Stanley Martin, Jr. (1929-2022) helped set the course for the emerging helicopter industry and vertical lift technology as a whole. His life was defined by a life-long passion for education, aviation, adventure, and love for his family. He was a natural born leader.

As a young boy in Skokie, IL, Stan was designing and building model airplanes as soon as he could hold an X-ACTO knife. His efforts were recognized by the local paper and ultimately by his high school physics teacher who offered to help Stan get into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Stan credits his teacher with opening the door to the MIT Class of 1950 and an influential career in the rotorcraft business.

After graduation, Stan joined Bell Helicopter Company where he spent his entire career highlighted by international assignments in Italy and Germany. He was instrumental in the design/production of the A-102 helicopter, which became the first-ever commercially certified helicopter in Italy in 1960. In Germany, Stan and the Bell team established Bell Aerospace GmbH which included the coproduction of 352 helicopters. He held numerous technical engineering positions and served as VP of Production Operations for Bell?€™s subsidiarity in Iran. His proudest achievement was managing the technical scope on the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor from inception of the Bell-Boeing teaming agreement in 1982 until Stan?€™s retirement as V-22 Technical Director in 1991. His work positioned the V-22 for transition to become a workhorse for the Marine Corps, Air Force, Navy and Japan.

Stan served two years of active duty as an Air Force officer at the Wright Air Development Center in Dayton, OH where he tested helicopter rotor systems and managed several aeronautical research programs.

Stan held leadership positions in many organizations which promoted the rotorcraft industry, including the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board of the National Research Council. He served as President and then Chairman of the American Helicopter Society (AHS), and in May 1992 he was awarded the AHS Paul E. Haueter award for his contributions to VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) aircraft development. Separately, he was appointed the rotorcraft industry chair on the NASA Aeronautics Advisory Committee on civil tiltrotor research programs.

Flying was a significant part of his personal life. He earned his student flight certificate at the age of 16 in a Piper Cub and ultimately received his commercial certificate in fixed and rotary wing aircraft. He was qualified in multiple aircraft types including Bell Model 47, 206 Jet Ranger and his personal Cessna 182 Skylane.

Stan?€™s legacy lives on in the rotorcraft programs that were the products of his work at Bell, and in his colleagues and family who shared in the many accomplishments and adventures that shaped his life.