3 Smarter Machines (1944–1952)

Returning to Akron in the spring of 1944 with excellent references from the Goodyear plant in Arizona, Stan was soon hired to work in the tool room of Goodyear's Airdock. Then the world's largest building without interior support, the Airdock was nearly four times the length of an American football field. The impressive hangar-like structure, built by the Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation in 1929 for constructing huge lighter-thanair dirigibles, was used during World War II to build US Navy blimps. It was so large it had its own weather conditions; as Stan recalled, “it rained inside” from condensation.