RECONVERSION: Wildcat into Minnow

Long Island’s Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp. performed the neatest reconversion trick of the week. It went into production of a brand-new commercial product: an aluminum canoe. Designed by President Leroy Grumman, who turned out the Navy’s Wildcat and Hellcat fighter planes, the canoe weighs one-half to two-thirds as much as wooden canoes. A 13-footer weighs only 38 pounds, yet the thin skin is tough enough to deflect anything up to a bullet. When capsized, the canoe automatically rights itself in the water with the help of air tanks in the bow and stern. Grumman is now turning out the first order for 1,000 canoes, has orders in the offing for another 5,000. The price: slightly higher than a wooden canoe’s.