Page 49 - MY STORY

titanium alloys for the DC-8 --- glorious! Here’s what

really happened.

There were three five-drawer file cabinets randomly filled

with articles, reports, data packages, journals, published
papers, notes, and on and on... Joe made it clear that my
job, as the newly crowned “expert”, was to read and

assimilate information from every piece of paper in those
cabinets, then compile and publish a dedicated
bibliography that provided technical data on every

titanium alloy in existence, or in development, along with
a listing of the key technical experts and facilities in the

country. Two to three months of solid reading, cataloging,
and information recording tempted me to say some
not-so-nice things to Joe. Whenever I thought it might be
nice to do some other things for a break in the tedium, Joe

asked: “how far along is the detailed, dedicated
bibliography, so I can review and approve it?” There was

no escape.

I’ve already told you what “review and approval” of

written reports by Joe W consisted of. After finally
getting the bibliography written and approved, Joe sent
me off for two weeks to work with the research lab folk at

Titanium Metals Corporation of America (TIMET) in