PLANE MECHANIC'S MEMORY SOARS RECALLING LIFE ON BASE.

Byline: Bettie Rencoret Senior columnist

Clyde Dower becomes animated when he talks about his days out at Edwards Air Force Base repairing damaged aircraft.

``Some planes crippled in airborne accidents are salvageable, and putting them safely back in the air was our primary objective,'' Dower said. ``It wasn't always easy but we did it. We saved them even if they'd been torn in half.'' He described how a freak accident did major damage to one airplane.

``You know that the wings on most aircraft hold the fuel tanks?''

He stretched out his arms to illustrate the loaded wingspan.

``Well this plane was torn apart in flight when an electrical malfunction created a spark that ignited the fuel in the wings and they exploded,'' he said. ``You could drop a man through the resultant holes in those wings.''

Since officials wanted to use the repaired plane as a speed-barrier test vehicle, Dower was asked to put it in top shape.

``We did that. We put water in the tanks to simulate the fuel,'' he said. ``Then they could arrest the plane using several different techniques.''

Dower recalled another incident in 1957 when a T-33 and a KC-135 collided in midair. The T-33 pilot was killed instantly, and his plane crashed and burned.

It appeared, he said, that the fighter pilot was recording flight information on a note pad with his head down and didn't see he was on a collision course with the bigger plane.

The KC-135 pilot raised his nose in an effort to climb out of range but the evasive action was too late. The T-33 thrust into the underside of the KC-135. There was a decompression explosion, all cabin pressurization was lost and the refueling control stick went flying out the back.

The KC-135 landed safely but with significant damage. Dower and several others, including Boeing Aircraft, were asked to estimate the cost of the repairs needed and submit bids.

Dower's bid, based on being able to get help from Boeing engineers who could supply parts and blueprints on how it was put together in the first place, was the lowest. He was awarded the contract.

``We were able to save that plane, too, and a lot of military defense money,'' he smiled.

``It was necessary to stay up with the state-of-the-art in manufacturing, because aircraft components were upgraded constantly,'' he added.

Sometimes his own innovative ideas, or those of his crew, were instrumental in producing those upgrades.

``We were always coming up with better ways to do things,'' he said. ``Most of the years, I worked out there as a civilian employee. I was the foreman and I always encouraged my people to streamline each operation.''

He helped them submit their time- and money-saving suggestions to companies and that earned them merit money.

``Our section made more money per capita in award money than any other section out there,'' he said.

From 1949 until he retired from civil service in 1972, Dower utilized the skills he learned at the California Institute of Technology in 1941, and he rose early in his career through the ranks to foreman.

``When I studied aircraft in college, I learned how to make parts by hand and I could hand-form a whole section for skins,'' he said. ``I even devised a way to seat the flange on the wing-bulkhead die without any wrinkles.''

He drew a picture to show how it was done.

``That earned me some extra money,'' he grinned.

He noted that as the industrial production equipment inspector at Edwards, he used to search out tools and equipment that could more efficiently do the jobs and make them more cost-effective.

``I went out shopping one day and found a big 300-ton surplus power brake,'' he said. ``That thing could form all of their dies with a lot less effort and for a lot less money.''

His job took a certain amount of engineering knowledge and he loved it, but after 23 years he retired in 1972.

For awhile after that he worked in mobile-home sales and setup, but that palled and in 1973 he went to work on the B-1 for Rockwell, alternating for a few months between Palmdale and the Los Angeles area.

His job was mainly in assembly and he was again soon elevated to supervisor.

It wasn't long before he was called in and told, ``You're not going back to that kind of work. You're going over to set up the mating.

``Then they gave me a crew to work with and switched me over to start a new plane,'' he said.

In 1977, Rockwell sent him to Florida to work on the space shuttle program.

``For a little while I replaced structural tubing braces on the lower side of the Columbia and served as a mediator between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and inspection,'' he said.

In praise of all his crews he said: ``I had some of the best people in the industry working with me. Most of them always got superior ratings on their evaluations. We were all proud of our work.''

Dower, 78, was born in Grass Valley, Calif., but moved, as an infant, with his family, to Maricopa. After graduating from Maricopa High School in 1938, he took courses at the University of Southern California, the University of California, Los Angeles, Caltech and the Anderson Airplane School.

He was married for 50 years to the late Doris Johnson and they came to Antelope Valley in 1948. Their son, Randolph, is a Palmdale resident. A daughter, Carolyn, is deceased.

``When we came here, I bought the old Shell station out on Sierra Highway from Mr. Winkle,'' he said. ``It was very close to Sid Osheim's Hardware and down . . . from Charlie Siebenthal's. Hank Hunter's Dodge agency was right across the street. I guess we owned that station for about a year and a half before I sold it.''

When he got out of the oil business, he went out to Edwards to work on sheet-metal refrigeration ducting and evaporative coolers for base housing, and that was the precursor to his airplane repair work.

PALMDALE - Information Day at the Antelope Valley Mall is set from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday. Through the auspices of the Antelope Valley Inter-Agency Coalition and the Mall, seniors and others will be able to get information on programs relating to their own spheres of interest.

LANCASTER - Menus for the week at the senior life nutrition sites in Lancaster, Palmdale and Pearblossom have been announced. All meals will include bread, margarine and coffee, tea or milk for a suggested donation of $2.

Monday: Chili-egg puff, Italian vegetables, tossed salad and orange/grapefruit sections.

Tuesday: Polish sausage with cabbage, potatoes, corn, marinated salad and pumpkin cake.

Wednesday: Braised beef with noodles, spinach, tossed salad and banana.

Thursday: Barbecued chicken, noodles Romanoff, Normandy vegetables, garden salad and cheesecake.

Friday: Spanish rice casserole, refried beans, peas, lettuce/tomato salad and Jell-O with pears.