15-YEAR PIN PRESENTED
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President T. H. Davis presented Norris Young his 15 year pin in recognition of the com
pletion of fifteen years with Piedmont Aviation on October 1st. Norris started with
the Company during the War Training Service Program, and his conscientious handling
of customer aircraft problems through the years, has made his name synonymous with
gooa aircraft maintenance throughout the area served by the Fixed Base Division of
Piedmont Aviation.
WILLARD BUILDS MODEL VISCOUNT
D. R. "Red" Willard, Superintendent of
the aircraft engine overhaul shop In INT,
recently completed a six and one -half pound
model of the 44 passenger Capital Airlines
Viscount, which took him 1,125 hours to
design and build. It has a four foot wing
span and a unique engine drive system that
uses one engine to drive all four props.
Mr. Willard, unlike many airplane model
builders, usually starts from scratch and
scales down the type he desires to build.
In the case of the Viscount, he purchased
asmall 75^ kit airplane which measured
about 11 inches overall and by careful
measurement, he precisely translated these
dimensions into the larger version, with
all of the aerodynamic details carefully
worked out and complete drawings made
before proceeding with the construction.
Red admits that he had to do some "hlgh-
fallutlng"studylng to brush up on his areo-
dynamlcs and mechanical drawing. He
has studied engineering, chemistry and
physics on his own after completing high
school and manages to keep abreast of all
the latest developments. In spite of the
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high pressure and activity associated with
his job of seeing to It that all sizes of air
craft engines are properly and efficiently
overhauled.
Mr. Willard Is especial ly proud of the
model's power plant which he calls a multi-
engine drive unit. Al I four propellers are
driven by aslngle engine which Is mounted
In the center of the fuselage. The propeller
shafts are mounted on ball bearings and
are driven at about 15,000 rpm by belt
drives.
He started building model airplanes about
24 years ago shortly after he married Mrs.
Willard. She started right in building
models too, and "Red" says that she is
mighty handy with painting, tools, mechani
cal work and woodwork.
The model has not been flown as yet, and
Red believes that with the right conditions,
meaning absolutely NO WIND, that it
should perform very well , He uses three
control wires, two for flight attitude and
one for engine speed.
Mr. Wil lard has been asked why he did not
build a model of the F-27 Fairchild Pace
maker since Piedmont will be using this
type aircraft. He has two reasons for
choosing the Viscount. First, his engine
drive design was not readily adaptable to
the high wing configuration of the F-27,
and secondly, he already has several twin
engine aircraft, which have been success
fully flown and the four engine type pre
sented a challenge which he hopes to soon
conquer.
Something we look forward to
with distaste, do with reluctance and
boast about forever after.