Foil: 5 Panel: 3 Column: 1 Line: 109

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Mr. David A. Mociun

Ted Mociun graduated from the Casey Jones school of aeronautics in Newark, New Jersey in 1938. (Casey was a World War I ace and very famous in aeronautical circles at the time. His school later moved to New York and became the Academy of Aeronautics.) Upon graduation Ted moved to the west coast and immediately started working for North American Aviation (NAA). The first plane he worked on was the BT-9 which became North American Aviation's NA 13, planes that were intended to be trainers were sold as dive bombers to South America. Ted later worked as a materials engineer in the lab in Downey, California, pioneering rocket engineering. He was deeply involved in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo Projects. He finished his career working on the Space Shuttle.
Ted built his own house from adobe blocks (which he also made by himself) and raised a family in Manhattan Beach, California. He retired after 34 faithful years at North American Aviation (which later became North American/Rockwell and then Rockwell) and lives a comfortable life in Oregon, still tinkering in his shop at a feisty 82 years of age. The rockets propelled him towards longevity!