A.J. Turner's career in aerospace began in 1940. After completion of an aircraft-manufacturing course at Spartan School of Aeronautics in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he was immediately hired by The Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Co. in Baltimore, Maryland as a First Class Riveter on the Martin 187 "Baltimore" bomber, known as the fastest bomber of its class in the world.

In 1942 A.J. was transferred to Martin's Omaha, Nebraska plant at Offutt Air Base as an industrial engineer on the Boeing B-29 "Superfortress" being assembled by Martin. He was assigned leader of a new group called the "Methods Group", a forerunner of a branch of today's industrial engineering. A.J.'s Methods Group instigated engineering changes that resulted in more than $200,000 in cost savings, a significant sum in 1943 dollars. He is a life member of Sigma Tau, an honorary engineering fraternity. For the following ten years he was Executive VP and Chief Engineer of a Texas manufacturing company.

In 1950 A.J. joined Aerojet General Corp. in Sacramento, California as what was later known as a rocket scientist. He was a principle engineer on the design and manufacturing procedures for the Polaris and M-l missiles.

In 1960 A.J. joined the Boeing Co. in Seattle, Washington as a senior research engineer. The first seven years of his career with Boeing were spent on the Boeing Supersonic Transport (SST). Among other Boeing research programs under his management were on: Saturn, Apollo, Tomahawk missile, Delta rocket, YF-22 fighter plane, Boeing 747, and the European Tornado bomber. He developed a unique computerized electron beam welding procedure for bomb mounting components of the Tornado.

In 1982 A.J. was awarded the coveted A.F. Davis silver medal by the American Welding Society as the engineer who had "contributed the most to progress in the field of structural design in America". He is a member of the American Welding Society Peer Review Committee, a group of specialist engineers and scientists who review technical papers and other documents. He was a licensed professional engineer in the mechanical and structural fields in Texas, New Mexico, and Washington. He is a charter member of Boeing's Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington.

After retirement from Boeing, he was offered a research engineering position with NASA at Cape Canaveral, but turned it down to pursue his retirement aspirations. However, he did accept an engineering consultant position with EDO Corp. of New York.

A. J. has presented technical papers at international seminars in Europe and Japan and is the author of many books, proposals, reports, and other documents. A.J. is known internationally as an expert on the advanced high tech welding processes of electron beam, laser, and plasma arc, applied to exotic materials used in the aerospace industry such as titanium alloys, molybdenum, high-strength aluminum alloys, and uranium. He is the only known engineer given exclusive authority by the AEC (Atomic Energy Commission) to study the electron beam welding of U-235 uranium.