ROHR MAGAZINE SUMMER — 1965 Volume 15 Number 2 SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY ISSUE Published quarterly in Chula Vista, California, by the Public Relations Department of the Rohr Corporation. EDWARD T. AUSTIN 12 Boeing 707 Public Relations Director 13 McDonnell F4H Phantom LARRY I. PEEPLES 14 Lockheed P3-A Orion Editor 15 Boeing 727 Trijet 16 Lockheed C-141 Star Lifter Staff Writers 17 Douglas DC-9 SAM WESTON, JIMMIE THURMON, 18 210'Antenna for NASA PATRICIA SCHRAUD 19 United Technology Center's Titan lll-C 20 Tracking Radome & Photographers— Radiotelescope GENE LYLE, BOB AXT, HAROLD STONE, FRANK FILECCIA, BOB REED, BRUCE RAVENSCROFT WHAT IS A POWER PACKAGE? A f ENGINE POD? A "power package** is a term used to describe the propulsion unit on the wings of an airplane propelled by a reciprocating, or piston, engine. In building a power package we take the bare engine and to it attach the necessary engine mount, sheet metal cowling, panels, diaphragms, supporting structures, air ducts, fuel and oil lines, and electrical harness. In all, each power package contains from 1,500 to 3,500 Rohr-made parts, depending ROHR upon the type of engine. CORPORATION Jet engine pods are built up in the same way around turbojet and turbofan THE SHAPING AND SHIPPING OF THE WORLD'S LARGEST NOZZLE engines, and contain up to 5,000 Rohr-made parts, again depending on the size and type of engine. V* YEAR This 10-ton solid booster nozzle, temperature and pressure . nology and fabrication capabil­ built by Rohr for Thiolcol, gave TABLE OF CONTENTS then hydroclave cured at 350° F ity available to the industry a perfect performance at some under a pressure of 1000 psi. today at Rohr's new "Hall of FRED ROHR'S LETTER 5 The Divisions— 3 million pound thrust during FIRST 25 YEARS 6 ANTENNA DIVISION .44 During the critical fabrication Giants" manufacturing facility. recent test firing at Brunswick, 25 YEARS OF GROWTH 16 ARCHITECTURAL DIVISION ......47 process, the orientation of the For complete information rela­ SPACE PRODUCTS DIVISION ....48 Georgia, as a part of the Air GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN ..18 fabric was controlled with tape tive to your requirements, NEW TECHNOLOGY ORBITING TARGET 51 Force's large, solid booster SUCCESS FOR TITAN lll-C 52 angles varying from parallel to please contact Marketing Man­ IN MATERIEL 21 feasibility program. GRUMMAN ANNOUNCES 60° from center line of nozzle ager, Dept. 45, Rohr Corpora­ THE FINANCIAL RECORD .22 GULFSTREAM II 53 using tape widths of 6 to 13'/2". tion, Space Products Division, BOARD OF DIRECTORS 23 AIRCRAFT ORDERS 54 This nozzle, built for Thiolcol The 4-ton exit cone section alone VETERANS ON The Customers— 8200 Arlington Avenue, River­ 'MAHOGANY ROW' 24 DOUGLAS 55 Chemical Corporation and the contains approximately 21 miles side, California. 'SHORT ORDER' ENGINEERING 26 LOCKHEED 56 U.S. Air Force's Space Systems of ablative tape. The giant noz­ THE CRITICAL EYE 28 BOEING —«4-... 58 Division, is the largest ever built UNITED TECHNOLOGY CENTER 60 zle's structural housing employs A CHANGING SCENE 30 THIOKOL 61 ROHR CORPORATION TOOLING TECHNIQUES 32 —168" diameter at exit cone. thick plate weldments of 18% AEROJET-GENERAL 62 Main Plant and Headquarters: Chula The nozzle's tape-wrapped, abla­ nickel ma raging steel in the NO IVORY TOWERS 36 JET PROPULSION Vista, California. Manufacturing Plant: SPACE TAILORING MACHINES 38 tive throat and liner sections heaviest gauge ever fabricated LABORATORY 63 Riverside, California. Assembly Plants, PRODUCTS NUMERICAL LOFTING 41 GRUMMAN 64 Winder. Georgia; Auburn, Washington. consist of carbon, graphite and and welded in the aerospace ELECTRONIC AGE NORTH AMERICAN 65 Architectural Division: Fullerton, Cali­ DIVISION fornia. silica fabric impregnated with industry. MANAGEMENT 42 LOCKHEED PROPULSION 66 phenolic resins. They were wrapped (on a mandrel) under This Rohr-built rocket nozzle is precisely controlled tension, ROHR typical of the advanced tech­ In observing our 25th Anniversary and reviewing the edge to everyday life than in all the previous years accomplishments of a quarter-century in this chang­ of recorded history. ing, challenging industry, I should first like to pay Twenty-five years ago we had no jet airplanes, tribute to the loyalty of a great many people. They no space vehicles, no satellites, no radar, no nuclear include employees, some of whom have been with devices either for peaceful use or warfare, no tele­ us since the beginning; shareholders, who support, vision. Now, all of these devices, and many, many through their financial confidence, the direction of more, we take for granted. the business, and our customers, who are at the What will the next 25 years bring? Since new ideas, heart of all we do. Associations through the years new