by Lloyd W.
In 1962, I supervised
tests at Lockheed’s engineering lab to certify the Taper Loc Fastening System. After
these tests were completed, the system was installed on the center section of
the wing joint assembly on the first C-141 cargo aircraft.
Fast forward 50
years. My wife and I moved to an assisted living facility where we met another
resident, Jack Young, a former test pilot for Lockheed. We were interested to
learn that he flew the C-141 on its first flight.
During the
process of our moving, we distributed some 30 model airplanes that I had built for
family and friends. They had been hanging in my two-car garage since I retired.
These were models of planes I had personally worked on.
A friend from
church, Will, requested the model of the C-141 on which he had been a passenger
as he returned home from Vietnam. Unfortunately that model had been given to
someone else. However, in our possession was a picture of that model I had
given my father before his death and I offered it to Will. He gladly accepted. Soon
there came a telephone call from Will saying that the plane he came back on had
the same wing number as the one in the picture.
