Pacific Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 16, 1959, Tokyo, Japan                                The stars and stripes monday february 16, 1959p 8 the stars and stripes  .--., a Atlas missile produced in $40 million California Plant by North american new Piper Amuno san Diego. In Elf. A $20 Mil lion Complex of clean White build Ings jammed with ,$20 million Worth of precision tools stands Stark against the sky in the rolling Hills North of Here. It is the Home of Atlas Amer Ica s present Premium for peace insurance and chief Down payment on a slice of outer space. As a production item Atlas i something of a curiosity. If it is successful As a deterrent Type weapon it will never be used. If it is successful scientifically it will soar away from Earth and never  the face of it its production seems about As wasteful and Point less As the culture processing and marketing of tobacco which a North Carolina governor once described As the crop that is three quarters burned up and one Quarter thrown  much of the Atlas is secret or sem secret that a close look at its fabrication cannot be taken except under Security wraps. But this much can told of the missile the place it is made and the men who make it Atlas is a big thin skinned vehicle designed to deliver Hydrogen bombs Over intercontinental Dis Tances or to boost scientific pay loads weighing hundreds of pounds into reasonably High orbits around the Earth. Watchful Bye when since Engineer Krafft Ehricke s project Centaur comes to fruition Atlas will have a High Energy second stage using a mix Ture of liquid Hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The modified missile willbe on the verge of becoming a manned space ship. The astronautics Plant of con Var division of general dynamics where Atlas is made occupies nearly half a Square mile of land Here. The building that dominates the area is a huge factory Struc Ture with More than half a million Square feet under a single roof. It is Here that Atlas is assembled under the watchful eyes of Quality conscious engineers and Security conscious military officers. Other plans the tools to make Atlas belong to the government. The Plant itself belongs to Conval arid while it was designed to produce atlases is a fairly adaptable Lay out. If peace should break out one astronautics Man said wryly we could always Start producing ice  but no one seriously believes the Atlas Plant is Likely to retool for icebox production in the near future. Well be in the Atlas business for a Long time to come says Wil Liam l. Young 40-year-old operations manager of the Plant. And beyond the Atlas we have plans for other improved types of extreme Range missiles. We have just started the Cen Taur project Only $7 million the first year but it will  the Youthful Young s Boss a 37 year old Dynamo named j. , says the Atlas production rate has to be geared to whatever we can find out about russian production. Limited production Well have limited production of atlases if the russians Don make too Many Long Range missiles he said. But if their threat Force increases our deter rent Force will have to increase,too." about 8,100 persons work at the Atlas Plant which Means it is Nota particularly remarkable place from the standpoint of numbers. What is remarkable is the High percentage of technical people artwork. In an aircraft factory Early in world War ii there used to be about one technical or Engineer ing person. To 20 nontechnical Young explained. In the general Airframe Industry today the ratio is about one technical to seven nontechnical. Here it is about one to  Dempsey has estimated that the Atlas missiles will Cost $2 million apiece when they Are placed into full production. He said launching Sites for the big missiles probably would Cost $500,000 to $5 million. Zaragoza f86d unit logs 11,000 Safe flying hours Zaragoza Spain is the red devils of the 431st fighter interceptor so have completed 11, 000 Accident free flying hours. Officials described the font bythe f86d unit As noteworthy and observed that during 1956-57 the Squadron logged approximately 13,500 Accident free hours. The last Accident recorded for the Squadron wus on sept. 3, 1957, when an aircraft lost Power and the Pilot successfully bailed out. Since then the Squadron has logged More than goo Active air de sense missions Over the Mediterranean. Before coming to Zara Goza last september the Squadron was assigned to who club air base Libya. Commander of the Squadron is it col Richard d. Craig Hon whose aircraft is marked Eldia Blo  Creighton a Jet Ace with five kills during the korean conflict previously commanded the squad Ron during 1952-53 at Selfridge air Force base Mich. Before rejoining the