Page 73 - MY STORY

These metallurgical “buddies” invited me to a design

review meeting at GD, in order for me to “develop a
better understanding of GD’s material needs for this
airplane.” At least that’s what they told me. The real

reason for the invitation surfaced during the course of the
meeting. Just before the design review meeting started I
was introduced to Herr Dr. Fritz K. I reached out for a

handshake, as Herr Dr. Fritz K sharply clicked his heels
together, bowed from the waist, greeted me with a fairly
strong German accent, handed me his business card, and

heard me utter, “Hi Fritz.”

I was not trying to be disrespectful; it was just the I had
been dealing with all levels of company personnel since
joining TIMET. Fritz, as one of the chief designers at
Messerschmitt during WW II probably expected

something from me that might have been slightly more
formal as an initial greeting.

As the design review meeting progressed it became
obvious that Herr Dr. Fritz was one of the key design

engineers for their Mach 3 transport. During his
presentation, he laid out his choice of titanium alloys for
various major assemblies of the airplane. The good news

(for TIMET) was that almost the entire airframe was