by Albert V.
In July of
1952, after serving in the Korean War, I was hired by Lockheed in Burbank, California.
In 1996, 44 years later, at the age of 65, I retired from Skunks Works in
Palmdale.
In 1952, the
Gross brothers, early owners of the company, were still alive. They were very
much in touch with the workers. I remember every Christmas they would come into
the factory and talk with us and give us Christmas greetings and reports of the
progress of the company.
I was involved
with many different projects. The first airplane I worked on was the F-94C Starfire.
Some of the other projects were President Eisenhower’s Air Force One Super
Connie, the F-104 Starfighter, the CIA A-12, U-2, F-117A, C-130, S-3A, P-3C,
C-5A and many others. I got to work at George Air Force Base in Apple Valley, California, during the Berlin crisis upgrading the F-104. I also worked at the Edwards Air
Force Base on the SR-71.
Probably the
saddest day of the 44 years that I spent at Lockheed was when I and a small
group of workers closed the last plant in Burbank, Plant B6 and moved to
Palmdale. I still follow Lockheed Martin through the Star Dusters newsletter
and am so very proud of the many years of service.
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| The Lockheed F-94C |
