Oliver’s
Av i a t i o n
Division By Sherry
T
he Oliver Corporation was well-known as an equipment manufacturing company devoted to the farm industry. But did you realize that Oliver also had a hand in building airplanes?? During WWII, almost everyone in manufacturing converted their
plants to assist with the war efforts. After the war was over, plants had
to switch over to build new products or employees would be laid off.
Oliver’s Battle Creek division was one of those looking for more work, specifically in the defense department. They were able to fill their void
when they formed the Oliver Aviation Division and secured a contract as a subcontractor for the Boeing Airplane Company.
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In the previous issue, I introduced you to Theron Tallman
Oliver had absolutely no experience in aircraft assembly but
of the Tallman baler family. While the rest of the family was
it accepted the responsibility of meeting the strict deadlines and
While he was in high school, he signed up for a correspondence
of employees for the aviation division, key people were sent to
dreaming of a more efficient baler, Theron’s heart was in flying. course in the manufacturing and assembly of aircraft. Upon
completion of the course, he went to California to work for
three weeks at the airplane school where he was guaranteed a job upon completion. From there he went to work for
high-quality standards set forth by Boeing. Upon the hiring a 5-week training school conducted by Boeing at their plant
in Wichita, Kansas. When Theron returned, he was made a foreman in assembly.
Training programs began in Battle Creek for the aviation
Lockheed in Burbank California to work on assembly of the
division to properly teach the production personnel and
employed with Lockheed when WWII broke out.
of Oliver’s Aviation Division, over 4000 people went through
PV1 bomber. He also worked in assembly of the P38. He was
Theron was a valuable employee and Lockheed did
not want him drafted. Every month he would get a draft deferment. He could make no plans for his future because he
didn’t know where he would be. Lockheed continued to get him deferred until Theron had enough. After spending 3½
technicians about Boeing’s rigid specifications. During the era
the training program. During its peak, employment reached nearly 3900 people.
An Oliver Aviation training manual
years at Lockheed, he quit to go in the service. He tried to
enlist in the Air Force but they didn’t need anyone else and he ended up in the Army.
In the Army he served as a corporal gunner driving an M8
armored car. It was his job to go across the combat line into
enemy territory and locate the enemy. Once they were found, they were to back off and let the fighters take over. However, by the time you find the enemy, you’re usually in a position where
you CAN’T turn back and things got nasty. Theron said there were seven times when he should have been killed.
After Theron served his duty in the Army, he returned to
Shelbyville, IL where he went to work at the Oliver plant in the service department working on balers.
In August of 1951 Oliver purchased the former plant of the
Goss Printing Press Company in Battle Creek, Michigan. This spacious plant had tall ceilings and cranes, which were perfect for Oliver, who was anticipating their upcoming contract with Boeing. On November 17, 1951, Oliver received a letter of
intent from the Boeing Airplane Company to allow Oliver to
build the main fuselage assembly of the RB47E Stratojet and the Oliver Aviation Division was formed. The contract was signed on January 26, 1952, making it “official”.
When word spread of the new Aviation Division, Theron
told the Shelbyville plant manager, Cliff Rogers, that he had a background in aircraft assembly. Before long, Theron was transferred to Battle Creek, MI.
26 • August/September
13
In the early days of the Aviation Division, production got off to a rough start.
before that fuselage made its first launch
get things whipped into shape. Red made charts of EVERYTHING. He was
Oliver tooled up to build nearly every part
Oliver hired Red McMinds to be the superintendent of manufacturing and to
into the blue skies over Kansas.
successful and got the plant up and running efficiently so that all deadlines
used to assemble the fuselage. Tooling up for
and not an easy chore. Only the best of the best are able to secure contracts with
did all of the welding, riveting, plumbing
could be met and passed quality control. Working with Boeing was an honor such a prestigious company.
The Oliver Aviation plant (also known as Battle Creek Plant #2) consisted of
280,000 square feet of floor space situated on 11.4 acres. Although the plant was
adaptable for aircraft production, quite a bit of money was spent for renovations and alterations. The land, buildings, a substantial amount of tools and all office equipment was provided by Oliver at a cost of $1,680,000.
Even though the contract was signed in January of 1952, it was August of
1952 before the first completed fuselage left the building. It was August of 1953
the job cost $7,400,000. Oliver employees and wiring. It was an intricate process. This
was a time when work was actually done by human hands and not robots.
The first contract between Boeing and
Oliver consisted of 52 units.
Another
contract was signed for an additional 168
units. The third and last contact consisted of only 35 units for a total of 255 aircraft units.
Being the “digger” that I am, I wanted
to know exactly how many of the RB-47E aircraft fuselages were built by Oliver. I
made a few phone calls to aircraft museums but could never get a definite number. So
I gathered up all my courage and made a phone call directly to the THE Boeing Company in Seattle, WA.
