In the flatlands along little Bee Tree Creek outside Asheville, N.C., last week, workmen put the finishing touches on 14 metal buildings, the first units in a new $3,500,000 ordnance plant and proving ground. In the nation's snail-paced arms buildup, North Carolina's new plant is good news of a special sort: it represents the first entry of private U.S. enterprise into the complicated business of developing guns for aircraft. The company that will try the job is the Oerlikon Tool & Arms Corp. of America, subsidiary of Switzerland's century-old Oerlikon Works.
The big...
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