January - June 2012

January - June 2012 1 THE SOCIETY OF EXPERIMENTAL TEST PILOTS BOARD OF DIRECTORS President...... Steve Rainey, Boeing Vice President...... Kevin Prosser, Calspan Secretary...... Mark Stucky, Scaled Composites Treasurer...... Brett Vance, FAA Legal Officer...... Mike Wallace, Boeing Executive Advisor...... William A. Flynn, Lockheed Martin President-Elect...... Douglas A. Benjamin, Boeing Technical Advisor...... Nils Larson, NASA Technical Advisor...... Patrick Duffy, Applied Research Associates Canadian Section Representative...... Jason Randall, Transport Canada Central Section Representative...... Mark O. Schlegel, Bombardier East Coast Section Representative...... John Tougas, Boeing European Section Representative...... Jeremy P. Tracy, AgustaWestland Great Lakes Section Representative...... Robbie Robinson, Textron Northwest Section Representative...... Ed Kolano, FAA Southeast Section Representative...... Adam MacDonald, AeroVironment, Inc. Southwest Section Representative...... Robert Moreau, FedEx West Coast Section Representative...... Todd Ericson, Col, USAF Paula S. Smith Executive Director

CANADIAN SECTION Chairman...... Jason Randall CENTRAL SECTION EAST COAST SECTION Chairman...... Steve Stowe Chairman...... Eric Mitchell Vice Chairman...... Marc Mannella Vice Chairman...... Bill Berryman Secretary...... Phil Hayde Treasurer...... Mark Johnson Treasurer...... Jeff Karnes GREAT LAKES SECTION EUROPEAN SECTION Chairman...... Robbie Robinson Chairman...... Wolfgang Schirdewahn Vice Chairman...... David Glade Secretary...... Eric Fitz Treasurer...... Sam Ryals NORTHWEST SECTION SOUTHWEST SECTION Chairman...... Ed Kolano Vice Chairman...... Tom Twiggs Chairman...... Robert Moreau Secretary...... Chad Lundy Vice Chairman...... Aaron Tucker Treasurer...... Leon Robert Secretary/Treasurer...... Jerry Singleton SOUTHEAST SECTION WEST COAST SECTION Chairman...... Adam MacDonald Chairman...... Todd Ericson Vice Chairman...... Scott Cain Vice Chairman...... Andrew McFarland Secretary...... Darren Wees Treasurer...... Jason Dotter Treasurer...... Travis Burton SETP COMMITTEES

Flight Test Safety Committee Chairman...... Maurice Girard Membership Committee Chairman...... Eric Hansen 2013 Fellows Coordinating Committee Chairman...... Chuck Killberg Publications Committee Chairman...... Allen Peterson 2 January - June 2012 SETP 2012 CALENDAR 56th Symposium & Banquet Southwest Section 26-29 September 2012 Flight Test Historical Symposium Grand Californian Hotel & Spa 27 October 2012 Anaheim, CA C.R. Smith Museum American Airlines Training Center 6th European Flight Test Safety Workshop 6-8 November 2012 Linköping, Sweden SETP 2013 CALENDAR 43rd West Coast Symposium Flight Test Safety Workshop 22-23 March 2013 23-25 April 2013 Catameran Resort, San Diego, CA DoubleTree Hotel, New Orleans, LA

45th European Symposium 57th Symposium & Banquet 22-25 May 2013 25-28 September 2013 Hotel Husa Princesa, Madrid, Spain Grand Californian Hotel & Spa Anaheim, CA

COCKPIT is published by The Society of Experimental Test Pilots Address all correspondence to SETP Publications Chairman, Post Office Box 986, Lancaster, California 93584-0986 661-942-9574 Statements and opinions advanced in technical papers and letters-to-the-editor are those of the authors and do not necessarily coincide with the tenets of The Society of Experimental Test Pilots. Letters to-the-editor are encouraged whenever there are dissenting opinions. Table of Contents: President’s Memo...... 4 Technical Articles ...... 6 Editor’s Memo...... 14 Membership News...... 30 2012 Symposium Information...... 32 2012 Symposium Highlights...... 35 Scholarship Foundation News...... 44 SETP Foundation News...... 45 Know The Corporate Member...... 46 New Members and Upgrades...... 48 Who...What...Where...... 54 Section News...... 55 Book News...... 56 Last Flights...... 57

Cover Photo The first flight of AgustaWestland’s AW169 on May 10th, 2012 at the company’s Cascina Costa plant in Italy. The AW169 was flown by AgustaWest- land’s Chief , Giuseppe Lo Coco (M), Test Pilot Giuseppe Afruni, and Flight Test Engineers Massimo Longo and Stefano Rognoni. Photo courtesy of AgustaWestland

January - June 2012 3 PRESIDENT’S MEMO

Greetings from SETP Headquarters! So far this year has been marked by incredible events with absolutely superior papers. We kicked off the year with the Southeast Section Symposium in Fort Walton Beach on 23-24 February. Next on 23-24 March came the West Coast Symposium in San Diego followed by the East Coast Symposium at PAX on 13 April, the Flight Test Safety Workshop in Seattle on 30 April- 4 May, the Great Lakes Section Symposium at Wright- Patterson AFB on 17 May. This year’s European Symposium was a true capstone event and was held in 23-27 May. Work prevented me from attending but President-Elect Doug Benjamin represented me at the Central Section Symposium in Wichita on 1 June. The annual Special Business Meeting was held in Steve Rainey (AF) Mojave on 15 June and as I write this I look forward The Boeing Company to the Northwest Symposium in Seattle on 12 July. SETP President EAA AirVenture at OshKosh is coming up in July and of course our 56th Annual International Symposium and Banquet in Anaheim on 26 -29 September. Some of you gave me some input that you were concerned about decreasing quality of papers. I can simply say that in my humble opinion the technical papers are continually getting better. Each event was saturated with superior papers. Jim Brown is my S&B General Chair this year and he assures me that his team is putting together a top-notch event. Anything JB does is always top-notch and over-the-top so hold on for a great ride this September. Pat Duffy, my Symposium Chair this year, again has received far more abstracts than he will be able to use in September. He and his team have selected a diverse and interesting group of papers with a focus on both lessons learned for flight test safety as well as flight test efficiency. So I am very excited about the event because I have a stellar team putting it all together and a Society membership with outstanding papers to present. Having said that, we are not without our challenges. Some of you may know that the Department of Defense has issued a directive limiting TDY funds for participating in seminars and conferences. I have been in contact with Air Force leadership and plan to contact Army, Navy and Marine Corps leadership as well. As yet we do not know if the S&B will be affected by this directive or if attempts to gain waivers will be effective. What we do know is that the DoD portion of our annual S&B is typically around 30%. Obviously a 30% reduction in attendance as well as presentation potential could have a significantly negative impact on our S&B. Again it’s not time to panic but we are concerned and we are taking the necessary steps to attack this issue as well as plan for it’s potential eventuality. Enough of the negative and back to the positive. Time is really ticking by fast and I only have three months left in my presidency. First I want to thank all of you for your trust and support - it’s been a great year for me and I am proud to serve SETP. As far as our initiatives, they are progressing. The Test Pilot Value Committee and UAV Development and Flight Test Committee are making slow progress. These are difficult topics and any truly meaningful product can not be developed overnight. I hope to give you a mission complete report at the S&B this year. The IT Committee has already recommended to the Board of Directors that the best solution for our Society is to utilize one of the many fine products available on the market today rather than develop a website tool designed specifically for our purpose. The team has already researched many of these “Off the Shelf” products to include three product demonstrations. Each have their own benefits and deficiencies. The Committee is tasked with a final recommendation to the Board 4 January - June 2012 and we plan on unveiling our new website at the S&B this year. Your Board of Directors has also approved the creation of a new permanent committee that has yet to be named; however, the purpose is to develop processes, checklists and procedures to follow in the event of a member’s death, particularly related to an aircraft accident. This is essentially formalizing the great work initiated by John Fergione and the Spouses Group last year. Again I hope to give you all a “Mission Complete” report at the S&B business meeting. The day-to-day operations of the Society are well and healthy under the watchful eyes our our headquarters staff. Paula, Laurie, Becki and Jan are an invaluable part of our Society and they have been very supportive and helpful during my presidency. I want to thank them publicly here - it’s certainly not enough but ladies I want you to know that I truly appreciate all that you do for us daily. So here we are in the summer of 2012 with some amazing flight test activities underway. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as your President for the 2011-2012 year and I again want to thank you all for your support. It’s great to work with and represent such a professional group of pilots. I salute you all - fly safe!

Steve Rainey President, SETP

January - June 2012 5 TECHNICAL ARTICLES

It May Be Ugly, But At Least It’s Slow… Vmcg Testing in the M-28 By Geno Wagner (AF) and Andrew White (M)

Testing Vmcg…something that may be the most challenging thing you’ll ever do, and yet amazingly, get absolutely no flight time for it! Unlike Vmca testing, there is no “room to recover” in the vertical when the aircraft departs from its straight line. Not only does the airplane want to veer off the runway, but in the case of a propeller-driven airplane it also wants to roll significantly around the landing gear pivot point created by the loss of lift over the failed-engine wing. For these reasons, the planning must be approached cautiously and with a proper build down in airspeed to pinpoint the actual Vmcg number for a given condition. The end result is an improved short-field capability for operational crews.

Our test effort begins with our customer’s request to determine the Vmcg for the PZL M-28. Go ahead and Google that…I’ll wait. Got it? Yep, it’s the former Antonov An-28, built under license by the Polish firm, PZL Mielec (Polskie Zakłady Lotnicze - Polish Aviation Works). The aircraft has been adapted into a newer version with 1100 shp Pratt & Whitney PT6A engines with a five-bladed Hartzell propeller, along with upgraded avionics. The Flight Manual for the M-28 doesn’t address Vmcg at all, and gives Vmca as a single number…83 KIAS. The aircraft rotates at 92 KIAS at heavy weight (16,534 lbs), down to 80 KIAS (14,400 lbs and below). Strangely enough, Vmca is listed as a single number, 83 KIAS, at all weights/PA conditions. Our belief is that it is a “worst- case” number determined by PZL testing. 6 January - June 2012 Currently, the M-28 Flight Manual is written such that V1=VR=V2. There are no charts or data to allow the aircraft to operate with “split markers.” For this reason, the aircrews are not taking full advantage of the Short Takeoff and Landing (STOL) capability of the aircraft. If the crew could separate V1 from VR, they could make a decision speed earlier in the takeoff run, thus shortening any stopping distance need for an abort. As we know, in order for the crew to separate V1 from VR, the aircraft has to be able to stay straight down the runway following an engine loss at V1 in order to get airborne on a single engine. The V1 speed will be determined by a number of factors, but the lower limit is defined by Vmcg, or the ability of the aircraft to track the centerline while accelerating to VR.

Interestingly enough, the military-led program was tasked with following FAA guidance while investigating the Vmcg of the M-28 in order to maintain its civil certification. The FAA uses the familiar numbers for Vmcg, i.e. 30 feet deviation from centerline with 150 lbs of rudder pedal force. However, the FAA also required the team to vary the weight band to look for trends in the data, but was not concerned with varying the Density Altitude. Instead, they wanted a “worst-case” number for the books, not necessarily a chart that a military operator could use to maximize performance in a short- field scenario, like a C-130 has. In our experience (and we shall see it was shown true in this case), Vmcg does not have much correlation with weight. This is because it is dependent on the thrust produced by the remaining “good” engine, as well as the effectiveness of the flight controls – two parameters that depend on PA and temperature, not weight. On the other hand, Vmca can be affected by weight, because the pilot is allowed to put 5 degrees of bank into the good engine, thus creating a horizontal component of the lift (i.e. weight) vector...the bigger the vector (weight), the higher the component, thus providing a rudder-like effect to enhance controllability. Also, the FAA initially wanted the team to perform the test using throttle chops, not actual fuel cuts. This became a huge issue, as you will see shortly.

Test Site Selection

The M-28, being an FAA-registered aircraft, was required to meet FAA specifications for determining Vmcg, as opposed to a military-certified test program. The FAA Designated Engineering Representative (DER), proposed a methodology using a throttle chop to minimize the risk involved in actual fuel cuts on the runway. Unfortunately, the throttle chop method does not allow the aircraft to take advantage of its auto-feather feature, or its spoiler deployment on the “good” wing…more on this later!

Also, since we were chasing one number, we needed to be close to sea level, to get a “worst-case” Vmcg. After determining the Vmcg at two different weight bands, the plan was to then take the aircraft to the dirt runway and determine the speed on a degraded surface at similar conditions. Again, we didn’t believe we’d see a difference and would have rather seen the effort put into varying the thrust, but the FAA won that argument. With that in mind, and a requirement by the Safety Board for a 300 ft wide runway, we headed to Eglin AFB to do the testing. If the paved surface went well, the team would fly up to the dirt landing zone (LZ East) to do the unimproved work.