After being
transferred a few times, I was finally on the phone with the Boeing Corporate The Oliver Aviation Division plant
Historian. I explained the purpose of my call and he was surprised to hear of Oliver’s
involvement with Boeing. After looking it up he stated that there were 240 RB-47E models built. I told him that number didn’t
correspond with what I had so perhaps the entire order wasn’t filled. He studied
a moment and said there were also15 RB-
47K models built that year right after the RB-47E model. 240+15=255! There are our numbers! It was an exciting moment for both of us. Now we know that ALL RB47E aircraft were indeed built by Oliver.
When I say “built by Oliver”, we are
talking about the main fuselage on the aircraft, known as Section 42. This was the first completed assembly of the RB-47E ready for shipment in August 1952.
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All sheet
metal was installed and the insides were ready to go. It weighed approximately 6,700 pounds and was ten feet wide and forty-five
This main assembly area consisted of ten jig assemblies for the assembly of the fuselage. This photo was taken from the window on the second floor, which was the office of Theron Tallman. Notice that the assembly line on the right does not have the skin on it yet like it’s opposing line.
This close-up shows one fuselage under production in June of 1952.
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15
Left: This 7,000 ton Clearing Hydro-Press was used to stamp out many of the larger parts of the fuselage. Below: The E model of the RB-47 was capable of taking pictures so there were a lot more wires to run. Notice the picture of the wiring taped to the panel to be used as a diagram by the electrician.
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feet long. Once the fuselage was complete, it was loaded on a
unsuccessfully for more government contracts but failed. So
the size of the aircraft. The destination was the Boeing plant in
Oliver purchased the Chris-Craft line of outboard motors and
special railcar. The rail carrier had to take a special route due to
Wichita, Kansas. From there it was unloaded, the wings and other assemblies were put together to complete the aircraft.
There are no identifying marks on the fuselage to label it
as an Oliver. Boeing would allow NO names on any of their assemblies. In fact, one brave assembler decided to take a drill bit
and carve his name inside of one of his units. Upon discovery, his unit had to be disassembled to have the name removed. He was reprimanded and I’m sure he never tried to pull that stunt again.
enters the Oliver Outboard Motor Division. As we all know, production began in March 1955. At this time, Theron was still the superintendent of manufacturing but he didn’t really
care about boat motors and the outboard line was plagued with problems. He said the first motors were FAST through the
water. Oliver replaced a bronze bushing in the motor with
needle bearings. This worked great until the bearings started coming out in the engine.
Outboard motors were a far cry from airplanes and Theron
The employment situation at the plant was not without
wanted out. So he wrote a letter to the President of Caterpillar
the UAW. Several walkouts took place throughout production
they promoted from within. He was, however, hired as a
problems. Being close to Detroit, employees were members of
and this concerned Boeing. Walkouts meant that there was a
possibility that deadlines would be missed. So Boeing decided that they would not be renewing after the third contract. Red
McMinds heard that the contract would eventually come to an end and decided to leave Oliver in search for more permanent
asking for a job. Cat would not hire superintendents because
foreman of assembly and after six months was promoted to general foreman and later was promoted to the superintendent of the same division. Theron remained with Caterpillar for 29 ½ years before taking early retirement.
If it were not for me running into Theron Tallman, we
employment. So in February of 1954, Theron Tallman was
would not have this great piece of history on file. He opened
still enough work left to last until the end of the year.
something he thought was long forgotten and something that
promoted to the superintendent of manufacturing. There was Since Oliver knew that they were going to lose their livelihood
at the aviation division, they set out to fill the void. They tried
up his home and his “restricted” government files to share most of us knew little about.
Theron Tallman works in the meeting room of the Aviation Division, which overlooks the main assembly area. (1954)
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What is an RB-47E?? The RB-47E was a photo and weather
The K model had additional windows in
reconnaissance plane built for the United
it for side radar. This was used for gathering
States Air Force. It was a reconnaissance
weather data and sampling air that could be
version of the B-47 bomber aircraft. The
tested for radioactive fallout following nuclear
bomb bays were removed and replaced
weapons testing.
by photoflash bombs for nighttime aerial
In its day the B-47 was state of the art. It
photography. It was powered by six General
was the first jet powered bomber and was
Electric J47-GE-25 jet engines. It held a crew
the first with swept-back wings. There were
of three: pilot, co-pilot and photographer/
several different variants of this model built
navigator. It had a wing span of 116 feet and
and 2 of those had fuselages built by Oliver.
was the first jet powered plane following WWII.
A completed RB-47E in flight with the former B-47 in the background. The nose on the E model was lengthened 34 inches to accommodate eleven cameras and other reconnaissance instruments. The longer nose gave it a more sleek appearance, which helps to tell the two planes apart.
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