Business & Finance: At 52

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The Curtiss-Wright Corp., which has had its share of top echelon troubles during the past year, last week got a new president: Roy T. Hurley, director of manufacturing engineering at the Ford Motor Co. He was handpicked by Wall Street Investment Banker Paul V. Shields, who took over as Curtiss-Wright's chairman and chief executive officer last April. Shields wanted a man who could cut costs at Curtiss-Wright and lift its sales volume to a profitable level with an additional line of non-aviation products.

Affable, 52-year-old Roy Hurley has been in & out of the airplane business ever since he got a job as engine inspector for the Army's air service during World War I. Later he formed his own sparkplug concern, then moved in as vice president in charge of manufacturing of the Bendix Aviation Corp., where he remained for 13 years before joining Ford in 1948.

Cost-conscious ("I put a price tag on everything I do") and confident, he thinks that he can lick Curtiss-Wright's problems. Says he: "In a couple of years, my record will speak for itself."