January - June 2012 7 Throttle Chop Method In planning for this test, we relied on previous Vmcg work that had been accomplished on the C-130, both at Lockheed and Edwards AFB. We adapted our techniques from those tests to fit the different aircraft systems and data requirements. In the C-130 test a technique was used in which the emergency brake hydraulic pressure was depleted and the test run was accomplished with emergency brakes selected. This was to eliminate any brake activations during the Vmcg test point. This type of technique was not possible on the M-28. The brakes were always active. This made it critical the pilot keep his heels on the floor during the Vmcg test point in order to keep from using brakes and corrupting the data. In addition, during the C-130 testing, the test team used a range of power settings so as to build a “capability” curve, allowing them to build a Vmcg chart based upon temperature and pressure altitude. Because the FAA requirement was to have one worst case speed, all of our endpoint testing was accomplished with maximum power.

We decided during the planning phase to merely simulate an engine failure by rapidly retarding the throttle to flight idle, rather than actually cut fuel, to produce a flame- out. This was considered to be the most conservative case. The propeller at flight idle nominally should provide more drag than a feathered prop. In addition it was thought to increase safety (don’t have to shut down one of two engines) and eliminate variables (how long will autofeather take). The decision was a good one based upon the information we had at the time. It proved later to be overly conservative to the point of invalidating this part of the test.

Another issue to be solved during early testing was to determine the critical engine. Both propellers turned clockwise (looking from aft forward) and so it was assumed the critical engine would be #1 (left engine), however data from the manufacturer stated the critical engine was the #2 engine for Vmca. To solve this issue we made identical Vmcg 8 January - June 2012 runs, first failing the #2, then #1 engine.

I had never flown the M-28 before, so as a build-up I flew the aircraft for an hour in the pattern to get the feel of the aerodynamic controls. That also gave me my only chance to fly the aircraft that day! To start the test, I performed practice aborts on the Eglin AFB runway at 30 and 50 KIAS. These were helpful to get the coordination and sort out the division of duties between the other pilot and myself during the actual test runs.

Lining up for our very first run we encountered our first issue with the plan. We had heavily leveraged lessons learned from the Edwards C-130 testing and as such had briefed our entire chain of command that we would use the 25 foot wide concrete blocks on the runway to estimate our initial lineup 30 feet right of centerline. Edwards used this technique so that they could use runway centerline to signal a 30 foot deviation from the starting point. Imagine our surprise when we pulled up to the edge of Eglin’s runway 19 and realized the entire runway center was asphalt! Somewhat sheepishly, we then sent our FTE onto the runway with a tape measure to mark 30 feet from centerline. Luck was with us and it so happened that the line along the runway where the asphalt overlapped was 29 feet from centerline. That became our initial line-up point.

After the practice aborts, we made two single engine accelerations with nosewheel steering engaged to our first engine cut speed of 95 KIAS. The M-28 has a very short wheel base coupled with a fairly large wingspan. These characteristics made it fairly easy to get into a lateral divergence that would couple into a rolling moment. This maneuver was done in a slowly accelerating environment and gave both pilots the opportunity to work on dividing the tasks of directional control to the pilot and lateral control to the copilot.

The critical engine determination runs were accomplished next. To ensure we had the correct engine, we made two runs at 80% power using a 3 second throttle chop first with the right, then left engine. As expected, there was a measurable difference in rudder required to maintain runway heading between the right and left engines, with the left being critical.

We were using a build-down approach in the speed of the throttle chop and a build-up approach in engine power. Since we had already accomplished the three second throttle chop with 80% power, we moved on to the 2 and then 1 second throttle chops. With those successfully accomplished we performed a 3, 2, then 1 second throttle chop with 94% power (takeoff power). It was impossible to hold the brakes much past 70% power so after a couple of runs I just released the brakes at approximately 70%. In order to comply with the FAA Vmcg definition, nosewheel steering was turned off prior to starting the run. We discovered that complicated the test point setup. The engines typically spooled up at different rates, and with the rudder being ineffective until around 30-40 KIAS I had to use differential braking to keep the aircraft near our 30 foot offset. This lack of directional control early in the run led to excursions, some as high as 5-10 feet. This increased pilot workload as we approached the cut speed to correct to the desired offset. It was recommended for the second round of testing to leave the nosewheel steering on until approximately 40 KIAS.

