 Family Theatre presents Tom Drake and Dan O'Hurley he from Hollywood the mutual network in cooperation with Family Theatre presents Design Flaw starring Tom Drake and now here is your host Dan O'Hurley he Thank you Tony Lafranco. Family Theatre's only purpose is to bring to everyone's attention a practice that must become an important part of our lives if we are to win peace for ourselves, peace for our families and peace for the world Family Theatre urges you to pray, pray together as a family And now to our transcribed drama Design Flaw starring Tom Drake as Mike Get it out of the dive the plane can't take it That's foolishness everything's going to be alright You're wrong I tell you the plane can't take it we're going to crash Nothing at all to worry about greatest aircraft ever designed You've got to listen to me before it's too late we're going to crash there's something wrong with this plane Something wrong with the Humboldt 7 that's ridiculous It's not ridiculous Then what's the matter with it can you tell me that? No no I can't but you've got to listen to me You can't tell me but you say I should listen to you It's not air worthy Not air worthy flies like a dream look at that air speed It's because we're in a dive man Bolton you're a good engineer but leave the overall picture to us we know what we're doing You don't the plane will crash That's not it Think of the people who will be killed Oh I told you I told you why wouldn't you listen to me Oh why wouldn't you listen Mike Mike stop it stop it Now look what's happened look Mike Mike I'm sorry but you told me to hit you Mike are you alright now Oh I am I'm sorry but you told me to slap you if it ever happened again That's alright thanks Same dream Yeah same one What time is it 4 30 4 30 It's beginning to get light outside Oh well You getting up I might as well getting up in a couple hours anyway I just don't feel like going back to sleep I might as well get up with you Now you go on back to sleep Make some coffee and keep you company I can always take a nap when Eddie takes his Will you though I will Hand me my robe Yeah Oh wait I just want to look in on the baby Is he alright Look he's sucking his thumb Almost three and he's still at it It's a little discouraging alright What does it the books say about it That they do it either because they're hungry Or they aren't getting enough love Baby books Yeah You know I think it's because he's too old to nurse And too young for chewing gum Sure wish he'd quit it Turn on the light will you Yeah Oh did you set the coffee pot up All I have to do is plug it in That does it Now all we have to do is wait You know maybe if we put something that tastes bad on his thumb He'd quit No no One frustrated male in the family is enough Yeah maybe you're right Mike Why don't you tell me about your dream Oh well it's just about work So Remember when we first married I said I wouldn't bring troubles home from the office Well it might help to talk about it Well it's nothing much really Alright so don't tell me Just the girl who wakes you up remember Come on what's the dream Well Does it have something to do with that special project they put you on Yeah I'm not supposed to talk about it But I guess I can't throw any harm now You see honey Humboldt is building Or has built I should say The biggest aircraft that's ever been built That's the project isn't it That's it I can't give you too many particulars All classified information you know the deal I don't want any of the particulars I just want to know what worries you about it What do you what do you dream about When you have those nightmares What do I dream about Well I dream I'm up in the seven Yeah that's what we call it Humboldt seven And I dream I'm up in it Sometimes with couriers Sometimes with Packard Sometimes with Humboldt himself And we're running a test But for some reason the plane is full Crowded with seats like a non-skinned And every seat full Come on And then suddenly the plane goes into a shallow dive And when I tell whoever's flying Well when I tell them what's happening Well they won't believe me And the plane keeps going down and down And suddenly it crashes I don't know why but I'm always the only survivor Standing in the middle of the desert with wreckage And oh and bodies as far as the eye can see Well that's quite a dream Yes and I know why I have it Why do you I don't think she's air worthy And I don't know why I feel that way I've been over the blueprint books 50 times I've studied every part that's in her even the instruments And I still can't find anything wrong But you don't think the plane's air worthy Well I'm sure she isn't Well how do the other engineers feel about it Well I think Al Marcus feels the way I do But the rest have Well I have nothing but confidence Have you considered the idea that you might be wrong That's all I keep telling myself but it's no good I've been working on the 7 for less than a well maybe a year But I know her inside and out When an engineer gets as familiar with a hunk of machinery As I am with the 7 Well it's almost like you are with Eddie Eddie's your baby And when something's wrong with him You can almost sense it I think I see what you mean now There's something wrong with the plane Yeah but I can't put my finger on it All I know is that Well that she's a sick airplane We need to first sense it Mike First sense it? That's hard to say Maybe from the first second I saw it Maybe it's just a feeling that's been growing But I