by Homer W.
My first contact with Lockheed Aircraft
Corporation at Burbank was in 1943, when I applied for employment as an engineering
draftsman. As a 19 year-old and subject to the World War II draft, I
was not considered. However, at that time, I did experience the sight of the Lockheed
plant hidden under a camouflage netting to guard against attack by Japanese
aircraft!
My second contact with Lockheed was in
1949 during the Korean War build-up when I was hired by George Flower as a technical
illustrator at the rate of $1.25 per hour. I was given five cents more per hour
because of previous experience as an illustrator.
Of particular note, during those years at
Burbank, I and another artist, Eldon Kaeding, and several engineers working in
preliminary design under the leadership of Chief Engineer Irv Culver, prepared
the new business proposals that led to the establishment of Lockheed Missiles
and Space Company (LMSC) at Van Nuys.
A few years later, LMSC moved to buildings
on Hanover Street at Palo Alto and then to the new plant being built at
Sunnyvale. At that point, I transferred from the plant at Burbank to LMSC.
Under Ed Lawton and supervisors Eldon Kaeding, Paul Szarvas and Clete Nelson, I
spent the next 21 years as an art coordinator and supervisor working in Space
Systems Division (SSD) Technical Publications on such projects as the Agena,
Space Shuttle and Hubble Space Telescope.
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| Thanks Lockheed Martin for a great career! Happy 100th! |
