A Brief History of Bendix Red Bank Tubes

“Bendix Red Bank is not so obscure! My grandfather, my father, two of my
uncles, my cousin, and I all worked there at one time or another! At its peak, there were 1600 people working three shifts around the clock. My grandfather was a vacuum tube engineer and my father developed a lot of the specialized tooling
for the Red Bank tubes.” says author Charles Hansen.

These super-tubes were made by what to most people was an obscure division of
Bendix Aviation Corporation. The plant in which they were made was originally called the Bendix Red Bank Division, in Eatontown, N.J. The author takes you on a bit of a trip through history: The history of military vacuum tubes, the history of
Bendix Aviation, the triggering event that put Eclipse-Pioneer and Bendix Aviation in the vacuum tube business, and a history of the Bendix tube business and its important developments.

The author also gives you valuable information about all the hype and hoopla surrounding the “Bendix” tubes being offered on eBay and other surplus sources.

Bendix no longer exists. The plant at Eatontown closed in 1999 and was torn down in 2001. Detailed information is extremely difficult to find. It was mainly
through the remaining retired employees, the local Bendix retired employees associations, and old Eatontown documents that the author could piece together
this puzzle. Some of it is anecdotal and may not be entirely accurate. Keep in mind that by the time the author started at Bendix in 1966, there was hardly even a mention of the tube business at Eatontown. 

Book Size: 8.5x11 inches

Pages: 91 (Paperback)