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In aviation history, decades before geeks and nerds altered our way
of life, young and gutsy aviation pioneers changed the world with
their wood sticks, bailing wire, canvas and aluminum.
How many of you know that in 1910, mighty Martin Marietta got its
start in an abandoned California church? That's where Glenn L.
Martin
with his amazing mother Minta Martin and their mechanic Roy Beal
constructed a fragile biplane that Glenn taught himself to fly.
It has often been told how Douglas Aircraft started operations in
1920 in a barbershop's backroom on L.A. 's
Pico Boulevard . Interestingly, the barber-shop is still operating.
The Lockheed Company built the first of their famous Vegas' in 1927
inside a building currently used by Victory Cleaners at 1040
Sycamore
in Hollywood.
In 1922, Claude Ryan, a 24 year old military reserve pilot, was
getting his hair cut in San Diego, when the barber mentioned that
the
'town's aviator' was in jail for smuggling Chinese illegals up from
Mexico. Claude found out that if he replaced the pilot 'sitting in
the
pokey,' that he would be able to lease the town's airfield for $50 a
month — BUT he also needed to agree to fly North and East — BUT not
South!
Northrop's original location was an obscure So California hotel. It
was available because the police had raided the hotel and found that
its steady residents were money-minded gals entertaining transitory
male hotel guests.
Glenn Martin built his first airplane in a vacant church, before he
moved to a vacant apricot cannery in Santa Ana . He was a showman
and
he traveled the county fair and air meet circuit as an exhibitionist
aviator From his exhibition proceeds, Glenn was able to pay his
factory workers and purchase the necessary wood, linen and wire. His
mother, Minta and two men ran the factory while Glenn risked his
neck
and gadded about the country. One of his workers was 22-year old
Donald Douglas [who WAS the entire engineering department]. A Santa
Monica youngster named Larry Bell [later founded Bell Aircraft] ran
the shop.
Another part of Glenn Martin's business was a flying school with
several planes based at Griffith Park , and a seaplane operation on
the edge of Watts . His instructors taught a rich young man named
Bill
Boeing to fly. Then, Boeing bought one of Glenn Martin's seaplanes
and had it shipped back to his home in Seattle. At the same time,
Bill Boeing hired away Glenn's personal mechanic. Later, after
Boeing's seaplane crashed in Puget Sound , he placed an order to
Martin for replacement parts.
Still chafing from having his best mechanic 'swiped,' [a trick he
later often used himself] Martin decided to take his sweet time and
allowed Bill Boeing to 'stew' for a while. Bill Boeing wasn't one to
'stew' and he began fabricating his own aircraft parts, an activity
that morphed into constructing entire airplanes.
A former small shipyard nicknamed 'Red Barn' became Boeing
Aircraft's
first home. Soon, a couple of airplanes were being built inside,
each
of them having a remarkable resemblance to Glenn Martin's airplanes
….
that, interestingly, had its own remarkable resemblance to Glenn
Curtiss' airplanes.
A few years later, when the Great depression intervened and Boeing
couldn't sell enough airplanes to pay his bills, he diversified into
custom built speed boats and furniture for his wealthy friends.
After WWI, a bunch of sharpies from Wall Street gained control of
the
Wright Brothers Co in Dayton and the Martin Company in L.A. and
'stuck
them' together as the
Wright-Martin Company.
Wright-Martin began building an obsolete biplane design with a
foreign
Hispano-Suiza engine. Angered because he had been out maneuvered
with
a bad idea, Martin walked out …. taking Larry Bell and key employees
with him.
>From the deep wallet of a wealthy baseball mogul, Martin was able
to
establish a new factory. Then his good luck continued, when the
future
aviation legend Donald Douglas, who Glenn persuaded to join his
team.
Quickly emerging from the team's efforts was the Martin Bomber, the
Martin MB-1.
Although too late to enter WWI, the Martin bomber showed its
superiority when Billy Mitchell made everyone mad at him by sinking
several captured German battleships and cruisers.
In Cleveland, a young fellow called 'Dutch' Kindelberger joined
Martin
as an engineer. Later, as the leader of North American Aviation,
Dutch
became justifiably well-known.
