PLANT 42'S `FIRST LADY' TO RETIRE; WOMAN TO END CAREER AFTER PLAYING `RADAR' ROLE FOR 17 COMMANDERS.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

Antelope Valley's ``first lady of aerospace'' officially will retire today, ending a 41-year career that included serving all 17 commanders of Air Force Plant 42.

Lorraine Sadler, the administrative assistant at Plant 42, said she wanted to retire while the job was still fun.

``I feel great. I could work another five years,'' Sadler said. ``It's the right time to go when you feel like that.''

Sadler, 65, is part of the administrative team for a plant with about 8,500 workers. Only Edwards Air Force Base, with 14,000, employs more workers in the Antelope Valley.

Plant 42 is where the B-1 and B-2 bombers were built and where modifications and repairs are performed for aircraft including the F-117 stealth fighter and the U-2 spy plane. Over the decades Sadler worked there, the plant has turned out planes ranging from the F-104 fighter jet, to the giant XB-70 supersonic bomber, to the A-4 attack jet.

``There have been so many first flights,'' Sadler said. ``I've seen so many programs go from the cradle into flight test and into service. I'm very lucky. Most people don't get to see that.''

Sadler has helped organize community projects, including relief efforts for Hurricane Andrew victims and the annual Salute to Youth career fair. She is regarded as a walking reference book on the plant.

``She was the continuity of that office,'' said Joe Davies, a Palmdale city councilman who was the commander of Plant 42 from 1963 to 1967. ``She knew what had happened, who it happened to and where to find the paperwork.''

The Palmdale Chamber of Commerce selected Sadler as the first winner of the Antelope Valley Business Advocate of the Year award. She will receive it at a chamber awards dinner tonight tonight at the Essex House. Robert Green, the first commander of Plant 42 and the man who hired Sadler, is among former plant commanders who plan to attend the dinner.

``She's a great young lady,'' said Green, 86. ``We're proud of her.''

George Gunn, who was the plant commander from 1967 to 1968, said Sadler was essentially his second in command. Gunn, who had been the operations officer for the plant under Davies, had no operations officer under his command.

``Lorraine had been there long enough to be a real help. She managed to keep the files up to date and was as good as Radar on `MASH,' '' Gunn said. ``She was cheerful and optimistic when the pressure was on and I needed help.''

Marc Coody, commander from 1970 to 1972, said he also relied heavily on Sadler.

``The legend was - is - that Lorraine is the corporate databank for Air Force Plant 42. She has educated many Air Force officers in the skills of trying to manage it,'' Coody said. ``The Air Force would have been light-years ahead had they put her in charge of the facility and gotten on with their business.''

Mario Cafiero, plant commander 1988 to 1990, said he will not be able to attend Sadler's dinner but is sending a video message to the dinner.

``I had never before, and have never since, worked with a more faithful and dedicated person,'' Cafiero said. ``I will forever treasure her as one of my very favorite people.''

Cafiero said Sadler was the key organizer of the plant's Salute to Youth career day. She also helped in the development of Blackbird Airpark, which features a display of two of the Mach 3 spy planes, and the establishment of an American Red Cross office on land at the southern border of the plant property.

``I always felt confident in the work we were able to accomplish during my time as commander of Plant 42 because I had Lorraine Sadler by my side,'' Cafiero said.

Scott Allen, plant commander from 1990 to 1993, said Sadler is known for her compassion. In 1992, she organized the effort in which two trucks were loaded with donated goods within 48 hours for hurricane victims in Florida.

``Lorraine Sadler is the best commander's assistant that I saw in 20 years in the Air Force,'' Allen said. ``I'm just glad she's finally going to get the credit she deserves.''

Sadler was born in Plainfield, N.J., to parents who had fled persecution in what is now Iran. She moved to Modesto, Calif., in the 1950s when her parents established a vineyard.

After attending Modesto Junior College, she went to work as a secretary at Castle Air Force Base near Merced, Calif. She met her husband, Bill, at Castle Air Force Base when she stopped to ask him for directions on her way to her interview.

Sadler moved to Palmdale in 1956 when her husband took a job with Convair Aircraft, which was building F-102 fighters at Plant 42. A year later, at 22, Sadler was hired as an assistant to the commander.

She left the plant in June 1960 - about midway through the tenure of the second commander, Lt. Col. B.A. Hurlbut - to have her second child. She later went to work as a command staff secretary at the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards, but came back to Plant 42 during Joe Davies' tenure as commander.

Lt. Col. Robert Catlin, now the commander of the plant, has asked Sadler to help in the interview process and training for her successor.

Sadler plans a gradual retirement, helping her successor as needed.

She plans to keep working on Plant 42 Salute to Youth and Heritage Airpark projects.

``After 40-plus years you don't just walk away,'' Sadler said.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo: (1 -- color) Lorraine Sadler, retiring from Air Force Plant 42 today after 41 years on the job, receives roses.

(2) Lorraine Sadler gets a hug from Robert Green, first of 17 commanders she served at Plant 42.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer