Evening Star Newspaper, May 30, 1940, Page 2

Tools Needed to Build Planes Delay Production for Year Martin Opens Plant to Aviation Writers; Reveals Latest ‘Mass Methods’ By JOSEPH S. EDGERTON. Star Staft Correspondent. BALTIMORE, Md, May 30.—No aircraft plant in the United States can reach quantity production of any new airplane model within less than 12 months—and this would be three times faster than the-Germans were able to reach a mass produc- tion basis—according to Glenn L. Martin, whose great aircraft plant here is regarded as the most com- pletely tooled in the country, if not in the world. “We must know a year before mass production can begin not only how many airplanes will be required but how many a day must be produced,” Mr. Martin told members of the Aviation Writers' Association, to whom his plant was opened yes- terday for the first time since the war emergency period began a year ago. “Only on the basis of this in- formation can we design and build the many machine tools, dies and Jigs required before actual manu- facture of the airplane itself can begin.” Key to Production. It is the manufacture of these tools, dies and jigs, which are dif- ferent for each type of airplane; the arrangements for sources of sup- plies, let out for outside manufacture or assembly, and other details which require many months of time before quantity production itself can begin. “We are a great industriak nation —a greater industrial nation than Germany,” Mr. Martin pointed out. “We can do as much in the way of preparing for the mass production of aircraft in 12 months as Ger- many was able to accomplish in three years, in all probability.” Mr. Martin visited Germany short- 1y before the outbreak of the war and was given the opportunity to study the German sircraft plants and methods in considerable detail. The Germans began their “all out” aircraft program with the full weight of government and industry behind it, in 193¢. They were not able to begin mass production, how- ever, until 1937. ‘When Mr. Martin was in Germany, production had attained the rate of 60 aircraft a day, with their plants working 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. The great Martin piant was open- ed to reporters for the first time since production of planes for the Allies began last fall, it was indi- cated, in the belief that the time has arrived for a frank evaluation of the aviation situation, as it relates to national defense and world condi- tions. Members of the Aviation Writers' Association, meeting in ‘Washington in connection with the National Aviation Forum, were taken on a tour of the plant and were permitted to inspect all operations except the construction of a giant experimental flying boat for the United States Navy, which still is a secret military project. Prepared Years Ago. The Martin plant some years ago began to “tool up” with a view to ultimate mass production methods and today has attained a position of unquestioned leadership in the variety and number of heavy presses | and machine tools necessary for quantity production. Before German rearmament began to hold a serious recognized threat to the security of the world, the Glenn L. Martin Co had attained | the highest type of straight-line fac- tory production methods in the air- craft field. A vear ago. as a farther step toward ultimate quantity pro- duction, a “work simplification pro- gram” was initiated to reduce waste motion, to simplify and speed up methods and operations and to further increase efficiency in all departments. More than 300 of Martin’s 11,000 employes were designated to observe and study every pnase of plant activity. The effects are noticeable in hundreds of details—the: moving of a storage room saved a total of 10 miles of walking a day; parts for a single assembly, separated by as much as 300 feet in a stockroom, were concentrated in 20 feet, saving 50 per cent in issuing time; steps were saved at machines by re- arrangements; a press (still another -machine tool) was devised to clamp terminals on insulated wire for electrical connections, work formerly done by hand, the saving amounting to 900-man hours ot work on a single contract; 63 per cent in time was saved and 14 of 31 operations eliminated in assembling porthole covers for Navy patrol bombers. Hundreds of similar improvements resulted; all contributions toward plant efficiency and, consequently, to national defense. Design Photographed on Metal. One of the wonderful new de-| velopments in the Martin plant is a huge camera and photographic printer which permits the printing of full-scale photographs of design drawings directly on sheet metal which can be cut into templates or used as patterns for making jigs and dies without the long, laborious work of laying out the designs by hand on the metal from blueprints or the | original drawings. The method has proved a tremendous time saver. After the initial rough design of a new airplane has been approved for detailed engineering development, the plans for the whole airplane and every part