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Chapter 5 World War II: The Bomber Plant Any story of Consolidated Aircraft Corporation must begin with Major Reuben Fleet, the blue-eyed, six-foot war veteran with a commanding military posture who bought two struggling airplane companies half a decade after World War I and “consolidated ” them to create his new company. The self-confident, stubborn Fleet built his factory into a major supplier of airplanes for the war effort with a division located in San Diego and a new one in Fort Worth in World War II.1 Fleet, who grew up in Washington State, became interested in flying and trained as a pilot during World War I. He remained in the Air Service at McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio, until 1922. In November of that year he accepted a position as general manager of the Gallaudet Aircraft Corporation in Greenwich, Rhode Island. Engineer Edson Fessenden Gallaudet created the company, but lost a Navy contract. The company foundered, and Gallaudet resigned in 1922, giving Fleet the chance to purchase it the following year.2 In May 1923, Fleet combined Gallaudet, the smallest World War I airplane manufacturer, with what remained of Dayton-Wright, the largest, using $25,000 of his own and his sister’s money, to incorporate Consolidated Aircraft Corporation in Delaware. Fleet’s purchase of Dayton-Wright included all of the company’s designs. In addition, he hired their chief designer , Colonel Virginius E. Clark. Fleet also inherited an order for twenty models of a TW-3 basic trainer. In June, Fleet brought out the all-metal Gallaudet CO-1-Liberty 400 designed by Air Corps Engineering.3 In 1924 the Air Service contracted with Fleet to produce Consolidated’s first original design, an improved version of the TW-3, which the company called the PT-1. The Army ordered fifty, giving Fleet justification to seek a better production facility, which he found in Buffalo, New York. He leased a large factory where Curtiss had manufactured airplanes in World War I. The Army eventually bought 170 of the new airplanes, the Navy purchased 300 of a different version, and Fleet sold various versions to twenty-two arsenal of defense 72 foreign countries. Because Fleet realized that the cold Buffalo winters made flying difficult for test pilots, he decided to move his factory to a warmer climate. He chose San Diego, hired an architect to design a plant, and between August and September 1935 he moved his entire operation on 157 railroad cars. This move seemed in keeping with the motto Fleet coined for his company, “Nothing short of right is right.”4 Acquiring a defense plant for Fort Worth eventually would involve Fleet. Interest in bidding for a government-constructed defense plant in North Texas developed quickly after President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced his plans and defense goals for military aviation. Roosevelt made it clear that for security reasons the military construction industry needed to decentralize and build plants inland away from any coast. The local labor pool in North Texas, although untrained in aircraft manufacturing, nevertheless was plentiful, and housing problems could be solved more easily in North Texas than in the already crowded industrial areas on both coasts. In addition, the flat terrain, temperate climate, and ideal flying weather proved to be significant advantages.5 Again the rivalry between Fort Worth and Dallas came into play as officials of both cities tried to attract a defense plant to their city. Fleet’s friend Tom Bomar, who had helped him move his plant from Buffalo to San Diego in 1935, accompanied him to North Texas to look at potential sites. In Dallas, officials from the Chamber of Commerce showed the two men around. In Fort Worth, Amon G. Carter, publisher of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, headed a business group that showed Fleet and Bomar a site on Lake Worth. In Houston, Jesse Jones, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, showed Fleet where an artificial lake and plant site could be built and then entertained both men at a local country club. Fleet thanked him, saying he still had not seen anything that looked as good to him as Chula Vista on San Diego Bay. Later, the two Consolidated men flew to New Orleans and looked over Lake Pontchartrain; Fleet also sent the Consolidated vice president to examine sites in Oklahoma.6 J. H. Kindelberger of North American Aviation made a firm offer to the Dallas Chamber of Commerce group led by R. L. Thornton Sr...

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