End for Brewster?

Stockholders of Brewster Aeronautical Corp. met last week to go through a wearisomely familiar routine: elect a new management, its seventh in three years. Ship builder Henry J. Kaiser, his job done (to get Brewster finally into production), was leaving. He gave out the cheerful news that Brewster, after two years of losses, was finally making money. But he warned that this might not last, that the Navy might end its contract for Corsair fighters, the only contract Brewster held.

Two days later the blow fell. The Navy cut Brewster's contract for Corsairs in half, decided that it would not accept any more Brewster planes after July 1. It explained that it was cutting back fighter production $180,000,000, mainly because attrition had been only one-third as great as anticipated. Brewster was the last to get into Corsair production, produced feebly, and now bore the brunt of the cut. Brew ster also became the first U.S. planemaker to have all its war work suddenly ended.

Stunned, the new board of directors met hastily. New President Preston Lockwood, who had been upped from corporation secretary, indignantly denied that Brewster would go out of business, but admitted that "substantial layoffs will be in evitable." This meant that some 10,000 workers in Brewster's Long Island plants will probably be laid off this week. These plants already have enough parts backlogged to complete the reduced contract. The 2,500 in the final assembly plant at Johnsville will probably face a similar layoff within a month.

Brewster's 400 subcontractors fared better. Many of them were well ahead of Brewster production, while some had even completed their contracts. The Navy assured them that they would be paid in full for completed work, even though the parts are useless for any planes but Brewster's.

But the Navy made no attempt at a quick settlement of Brewster's tangled finances (the maze of conflicting claims between the Navy and Brewster total upwards of $20,000,000). Although he had left the company in the nick of time, ex-Boss Kaiser deplored the Navy's action of throwing 10,000 men out of work on three days' notice. With a look at Congress, which is making slow progress in passing a bill covering contract terminations, he warned: "This is a situation which many companies will face."

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