discoveries, and new inventions invariably set have created many warm friendships, and these I up a chain reaction that multiplies new products in shall always cherish. ever increasing numbers, few of us would attempt World's first space structures "pad" Ordinarily, we do not devote much time to look­ to forecast precisely what the world of 1990 will It's automated ... it's integrated ... it's operating at Rohr ing back; we are too busy looking ahead. But anni­ be like. We know it will be different, we hope it versaries are a time of review, of taking stock, of will be better, and those of us with faith in human This in-line production facility for fabricating very large space frame structures is in full production at Rohr catching our breath, so to speak, and that is the intelligence believe that it will be. featuring aircraft type tooling and optical alignment. It moves raw stock thru a complex of modern machines We take pride in the Company's 25 years of serv­ and processes to final precision pre-assemblies that reduce field erection time and add integrity to the total purpose of this special issue of Rohr Magazine. structure. The "pad" saves us materials handling time and lowers customer cost. And it shortens delivery dates It may be trite to say it, but nevertheless it is true, ice to the aerospace industry, and we begin our for many types of major structures such as antennas, towers, and geodesic radomes. For the full space struc- that we are living and working in the greatest age second quarter-century with utmost confidence in tures story at Rohr write or call: Manager, Antenna Division, Dept. mankind has ever known. More progress has been the future of our Nation and its security, to which Rohr Corporation, Chula Vista, California. —••• — made in the last 25 years in applying scientific knowl­ w e are dedicated. ANTENNA These Rohr antennas demonstrate the scope of manufacturing capability here- 85-foot XV. 30-foot Az/EI. 15-foot radio telescope. 85-foot Az/EI, 210 foot tracking antenna. DIVISION ^pt€^ *)•(• CX*AA Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer, # ROHR COR PORATI O IM B. F. RAYNES, President and General Manager, joined Rohr in October, 1940 as chief inspector. He moved up through positions as tooling superintendent, sev­ eral management positions with Interna­ tional Detrola during the time Rohr was a subsidiary, and back at Rohr as chief tool engineer, vice president-manufac­ turing, senior vice president and execu­ tive vice president. In 1961 he was Five diamonds on the service pin elected to the Board of Directors and JACK T. MALONEY, Senior Welding designates the wearer as one who has in December, 1963 to his present posi­ Engineer, Manufacturing Research, join­ served throughout 25 years of the tion. He has held leading positions in ed Rohr on Dec. 17, 1940 and was the Company's history. many professional associations, including first production welder hired by the the Aerospace Industries Association, company. He moved up to welding Society of Automotive Engineers and foreman in due course, a position he California Manufacturers Association, as held for 13 years before assuming Ms well as in civic, political and social or­ present duties. In Ms capacity with ganizations. Born in Indiana, he is a Manufacturing Research, Moloney has mechanical engineering graduate of Rose been involved through the years with Polytechnic College. Mr. and Mrs. the deveolpment of welding techniques Raynes and their son and daughter live and equipment for new or unusually dif­ in a suburban area east of Chula Vista. ficult fobs. Moloney's off hours are spent mainly with his family — three children and five grandchildren — and on a very occasional golf game. Rohr's First 25 Years AND THE MEN WHO SAW IT ALL HAPPEN "Fred used to go out days and concentrated on the production of get orders, then come into the plant power packages for the B-24, the at night and show us how to make PBY series, and modification work By EDWARD T. AUSTIN At ten o'clock loading was com­ No airframe manufacturer, until them," one old-timer recalls. on some of the PB4Ys. Employ­ Director of Public Relations pleted. Fred Rohr, accompanied by then, had let the important power Employment gradually increased ment moved up to keep pace with executives, supervisors and guards, unit out on subcontract. with the volume of orders Rohr the building program, and by 1944, jumped aboard and drove into the The power package idea came to brought in, and late in 1941 he de­ the plant area was 600,000 square Consolidated plant with their Val­ Rohr while he was employed at cided the Company was ready to feet, and sales for the fiscal year entine greeting more than an hour Boeing, in Seattle, in the early '30s. begin putting his original idea into ended July 31, 1944, were $70,- ahead of schedule.