composing it are drawn to full size on the floor of a huge draft- ing room. The outlines of each part can be.transferred directly to metal without the work of reducing the drawings to manageable size and then re-laying the work out from the reduced drawings on metal, as Jormerly was necessary. Possibility of errors creeping in also was greatly reduced by the revolutionary process. As a result of the Allied orders and the increasing numbers of Army and Navy orders under our own de- fense program, it was pointed out by Martin officials, the American aviation industry for the first time is facing the opportunity of applying something of automobile factory straight-line mass production meth- ods to aircraft building. It was pointed out that it is doubtful whether any aircraft company in American history has produced as many as 4,000 airplanes. 14,000 Man-Hours on Bombers. The result of the lack of mass production and machine tool meth- ods is revealed to some extent by the fact that, while only 218 man-hours of labor are required to produce one automobile of common mass-pro- duction make, between 350 and 400 ] the subcontracting of parts| man-hours of work are required for one of the small private-owner air- planes now being produced in Jarger quantity than any other type of air- craft, and the tremendous total of 14,000 man-hours of work are re- quired on a large bombardment air- plane. The visiting aviation writers were taken through large, completely equipped chemical laboratories at the Martin plant in which experi- mental work is in progress on self- sealing fuel tanks, metals and alloys, plastics and plywoods for possible use in aircraft production. It has bene found that under production methods now available the use of the improved plywoods, which are exceedingly strong and resistant to moisture and fire, is about, equal in cost to use of metals. Extensive experiments have been conducted in development of armor- plating for protection of pilots and crew members, no figures having been available in the past for thick- nesses of “metals suitable for the purpose. Since weight-saving is a vital factor in airplane construction, the question of armor presents an exceedingly serious problem; it can be used only at the cost of airplane performance, most noticeably in take-off and rate of climb. Due to precision methods of manu- facture introduced" by extensive use of machine tools and straight-line practices, all parts of the Martin aircraft of the same models are in- terchangeable. This proved a great surprise to the French, who were ac- customed to having wings “tailored” to a particular fuselage and to parts which would fit only the airplane for which they were built. Finished “Somewhere in Europe.” As a result of these precision methods, it was necessary to fly only the first of the French airplanes in this country before it was shipped. The others now rolling off the pro- duction line, at a rate said unofficially to be about three a day, are shipped abroad before final assembly and | never become complete airplanes until they leave the hands of an American _assembly crew “some- where in Europe.”* To maintain a check on production accuracy, how- | ever, one airplane out of about 25 jactually is assembled at the Martin | plant and then is broken down and | boxed for shipment—each airplane in crates costing $5,000. | Scores of the twin-engined French bombers are in process through the assembly lines in the Martin plant, a trip through the plant revealing | graphically every stage of the man- I_Jfacturing process from the stamp- | ing of the smallest metal fitting to | the boxing of the completed fighter, | with its red-white-and-blue insignia :cxled on the metal in various parts :of the ship. | is being tooled for production of the new model Martin bomber for | the United States Army Air Corps, | soon to go inte production. Heavy steel jigs, or assembly frames, are being set up in such numbers as to In these frames will be assembled the various component parts of the airplanes, which then will move to- gether along the assembly line, “flowing together” into the com- pleted airplanes. Prepare for New Plane. Work also is in progress on the preparation of the necessary tools, dies and jigs for a new series of Anglo-French combat airplanes recently ordered by the Allied Pur- chasing Mission, ‘It will take nine months more to complete this tool- ing up and start production of the new Allied planes and the complete jorder, for an unannounced number of planes, is to be completed in nine months more. Among the new tools now being put into the work of producing air- craft at the Martin plant is an auto- matic electric spot-welder capable of welding duralumin—an entirely found to exceed rivets in strength for the thicknesses. of metal em- ployed. The metal can be welded more quickly than it can be riveted and the welded joints have the tre- mendous advantage of presenting a smooth surface to the air—a vital factor in modern high-speed air- planes, in which exposed rivet heads greatly reduce speed. “Commercial aviation is going to profit by the war,” Mr. Martin said. “We now know of improvements in airplane efficiency which can be made when this war pressure is re- laxed which will give us new and tremendously improved types of commercial airplanes within a few years.” The present aircraft plants in the United States are adequate for any peacetime production which can be foreseen at the present time, Mr. Martin said. Any future expansion of plants required to meet war orders must be considered as war expansion and charged off against the air- planes as a part of the war contracts, he declared. 