January - June 2012 9 The other problem with nosewheel steering was also evident on the back side of the test point. When we decelerated down through approximately 40 KIAS, the rudder once again became ineffective in controlling the direction of the aircraft. The nosewheel steering switch on the M-28 is located on the side panel in a spot not particularly easy to reach when performing an abort with the aircraft rapidly approaching the side of the runway. The other thing we discovered the hard way was the nosewheel steering, when engaged, would instantly command the nosewheel to turn to match the rudder pedal position. That made for a lively run or two until I added the step in the abort phase to ensure the rudders were absolutely centered when the nosewheel steering switch was turned on.

The last part of our planned safety approach for the test was to build-down in airspeed. Vmcg was estimated to be somewhere near 70 KIAS. We decided to start at 80 KIAS with a planned build-down in airspeed of approximately 2.5 KIAS (the airspeed indicator was marked in 5 KIAS increments). The first test point at 80 KIAS resulted in us rapidly passing the 30 foot deviation line with slightly more than 150 lbs pedal force and no tendency for the aircraft to start tracking back toward runway heading. With this unexpected result, we stopped, discussed the situation with the rest of the team, and decided to try 85 KIAS. Note, we were now building up in airspeed, exactly opposite from our plan. Unfortunately, we had no more success with 85 KIAS than we had at 80 KIAS. After another discussion among the test team we decided to try 90 KIAS, just 2 KIAS less than the aircraft’s maximum rotation speed. We accomplished this test point twice. In both instances rudder pedal pressure was consistent at approximately 160 lbs and was a decent step input. In both cases we passed the 30 foot deviation line with the yaw rate arrested, but a significant deviation from runway heading and absolutely no tendency for the aircraft to correct back to the right. Since the two points were absolutely identical, and characterized as identically bad, testing was terminated.

10 January - June 2012 Obviously, our test technique resulted in a Vmcg number that was going to be higher than the highest takeoff speed. The discussion then centered around how to proceed forward. We either needed to do an actual fuel cut to “flame out” the engine or get relief to use nosewheel steering as part of the equation. After further discussion with the FAA representative, it was decided to use the fuel cut technique.

Fuel Cut Method - Heavy Weight Before we talk about the second iteration of testing, we need to understand how the M-28 handles an engine failure scenario. The aircraft is designed to handle an engine failure by autofeathering the inoperative engine’s propeller, followed by deployment of the “good engine” wing’s spoiler panels to kill the rolling moment. The spoilers will only deploy if the throttles are left in the takeoff position, so once an abort is initiated, they will retract to put the aircraft back in a symmetric condition.

The matrix and approach to testing remained the same as the Throttle Chop method, with the only change being that the co-pilot would kill the engine with the condition lever at the appropriate speed. The cool-down sorties that the pilots planned in the first method would still be available, but the starter-duty cycle of the M-28 would more than likely precipitate cool-down periods. The starter-duty cycle only allowed three engine starts, followed by a 45-minute cooling period. That meant three runs, then back to parking for a coffee break.

The team started with the Heavy Weight points and quickly saw a difference in the ability to maintain runway track. The pilot in the left seat easily held the aircraft track with less than 150 lbs of force, although the run was not without its surprises! The pilots were expecting the left rolling movement to be lessened due to the impact of the deploying spoilers on the right hand wing. What they did not expect was the large right wing dip as January - June 2012 11 the spoilers deployed, due to the effectiveness of the system. The pilots agreed that it was helpful in controlling the aircraft in an abort situation, but think that the spoilers would be quite a shock to an unwary pilot who loses an engine shortly after VR and suddenly finds himself in a severe right roll with a left engine out. Our test did not address the airborne side of engine-out takeoff performance and handling qualities, but we think an assessment should be made in the future. This is especially relevant since there is no simulator to train the pilots for what to expect in an engine loss scenario.

The fuel cut method allowed the team to go quickly from 85 KIAS to 80 KIAS in the first three runs, all with easy passing grades. When the fuel was cut at 77.5 KIAS, the aircraft started a slow drift towards centerline, which the pilot could not arrest with just 150 lbs of force. If allowed to apply more force, it probably would have been a pass, but that was not an option. With that failure, the team decided to rerun the 80 KIAS point to confirm the success at that speed, which it passed again easily.

