This Day in History (1956): People of Aramco — Maintenance and Shops, Abqaiq

From the Feb. 1, 1956, edition of the Sun and Flare

Does your roof leak or plumbing need repair? 

Got an electric generator that must be fixed?

Do you need a new paint job or new tracks for your tractor?

No matter where you are in Abqaiq, you are sure to make contact with the Maintenance and Shops workmen who do a variety of repair and maintenance necessary to keep buildings, plants, and equipment in good running order.

Their work is as diversified as that required in an average American town, with the additional responsibility of maintenance and repair on industrial facilities. Here, versatile craftsmen provide maintenance on times from miniature instrument controls to a 50-ton crane.

Craftsmen represented include carpenters, painters, masons, plumbers, sheet metal workers, air conditioning and refrigeration mechanics, electricians, instrument mechanics, business machine repairmen, machinists, pipefitters, boilermakers, welders, crane and tractor mechanics, road building and maintenance crews and others.

A great part of the work is performed by Saudi workmen, guided by a small number of highly skilled American craftsmen.

In addition to the hand tools used in Field repairs, there are well-equipped shops for each craft where it is possible to fabricate almost any item for industrial or domestic use.

Caption for top photo: Buddy Haug, supervising craftsmen (Shope Machinists), and Abdullah Khan, machine operator, watch the progress of a drilling equipment job.

Also on this date

2022 — Five-year-old Moroccan boy Rayan Aourram falls into a 32-meter deep well in Ighran village in Tamorot commune, Chefchaouen Province, Morocco, but dies four days later, before rescue workers reached him.

2012 — Seventy-four people are killed and over 500 injured as a result of clashes between fans of Egyptian football teams Al Masry and Al Ahly in the city of Port Said

2009 — The first cabinet of Johanna Siguroardottir is formed in Iceland, making her the country's first female prime minister and the world's first openly gay head of government

2003 — The Space Shuttle "Columbia" disintegrates during the reentry of mission STS-107 into the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard

1992 — The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal court declares Warren Anderson, ex-CEO of Union Carbide, a fugitive under Indian law for failing to appear in the Bhopal disaster case

1974 — A fire in the 25-story Joelma Building in Sao Paulo, Brazil, kills 189 and injures 293

1964 — The Beatles have their first No. 1 hit in the U.S. with "I Want to Hold Your Hand"

1950 — The first prototype of the MiG-17 makes its maiden flight

1942 — Mao Zedong makes a speech on "Reform in Learning, the Party, and Literature," which puts into motion the Yan'an Rectification Movement

1924 — Russian-United Kingdom relations are restored, more than six years after the Communist revolution

1900 — Great Britain, defeated by the Boers in key battles, names Lord Roberts commander of British forces in South Africa

1865 — U.S. President signs the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, abolishing slavery

1835 — Slavery is abolished in Mauritius

1793 — France declares war on the United Kingdom and the Netherlands

1662 — Chinese general Koxinga seizes the island of Taiwan after a nine-month siege