Born July 1, 1919
Education
1941: BS, ME (with aero options) University of Wisconsin, Madison
1946: MS, AE, California Institute of Technology
1948: Degree of Engineer, Jet Propulsion, California Institute of Technology
Applicable Professional Societies
Member American Rocket Society, which merged with the American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics (AIAA) in 1948. Member of AIAA since 1948. Chairman for one year of the AIAA Sacramento Section. Member of the American Nuclear Society for about 20 years.
Aviation Experience 1931 -1937
Teenage interest in aviation and space led to doing simple tasks on airplanes at the Curtiss Wright Airport near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Especially intrigued by visits of Steve Whitman and his experimental airplanes. Whitman's airplanes later evolved into the now well-known Experimental Airplane Association in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
1941 -1945
Employed by the Glenn L. Martin Co, Baltimore, Maryland, Glenn L. Martin, and President. At the start of World War II, I successfully applied for an Ensign Commission in the U.S. Navy, but the Navy decided that my engineering training would be best utilized in the Martin plant. This assignment was reassessed every six months. As a member of the engineering staff at Martin, I progressed in rank from Development Engineer to Manufacturing Liaison to Senior Stress Analyst in the Preliminary Design Department.
Aviation pioneer Glenn Martin built World War I aircraft and later was a leading advocate for flying boats. Naturally, we engineers used techniques used for many years in ship¬building yards. Of course, computer-aided design was unknown at that time. Airplane parts were drawn on large sheets of aluminum, painted white, which were then sent to the shops to be cut into templates for use in the manufacturing process. The famous "Clipper" passenger airplanes used by the Pan American World Airlines, Inc. for Pacific Ocean flights had also been built in this fashion.
By completing numerous and varied engineering assignments, I participated in the manufacture or design of a number of interesting aircraft. One was the Martin "Mars" Flying Boat, the world's largest at the time. Two of these Mars aircraft are still in use on Vancouver Island, B.C. for fire fighting and have been called upon to assist with large water drops in the October 2003 forest fires in Southern California.
All other Martin aircraft were for military use in World War II. These included the PBM "Mariner" Flying Boat, the A-22 "Maryland" Attack Bomber and the B-26 "Marauder" Bomber. B-26s were used on the European war front where their ruggedness was especially appreciated. B-26s were called on for the successful attack on the heavily guarded oil plants in Romania.
In the early days of the Pacific War, I was assigned to an emergency "crash" assignment to modify several B-26s to torpedo launchers for use in the Battle for Midway. Four participated in the brunt of the successful Midway attack on the Japanese Fleet. Two did not return.
I also participated in an all out company effort to design and build a new fighter bomber for the U.S. Navy. This was subsequently cancelled just before it was built and flown because of changing military requirements.
Two years of my time with the Glenn L. Martin Company were spent in charge of the structural design of the outer wing panels of the XB-35 Flying Wing Bomber. The radically new XB-35 was considered necessary to counter new aircraft that the Germans might be considering. The Martin Company was a sub-contractor to the Northrop Aircraft Company of California. In turn, Martin subcontracted to the Otis Elevator Company of New York City for use of its engineering department. The XB-35 was a propeller-driven aircraft. With the upcoming development of the jet engine, later models were converted to jet engines. With the cessation of World War II, development of Flying Wings diminished but did not cease entirely. This aerodynamically efficient design has evolved into the Flying Wing bomber and fighter aircraft that have been recently used by the U.S. Air Force.
Rocket & Space Experience 1946 -1947
While in graduate school at Caltech, I worked in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena doing research on the operation of hydrogen peroxide rocket engines. Hydrogen peroxide is still used in small thrust devices on spacecraft.
In the summer of 1946, 1 was a Mechanical Research Engineer for the Bell Aircraft Company, Tonawanda, New York. I performed thermochemical calculations of the oxygen/alcohol combustion reactions in the rocket engine used on the Bell X-l airplane. I also assisted with ground tests of the X-l's engine. In those days, such rocket engine tests
were simply conducted inside an airplane hanger, sans OSHA or other safety regulations. The control room was conveniently located in an adjacent office space. The X-l airplane, flown by Chuck Yeager, was first to break the so-called sound barrier.
1948 -1972
I was employed by the Aerojet General Corporation in California in positions ranging from Development to Principal Engineer. My activities included:
(1) Conducted pioneering research on liquid propellant combustion processes using high speed cameras and transparent rocket combustion chambers.
(2) Studied heat transfer problems in liquid propellant rocket engines which led to tests of electroformed combustion chambers and design concepts for light weight combustion chambers formed by bundling thin-walled tubes cooled by a liquid propellant.
(3) In the Liquid Rocket Preliminary Design Department, helped develop concepts using Aerojet rocket systems such as Aerobee and Bomarc and participated in numerous successful proposals for Aerojet contracts. These included the Second Stage Propulsion Package for the Vanguard satellite launch vehicle. In those days, using Fischer hand calculators, it took over two days to calculate just one satellite launch trajectory. Although the three stage Vanguard did not inject the first U.S. satellite into orbit, it launched the first Vanguard satellite only a few weeks later. Subsequently the second stage package was used in numerous following space launches.
(4) Served as Project Engineer in charge of the Vanguard Second Stage development tests which were conducted at the new Aerojet Sacramento Plant.
(5) Directed tests of exotic rocket propellants such as fluorine/hydrogen
(6) Did extensive studies of the technical and economic feasibility of launching very large payloads, e.g. 1,000,000 pounds, into Earth orbit using recoverable, sea-launched launch systems.
(7) Was Principal Engineer in charge of Propulsion in the Liquid Rocket Plant's Advanced Development Division.
(8) Since I was interested in manned travel to our planets, I took a position in the NERVA program being conducted by the Aerojet Nuclear Engine Division. NERVA stands for "Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application". NERVA was a
NASA/Atomic Energy Commission program with Aerojet General as prime contractor responsible for the complete engine system and with the Westinghouse Electric Corporation as principal subcontractor responsible for the nuclear reactor. Technical assistance was provided by the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory plus other labs involved in nuclear developments. Dr. Edward Teller was also employed as a technical advisor. NERVA's mission was to transport nine astronauts to explore Mars and return.
On NERVA, I directed mission analyses of new applications for the nuclear engine. I was also in charge of data analyses of the engine tests conducted in Nevada. Thirty seven ground based tests were conducted that were highly successful demonstrations of this powerful nuclear rocket system. The nuclear reactor was cooled by liquid hydrogen which was heated to very high temperature gas and then exhausted through a Delaval rocket
nozzle to produce thrust. A large vacuum facility was constructed in Nevada to be used for the final simulated flight tests of the nuclear rocket engine.
In addition to my other duties, a colleague and I developed plans to avoid reentry of nuclear components on South Africa in the event of system malfunctions during takeoff from Florida.
1972 - 1990
The NERVA program was cancelled by Congress because funding for space missions was severely reduced. Because I wanted to continue to explore new concepts for nuclear engine missions, I became a Technical Staff Member in the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (now called the Los Alamos National Laboratory). I became involved with energy and environmental studies but I did work on several space projects as follows:
(1) Coauthored a plan for an unmanned mission to Jupiter using nuclear powered electric propulsion.
(2) Developed mission concepts using nuclear rocket engines smaller than NERVA.
(3) Represented Los Alamos in a NASA workshop at the NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California. The object was to explore concepts for a permanent space station at a Lagrangian location between the Earth and the Moon and capable of sustaining 10,000 persons.
(4) Consulted on the design of space platforms for laser weapons as part of President Reagan's "Star Wars"program.