certainly remember my first impression of the ship I remember the day they sent me to the special shop they had it in Her wings weren't on and her tail assembly wasn't completed But still I was struck with the immensity of the things Take it since you got by the security guards that you're Mike Bolton Oh yes Tony Packard How do you do? Big isn't she? Yeah that's an understatement She's finished she'll be the biggest heavier-than-air craft that's ever been built Or lighter-than-air for that matter Got a few feet on the Hindenburg You will never get it off the ground You'd better You'll notice I said we Then I was assigned here permanently To completion anyway And where will that be? Shouldn't take more than eight months We're pretty far along now Come on I'll show you through it I suppose I'll be on power plants That's what I've been doing for the last three years And you'll probably be doing more of that than anything else But I want every engineer to have as thorough working knowledge of the whole ship as possible Where are you? I mean where are we going to find runways to accommodate a plane like this? Right here Runway 21 will be rebuilt just for the Humboldt 7 Humboldt 7 That's her official designation All right If runway 21 is being rebuilt Well that's one field to accommodate She only needs one What? This plane will be able to go anywhere in the world and return Without either refueling or landing Wow Come on I'll show you around You think she's big from the outside Wait you see what the inside is like I remembered once a long time ago as a Navy JG I had a tour through the Mars The flying boat that Hughes built Well you could have lost the Mars in this ship But the Mars was an experiment Navigation was serious about the Humboldt 7 And probably my first mistake on the project came about Because I couldn't really get serious about it Well Bolton What do you think of it? It's not a plane, it's an office building Just how do you mean that? I only mean that Well I never saw a structure that looked quite so much Like it was meant to be part of the ground Well if it doesn't pan out Some counterman could certainly make a whale of a tiner out of it Look Bolton, before you say any more Maybe I'd better tell you something The design of this ship Is the work of about 800 engineers But the basic design is mine Mine and William Currier's Well I'm sorry I certainly didn't mean... That's not important But what is important? The money tied up now in that airplane Amounts to more than half of what the company itself is worth So it better get off the ground And it better do everything it's designed to do Now wait a minute You bring me in here and show me a Leviathan like this Well how am I supposed to react? It's nothing to lose your temper about Nothing to lose my temper about I hadn't been told you were such a good engineer You'd be looking for a job right now Alright alright I apologize I'm sorry But you'll have to admit from an engineering standpoint This plane looks like Well nothing but trouble Off on the wrong foot with the designer That was my first mistake but I was right It was an engineering nightmare There was more hydramatic equipment on the plane Than Detroit puts out in a year More moving parts than a Swiss watchmaker Is likely to see in a lifetime And pressurization If they had to double bubble a globe master to get pressure What problems would they have with this aircraft? And I used the term loosely I'd rather have been given the job of pressurizing city hall Fortunately though That wasn't my problem I had others Most of them dealing with power plants I say it has to be steel That's ridiculous Look at this report And this is an iconic engine fire Time of fire discovery by automatic equipment 14 seconds Time of beginning operation of fire control By automatic equipment 20 seconds Now get this Laws of engine and supporting structure 58 seconds Now that means that the engine mounts were burned out And a section of the wing withered That means that the whole I know perfectly well what it means Now if this clunk ever gets CAA certification Which I doubt There'll be as many as 300 lives Depending on the decisions we make here Not we I'll make the decisions The spec course for aluminum And that's what it's going to be We'll see about that Just what do you mean by that? I am going to talk to Courier about it And then if I have to To Humboldt himself You do that, Bolton You get the same answer you got from me I don't know why I stay on this job I swear I don't I don't know either Oh, hello Marcus I didn't say you You and Packard have a little rhubarb? It's more than a little rhubarb I'm afraid You know, he doesn't like you much I can't say that I blame him I wouldn't like you either if you kept kicking my kid The seven? Oh, he thinks it's about the best idea anybody ever had What do you think? I think it's a mess I don't like it and I don't trust it At least I'm not alone Oh, yes you are You see, I'm not going to tell anybody how I feel about the plane And you know why? Because it wouldn't do any good Then you don't know why either No I don't think the plane will be air worthy But I don't know why I don't think so Well, it's not my money they're using So I'll keep my opinion to myself Do you think you should? All I've got is a guesstimate Who do you think will listen? Besides, if it isn't good, it won't get certified Well, planes have been known to get certification Even though there was something wrong Something like this