Foil: 3 Panel: 4 Column: 4 Line: 99

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Mr. William A. Ferris

John J. Sogorka, Jr., Jack, (b. 1924-d. 1973) worked as a Principal Mechanical Engineer and Project Manager for Aerojet General Corporation in Azusa and Sacramento, California from 1948 to 1971 and from 1971 to 1973 as Vice President for Program Control Corporation, a management systems (Mark III) company in Van Nuys, CA.

At Aerojet, in the Liquid Rocket Division, he was a part of the executive team for the YLR63-AJI, a bleed air turbo rocket engine developed for the F-84 fighter airplane.* He shares credit for the invention of a pressure switch on the Minuteman Missile with Joe Peterson and provided major assistance to Bill House in winning the NERVA bid for Aerojet. NERVA was a nuclear rocket engine with a graphite core reactor included in a complete, flight-weight rocket engine. He was assistant to the program manager, Joe Peterson, for design, fabrication and testing of all engine components except for the reactor assembly and the control drum actuators.** He was in charge of the project tour and presentation when Wernher Von Braun visited NERVA. Often he traveled with large suitcases full of punch cards. He served as President of the Sacramento Chapter of the American Rocket Society, which later became the American Institute of Aeronautical Engineers. Needless to say he was great with a slide rule.

With typical crew cut and safety glasses, he smoked many Lucky Strike cigarettes and worked long hours. Sometimes project secretaries and his wife would type proposals through the night. Today his family still shares his vision of man traveling, living, and working in space. Treasured is a picture of the earth taken by Tom Stafford from Apollo X -- given for help with a backyard shed. Activities enjoyed were photography, skiing (ski patrol leader), car racing a silver corvette, the mountains, camping, theatre organ, church, woodworking, and building around home.

After graduation from Haddon Heights High School, NJ in 1941 he attended Stanford University with a full football scholarship, belonged to Delta Upsilon, and worked as a welder at Mare Island shipyards in Vallejo, CA. During World War II he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, participated in the V-6 program and graduated as a Mechanical Engineer from Cal Tech. He also attended Midshipman School-Eleventh Reserve Class (Company C) at the U.S. Naval Academy and Aviation College in Memphis, TN. At Corry Field Naval Air Station (Pensacola, FL), he was assistant engineering officer (LTJG) for a flight training squadron; he never received the ship assignment he desired. He completed a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree and additional engineering work at Stanford in 1947.

"Aerojet: The Creative Company," *III-33, **VIII-22,23. ISBN 0-9659769-0-4