A Bit of Recognition

            The following is a reprint of an item included in a recent issue of the “VIP Club Newsletter,” the publication of retirees of Unisys/Lockheed Martin.

            “Common Roots” with NWA – Our Company’s Twin City operations have shared some common history with Northwest Airlines. Most know that the computer industry in Minnesota began at the former glider factory at 1902 West Minnehaha in St. Paul. The glider factory was owned by Northwestern Aeronautical Corporation (NAC) that had begun manufacturing gliders for the war effort in 1942 with hangar space leased from NWA at the Minneapolis airport. By 1943 the hangar space was too small.

            NCA President John E. Parker, who was also on the board of directors of Northwest Airlines, was able to acquire the much larger facility on West Minnehaha. In 1945 the glider demand evaporated, but Parker, through connections and luck, sensed an investment opportunity in a classified business area.

            Parker’s financing group teamed with a technical group which included William Norris (later of CDC), and Engineering Research Associates (ERA) was launched in January of 1946. As the computers of ERA evolved, so did the name on the company sign from ERA to Remington Rand to Sperry to Unisys.

            Postwar headquarters for Northwest Airlines were located at 1885 University Avenue in St. Paul. New headquarters were built at the Minneapolis Airport, and the governing functions and personnel were transferred there in the 1959/60 time frame. When NWA moved out of 1885, Univac moved in. At least one NWA employee at 1885 went on to become a Univac employee (VIP Club founding member Millie Gignac) in the same building.

            NWA also tracks its history and keeps a visual (and visible) record of it at the NWA History Centre, 8101 34 th Ave. S. in Bloomington, MN. It’s open M-F 11-5. More information is available at NWAHistory.org. NWA has been a consistent Univac/Unisys customer for reservations systems and for Lockheed Martin aircraft such as the Lockheed Orion 9D, the Lockheed Electra 10A and Superelectra 14-H, the Lockheed Super Constellation 1049G, and L-188C Electra and the Martin 202.

The Last Word About Junk(s)