That... Well, you can't see or measure Well, I'm not going to risk the seniority I've got just because I feel there's something wrong And if you do, you're crazy Maybe so But I think I'm right Look, suppose you are And suppose an even humble Feels the way you do about it Unless there's a seeable, measurable failure in the ship Do you think you can afford to pay any attention to the feeling? Buster, when you put this much money into a ship You pass the point of no return You've got to make it fly Well, I've got a lot to do, Marcus See you later Still going to see Currier about your complaint? Well, this one is about engine mounts And you can measure it About this, I'll see the old man himself If I have to I won that fight I did have to go to the old man But I won And then began a succession of battles Some big and some small I put the plane on trial And I was the prosecution The devil's advocate Fighting with everything I had Defined floors in the design I found a lot of small ones That's really not too unusual If I hadn't found them Somebody else would have That's why a plane is so many weeks in testing Before it finally comes up for approval Last week I thought I found something wrong With one of the landing gear jacks So they took the seven out on the new strip And taxied a set of tires off it And they didn't find anything The next day, Humboldt sent for me Sit down, Mr. Baldwin Thank you, sir It's Mike, isn't it? Yes, sir, that's right Well, you'll have to pardon me In some weeks since I've seen you I've got some reports here on you, Mike And most of them are pretty good They lead me to believe that you're one of the Bright young men in the organization With some valuable contributions you made Well, I'm glad to hear that, sir But then I didn't call you in To scratch your back No, sir I didn't think you had What you were supposed to do, quite the opposite I kind of thought that might be the case, sir But I really thought that landing gear I know, I know Mike, you've been with the company for a long time Now, long enough to know That it cost us a lot of money When we run behind on a delivery date Yes, sir Insurance, penalties and so forth And the seven cost us about $30,000 a day Well, I didn't know that, sir Well, how does the old joke run Well I'm not going to boil you out For being wrong about the landing gear If you'd been right it would have saved The company a lot of money But if you don't mind I would like to ask you a question Anything, sir All right Just what is it you don't like About my airplane I... I don't know, sir Look, I was an engineer once Do you think there's something Or some great structural fault Maybe like the wiring problem One of our competitors had a few years back Or like the metal fatigue business With a comma Well, it's not that, sir You said you were an engineer Then I think you can understand this, sir Have you ever known A piece of machinery That you just didn't like Didn't trust For no apparent reason I remember I wouldn't trust The Liberty Engine when it first came out I never knew why But I felt that way Turned out to be right I know what you mean You know there's something wrong But you just can't tell why Yes, sir, that's it Well, that's the way I feel about your plane And I'm sorry I've been over a hundred times Looking for what it is that bothers me I can't find it Well, Mike One of the co-designers, Mr. Currier Tells me that there's a Well, call it a Personality clash Which might account for your feelings Well, I don't get along Too well with Mr. Packard, sir But I don't think that's it Well, Mike Tomorrow we have our first test In the air Before then I wish you'd make a point Of ending your feud with Mr. Packard It'll be a big day for him And he's worked hard I wouldn't want anything to spoil it Yes, sir Wish him luck or something I'll do that And please, Mike For your own good Don't find any Indians unless we can shoot them I looked for Packard in the shop He wasn't there I finally found him out in the field They were running some final ground tests on the 7 I walked up behind him But for a long time I didn't say anything I just looked at the plane Wings too long Engines too powerful Landing gear heavy enough to crush a light tank Better than 500,000 pounds Gross takeoff weight And it would fly At least the rules said it would I told myself I was wrong That there was never a more airworthy ship built But I didn't believe it I tried but I couldn't believe it Expecting something to fall off? How long? I suppose you heard Tomorrow's the day It's been a long time coming Could have come a little sooner Except for that landing gear business I wanted to say something about that I'm sorry It's all right I'm glad I was wrong If that's any help Wish I believed you, Baldwin Well, I didn't come down here to argue What did you come down for? To wish you luck Huh? Well, thanks Of course I suppose I'll be going along for the final check But I just wanted to clear up The hard feelings before I went home for the day Okay Fine, Baldwin Thank you Well, I better be going along If I'm going to miss being caught in a traffic Good night Wait Yes I just wanted to ask Have your feelings changed any? I mean about the seven I wish I could say they have But I can't I'm afraid I still feel the same You're going to test it this morning And the plane's been through Every ground test imaginable I told you that Nothing's happened yet But you think something's wrong with it Well, yes Well, I have to be in it I'm