chula Vista farms was the site selected for the main plant and corporate head less honeycomb sandwich material— quarters of the company. a large portion of it from Rohr. Engineers see many potential ap HE Winter of 1940-41 was Cali were hundreds of acres of celery and scene that greets the visitor now, 20 plications for the material in the air T fornia's wettest for many years. tomato fields, and lemon groves. years later, when he visits the Rohr craft, missile and space field. But Reservoirs were filled, the ground Sloshing through mud and across main plant and corporate headquar frequently the same engineers have was soaked, streams were running duckboard walks, the moving task ters, or any of the Company's three made every effort to avoid using bank full, and the hillsides were force carried the last of the Com other plants. The original building stainless honeycomb structures be green with lush grass that sprang up, pany's equipment and materiel into now is but a small part of one of the cause of cost and production prob as if by magic, from hitherto parched the new budding, and Rohr Aircraft factory structures, and this, in turn, lems. The core has been difficult and and dusty fields. The rain that came Corporation, five months after its is surrounded by 40 other buildings, slow to manufacture. Brazing pro down steadily during January and founding—in August, 1940—was in all with a total floor space of cesses have been long and costly. In February was welcomed by everyone. production in its permanent home. 1,351,200 square feet, on 156 acres spection is difficult. Core dimensions Everyone, that is, except a small Office space was obtained in a of land. In addition, the plant at contingent of executives and work rented barn in an adjoining field, and Riverside occupies 645,190 square have been limited. men engaged in the interesting task the patter of winter rain on the cor feet on 95 acres; at Auburn, Wash Along with research into new and of moving Rohr Aircraft Corporation rugated iron roof frequently drowned ington, 49,271 square feet on 48 faster brazing methods—which have from a rented building in the whole out the clatter of typewriters and acres, and 28,525 square feet at Winder, Georgia. The latter is on resulted in some promising develop sale district of San Diego into the adding machines as the new Com first structure on its present site in pany's small office staff recorded the land leased from the city of Winder; ments—Rohr has had a continuing u Chula Vista. transactions that already were begin all the rest of the land occupied is program for several years pointed at This was a 37,000 square foot fac ning to increase. Greater office effici owned by the Company. The total a machine that would make better tory building, and its vast expanse of ency could have been maintained, square footage of floor space occu core faster. floor space caused some of these en some of the old timers recall, had the pied by the Company is 2,074,186, gaged in the moving task to wonder if rain stayed outside. But holes in the on 299 acres of Company owned Several such machines now are in perhaps they hadn't over-built. The metal roof let in vast quantities of land. production and the results indicate w/im building was situated in a muddy water, and bookkeepers and typists Fred H. Rohr founded the Com that the development program—per field at the lower end of San Diego divided their time between machines pany on an idea that the aircraft in sonally supervised throughout by Bay, on the outskirts of Chula Vista, and emptying buckets and pans dustry needed a "feeder plant," one ^ which surrounded them on desks, Chairman of the Board Fred H. Rohr which then had a population of about that furnished parts and assemblies, 5,000. Between the Company's new tables and the floor. the creation of which required spec —may point the way toward more £L Absolute uniformity of core structure is apparent in this close-up view. property and the business district All of which is a far cry from the ialized skills and equipment, to air- ROHR Magazine, August, 1960 - pr Rohr outgrew these early quarters in the San Diego warehouse the Company had not been formed airlines to replace equipment now With the outbreak of the Korean district in a matter of months. as a "war baby,** like all other manu worn out and obsolete. war in 1951, military orders increas facturers, in virtually all industries, Convair, Boeing and Lockheed, ed rapidly and in 1952 the Company frame manufacturers. He believed, its facilities had been diverted to mili all of whom were creating and manu established a second plant at River and later proved, that the Company tary production. facturing new transports turned to side, California. Then, as an added could provide these specialized com The lull that came with the end of Rohr for power packages and other service to customers—in this case ponents at a cost lower than that for the war had been foreseen by the assemblies, such as exhaust systems, Lockheed at Marietta, Georgia—an m which the prime contractor could Company's management and now be and oil and fuel tanks. The Boeing assembly plant was opened at Wind produce them. gan exploration of the demand for Stratocruiser, the Convair Liner, the er, Georgia in 1954. Also, to better First products of the new company commercial products. As a step in Lockheed Constellation series and, serve Boeing, a second assembly I II were cowl panels for the Hudson this direction, the Company jomed later on, the Douglas DC-7 went into plant was opened at Auburn, Wash bomber, then being built by Lock and became a subsidiary of Interna production, and Rohr became so ington in 1956.