Page 9 - MY STORY

understanding algebra, and later trigonometry. Physics

classes were OK but uninspiring. In looking back at my
skill mix on high school graduation it was not clear that I
could manage or engage in an engineering livelihood. I

was OK with the written word, could set type and run a
printing press, and play the piano well enough to win the
competition to play at my graduation.

SUMMER OF 1945 – SMALL SIDE SNIPPET

World War II was starting to wind down. Germany was
defeated, leaving the Japanese standing alone. At the ripe
age of seventeen, I was looking for a summer job where I

could make some money. Douglas Aircraft Co. had a
major plant in the northwest Chicago suburbs building
C-54’s, military version of the DC-4. The plant was

located at Orchard Airport -- now called O’Hare. For you,
trivia folk ORD which is the trigraph for Chicago’s
O’Hare is derived from ORcharD. The plant was slated to

be the largest wooden building in the world.

I got a job as a riveter/assembler making $0.75/hour,

which was considered pretty good money in 1945. After
going through one week of learning how to drill holes and
buck rivets, I went to work to assemble the bulkhead that

joins the nose to the fuselage. We were producing two