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Show January 25, 1974 Martin Marietta NEWS Foster Ends Exciting Airplane, Missile Career When F. Gene Foster ends his | work day on the Pershing program next Thursday (January 31) he will bring to a close an exciting career that bridges pioneer aviation and modern-day missiles. "I've been blest," is how the former test pilot and barnstormer sums up his experiences. Although officially credited with only 44 years of company service, dating from October, 1929 in Baltimore, the retiring friend-to-all-who-know-him actually could claim more than 45, since he had previously worked for Glenn L. Martin for almost a year in the old Cleveland plant. A native of Crestline, Ohio I where his father was a funeral director. Gene attended Ohio Wes-leyan for a year until the urge to fly drew him to Cincinnati where he gassed, changed oil and washed airplanes in exchange for flying | lessons. After soloing he moved to Akronl and Cleveland where he picked up I more flying hours and sharpened his I aviator skills for his major objective- " barnstorming. For this he needed his own plane, I and a loan from his father resulted in ownership of a $3,200 Waco 10. To meet the payments on this sporty 90 hp biplane, the 20-year-old pilot took a job as a stock boy at the Martin plant in Cleveland. He worked there most of 1928, then took leave of absence to devote full time to | barnstorming at county fairs. He generated income by flying I passengers, two at a time, for $5| each. "That bought a 15-minute ride," I he recalls. "But $5 was a lot of money so I would accept $3 in a [ pinch for a 10-minute flight." Meanwhile, Glenn Martin was ' locked in an argument with Cleveland city officials who refused space at the airport for Martin operations. That conflict, plus a need for water areas to test Navy T4M1 torpedo bombers he was building, prompted Martin to shift his plant to Baltimore in 1929. Soon after, Gene flew his Waco 10 I to Baltimore and rejoined the company, this time in a laboratory | where he tested aircraft materials. By the early 1930s he had the job I of ground testing new aircraft prior | to flight. "I never lost an airplane," he I quips. He slowed down long enough in 1932 to take a bride - the former Genevieve Gurke of Baltimore. Fojur years later they become | parents of their only offspring, Robert, now an engineer in Communications and Electronics. For a year, Gene worked on the China Clipper program as a flight engineer and assisted in the checkout of Pan American aircrews. In 1935-36 he was test flying an innovative aircraft engine designed by Louis Chevrolet, a name already famous in automotive circles. The engine featured inverted cylinders and was mounted in a hot little airplane called a Waco-F. "It was a good product," he recalls, "but upside-down cylinders were ahead of their time." In 1936 the war in Asia was at its peak and Martin was under contract to the Nationalist Chinese for twin engine bombers to be delivered to Shanghai. The planes were crated in sections and shipped by freighter. Mr. Foster1 was dispatched to Shanghai in advance to supervise their re-assembly. There Gene was subjected to frequent bombing for nearly three months before the Japanese captured the city. He quickly delivered the materials on hand, then barely caught the last American refugee vessel to escape down the Whang-poo River. Gene then set up emergency shop in Manila and arranged for incoming airplane crates to be diverted there and, eventually, to Hanoi in French Indo China for trans-shipment into China from the south. With these deliveries completed. Gene returned to Baltimore for ground and flight testing of the PBM series. In 1941, at the start of World War II, he was in the Banana River area of Florida training Navy pilots, and later in Brazil with a Navy squadron that was eventually credited with 13 German submarine "kills" and one capture. At war's end, it was back to Baltimore, this time for work with commercial airlines to determine |- their needs for post-ware operations. The result was the development and production of the Martin 202 and 404 series. By 1950 he was assigned to customer service to help solve some equipment problems on the Navy P5M, an anti-submarine warfare plane called the Marlin. As it turned out, it was Gene's last assignment involving aircraft. Missiles were now the thing and Mr. Foster served two years as Logistics Manager for Lacrosse and, in 1956, joined a proposal team on a new surface-to-surface missile to be known as Pershing. By now he had become a Floridian. Serving first as Logistics Manager |-and, since 1963, as Special Customer Representative, he has been a member of the Pershing team since its inception. He was present at Cape Canaveral on a chilly morning in February, 1960 when the first Pershing roared aloft in a successful launch. To date, there have been 279 Pershing flights and Gene was there for 267 of them. He was named in 1962 to a Department of Army task force sent to West Germany to acquaint FRG officials with the virtues of Per- shing-which they later adopted. To many Martin Marietta employees, and certainly to a vast number of U.S. and West German officers and artillerymen, the name Foster is synonymous with Pershing. His status is, to say the least, unique for a contractor. For example: -When word of his impending retirement got out, the FRG had Mr. Foster in Europe, where he was honored at a special parade of American, and West German troop units. - In conjunction with the final flight of the Pershing Fall, 1973 series in December, Army officers from White Sands Missile Range, N.M., gathered at Geyser site in Utah for a special dinner honoring him. -Two weeks ago, an impressive farewell was staged at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, by officers and artillervmen in honor of the personable Gene Foster, who was initiated into the Ancient Order of St. Barbara - a rare honor for a civilian. - And finally, a number of tributes will be made by fellow employees next week, including a reception and dinner. In short, he'll be missed. What are his plans for retirement? "That's not firm yet, but I assure you, Ginny and I will be active," the youngish-looking 65-year-old veteran insists. "And I can also tell you this: I'll take with me some fine memories. I've always been proud to represent Martin Marietta. With minor exceptions, we have done excellent work-and the customer knows it. So, we have a good reputation. And we have good people. So does the customer. And that makes a good combination." Looking back over the years, Gene, would you do things differently? |