Mom Was a Lockheed Pioneer

I discovered her riveting past

by Daniel W.

My mother was always, to me, just my mom. She is now 83, suffering the dire effects of a severe stroke. I cherish every opportunity to visit with her, although it is usually bittersweet. This story relates an exceptional conversation we had.

During our last visit, she asked me how my job was going. I told her that I changed companies and now work for Lockheed Martin. Her eyes sparkled for a moment and she smiled broadly, saying, "I used to work for Lockheed! I worked on rockets, mostly. I worked out of Sunnyvale and sometimes Norton Air Force, no Vandy, Vandyland, um, Vandenberg."

I never knew my mother worked with any sort of technology, let alone missile and space systems! She worked for Lockheed in the 1950s and 1960s, before I was born. She described crawling into rocket fuselages, riveting and installing wires and various electromechanical components. She spoke of things I recognized, Titan and Atlas. She also mentioned something I had never heard of, the Agena. For about 30 minutes I had Mom back, enthusiastically telling me something about herself that I never knew. The memories were obviously dear to her and they forever changed how I perceive my mother.

She left me two final statements before going to sleep. First, she told me never to tell anyone what she said, "Because it's all very secret." The second was, "You'll like working for Lockheed, I sure did. It's a good company."

Titans of the Air

Celebrating aviation and innovation

by Frank V.

I’m glad to join the 100th year celebration. I worked for the Lockheed California Company for 27 years and retired in 1991 as a production control expediter. I worked on the F-104 Starfighter, P-3 Orion, C-5A Galaxy, C-130 Hercules and the Canadian offset.

Eyewitness to the Race to Space

My first and only job became the most amazing career

by Anthony A.

After college graduation in 1957 from the University of Scranton, I took my first and only job with the Glen L Martin Company in Middle River, Maryland. Initially, I worked on the Mace missile program. Later, I traveled to the Marshall Islands on the PRIME lifting-body spacecraft program where we air-recovered the spacecraft. I returned to Middle River and was assigned in 1967 to open an office in Huntsville, Alabama. There, we worked on both the Gemini and Space Shuttle programs. I retired in Huntsville in 1993. It was a wonderful and exciting career!

Making a Contribution to Space Exploration

I was offered out-of-this-world opportunities

by Jimmie P.

At Martin Marietta, I was a member of several resident subcontract management teams, starting with Bendix Aerospace for the development of the Viking seismometer, mass spectrometer and retarding potential analyzer. I was at Goodyear Aerospace in the development of the MX transporter system, then at Hercules in the development of the alternate NASA launch vehicle and then at McDonnell Douglas in the development of the Titan Centaur launch vehicle. I negotiated several significant major subcontracts. The most significant was the alternate NASA launch vehicle at Hercules and the follow-on production contract. The involvement in these development programs was, in my opinion, represented significant contributions, both for me and the company. I was also involved in all the Titan, small ICBM, and NASA Lander programs in my years in procurement and subcontract management. My last assignment in Denver was as division materiel manager for  the Civil Space Division.

I negotiated significant subcontracts during the Space Race.

Thanks for the wonderful memories!

The Aardvark to the Fighting Falcon

Amazing aircraft “took” me worldwide

by Roger M.

I went to work in Fort Worth for General Dynamics building the F-111. We signed a mortgage for our first house on the day the B-1 was cancelled. I helped with the F-16, and participated in assembling and making the first delivery in Holland. I worked in Holland, Turkey, Greece and Korea with the F-16 and retired from Lockheed Martin.

Helping to Modernize Brazil’s Air Force

Global innovation set the stage for the 21^st century

by Conrad W.

In the mid-1960s, Brazil’s Air Force purchased five C-130s. Never having had to deal with an aircraft of this size or complexity, they asked for help in creating a spare parts supply control system. Our IT staff was happy to comply and designed a system that would run on the computers available in Brazil at that time.

I was selected to program and install the system. My family and I spent seven years in Rio maintaining and expanding the system.

The Brazilians liked the system so well that they eventually included all types of aircraft that they flew.

It was an honor and a pleasure to be a part of the beginning of the modernization of the Forca Aerea do Brazil.

Celebrating a Heritage

I rose from stock clerk to director of material

by Charles R.

My story is about a family that was very dedicated to company and a company that was very good to that family. In my family, there were four boys and one girl. All four boys, our brother-in-law and our dad worked and retired from General Dynamics, a Lockheed Martin heritage company. As a family, we accumulated 201 years at the company; 273 years when you include two of our wives and several children. I was especially blessed in my work. I never had to play politics or forfeit my religious principles to succeed. I began work as a young 18-year-old college dropout employed as a stock clerk with a pay rate of $36.40 a week. I was given the opportunity to learn and to use my God-given talents. I had the opportunity to travel to multiple countries in my management role. I retired at 60 years old after managing hundreds of people as director of material. The company provided a wonderful retirement for me and for my wife. We recently celebrated our 62^nd anniversary.