AEROSPACE PLANT'S NEW BEGINNING : ROCKETDYNE CELEBRATES FUTURE UNDER BOEING CO.

Byline: Eric Wahlgren Daily News Staff Writer

Frank Edwards recently had graduated from high school and was working in construction when Rocketdyne gave the San Fernando native a job at its Canoga Avenue aerospace plant in 1956.

Starting at the bottom as a machine shop apprentice at the then 1-year-old plant 40 years ago, Edwards has risen steadily through the Rocketdyne ranks and today directs a project building engines for the space shuttle.

A wave of nostalgia hit Edwards on Thursday as Rocketdyne threw its employees a party to celebrate Boeing Co.'s purchase of the rocket engine division from Rockwell International Corp.

``Rocketdyne took a punk kid, who knew nothing, and taught him a trade that stayed with him for his entire life,'' said Edwards, 61, one of the facility's first employees. ``I owe them a lot.''

Emotions ran deep during the changing of the guard at one of the West Valley's largest employers, famous for giving scores of local high school graduates like Edwards a shot at dream careers in aerospace.

``All my six children I raised while I worked at Rockwell,'' said Rueben Cortes, a 25-year employee and engineer, who said he was a little bit sad to see Rockwell go.

But, added Cortes, sounding an upbeat note: ``Boeing and Rocketdyne are going to be a great team.''

Rocketdyne has played a major role in U.S. space exploration since it first opened as a Canoga Park-based division of North American Aviation in 1955, bringing the Valley international recognition as an aerospace center.

Rocketdyne engines first propelled Americans into space and are now made for the space shuttles and Atlas and Delta rockets, which are used for commercial space launches.

The rocket engine maker also has long been a boon for the local economy as the division pays out about $275 million a year in wages with a good portion of that amount spent in the Valley.

``Rockwell has been an integral part of the San Fernando Valley,'' said Gary Barr, president of the Woodland Hills Chamber of Commerce, referring to Rocketdyne's former owner. ``The employees work here. They patronize our businesses. They own our homes.''

Like many of the nearly 1,000 employees who gathered for the celebration at Rocketdyne's 48-acre Canoga Park facility, Edwards predicted that Boeing's $3.2 billion acquisition of Rockwell's aerospace and defense divisions will change little at the plant.

``We're still Rocketdyne,'' Edwards told the crowd wearing blue caps bearing ``Rocketdyne Boeing'' logos. ``We're still the best rocket factory in the world. That will not change.''

Boeing has told Rocketdyne, which today employs about 4,100 locally and about 750 in other sites across the country, that no significant layoffs are planned as a result of the deal, which is expected to be finalized today.

``It is not a downsizing,'' said Janet McClintock, a Rocketdyne spokeswoman. ``It is about improving our position, and the Boeing Co.'s position as an aerospace power.''

But despite Boeing's assurances, an official with United Aerospace Workers Local 87, which represents about 700 Rocketdyne employees, said some workers are nervous about the transfer.

``They don't know what the future holds,'' said Richard Mudd, a union trustee. ``Most of the concerns are on the salary side.''

Boeing already has informed Rocketdyne that employees will retain the same benefits available under the Rockwell plan. The Boeing logo will start popping up on employee paychecks next week, McClintock said, and new badges will be issued in January.

``But there is probably less that changes and more that stays the same,'' McClintock said.

During Thursday's celebration, which at times resembled a pep rally, signs of the new corporate marriage cropped up across a huge lot where workers gathered.

Employees munched on a giant flat cake topped by a Boeing 747 carrying a space shuttle. A banner stating ``Rocketdyne Is Proud To Be Boeing'' was unveiled. A crew replaced the Rockwell sign at the Rocketdyne headquarters' Canoga Avenue entrance with a new Boeing one.

And workers spelled out ``B-O-E-I-N-G'' while a loudspeaker system blared the Fleetwood Mac tune with the words, ``Don't stop thinking about tomorrow.''

``It's going to be weird for a while with the different badges, but we're still the same,'' said Rocketdyne security officer Zin Watford. ``This means we are going forward with a company that wants to go forward.''

Since Rocketdyne opened 41 years ago on a site once surrounded mainly by orange groves and chickens, some of the world's most prominent physicists and scientists have contributed to rocket-building projects.

Werner Von Braun, the famous German rocketeer who developed the V-2 used to bomb the Allies during World War II, spent time at the plant.

Mirroring the trends in the aerospace industry, Rocketdyne's fortunes have risen and fallen with employment peaking at about 25,000 during the 1960s during the Apollo missions to the moon.

``It was the race to the moon,'' McClintock said.

Rocketdyne's work force has been halved since 1990 when it employed about 8,800 workers.

But Ron Clary, president of the Canoga Park/West Hills Chamber of Commerce, said he believes Boeing will make good on its pledge to keep the jobs at Rocketdyne and that the aviation-aerospace giant will only fuel the rocket-engine maker's business.

``Everybody in the chamber is glad that there seems to be a promise from Boeing that we are going to see continued activity at the site,'' Clary said.

Clary also praised the outgoing Rockwell for being what he called a ``great community citizen.''

As a division of Rockwell, Rocketdyne donated about $500,000 annually to nonprofit organizations while Rocketdyne workers gave about $30,000 weekly out of their paychecks to support local charities.

CHRONOLOGY

Here is a chronology of the Rocketdyne Division:

1929: North American Aviation Inc. organized as wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors.

1931: North American Aviation spun off to shareholders.

1935: North American Aviation moves corporate headquarters to Southern California.

1939-45: North American builds 42,700 military aircraft during World War II at its Seal Beach plant, including the P-51 Mustang fighter, B-25 Mitchell bomber and the T-6 Texan trainer.

1955: North American Aviation establishes Rocketdyne as a separate division in Canoga Park to develop commercial uses of the liquid fuel rocket.

1961: North American wins contract to design and build the Apollo command and service modules and engines for all stages of the Saturn rocket.

1961-to-present: Every manned U.S. flight lifts off using Rocketdyne engines.

1967: Rockwell Standard and North American Aviation merge, forming a new company, North American Rockwell.

1969: Neil Armstrong sets foot on the moon, having been transported in Rockwell-built Apollo service and command modules and propelled by Rocketdyne engines.

1971: Rocketdyne begins work on the reusable space shuttle engine.

1973: Space station Skylab, powered by a Rocketdyne-built F1 engine, is launched.

1981: First launch of shuttle Columbia powered by three Rocketdyne main engines.

1987: Rocketdyne selected to build electrical power system for orbiting international space station.

July 1996: Rocketdyne wins $270 million National Aeronautics and Space Administration contract to build propulsion system for the Lockheed Martin X-33 reusable launch vehicle, a one-stage-to-orbit vehicle that will take off vertically and land horizontally.

August 1996: Boeing announces the $3.2 billion purchase of Rockwell's aerospace and defense divisions.

December 4: About 97 percent of Rockwell shareholders approve the Boeing purchase, allowing for the transfer of 21,000 Rockwell employees to Boeing, including 4,100 local employees.

December 6: The Boeing deal is expected to close.

SOURCE: Daily News and Rockwell International

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