Nearly my whole family worked at Lockheed-California
by John McE.
I had the privilege of
working at Lockheed-California Company in Burbank. Several family members,
including two cousins, Estalee and Roberta; my brother, Gene and his wife; and two
sisters, Bonnie and Carol, all worked there. Added up, our Lockheed legacy is
more than 150 years!
I hired in at the B-1 Plant
as a sandblaster, working on parts for the L-1011, the C-130 and the C-5A. I
was laid off for a short season, and I was then called back to work as a
security officer in both the “white and dark worlds.” I worked mostly in classified
programs and was required to have a Security Clearance for the SR-71 Blackbird,
the F-117 Nighthawk and the F-22 Raptor. I worked for Chief Peavy and Director
Ken Mims.
I worked as much time as I
could, and when the company left Burbank and moved to Georgia, I was laid off.
All of the guys who had more seniority said, “Mac, we are really sorry to see you go because you taught us all how
to work overtime.” A lot of days were double shift.
I want to say I really
enjoyed my tenure with Lockheed beyond description.