one of the few people who understand it Well, suppose something happens Nothing's gonna happen But suppose something does I've had this feeling before And I've been wrong as often as I've been right Have you, Mike? Sure, sure I have Besides, I won't do any good to talk about it I've been wrong before And I'm probably wrong again Look at The greatest airplanes ever built And it looked like it never could get off the ground Well, I I'd better fix you some breakfast I'm pretty full of coffee I think I'll just wait Wait on breakfast till I come home It'll be about ten Okay? Okay, Mike Don't look so sad, huh? I'll be all right Can you promise me that, Mike? Well, I, uh, I'm gonna change Steady on a course of 215 215 coming up Well, Bolton, you kind of surprised me I did I thought you'd resort to some dramatics Like collapsing the gear on the ground Or something Like no highway I think I'd think of something more original How does she handle it? She's fine Handles like a dream What kind of a dream? That's a minor problem Take us half a day Oh, I hope so Looks like a little weather ahead Cumulus, huh? That's the kind of cloud formation That separates the airplanes from the coke bottles She'll do fine I hope so But I think we're beginning to feel effects now Feel a buffettin? Well, that's ridiculous She's getting nose heavy You're losing altitude We better turn back She's not responding very well Just keep your heading, I'll worry about that No, I'll worry about it Go on, turn this thing around I'll take the responsibility This will cost you your job, you're going too far Well, I'll just have to do that You won't have to worry about your job, Bolton There is something wrong I've just come back from a pretty thorough inspection Humboldt, I didn't know you were bored Look, if it's a matter of trim The 7 is too big Too much air, too many currents Her interior structure can't keep up With the changes in atmospheric pressure I'm sorry, Packard, but there's just too much metal The same problem that took the regibles out of the air Yeah, I never thought of that And look below on the sea Hey, there's a line of boats Coast Guard, I asked him to stand by You asked him to stand by, sir? Yes, I had the same feeling you did, Mike That's why I came along Maybe if you hadn't come to me I wouldn't have paid any attention to the feeling By the way, I suppose you knew That for a while you were pretty close to losing your job Yes, sir All right, what about Captain, we're going home? Yes, sir I was just thinking about somebody else Who raised him the way you do, Mike David Crockett David Crockett, sir? Wasn't he the man who said This rule I leave for others when I'm dead First be sure you're right Then go ahead But all I had was a feeling, sir What's the difference? Have you had faith enough in it to back it up? This is Dan O'Hurley again Have you ever wondered what it is That holds a certain group of people together In a common cause? The group may be a football team A sales force The group may be a football team A sales force or a circus troop And the common cause may be Fame, wealth, security Or any combination of the three But it's not the cause itself that makes them a unit Because all sorts of people want these things Yet few ever successfully Pull their talents with others to achieve them So What is the magic ingredient That unifies a group? Well, I have a feeling that it may be summed up as Understanding Understanding by every member of the group Of the other fellow's talents and limitations As well as his own Sounds very simple, doesn't it? And yet in one of the most important Of all groups, the family Understanding is sometimes very hard to achieve It's not so surprising when you consider The remarkable variety of its members Brothers, sisters, the old, the young All of varying intelligence and ability Within a family The need for understanding is greater Perhaps than anywhere else But it has to start With love With wanting to understand The love of our family, the nearest And dearest of our fellow creatures Starts with love of the one who created them And us Our almighty Father When we pray to him as a family That love is reflected back into our midst And shared by each of us In greater measure than we can ever guess Try it and see The family that prays together Stays together More things are wrought by prayer Than this world dreams of From Hollywood Family theater has brought you transcribed Design flaw starring Tom Drake Dan O'Hurley was your host Others in our cast were Jason Johnson, Alice Bacchus, Robert Emlin and Ted DeCorsio The script was written and directed For Family Theater by Robert Hugh O'Sullivan With music composed and conducted By Larry Zimmerman This series of Family Theater broadcasts Is made possible by the thousands of you Who feel the need for this type of program By the mutual network which has responded To this need and by the hundreds of stars Of stage, screen and radio Who give so unselfishly of their time And talent to appear on our Family Theater stage To them and to you Our humble thanks This is Tony LaFranco expressing the wish Of Family Theater that the blessing of God May be upon you and your home For this next week when Family Theater Will present Shot in the dark starring Bobby Driscoll Victor Jory will be your host Join us won't you? Family Theater has broadcast throughout the world And originates in the Hollywood studios Of the world's largest network This is Mutual, the radio network for All America