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North American Aviation P-51 employee still at work today
Posted by bdk on Wed Jul 02, 2003 11:12:12 AM
In reply top null posted by null on null
By Elaine Caday-Eames
Imagine working 60 years at the same job. George Frey is a Boeing employee who's done just that.
Frey, 81, is a senior engineer/scientist in the Material & Processing Engineering group in Huntington Beach, Calif. He assists design engineers in selecting optimum materials for use in aerospace service applications.
When he began working for North American Aviation in Downey, he never imagined he would be in the same job for that length of time. "It has simply not seemed that long to me," he said.
What, as Frey looks back, was the most memorable moment in his 60-year career? "It was when the first Apollo astronauts that had landed on the moon, safely re-entered the crew capsule, blasted off of the moon's surface and appeared to be safely on their journey back to Earth," he said.
Frey is proud to have been directly involved in so many different and important aerospace achievements. He has been involved in the wartime production of twelve P-51 fighters and three B-25 Bombers each day, seven days per week; the supersonic X-15 airplane; the GPS Satellite System; the XB-70 Bomber (constructed with a brazed stainless steel structure); the F-86; F-100 and FJ1 fighter planes; and the Space Shuttle vehicles.
What he finds most exciting about his job is working on the advanced designs and concepts involved
in the latest proposals.
This work involves developing material and process systems for passive thermal control. "These tasks have included the development of materials and material combinations for thermal insulation of jet-engine tailpipes and interior aerospace payloads, including human passengers," said Frey, "the development of surface finish systems (paints and coatings) to minimize temperatures by reflecting or emitting thermal energy; and the development of ablation systems used to protect the Apollo satellite surfaces from overheating during reentry into the earth's atmosphere."
Watching the aircraft flying over and around the Los Angeles basin during World War II sparked Frey's interest in working in aerospace. He eventually received his bachelor's degree in engineering from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena in 1943.
Prior to working for North American Aviation, Frey worked for Douglas Aircraft on a radar antenna proposed for the Scout Dive Bomber airplanes being built in El Segundo the summer before he graduated from college.
Frey lives in Manhattan Beach with his wife, Madeline. In his spare time, he visits local museums, parks and art galleries. He also enjoys traveling to other countries. He has visited China, Singapore, England, France, Italy and Bali. Frey is also interested in understanding the major religions of the world and in investigating different medical and scientific theories that explain the nature of life and the universe better than currently accepted theories.
What drives Frey to excel in his lengthy career, he said, is the personal satisfaction he gains from "providing the most reliable and helpful material and process information possible to others." This is what has kept him on the job for so long and why Frey has no plans to retire any time soon.