'Iougeruy' of D. C. Police Faces Medical Tesis Detective Sergt. Frank O. Brass, the police department’s “little tough guy,” has been ordered to appear before the Board of Police Surgeons June 6 to determine whether his physical condition will permit him to continue on duty. Mr. Brass has been in poor health for some time and was relieved of arduous duties on the robbery squad and assigned to precinct duty several months ago. The police surgeons will examine him and decide whether he should be retired. He has been on the force for 15 years and has received several com- mendations during that time. He figured in several spectacular police cases and once received the gold medal for bravery for capturing a group of gunmen who were planning a kidnaping. On that occasion, Mr. Brass went to a hotel room where the gang was hiding, knocked on the door, and said: “It's Brass. Throw out your guns.” He captured the men after an exchange of shots. He has been involved in several gun battles and was commended in 1933 for his work in rounding up the bandits who robbed three banks here of $30,000. A nervous ailment crippled his back and legs and he was trans- ferred from the robbery squad to the comparative quiet of the twelfth precinct. Later, he was sent to the second precinct. He lives at 412 Delafield place N.W. q i and instructions, in French, sten- | | | Another section of the plant now | bewilder and confuse the observer.{ new advance. The welds have been | THE EVENING WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?—] advancing Nazi hordes, these French folk pause in their flight at a welfare camp somewhere near the western front. nurse provides milk for a hungry baby. Here a —A. P. Wirephoto. \U. §. May Use Schools To Train 800,000 3 Defense Workers * Nation’s Vocational Plants Would Go on 24-Hour Basis to Fill Skilled Jobs Nation's vocational schools to train an estimated 800,000 workers for de- | fense industries within the next | year are being studied by govern- mental agencies. The training program would cover two classes. One would be trained for “semiskilled” or “single-skilled” jobs: the other, those in single- | skilled jobs, desiring instruction for promotion to the skilled trades. Both would be essential because | without the skilled tradesmen there } would be no places for the single- skilled, Mr. Studebaker said that on the basis of reports just received, 150,000 persons could be trained this sum- mer. Information received from the | field was that work could be started | within a week after notification that | funds are available. | The proposed summer course | would cover 10 weeks of two shifts | each, with 40 hours for each shift. | This would provide 400 hours of training for each individual at 75,000 | stdtions. A station means a work- ing place for a student. | The United States Office of Educa- | tion, under John W. Studebaker, | now is engaged in a survey of public | school plants to ascertain available facilities. Also 1,300 local advisory boards, composed of trade, industrial and educational leaders, to co- operate with the national bureau in outlining training courses have been | formed. Thne program is to be planned so as not to interfere with the regular school courses, as the trainees are expected to be above the 18-year age level. The courses would be compara- tively short, it was indicated, run- ning from two to three weeks, of 40 hours a week, for the single skilled Jobs, and 12 to 20 weeks for those seeking advancement to skilled po- sitions. The class hours would be Plans for 24-hour operation of the | | |arranged to accommodate those already working. Engineering schools, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technol- ogy, also are to be tapped to provide | intensive courses to train men for more responsible positions. Two French Generals Captured, Nazis Say By the Associated Press.’ BERLIN, May 30 (By Radio).— Capture of two Prench generals in | the French town of La Capelle wns? | reported today in the broadcast of an account by a German war re- porter, Motorized troops and tanks were |said to have broken through the town’s fortifications in the face of heavy fire from behind trees, hedges, windows and basements as well as| from pillboxes. Infantrymen, under cover of the tanks, stormed the houses of the town with hand grenades but the principal resistance came from the post office, it was said. When guns had crumbled the walls of the post office “two elderly French officers stepped out without arms, one a divisior general and the other a brigadier,” said the broadcaster. “A German tank speeded up car- rying a German general who told them, ‘Gentlemen, I regret the cir- cumstances under which we meet. May I express my respects regarding the brave manner in which your troops fought this battle?’ ” Meanwhile La Capelle was taken and the German advance continued. John Wayne, Cowboy Movie Hero, Injured HOLLYWOOD, May 30 (#).—John ‘Wayne, cowboy movie hero, and Jack Pennock, a supporting player, are in a hospital with injuries received Tuesday night during a film scene. Wayne suffered broken ribs and Pennock & concussion and chest injuries. They were struck by a wall of water released from an overhead tank and were thrown against an iron winch. Liberia decreased its national debt nearly 10 per cent last year. Photo passed by German censor, —Wide World Radiophoto. BOMBING RETREATING FRENCH—White clouds of smoke mark where bomhs from German planes fell on a road jammed with retreating French soldiers in the fighting in Northern France. Passed by German censor. §t. Columba’s Church Asks Help fo Meet $4,100 Nofe The Rev. E. A. Le Moine of St. Columbia’s Episcopal Church, Forty- second and Albemarle streets N.W., has issued an appeal for funds to pay off & $4,100 note to be called June 15, The rector said the note was held by a closed bank and that the re- ceiver had threatened court action unless thie note was paid. He added that the congregation probably would not be able to raise the funds without other contributions and ap- pealed to the people of the District for aid. Contributions, he said, would be received by Arthur Wegner, 4530 Harrison street, the parish treasurer, or by himself. The congregation will meet June 11 at 8 p.m. in the parish hall to check on the amount raised. The original note was for $9,000, he said, and the parish has repaid | $5,000. Because of an outstanding mortgage of $80,000, the balance cannot be met now, he said. Jerusalem Blackout Ordered JERUSALEM, May 30 (#)—The first blackout in the history of the ancient city of Jerusalem was or- dered today for next Monday. Authorities are not taking any risks regarding the inviolability of the Holy City in the matter of air raids. D. C. Census Workers Look for Missed Citizens Although the formal census enu- meration is now nearly complete, there are still a few corners and crannies which must be covered, Garnett R. Brown, area manager of the District census, said today. This week, he said, Coast Guard and police patrol boats are carrying | enumerators up the Potomac, Ana- costia River and James Creek to get the names of houseboat dwellers and campers. Today, he continued, area officials and enumerators will canvass every Federal buréau in Washington to catch those who might have been missed at home. “We want to give Washington an exact measure of its people and homes,” Mr. Brown declared. Mr. Brown pointed out that the law makes it obligatory for every person alive after 12:01 am. April 1 to be recorded in the census. He said the District survey would cover the District and its suburbs. Retired Marine,Officer Dies at Parris Island By the Assoclated Press. BEAUFORT, S. C., May 30.—Ma). George Osterhout, 67, U. S. M. C, retited, died yesterday after an ill- ness of two months at the Naval Hospital on Parris Island. PRESIDENT GREETS BOARD—President Roosevelt and mem- bers of the new National Defense Commission, as they met today liott, Leon Henderson, Chester C. Davis and Willlam H. Mg~ | one-haif hour slar at the White House. uuwmt,mnam';: Ralph Budd, Ed- 4 LY “ward R. Stéttinius, jr, Willam 8. Knudsen, Miss Harriott El- Reynolds. Sidney Hiliman was not present. | 4 —A. P. Photo. —Wide World Photo. Congress in Brief TODAY. Senate: Considers bill for Federal aid in hospital construction; may take up naval expansion program. Banking Committee considers bill to facilitate Government financing of defense industries. House: 4 Considers conference report on ‘War Department civil functions bill. Banking Committee resumes dis- cussion of housing bill. Appropriations subcommittee con- tinues hearings on $1,800,000,000 Army supply bill. Norwegians Threafen To Cut Off Retreat Of Narvik Germans . Naozis Are Working Along Railway Toward :Sweden Under Fire By the Associated Press. STOCKHOLM, May 30.