There is one thing to note on the technique for any future Vmcgers. There are two ways to attack the 30’/150 lb problem. One is to keep the aircraft from crossing the centerline and then looking at the force required. The other is to set 150 lbs and see where the airplane takes you. The first method seems safer, and perhaps it is, but the second method gives much better data. Holding the force constant allows the crew to see the buildup in deviations between runs. Holding the deviation below 30 doesn’t give the crew a “constant” to see trends – it’s more like a qualitative assessment.

Fuel Cut Method – Medium Weight

The test plan called for the team to go to the lightest weight after the heavy weight points. The plan had to be modified, however, when Vmcg appeared to be 80 KIAS. That is the same as VR at light weight, and we didn’t want to run the points that close to rotation speed, as the aircraft tended to accelerate a few knots after the engine cut. The FAA was adamant that we do a second weight band, even though the “book answer” is no change expected, so we chose a mid-band weight and went out again on Day 2

The first three runs passed in a similar fashion, as did the next two, down to 72.5 KIAS. That was an unexpected result, as we were confident that the numbers would be within a knot or two of each other. The 72.5 KIAS failure was much like the 77.5 KIAS failure at heavy weight – a slow drift across centerline with 150 lbs force on the rudder. The pilot setting the power thought that the torque may have been set a bit high, so we decided to rerun that point, i.e. confirm the failed speed. Surprisingly, it passed easily! We kept marching down until we got to 65 KIAS, where we found a dramatic departure to the left that was a clear failure. We were confident we had found Vmcg at 65 KIAS. So why the dramatic difference between heavy weight and medium weight?!? That was completely unexpected…something was wrong, or our knowledge of Vmcg was pretty sad.

The wind limits were 10 kts headwind and 5 kts crosswind, which the team was pressing up against on the first day. When the winds were called in limits, the pilots would quickly taxi out and make their run. The meteorological station would record the wind at the end of the run. However, on Day 1 (heavy) we felt there we times when the 12 January - June 2012 gusts may have gone out of limits during the point, or maybe they weren’t captured at the right time/place where the event occurred. Day 2 winds were calm. The pilots felt that the wind potentially could have been the culprit in the heavy weight failure at 77.5 KIAS. Since we had time left and cooperative winds, we fueled up and decided to reaccomplish some heavy weight points.

The second time the team accomplished a heavy weight run at 77.5 KIAS, it passed easily. The runs proceeded to march down in speed until 65 KIAS, where once again, we saw the dramatic left turn departure that we saw at medium weight. We would see the same behavior up at the Landing Zone in the dirt, where 65 KIAS was the answer again. The team was confident they had found the number they were looking for and they could then report to the FAA.

Lessons Learned

So if you’ve read this far and wondered what we’re trying to teach you in this exercise, you’ve arrived. There are a lot of lessons we learned along the way in doing Vmcg testing, but the biggest lesson is more universal. How is it that we found the right number? If we hadn’t used a second weight band, we wouldn’t have found it. The reason was our methodology. Our test plan was written to progress down in speed, until it failed, then go back and confirm the run that passed. We wereCONFIRMING A GOOD RESULT. It wasn’t until we repeated our failure that we learned the real speed. When we saw the previously “failed run” come back as a pass, we realized that to find the right number, we had to CONFIRM A FAILURE! It sounds trivial, but you can see it wasn’t. It would have cost the operator 15 KIAS in accel-stop distance when they are trying to get some real STOL performance out of the aircraft.

The next lesson learned has to do with picking test sites. Because Eglin was convenient for the paved surface (until one runway closed, but I digress), we chose LZ East for the dirt portion. In retrospect, we would have been much better served on a wider January - June 2012 13 and longer LZ, even if the altitude changed. LZ East was only 60 feet wide, so there was extremely little margin for error. If we were concerned enough to require 300’ on paved, we should have had more on the dirt. Also, TOLD has to be understood in the context of what you are doing. Obviously, we have an engine shut down, so we can’t use thrust reverse – asymmetric reversing can be just as bad as an engine cut. The whole event takes a couple of seconds of analysis as the pilot feeds in the rudder and watches for the reaction. During that time, the aircraft accelerates a couple knots, then tends to hold its speed. The runway quickly disappears behind you, thus requiring significant braking at the other end. This, of course, starts to give you brake cooling issues along with the scary “end-of-runway” feeling. We could have spared ourselves this problem by going somewhere else.

