Foil: 13 Panel: 2 Column: 2 Line: 76

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Mr. Robert Bozarth

Marion Farrell Bozarth - Senior Flight Test Research Engineer, Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. Marion was born 9/12/1911 in Williamsburg, VA. Attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute and the College of William and Mary. He died on June 1, 1958 while assigned to flight test the Navy WV-2E (EC-121L) radar picket aircraft at South Weymouth Naval Air Station near Boston, Massachusetts.

A November 18, 1932 article on "William & Mary Flight Personalities" attributed his boyhood interest in flight to Lindbergh's New York-to-Paris flight. In reaction, he began building model airplanes of the "Spirit of St. Louis" a DH-4 and Ruth Elder's "American Girl." He had been a founding member of the William & Mary Glider Club in 1930, and flew its glider at Kill Devil Hills, N.C. on May 18, 1930. He flew his first powered solo on 12/9/1932 in a Fleet biplane at Williamsburg, VA.

He began his career with Lockheed Aircraft Corporation building wind tunnel test models. From 1942 to 1945 he was assigned to Engineering Flight Test Division testing the P-38 Lightning. He described his assignments on the P-38 in an undated postwar memo:

"On the various models of P38s assigned to me for the purpose of flight testing, I had to do all of the modification and maintenance engineering and approve all installations as being airworthy. I planned the tests, planned the instrumentation necessary to successfully conduct the test, approved the calibration of the instrumentation, and in most cases conducted the test from a specially constructed seat behind the pilot. I computed the data or supervised the computation of the data, analyzed the results, and reported my findings through inter-department communiques, progress reports, informal preliminary technical reports, and formal technical reports. In many instances tests required that I ride in the P38 "piggy-back" fashion, with oxygen, as high as 40,000 ft. in order to gain firsthand knowledge of its performance there.

"Following is a list of the tests I conducted on the P38 series:
1. Determined armament compartment heat requirements.
2. Conducted cockpit heat test (redesigned heating system).
3. Determined P38F performance with and without drop tank supports.
4. Determined P38F performance with two 165 gal. fuel drop tanks.
5. Determined P38F performance with two 300 gal. fuel drop tanks.
6. Determined P38F performance with two standard Navy torpedoes. _
7. Determined P38F performance with two 500 lb. bombs.
8. Determined P38F performance with one 500 lb. bomb & one 300 gal. drop tank
9. Conducted flight drop tests of standard Navy torpedoes.
10. Conducted flight jettison tests of 165 & 300 gal. drop tanks.
11. Conducted rate of roll and strength tests with two versions of beveled edge ailerons as compared with standard ailerons.
12. Tested computing gun sight.
13. Reworked P38H to have jettisonable canopy and strengthen booms for dive test programs.
14. Tested hydraulic Lockheed outer panel dive flaps. (Rejected hydraulic mechanism).
15. Conducted dive test with electronic Lockheed dive flaps on which airframe strength and performance were determined.
16. Conducted turbo regulation test with Eclipse A-13 regulator.
17. Tested general Electric absolute pressure turbo regulator.
18. Tested General Electric differential pressure turbo regulator.
19. Conducted vibration tests on General Electric absolute pressure turbo regulator. (Was instrumental in having pressure sensing bellows hydraulically damped.)
20. Conducted complete prototype and power plant tests on P38L airplane.
21. Made drag evaluation of various external equipment.
22. Tested all European Theatre operations modifications on P38.
23. Conducted gun firing tests.
24. Conducted gun camera tests.
25. Developed vents to maintain positive pressure in self-sealing fuel tanks for all altitudes and air speeds and yet not exceed 7" of water.
26. Conducted wing strength with leading edge fuel tank.
27. Conducted cockpit smoke eliminating test.

"In April of 1945 I was assigned, along with another flight test engineer, to the model 89 (Navy XR60-1) "Constitution" Project to plan and install, during the construction of the two airplanes ordered by the Navy, flight test equipment and instrumentation necessary to complete the prototype development tests and to conduct navy demonstration and acceptance tests. When the first airplane was near flight status several more engineers were added to the project, each covering a particular phase of the testing. I was made responsible for cabin heat and pressurization and wing anti-icing in addition to assisting in the overall program. When the second airplane was ready for flight test I was made responsible for planning and conducting all tests on this airplane which are currently in progress."

Later he was assigned to flight test programs for variations of the Lockheed Constellation airliners, transports and barrier early warning picket aircraft. He was so familiar with the Constellation series that he was charged with supervising the annual factory overhaul of President Eisenhower's 'Columbine' Constellations. He was involved in the early test programs for the initial L188 Electra.

In March 1950 his collection of 1/48th scale airplane models named "Memories Runway," won first prize for the California Centennial hobby show. They included precise scale models of the Wright brothers' first airplane, the Spirit of St. Louis, the Bell X-1, and models of 47 other WWI, WWII, postwar and golden age aircraft.