After the Rainy Day

For Curtiss-Wright Corp., once the biggest U.S. aircraft company, a new war began when peace came. It seemed to be a losing battle from the start. With 16 of its 19 plants shut down, Curtiss-Wright began losing out on orders from the Air Force. It also got little business from civilian customers. It still had $100 million in cash, but President Guy W. Vaughan was saving it for a rainy day.

Stockholders, who thought the rainy day had arrived, last spring clamored that the money should be spent for dividends. Curtiss-Wright paid out $17,000,000 but the stockholders were not quieted. Still faced with rebellion, Vaughan upped himself to board chairman two months ago, raised Wright Aeronautical Vice President William C. Jordan to president and asked Investment Banker Paul V. Shields to help him put some new life into the company. Last week the new life came in--and Curtiss-Wright got one of the biggest shakings-up of its 30-year career.

New Deal. Out went Air-Frame Builder Burdette S. Wright and Engine Builder William D. Kennedy, both Curtiss-Wright vice presidents of long standing. In came a high-powered slate of directors. Among them:

P: John A. McCone, who helped write the Finletter report on U.S. air power. He is president of the Joshua Hendy Iron Works and the California Shipbuilding Corp. (Calship), which built Victory and Liberty ships (TIME, March 25, 1946).

P: Henry S. Sturgis, vice president of the First National Bank of New York, chairman of the executive committee of the Erie Railroad and director of half a dozen corporations.

P: T. Roland Berner, Manhattan lawyer and leader of the stockholder group which had tried to break Vaughan's control.

Old Dealer. Banker Shields, who had brought in the new board, was neither an aircraft maker nor, until recently, a stockholder of Curtiss-Wright. But he had other qualifications; as senior partner of Manhattan's Shields & Co., he had helped float some of the biggest U.S. industrial issues and had played a hand in some other big reorganizations, such as the New York Stock Exchange in 1938. Now, as chairman of Curtiss-Wright's executive committee, Shields's next job will be to help President Jordan lure new aircraft designers and production men to Curtiss-Wright to step up experimental work in jets, turboprops and guided missiles.

To get Curtiss-Wright's new projects off to a flying start, Chairman Vaughan last fortnight hustled to England, reportedly to dicker for the U.S. rights on the De Havilland Aircraft Co. Ltd.'s gas turbine engine.

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