Collins Aerospace Museum

Name		Title	Text…	Contributed
Terald Lamb	read	Flying in the 1980	Before the late 1980's there was very little forma…	March '15
Terald Lamb	read	The Doppler Naviagton System	In the late 1950's and early 1960's Bendix and Col…	March '15
Terald Lamb	read	Equipment On Art's Boat in Miami	Collins hired summer engineers to allow individual…	March '15
Terald Lamb	read	Development of Flilght Control Guidance	Art Collins owned the patent on the Horizontal Sit…	March '15
Terald Lamb	read	Flight Testing the Kineplex Modem System	One of our flight test and transportation aircraft…	March '15
Russ Colton	read	Memorable Events Working with Art Collins and Dr. Lippisch	Dr. Lippisch was a German scientist who came to th…	September '12
Terald Lamb	read	The First and Last Time I Met Arthur Collins	Arthur Collins was a genius and scientist who had …	June '12

· · The First and Last Time I Met Arthur Collins · ·
By: Terald Lamb

Arthur Collins was a genius and scientist who had an uncanny ability to determine what kind of product would be needed four to five years in the future. His passion for technical superiority, product performance and reliability using the most advanced technology available always made Collins products a level above the competitor's products.

It was clear to most of us exactly what Art wanted the company and its products to be. Hard work was a norm throughout the company and Art realized that innovation didn't happen only during working hours. It was not unusual to find engineers including Art experimenting or working on a project in the plant any day of the week or any hour of the day.

In the early years Art didn't seem to be as concerned about what an employee was doing at any particular time as he was that technical progress was being made on a product design.

It was in this kind of atmosphere I found myself when I first met Art face-to-face. Cache Flesher and I were working in the lab on various projects. As it turned out on this particular day, Cache had some free time between project tasks. He had ordered a Heath Kit and was putting it together when Art walked up to the lab bench.

In those days it seemed like Art had time to be more outgoing and social than in later years. Anyway, Art said hi to us and said, "Cache, what are you working on?" Cache took a minute to answer and finally said, "Mr. Collins, I am working on a Swiss Navy project." Art took this in stride and left our area. (For those who haven't heard this term, the Swiss have no Navy.)

The last time I remember being with Art was not long before the company had a cash flow problem resulting in a takeover by North American Rockwell Corp.

We were taking one of the company's Gulfstream aircraft from Cedar Rapids to Addison airport at Dallas. Art took his usual seat in the back of the cabin. By this time in Art's life, he had changed.

His pet project was called the C-System and lots of money was being spent on it with minimal results, at least, from Art's prospective. This was a time when he really didn't much like to hear bad news. This gave some of us the impression that he only wanted "Yes Men" around him and a clear indication to try to stay clear of Art's pet projects.

On this flight Art hardly said anything to anyone and kept to himself. With Rockwell in control, it wasn't long before Art resigned from the company. In retrospect, it was a sad occasion to see this happen to such a pioneer in the radio business.

—June 21, 2012

Terald retired in April 1996 after working 35 years in Certification.

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