Hangar Shortage Offers Opportunity to Lumber Dealers

Aviators and their private planes in every nook and cranny of the United States-that great body of sky pioneers, men and women, pilots and ground crelvs, that comprise "civil aviation" in America-are being organized by the Office of Civilian Defense into the Civil Air Patrol. This does not mean that these people are joining the Air Force, or that the fellow who uses his cow pasture for a landing field is going to be issued a machine gun. They will be civilians; they will pay their own way as in the past; they will continue in their usual bread-andbutter jobs. But their flying, when they fly, will be on definite assignments which are helpful to the army and navy in prosecuting the war. They will be an extension of the Air Force, but not a part of it. As the months pass they will become a disciplined, closely-knit organization instantly on call where and when needed.

Lumber dealers may be playing an important part in this program, for many of these planes even now do not have hangar facilities, and the present indication is that this situation will become worse within a few weeks, even though no private planes are built. There are more than two thousand airports in this country, but many of them do not have sufficient hangar facilities and a surprising number of private planes (even on the larger airports) must be stored in the open, with no protection against the elements except, perhaps, a tarpaulin. Since about 9O per cent of these private planes are fabric-covered, the deterioration from such exposure is severe.

Hangar shortage will be further aggravated by stringent new regulations soon to be imposed on all airports. Immediately after the outbreak of war, all private pilot licenses were suspended. They are not being reinstated until each individual's citizenship and loyalty can be established. Then, rvhen a pilot does regain his license, he must operate from an airport which the Civil Aeronautics Administration has certified for wartime use. Among the requirements for such certification will be adequate policing of the landing area on a Z4-hour basis, and the hiring of an approved clearance official for all hours in which flights are operated. Both these are expensive, ahd it is expected that only about 1,200 to 1,500 airports will be able to comply. That will mean, probably, a considerable influx of pilots and planes to the airports which qualify. For efficiency in their defense work, these planes must have hangars. They must have the hangars immediately -substantial buildings, well constructed, safe, and low in cost. Obviously, the timber-trussed hangar is the only structure which today can meet these specifications. As a patriotic duty as well as for his own business interests, every lumber dealer should make it his business to let his local airport officials know he has the answer to the hangar problem.

Make no mistake-the lumber dealer does have the answer, for the necessary lumber and dimension will be found in his regular retail stocks. Standard hangar designs, illustrating how to use Teco Connectors in fabricating these retail stock sizes and grades of lumber into hangar trusses have been prepared by the Timber Engineering Company in consultation with CAA engineers. Local contractors and local labor can do the work. Teco Connectors, which make this construction possible with a minimum of metal and a minimum of cost. are available in the various sizes and types required r,vithout necessity of dealers carrying them in stock.

It is suggested that any lumberman located near an airport write at once to the Timber Engineering Company, 1337 Connecticut Avenue, Washington, D. C., for a free set of the plans which he is likely to require. If that 'airport is certified, probably the manager will want to provide more hangar facilities in a hurry, and the sooner the plans are available, the better. A busy, harassed individual, the manager may not realize that the wood-built hangar is what he needs.

Behind the Eagle Stands the Forests Four California Cities Listed Among

Seattle, Washington. January l5-Lumbermen of the Douglas fir region are speeding up a drive for the promotion of timber in heavy defense construction, to maintain forest operations and employment and to release more steel for ships, tanks, planes and guns, the West Coast Lumbermen's Association has announced in offering a new pictorial publication entitled "Behind the Eagle Stands the Forests." This is a 3?-page album of dramatic views of lumber in war building, published by the American forest industries for national circulation. The Association is giving it dstribution in the Douglas fir region, the source of most timber engineering material. Free copies may be had upon postcard request to the Association at Seattle, Washington, or Portland or Eugene, Oregon.

"With the completion of most cantonment construction and the sharp decline in everyday building due to the SPAB curb on construction use of critical metals, our engineers and fieldmen were sent into defense areas to expand the timber engineering market," the Association said. "On December 9 the WCLA Trade Extension Committee met in Portland and agreed to reinforce this program all along the line, from tree to building site, to help keep the mills running and the industry's employees at work, and to divert more steel tonnage to production of armaments and ships.

"Trade extension projects in the fields of defense housing and defense farm building were also approved. Despite the fog of economic uncertainty brought on by the war, and such obstacles as the shipping shortage, the decline of civilian building and prospective increases in freight rates, the order of the day was 'Forward, march.'

"The war service of timber engineering promises to enlarge this field of forest use when peace comes, according to Engineering News-Record, which in a recent editorial on a large plane factory framed in timber, declared:

"'This building and others in our country emphasize that timber is not only a defense material of first rank, but that modern processes in its manufacture and use offer the designer what is in efiect a new material for peacetime applications.'"

First Twenty in Building

Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Oakland were listed among the first twenty cities in the United States reporting the largest volume of building in 1941.

Los Angeles was in second place with a total of $87,238,818; San Diego rvas fourth with $51,070,588; San Francisco was seventh with $37,256,2D, and Oakland was seventeenth with $15,816,181. New York was in first place with a total of. $153,175,677.

Following are the twenty cities showing the largest permit valuation for 1941 as compiled by Dun & Bradstreet, Inc.

Roy Matheny

Roy Matheny, 55, retired retail lumberman, passed away in Salinas, Calif., January !2.

IIe is survived by his widow, Mrs. Anne Matheny; a son, Stanley A. Matheny; a daughter, Mrs. Naomi Johnson; three brothers, Ed, Charles and Harry, and two sisters, Mrs. Ola Asher and Mrs. Cora Price.

He was a native of Missouri.