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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Bill & Gail Rolston

August Schellhammer, Jr. was born in Weehawken, New Jersey on October 31, 1925. He served in the U.S. Navy from May 1943 through May 1946. He graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1947 with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering and was the first civilian graduate of the Department of Defense's "Defense Systems Management School" at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia in 1972.
His Aviation Career included 39 years as an employee of ChanceVought Aircraft and its succeeding entities Ling-Temco-Vought and Lockheed Martin Vought in the capacities of Jr. Engineer, Project Engineer, Chief Project Engineer, Program Manager and Director of Advanced Missile Systems. He contributed to or managed the development of the F-4U Corsair, F-6U Pirate, F-7U-1 and -3 Cutlass, F-8U Crusader, A7 Corsair II and the S3A aircraft as well as the Air Launched Low Volume Ramjet (ALVRJ), Submarine Launched Cruise Missile (SLCM) and the Minuteman missile systems.
He was a member of, or served on select committees related to Aircraft and Defense Systems throughout his career. He was an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a member of the Navy League of the United States, on the Steering Committee for Missiles and Rockets Section of the American Defense Preparedness Association and on the Executive Board of the Air Armament Systems Division of that same ADPA.
Schellhammer was the Chance Vought Project Engineer on Operation Bullet in 1957. Operation Bullet was Major John Glenn's cross country flight in an F8U-1P Crusader at an average airspeed of 725 MPH (Mach 1.1) which was the first supersonic flight coast-to-coast across the United States. In 1979 and 1980 he served on the Industrial Advisory Group for Tactical Missiles for the North American Treaty Organization (NATO). He was one of the two USA representatives in the five-nation group which included: United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and the USA. In 1982 he was appointed by President Reagan to serve on his Private Sector Survey (War on Waste) Research and Development Task Force.
One of the first naval officers Mr. Schellhammer met and occasionally work with over the years was a young ensign named Don Engen. Engen later became an Naval Admiral, served as Director of the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and was subsequently honored by the dedication of the tower at the National Air and Space Museum at Dulles in his name.