—Fighting & rear-guard action toward the Swedish frontier, German troops withdrawing from the Norwegian ore port of Narvik today were re- ported in danger of having their retreat cut off by Norwegian troops deployed along the border. Dispatches from the Swedish frontier said the Germans were working their way along the rail line running from Narvik east into Sweden, while the Nazi air force sought to relieve pressure on the troops by intensified bombing at- tacks. Allied and Norwegian forces which ousted the Germans from the town were said to have completed occu- pation of Narvik itself and to be engaged in mopping-up operations south of the port. Accounts of the final drive to occupy the city, contained in dis- patches from Swedish war corre spondents, said the attack began at midnight last Monday. An undetermined number of Allied warships, their guns loosing a ter- rific barrage, drove straight toward the north side of the city, with landing parties ready. German warplanes tried des- perately to block the landing. But’ with Nazi machine gun nests over- looking the city already well cleaned out by artillery fire from the north side of narrow Rombak Fjord, the occupation was establishe ‘The several hundred civilians said to be remaining in Narvik under- went a night of terror as the strug- gle of German planes against Allied land and sea forces went on through Tuesday morning. The Allies also are said to have landed additional forces at Ankenes, on a rocky promontory directly southwest of the city. Memorial Rife Attended By Kennedy in London By the Associated Press. LONDON, May 30.—While hun- dreds of Americans waited in Ire- land for a ship to transport them from the war zone, Ambassador Jos- eph P. Kennedy and scores of others attended a Memorial Day service today for 600 United States soldiers, sailors and marines of the last war buried in the British cemeteries. When the brief service at St. Mar- garet’s Church ended, Mr, Kennedy went to nearby Westminster Abbey and placed a wreath on the Tomb of Britain’s Unknown Soldier. “We know your prayers are with this nation,” said the subdean of the abbey, accepting the wreath, “and that you stanad for the same things we do.” Ambassador Kennedy earlier had been:granted an audience with King George at Buckinghany Palace, Changes to Be Asked In Newspaper Guild A slate of delegates pledged to oppose re-election of the present paid officers and to oppose continua- tion of present policies of the Amer- ican Newspaper Guild was named by the Washington Newspaper Guild yesterday to attend the 1940 Guild Convention in Memphis. The delegates were Elisabeth May Craig, Portland (Me.) Press-Herald; Robert M. Buck, Washington News; Julius Edelstein, United Press, and Barney Taylor, Washington Post: Alternates were Una Franklin and Bill Ring, Washington Times-Her- ald; Alfred Toombs, Evening Star, and James Secrest, Washington Post. ‘Thomas L. Stokes, Scripps-Howard Newspaper Alliance; Virginia Kraich, United Press, and Nathan L. Rob- ertson of PM, running on the same ticket, were named to the Executive Committee of the Washington Guild. Weather Report (Purnished by the United States Weather Bureau) District of Columbia—Rain and continued cool, with lowest temper- ature about 54 degrees tonight; occasional rain and slightly warmer to- morrow; moderate easterly winds; light rain and rather cool, with highest temperature about 58 degrees this afternoon. Maryland—Rain tonight; tomorrow occasional rain and slightly warmer, Virginia—Showers tonight; tomorrow mostly cloudy, with scattered showers; slightly warmer in east and central portions. West Virginia—Showers tonight and tomorrow; little change in tem- perature. Pressure continues high over the North$—m— Atlantic States. Providence, R. I. 1,025.7 millibars (30.20 inches), while a disturb- ance 15 developing over the South Atlantic States and apparently moving northeast- ward, Florence, 8. C.. 1.009.1 millibars (29.80 inches). Pressure is relatively low from the middie and northern plains west- ward to the Pacific Ocean, Williston Dsk.. 1.010.5 millibars (29.84 inches), Spokane, Wash. 1.008.8 3 inches). ' while it i3 relatively hish from e Texas, Marauette. nd States and scattered shoWers in the Ohio Valley. Bhowers occurred also over the northern Racky Mountain rezion and along the easern siope of the es. Tem- peratures have fallen considerably in por- tions of the Middle Atlantic States. Repert for Last 24 Hours. Temperature. Barometer, Yesterday— degrees. inches. 29.99 30.08 20.12 30.09 30.09 2 30.07 Record for Last 24 Hours. (Prom noon yesterday to noon today.) Highest, 81, 2:30 p.m. yesterday. Year 280, 90. Lowest, 53, 5 a.m, todhy. Year ago, 68. Record Temperature This Year. Highest. 92. on May 14. Lowest, 7. on Jabuary 29. Humidity for Last 24 Hours. (From mnoon yesterday to noon today.) Highest, 99 per cent, at 7:45 a.m. today. Lowest, 33 per cenit .at 3:30 p.m. yes- terday. Tids Tables., United States Coast and etic Burvey.) ‘Tomorrow. (Purnished High Low Hish Low 7:27 today 1:07a.m. 1:27p.m. Automobile lights must be turned en sunset. Report. Fotomac and Shenandosh Rivers muddy . : Superior soyth-southwestward over | ., 102 at Harpers Ferry; Potomac muddy at Great Fells today. Precipitation. Monthly precipitation in inches tm the Capital (current month to date): Month, Ave. January 5 February millibars (2973 | A a3 Chicago Gineinnay” 20 leveland 7 ‘olumbia venport nver Des Moines Detroit .. El Paso Galveston - Helena T po nd’apolis Jackeille Kansas City 3 EBRE e S I E PR E SR S PRS- E 2 D00 311102 I RO IIT I HIDINIDDD AR TMAZARID b 223TSR2TIT RITe Z33TIgEs 2 BRE 32 i 4 :1 3 o1 & 54 Forelen Stations. (Current observations.) wish.oc. n _Juan, Puerte Rico Bl i §