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    Representing: Reminiscences; Humorous and Otherwise, of an Alaska Based Company Service Representative
    Representing: Reminiscences; Humorous and Otherwise, of an Alaska Based Company Service Representative
    Representing: Reminiscences; Humorous and Otherwise, of an Alaska Based Company Service Representative
    Ebook95 pages1 hour

    Representing: Reminiscences; Humorous and Otherwise, of an Alaska Based Company Service Representative

    By Douglas Anderson

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    About this ebook

    Douglas Anderson, the author, was born in Derbyshire, England. After his father passed away, Douglas went to live on his Grandfather's farm. Never very interested in animal husbandry, he leaned more toward the mechanical aspects of farming: maintaining and operating machinery. After an apprenticeship in the mechanical field, Douglas joined Rolls-Royce and began an interesting and diverse career. In the ensuing years, that career encompassed: jet engines, rocket engines and industrial gas turbines. Douglas immigrated to Canada in 1967, to the USA in 1977 and back to Canada in 2001. An adventurous fourteen years while supporting RR products in Alaska prompted Douglas to write and to become a published author. For many years, Anderson traveled and represented the company. Representing covers those years and some of the situations, humorous and otherwise, that he and his fellow Reps encountered at home base and at far-away places. The characters are real and these events actually happened as described. Most are documented for the first time in Representing.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPublication Consultants
    Release dateJul 13, 2015
    ISBN9781594335679
    Representing: Reminiscences; Humorous and Otherwise, of an Alaska Based Company Service Representative

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      Book preview

      Representing - Douglas Anderson

      be.

      Chapter 1

      Rocket Powered

      In the sixties, when I still resided in England, I worked as a fitter on liquid fueled rocket engines. This implies I was ‘fitting’ parts together but in reality it was much more complicated than that. A more contemporary title would probably be Rocket Engine Technician.

      The position with the rocket division came to me more by accident than by design. I was actually employed in the Experimental Jet Engine Department of Rolls-Royce Ltd in Derby at the time. However, I hadn’t acquired much seniority with the company and there were rumors of a substantial lay-off. I was young and single—though I had a fiancée—so the thought of a lay-off didn’t worry me too much. One day, however, the department Foreman came to me and said: You have to go to Jack Warwick’s office right away.

      Well! That certainly got my attention. Jack—Mr. Jack Warwick, Sir—was the Experimental Department head honcho. These were the days when people like Jack—at least by a young fellow like me—were viewed with awe. We were only one decade away from the traditional Bowler Hat Foreman era. Naturally I was thinking the worst, wondering what had prompted, a young fellow such as myself, to be hauled onto the carpet in front of Mr. Warwick. After all, I couldn’t recall doing anything wrong and my foreman didn’t seem at all upset. If I was going to be given the ‘pink slip’ along with perhaps several hundred other employees—there were about forty thousand employees at that time—it didn’t need head honcho Jack to hand it to me personally.

      With considerable trepidation, I made my way over to his office, on the way passing the noisy sheet metal fabrication shop and a half dozen test-beds where jet engines rumbled as they were put through performance and endurance tests behind thick reinforced concrete walls. The – not unpleasant – redolent scent of jet fuel and exhaust permeated my nostrils. I nervously entered the offices at the east end of huge Main Engine Build shop and introduced myself to Mr. Warwick’s secretary.

      Ah, Mister Anderson she said, glancing at a list on her desk. For a moment I thought she was going to add: what have you been up to? but she didn’t. Instead she told me: Mr. Warwick will be free to see you in a few minutes.

      My brief meeting with Mr. Warwick was not at all bad. He did not come across as the ogre I had imagined. In fact he was downright friendly. After introductions—I naturally had never had the pleasure before—he said my name had been put forward by my department foreman and he asked me if I was interested in transferring to the Rolls-Royce Rocket Engine Division which was centered at Spadeadam, Cumberland, two hundred miles to the north. The Rolls-Royce RZ2 rocket engines powered the British Blue Streak rocket, which had been chosen as the booster rocket for the European Launcher Development Organization (ELDO) program. If I was agreeable, Mr. Warwick would arrange for me to have an interview with the supervisor, Jim Foulds, who would be visiting within a few days. He really didn’t have to explain that I might not have a job much longer if I didn’t accept.

      I was stunned. First it seemed a tremendous compliment and, secondly, Cumberland seemed so very far away. I guess I was also thinking: just what is a rocket engine like, since I had never actually seen one, let alone worked on one. All I knew was from reading the occasional article in the monthly company newspaper. Without giving it too much thought, I stammered an affirmative and was out of there within minutes. I was in such a daze, I don’t really remember walking back to my work station.

      You know how you can look back on your life and remember those defining moments that set you on a totally different course. That was certainly one of those defining moments. Most of what had transpired since was as a result of that moment when I stammered a nervous yes to surprisingly friendly Mr. Warwick.

      I digress for a moment. My father had passed away when I was only six years of age and my mother took me and my sister to live on my grandfather’s farm eight miles from Derby. For years family friends, Lou Pickering and his wife Winn, visited the farm most Sundays – rain or shine – and they would take our farm dogs for a walk three miles along public footpaths, across fields and streams to a neighboring village where they would have a couple of pints of brew. Dogs were, of course welcome at pubs in those days—probably still are—and they had a lick of beer and a few potato chips as a treat.

      Those dogs—over the years several generations of them—knew it was walk day because the church bells called people for Sunday Service just before 11 AM and Lou and Winn always arrived about 11:30. There were two, or three, dogs sitting on a tree-stump near the farm gate waiting for their Sunday walk and treat. They were also there on Wednesdays at odd times when there was a bell ringing practice. Needless to say, Lou and Winn would not be there on Wednesdays and eventually the dogs wondered back home all dejected. They never did seem to learn the difference between bell ringing practice and Sunday Church services.

      Lou was employed at Rolls-Royce Derby for all of his working life. His five brothers, one sister and countless nephews and nieces also worked there. He boasted: there’s a Pickering in every department.

      It was probably not far from the truth and he maybe had close connections to Mr. Jack Warwick too. I have often wondered if Lou had something to do with my name being put forward for transfer to the Rocket Division. You know: the ‘old boys club’ at work over a pint in the local pub. When I mentioned it to Lou he just smiled and wished me luck in my new venture. There was indeed a sizable lay-off a few weeks after my transfer and I would have been cast out for sure.

      Within a couple of weeks I had my interview, was accepted and was given the prestigious title of ‘Rocket Engine Fitter.’

      Rolls-Royce RZ2 rocket engine

      The move to Cumberland was accomplished in a bit of a daze. Fortunately, I was not the only person offered a transfer so I traveled there with a couple of guys who were a little more travel savvy than me. It helped to smooth the transition. Remember, I had not yet become a ‘Representative’ and never had travelled for the company.

      Working on the rocket engines was a wonderful experience and I enjoyed it immensely. These were liquid fueled

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