Evening star., 1942-03-16


craft of every type known to mod
ern war. What goes on at Consoli-
dated is only a part of the picture
But 1t typifies the intensity of thu
production effort.
The homberS in mass assembly
here-the B-24 four-motor land job
the sPBY twin-engine patrol ano
PB2Y four-engine patrol boats-are
being flown from the proving field
to the far-fiung lines of the United
Nations. They pack an awful wal
lop, extensively and defensively, and
when they begin to appear in num-
bers they should be a sight for the
sore eyes of fighting men who have
strained faces so often to the sky
with sort of prayer to the folks
back home:
Send us the tools!"
To Put On Third Shift.
The men on the production front
want the people of the United States
and their fighting men everywhere
to know that airplane factories are
being driven to the utmost, "a hours
a day, seven days week, where pos
sible. Consolidated will follow up
the completion of its production lines
with the addition of third shift
of workers tomorrow.
There is a Jules Verne quality
about the big plants in full blast.
Under rows of lights which dwindle
to the vanishing point, lines OF giant
fuselages move from station to sta
ton while workers swarm over them
amid an al-prevailing drone OF au-
tomato riveters, drills, punches.
hammers and saws. The giants have
prodigious appetites for metals, rub
Der, paints and fabrics.
Manufactured parts in endless
streams arrive by automatic con-
veyors at the stations, where they
can be fitted in the least possible
time into hulks moving toward the
final assembly point. One OF the
bombers represents more than 100,-
900 parts, exclusive of rivets, nuts
and bolts, which have been riveted,
welded and tied into unifled whole.
Many manufactured parts come
from sub-contractors.
Inspections Are Rigid.
Mass production becomes almost
fantastic when it is remembered
that the failure of any element
In the great co-ordinated structure
might send team of as many as
nine fighting men plunging to their
doom. The inspection processes are
as rigid as they are complex and
the bombers move along with a
thousand tickets of individual re-
sponsibihty f1uttering from every
part.
Some of the best brains in the
mass production field have con-
tributed to the line-engineers from
automobile, electric refrigerator, ra-
dio, tractor or steel fields. Behind
them, too. is the driving force of
Tom Girdler, imported production
man of big steel.
It would be absurd to suppose
that complex bombers roll off the
line like automobiles in peace-time
mass production. But the principle
is the same-the coordination of
men and machines for a maximum
result. The psychological factor is
an important element. Men with a
limited time to complete definite
operation are less apt to disperse
their efforts.
Skills Quickly Acquired.
Consolidated seems to have the
skilled labor problem pretty well in
hand. Little lost motion was ap-
parent to the layman walking
through miles of factory corridors,
although some 30 per cent of per-
haps 10000 men and women had
never seen the inside of an aircraft
factory a year ago. Too, the cor
poration is training third crew for
the additional shift.
Working with the newly-designed
machinery, in factories which were
little more than blue-prints in
March, 1941, were booted and belted
cowboys from the plains, berry pick
ers and truck farm laborers, Oakies
from former dust bowls, or the oil
fields; laundresses, movie extras,
hash singers, clerks. About $500
women, in neat slacks and Jackets,
were setting brisk pace for the
men, left fingers at work on elec-
trical and fabric assemblies, and at
multiple types of lighter shop jobs.
Many were wives of service men.
and most members Of families of
men workers.
The land bombers produced on
this amazing assembly line have
speeds of over 800 miles an hour,
ranges in excess of 5000 miles, wing
spans of over 100 feet, bomb load
capacities exceeding tons, and
powerful engines super charged for
high altitude work. The four-en-
gine boats, largest and most pow
erful in Navy service, carry crews
up to nine over ranges exceeding
$500 miles, but at slower speeds and
lower attitudes than the B-24s. Pre-
else offensive performance figures
are war secrets, like the production
rates of all war plane plants, but
1t Is known their guns and bombs
pack a formidable wallop.
Engineers Plan for Future.
These are the airplanes of today,
now in mass production and reach
ing the fighting fronts in increas-
ing numbers. But the engineers
are planning for the future, they
said, hoping the war won't last for
as long as three years, while pre-
pairing to fight the sort of war which
may develop by that time.
Mr.. Girdler told the visiting writ
ers that 1--WE are not worried about
anything we can make ourselves"
He warned, however, that produc-
ton may outstrip materials and de-
plete stock piles supplied by sub
"It's an air war" he said. Even
Jules Verne couldn't conceive of its
fantastic demands. But we still hope
we can make heavy bombers here
as fast as they can fly them away.
Our output Is so great now 1t doesn't