unit in july 1957, he was chief of fighter operations 12fh air Force Ramstein air base  history of the 431st fighter so goes Back to May of 1943 when it wus first activated As part of the 475th fighter up 5th air  Squadron fought Over new Guinea new britain1 and the Philippines. First of retirement in Spain goes to m sgt Torrejon Spain is m sgt Truett e. Akins is the first air Force Man to retire in Spain. He received his retirement papers from maj Richard t. Hill 4307th support so commander after 23 years nine months and 21 Days of Active service. Akins plans to live in Madrid and has several Job possibilities i the  nov. 28, 1925, Akins also was Given an usual discharge. He purchased an honorable Dis charge. In those Days a Soldier with a clean record could buy his Way out of the service for $125. 1st in repeats Victory m at 14th army Cav shoot Wil Flecken Germany Spe Cial _ for the third consecutive year the 1st in came off with top honors in the 14th army Cav s Thompson memorial Leclerc com petition match held Here sunday. The 1st in came from behind in the last hour of shooting to defeat the 2d in 2,302 Points to 2,168.the match was decided in the final event the Light machine gun with two Man teams firing the Browning automatic Rifle. In this event the 1st in took All three first places first place new plane tracks Down submarines dentist treats canine tooth Alconbury England is the Busy dental clinic at this 3d air Force base recently treated strange patient Art 89-Pound, 5 year old alsatian sentry dog named major. A member of the 7560th air police so major like most otheral s is a Tough fellow and it was this that led to his downfall. I addition to a diet of raw Beefsteak and an occasional trespasser he also is fond of chewing on rocks stones and boulders. One of the rocks broke off his upper right Eye tooth flush with the gum exposing the nerve. When that happened major stopped eat ing steaks rocks and even tres passers. Surgery ordered first it Charles g. Anderson base veterinarian was contacted and he consulted capt Donald l. Curtis of the 607th tactical Hospi Tal s dental  decided that surgery was the Only cure for the canine Rock Crusher and Anderson volunteered to act As the  matters it was found that the Root of the toot was imbedded in Bone. A 45-mln Ute operation was required during which major slept like a  has since recovered completely. He s now Back on the beat eating his Beefsteak the occasional trespasser and rocks too. 16th sky Cav wins award Vicenza Italy special the 16th sky Cav has won a depart ment of the army certificate of Merit for safety for logging 5,500 flying hours without Accident officials have announced. Was taken by pvt Robert Reno pfc Edward Moeller with sp4 Charles Wilkerson pfc Carlos Parker in second and pvt Robert Mcpherson it Henry Kent in third. First it George Albert and pvt Donald Bowers both of the 2d in were High individual scorers in the pistol shooting. Individual scorers in the Rifle firing put James Taylor 2d in was High individual scorer followed by pfc Ernest Winger 3d in and pfc Oscar Aguilar 1st  team trophy was presented by regimental co col William e. Potts to 1st it Robert Anthis Cap Tain of the winning 1st in  annual match is named in Honor of capt Glenn d. Thompson air officer of the 3d in who died in an Accident in 1953.it is also the Competition to decide which team will represent the regiment in the v corp Leclerc matches scheduled for late june. Oberammergau wins Garmisch Rifle matches Garmisch Germany special Oberammergau took first place in the Garmisch s u b a re a Rifle matches with a team score of 1,269 Points. The Oberammergau shooters also took eight out of 12 firsts in the individual firing. In the 500-Yard prone commanders match the first three places were a popped by Oberammergau riflemen m sets John Hopkins Charles Stingel and Carl Palmer. " the s2f1 tracker described by Grumman air Craft corp. As the first plane designed to detect identify track and destroy enemy submarines is being produced by the Long Island firm for the . Navy Italy the Netherlands and Japan. The italian plane above is part of a $5.2 million consignment to that country. The Carrier based plane is equipped with mad magnetic airborne detection gear the company explained in Dis closing the s2fl s features. 13 for Wiesbaden Post Wiesbaden Germany special Friday the 13th took an unusual twist for the Wiesbaden Post news paper Here. On that Date 13 years ago rjae first Issue appeared. The 13 years of publication makes the Post the oldest . Military news paper in Europe other than the stars and stripes. Two in 201 i Wing cited for harrowing flight \ Imp wine i??t.r� run on tire caused by braking after touchdown