Doug was always making or fixing things! There is a picture of him at 10 or 11 holding a model airplane he built. He and his pals hotroded from the age of 14 when he got his first T, which he wrecked on Orange Grove. (Stuck her into a tree chipping his front teeth; another time he broke his arm cranking and had to walk home, mom said 'too bad' so he had to walk down to the Huntington Hospital.) After High School he went to Frank Wiggins Trade School in downtown LA and he worked at Earl Pennock's Garage.
Brother Warwick, buddy Bob and Doug built a boat in Warwick's backyard on Mataro Street; the WAR-B-DOU, first launch was in Newport Beach in June of '40.
Sept. of 1940 found him with a swing shift job a Lockheed and he kept his day job at the garage; after a while Lockheed sent him to engine school at the Disney Studios… get up in the morning and go to work as a wrench, come home and eat dinner, take the alarm clock with you, go to school, go the Lockheed parking lot, set the alarm and take a nap, wake up and go to work as a technician trainee! Incredible!!!
The WAR-B-DOU An Album
Some Cars Various Albums
Rocketships the days at JPL