Flashing back to 1920, Donald Douglas had saved $60,000, returned to
L.A. and rented a barbershop's rear room and loft space in a
carpenter's shop nearby.
There he constructed a classic passenger airplane called the Douglas
Cloudster.
A couple of years later, Claude Ryan bought the Cloudster and used
it
to make daily flights between San Diego and Los Angeles . This gave
Ryan the distinction of being the first owner/operator of Douglas
transports. Claude Ryan later custom built Charles Lindbergh's
'ride'
to fame in the flying fuel tank christened: The Spirit of St. Louis
.
In 1922, Donald Douglas won a contract from the Navy to build
several
torpedo carrying aircraft. While driving through Santa Monica 's
wilderness, Douglas noticed an
abandoned, barn-like movie studio. He stopped his roadster and
prowled
around. That abandoned studio became Douglas Aircraft's first real
factory.
With the $120,000 contract in his hand, Donald Douglas could afford
to
hire one or two more engineers. My brother Gordon Scott had been
schooled in the little known science of aviation at England's Fairey
Aviation, so he hired Gordon.
My first association with the early aviation pioneers occurred when
I
paid my brother a visit at his new work place. Gordon was outside on
a
ladder washing windows. He was the youngest engineer. Windows were
dirty. And Douglas Aircraft Company had no money to pay janitors.
Gordon introduced me to a towhead guy called Jack Northrop, and
another chap named Jerry Vultee. Jack Northrop had moved over from
Lockheed Aircraft. And all of them worked together on the Douglas
Aircraft's world cruiser designs. While working in his home after
work
and on weekends, Jack designed a wonderfully advanced streamlined
airplane. When Allan Loughead [Lock-heed] found a wealthy investor
willing to finance Northrop's new airplane, he linked up with Allan.
Together, they leased a Hollywood workshop and constructed the
Lockheed Vega. It was sensational with its clean lines and high
performance. Soon Amelia Earhart and others flew the Vega and broke
many of aviation's world records.
I had the distinct pleasure of spending time with Ed Heinemann who
later designed the AD, A3D and A4D. He told me how my Dad would fly
out to Palmdale with an experimental aircraft they were both working
on. They would fly it around for a few hops and come up with some
fixes. After having airframe changes fabricated in a nearby machine
shop, they would hop it again to see if they had gotten the desired
results. If it worked out, Mr. Heinemann would institute the changes
on the aircraft's factory assembly line. No money swapped hands!
In May 1927, Lindbergh flew to Paris and triggered a bedlam where
everyone was trying to fly everywhere. Before the first Lockheed
Vega
was built, William Randolph Hearst had already paid for it and had
it
entered in an air race from the California Coast to Honolulu . In
June
1927, my brother Gordon left Douglas Aircraft to become Jack
Northrop's assistant at Lockheed. While there, he managed to get
himself hired as the navigator on Hearst's Vega. The race was a
disaster and ten lives were lost. The Vega and my brother vanished.
A
black cloud hung heavily over the little shop. However, Hubert
Wilkins, later to become Sir Hubert Wilkins, took Vega #2 and made a
successful polar flight from Alaska to Norway . A string of
successful
flights after that placed Lockheed in aviation's forefront.
I went to work for Lockheed as it 26th employee shortly after the
disaster and I worked on the Vega. It was made almost entirely of
wood
and I quickly become a half-assed carpenter.
At this time, General Motors had acquired North American consisting
of
Fokker Aircraft, Pitcairn Aviation [later Eastern Airlines] and
Sperry
Gyroscope and hired Dutch Kindelberger away from Douglas to run it
Dutch moved the entire operation to L.A. where Dutch and his
engineers
came up with the P-51 Mustang.
Interestingly, just a handful of young men played roles affecting
the
lives of all Americans ..... as it initiated the So California
metamorphosis, from a semi-desert with orange groves and celluloid,
into a dynamic complex, supporting millions.
Although this technological explosion had startling humble
beginnings,
taking root as acorns in — a barber shop's back room — a vacant
church
— and an abandoned cannery — but came to fruition as mighty oaks.
Source:
Denham S. Scott, North American Aviation Retirees'
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