Volume X
Number 30
December 26
1942
TH E STATE
A Weekly Survey of North Carolina
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Seymour Johnson Field
It is located near Goldsboro and has been
established for the purpose of operating an
airplane mechanics school for the Army
Air Forces Technical Training C ommand.
LAST April, fanners who tilled
the sandy soil a few miles east
of Goldsboro cleaned out their
barns, packed up their household
goods, and moved to new homes to
make room for thousands of workers
who arrived to build an airplane me¬
chanics school for the Army Air
Forces Technical Training Command.
This Christmas those farmers who
return to visit old friends in Golds¬
boro will see their former lands
transformed into a city of men who
are learninp to keep our planes in
fighting trim on the world's far Hung
fronts.
Responsible for the “on-time” sched¬
ule which changed the area from
farmland to an important contribu¬
tion to America's war effort were the
contractors which undertook to eon-
struct Seymour Johnson Field. The
Charlotte, X. C\, linn of Grannis,
Higgins, Thompson, MeDovitt, had
16 sub-contractors on the job. These
were Waters Bros.; Maryland Steel
Products Co.; Holmes Electric Co.,
of Fayetteville; Air Conditioning
Co.; A. B. Miami Co.; Bonitz Insu¬
lation Co.; Angleton Co.; F. D. Cline
Co.; J. P. Rogers Co.; W. P. Lowri-
inore, of Goldsboro, N. C. ; Caro¬
lina Engineering Co.; Grinnel Engi¬
neering
Со.; А. Г>.
T. Co.; A. Lynn
Thomas Co.; Southeastern Asbestos
and Magnesium Co.; and W. H.
Sullivan Co. Contractor for installa¬
tions which will eventually house
a detachment of the Women's Aux¬
iliary Army Corps was E. F. Tay¬
lor, assisted by J. R. Bagwell, of
Durham, N. C., and Greenville Elec¬
tric Co., of Kinston, as sub-contrac¬
tor*. J. N. Pease, of Charlotte, N.
C., were architectural engineers for
General Walter J. Reed, command¬
ing officer at Seymour Johnson
Field. (Photo by A. A. F. Technical
Training Command.)
construction of the post. Other con¬
tractors were J. L. Powers. W. L.
.Jewel, of Sanford, N. C. ; Johnson-
Canov. of Greensboro, N. C., and A.
J. Jenkins, of Warsaw, N. C.
A Tribute to American Genius
Seymour Johnson Field is a tribute
to American genius at doing things
in a hurry. Plans were laid, lands
acquired, and the ramp erected in
record time. Today men — thousands
of them — study a course which has
boon stripped of academic classes,
formal examinations, nnd everything
else which would take time away
from actual experience in working
Oil airplane engines.
Men in the green coveralls of
America's working army develop
“know how” by taking engines apart,
putting them back together again,
and listening to hear whether they
sputter or purr.
These men come from all over —
geographically, socially, profession¬
ally. It doesn't matter to the Tech¬
nical Training Command whether a
man was a mechanic or musician, a
clerk or a cowboy. If he passes his
aptitude and intelligence tests designed
to show whether or not he can
absorb mechanical training, lie goes
to school. Previous mechanical ex¬
perience, while it may prove valuable,
isn't necessary at Seymour Johnson
Field.
The course of instruction starts
from scratch and runs through 12
phases, covering all the operations
of servicing, repairing and overhaul¬
ing an airplane engine. It explains
why airplanes fly nnd how to keep
'em flying.
No one denies that life at Seymour
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