F-27 PARTS PROGRAM ORGANIZED
Messrs . Howard Cartwright, Superintendent of Maintenance, W. W. Barber, Purchasing
Agent and H. L. Vogler, Supervisor of Stores, recently attended a two week Support
Conference at the Fairchild Aircraft plant in Hagerstown, Md. Representatives for 34
vendors involved in supplying parts and components for the F-27 aircraft attended the
meeting together with the purchasers of the F-27.
During the conference, vendor sales policies and warranty procedures were reviewed in
an effort to eliminate many of the problems that arise upon the purchase of a new air
craft. Following the conference. Piedmont finalized theirplans for prel iminary provision
ing of spare parts for the F-27.
NORWEGIAN FLIER ATTENDS F-27 ENGINE CLASS
Nils Ringdal, chief flight instructor for
Braathens Airlines in Oslo, Norway, has
completed his three week Dart Engine
course in Winston-Salem under the tutor -
ship of John Rehder, Director of Training.
Braathens Airlines is the Local Service Air
line of Norway and they have three Fair
child F-27s on order for its routes through
out the Scandanavian countries. Deliveries
are scheduled for late 1958.
Mr. Ringdal plans toorganize and conduct
similar classes for the Braathens Airlines
personnel upon his return and was very enthu
siastic in his praise of the training that
Piedmont Airl ines is making available to its
personnel and purchasers of the F-27.
Mr. Ringdal commented on an unexpected
reunion which occurred in the Dart class
when he saw Henry Wilson, a Piedmont
Airl ines mechanic stationed in Wilmington.
Nils relates that the first meeting happened
in England in 1942. He was then a flight
- 5 -
officer for the Royal Norwegian Air Force
attached to the RAF as a Spitfire fighter
pilot. They were to provide an escort for
a daylight bombing raid by American B-
17s and Wilson was a crewman on one of
the B-17s. It took 15 years, 3000 miles
of travel and a rare schedul ing coincidence
to reunite the two. _
DEKAY TAKES ASSIGNMENT
AT FAIRCHILD
R. H . "Bob" DeKay, Station Chief Mechanic
in Wilmington has been assigned as resident
Inspector for the F-27 at the Fairchild
plant in Hagerstown, Maryland.
He will remain in Hagerstown until the
first F-27 is del ivered and will be respon
sible for routine inspections approving
changes or corrections to specifications
and maintaining liaison between Piedmont
and Fairchild.
Resident inspection work is nothing new to
Bob. Before joining Piedmont in 1947 he
was the Assistant Superintendent of Mainte
nance of Santa Fe Skyways, an air freight
operation owned by the Santa Fe Railroad.
They operated DC-3 and DC-4 equipment
over trans-continental routes. It was
during this time that he spent about a year
at the Douglas plant as a resident inspector
for Santa Fe Skyways .
WILLARD GIVEN
HONORARY CAPTAINCY
D. R. "Red " Wil lard. Superintendent of
■ Engine Overhaul for Piedmont Aviation
in Winston-Salem can now be called Cap
tain Willard since receiving an unusual
and distinctive honorary award from Capi
tal Airlines.
The December issue of the Piedmonitor
carried an article about the model Viscount.
It took more than 1000 hours to build and
Red says that he wouldn't sell it for $2000.
Jim Mummah, Capital’s District S a I e s
Representative in Winston-Salem heard a-
bout the model and supplied his company
officials with a picture and all of the de
tails. They were impressed with the model
and along with Vickers Armstrong, Ltd.,
manufacturers of the aircraft, and the Rol Is-
Royce engine manufacturers, decided to
award the honorary Captaincy to him. The
presentation was mode at a luncheon cere
mony where Red was presented a certificate
designating him an honorary Capital Air -
lines captain.
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