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Concrete and Steel Begins

The rewards of thorough pre-ground-breaking planning, with unremitting attention to detail, are becoming visible in the construction of ALPA's new Headquarters' Building as work proceeds on schedule according to a pre-arranged timetable and the foundation stands ready to receive the first steel girders that will form the skeleton of the structure.

The first steam shovel of dirt was excavated on July 11, 1949; only a week later, on July 18, the first wheel barrow of concrete went into the waiting forms; and the steelwork, marking the first real step in the above-ground construction, commenced August 30. Following completion of that, the bricklayers and mansard workers will move in to begin work on the outer shell.

Thorough Inspections - Twice-a-day inspections by a specially designated two-man team from Headquarters, working under the supervision of President Behncke, are preventing the possibility of even a minor degree of shoddy work - insuring not only an eye-pleasing sight on what can be seen but also guaranteeing interior-to-exterior and basement-to-roof top quality on that all-important portion that is hidden from the eye and too often neglected on ordinary building jobs only to show up as a flaw years later.

This know-where-you're-going-and-what-comes-next-line of planning has produced a no-lost motion continuity from one phase of construction to another by having materials available when they are needed, not a month, a week or even days late. The steel, for instance, has been on hand in a Chicago warehouse for many months thus eliminating any time lag. All of this is imperative, as pointed out by one of the construction bosses who declared: "This job is going along smoothly according to schedule. That is not the case with all of them."

Pictured here is the progress that has been made on ALPA's building in only a little over a month.

[[image - photograph]]
(Top) Delegates to the Fourth Executive Board discuss plans for the ALPA building on which excavation had been started two days earlier. They are (l. to r.): P.A. Dye, Caribbean-Atlantic; H.M. Powers, Continental; W.A. Dixon, TWA; A.J. O'Donnell, PAA; J.A. Hodge, Trans-Texas and D.G. Reubert, AAA.

[[image - photograph]] (Center) Workmen swarm over what will be the main entranceway as the portals to ALPA's new home begin to take shape in concrete. The black area of the foundation visible at lower left of picture is waterproofing compound, applied double-coated to the entire foundation to guard against all possibility of seepage during Chicago's famed flash thunderstorms.

[[image - photograph]] (Bottom) The real backbone of the building - the massive steel girders providing structural strength - begins to take shape. On August 30, the towering boom lifted the first steel piece into place, steel workers riveted it securely and the face of the municipal area began to change.

PAGE 10  THE AIR LINE PILOT