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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:

Gerry Lakin worked 40 years in aviation and space, including 30 years at the Boeing Company in Seattle and 6 years with the Federal Aviation Administration. Growing up in Port Huron MI, he received a BS in Mechanical Engineering at Wayne State U in 1961 and joined Boeing to work as a structural dynamist on the Minuteman Missile program. Returning to Michigan in 1963, Gerry worked at the LTV Michigan Division on the Lance Missile and Gamma Goat Vehicle programs and completed his MS in Engineering Mechanics. In 1996 he joined Bendix Aerospace in Ann Arbor to help develop the Lunar Roving Vehicle for deployment on the surface of the moon, and work towards a PhD at the U of Michigan. In 1967, he returned to Seattle and Boeing to assist in the research and development of the Supersonic Transport and continue graduate studies at U of Washington. Specializing in flutter and aeroelasticity, he worked as engineer or manager on the 707, 727, 737, 747, 757 and 767 commercial airplane programs, as well as the B-1 bomber, YC-14 STOL transport, and lightweight fighter military programs. A notable accomplishment was the invention of asymmetric nacelle struts to reduce 747-400 wing flutter and save 1500 lbs. per airplane (patent #4,917,331). At the FAA, Gerry served as Project Officer for the 717-200 and MD-17 certification projects at the Los Angeles Aircraft Certification Office.