Long time River Oaks resident Mr James Cosper spoke for our Historical Society meeting. Along with the very interesting talk that he made, he brought along some wonderful books with pictures, old newspaper clippings and booklets that described escaping in case of atomic bomb attack.
His story can be read below.

March 6, 2000
Story by Jo Ann Dennis, River Oaks News

A long-time River Oaks resident who served in an important defense position in the 1950s spoke for the most recent meeting of the River Oaks Area Historical Society. James Cosper, former River Oaks City Councilman and Mayor Pro Tern, went to work for Consolidated Aircraft in 1942, just like many of our area residents. The work at the "bomber" plant, as many called it, was a big reason for growth in River Oaks, as many homes were built to accommodate the employees.

As Mr. Cosper began his interesting talk, he told us that his ancestors came from Germany in 1620. One ancestor became a Methodist minister who eventually migrated to Texas and now the Cosper Family is a seventh-generation descendant of that person. James grew up in Bell County, graduated from the Killeen school system and went to work for the Texas Power and Light Company, but was urged to get into defense work. That was when he began his career with Consolidated and worked there through several name changes. He described the production of the B-24 and said they built thousands of them. The B-32 production began in 1943 and the employees did not know that they were part of the making of history by preparing the plane that would drop bombs on Japan. He told us of an exciting visit to the plant in 1943 by Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was chauffeured in a brand new two-door Packard convertible. The mass production of the B-36 followed and then the B-58, all playing a big role in the continuing defense of our country. He told us an interesting sidelight concerning the B-36. General Dynamics experimented with one of the planes carrying an atomic engine which would be started after the plane was several thousand feet in the air and would then power the engine. However, fears of some disaster involving the atomic power caused that plan to be killed, but he said a lot of knowledge was gained during this project.

His role at Consolidated was instrumental in his getting involved in Civil Defense and he was appointed by Mayor John Boyd as Civil Defense Director of River Oaks in the early '50s. He helped make evacuation plans for the City in case of an emergency that required citizens to quickly leave the area. There were 14 sector wardens and each sector had block wardens to help prepare residents. Information about each River Oaks household was recorded, along with blood types. The defense plant and adjoining military base were targeted as No. 4 in the nation to be destroyed by enemy attack if war was declared. Cosper said that evacuation plans were for all school children to be taken from the city first. Jacksboro, Texas was the place that all evacuees were to go and many plans were coordinated between the two cities. Working at the plant, he was aware of many alerts they had which the community never knew about. With a smile, he said he had shared some information which had been highly classified back during that time period, but it was totally de-classified now.

Mr. Cosper shared a bit of interesting information concerning the River Oaks News which he said was a great help in getting information out to all residents. There were also small booklets about escaping in case of atomic bomb attack. He said that River Oaks made, such detailed evacuation plans, the City was recognized by the Civil Defense Headquarters in Battle Creek, Mich., as being the first city in the nation to be extremely well prepared.