All in all, Vmcg is a great challenge for a test team. Even if you don’t log any time, you’ll add a wealth of knowledge to your “tester’s toolbox.” Just plan your flying fun for the RTB!

Editor’s Memo: A Little Help Please!

Greetings SETP Members and associates. I’m AL Peterson the SETP Publications Chairman and I have a favor to ask of all of you. I need your help in finding, soliciting, and sending in good technical articles, RefleXtions style articles, photos, and general member news for publication in Cockpit. Our society members are doing great and fantastic work out there in the world, but you would never know it based on the lack of technical articles and other information that get submitted to Cockpit for consideration for publication. Quite honestly, we struggle every issue to find good technical and RefleXtions articles to publish, and I know we don’t receive a fraction of the news about the great things our members are doing. If you know someone who has written a technical or historical flight test article please encourage them to submit it. If you know someone who has done some interesting flight test work (past or present) but hasn’t written an article, encourage them to hit the keyboard and then send it in. Likewise for sending in news about the great things our members are doing, if you know something interesting that has happened in the flight test world please send it in. Good quality and interesting photos should also be sent in for inclusion in the news section and also for consideration for the cover of Cockpit. Cockpit is sent to and belongs to everyone in the Society and in order to keep it useful and relevant technically, journalistically, and socially we need everyone to actively seek out and send in articles, news, and photos. Thanks in advance for your support. Cheers, AL

14 January - June 2012 Spin Resistance Testing Bend, Oregon Sonja Englert (AM) I had the opportunity of conducting a number of spin resistance tests a few years back (from 2003 to 2009) for Columbia Aircraft. Spin resistance is allowed in the US as an alternate means of showing compliance with 14CFR 23.22 Spins rather than spin recovery. Spin resistance tests are interesting insofar as the pilot applies control inputs which normally could initiate a spin. A spin resistant airplane which passes the test usually behaves in a fairly benign way. If it fails the test, it is likely to end up in a spin which is typically unrecoverable. The airplanes I flew for these tests were Columbia 300 and 350. I performed 50 flights in 11 different airplanes with about 40 different configurations tested. Initially I tested modifications on the Columbia 300 prototype which we thought might improve spin resistance for the new model we were developing, the Columbia 400. Some of these changes included winglets, elevator size and deflections and strip placements. On later flights in Columbia 350’s I tested aerodynamic modifications like airfoil contours, artificial roughness on wing and tail, flap modifications, changes to the cuff geometry and reduced vertical tail area. I also developed methods for production flight test which allowed a quick evaluation of a new airplane without flying the complete spin resistance matrix.

Columbia 300/350 Spin resistance testing is geared to investigate the spin susceptibility of an airplane. It has to be able to handle a certain abuse of the controls without entering a spin, but it may enter a spin under certain conditions. From the certification testing of the Columbia 300 we knew that a spin in this airplane would be unrecoverable. I was wearing a personal parachute for all spin resistance tests. For the later tests we added a spin recovery system to the test airplane. The Columbia 300 rely on wing cuffs, limited up-elevator deflection, slotted ailerons which maintain attached flow under all conditions and deflections and a fairly small rudder and small deflections (still allowing a 23 kt crosswind component). The CG range is selected further forward than normal. At the forward CG limit, there is just enough elevator authority to flare the airplane in ground effect with full flaps. At the aft limit, it just about meets the spin resistance requirements. These two conditions define the CG range. We did not know what the effect of the modifications we had planned would have on spin resistance, but January - June 2012 15 we thought that they would be improvements. But when I initially experimented with simple things like stall strip placements, we found that it easy to get the spin resistance characteristics to deteriorate and difficult to improve upon. Since the spin resistance criteria are hardest to meet at aft CG, I conducted all testing at aft CG. For one spin resistance test, the airplane is stalled wings level and with the stick at the aft stop, the airplane is rolled to 30º bank left and right. Power off this is no problem and the airplanes were well controllable. They pitch slightly which indicates the inboard wing briefly stalls and reattaches. Power on (75% power or whatever is available at the test altitude) the airplane reaches higher angles of attack. The inboard wing stalls up to the cuff, the outboard wing airflow remains attached. Roll and yaw are still controllable within the limits, but during certification testing it was found that with full flaps this job was becoming rather difficult. This behavior resulted in an ELOS (Equivalent Level of Safety). What I found during my own testing with different airplanes varied. Some 300’s were hardly controllable during full flaps, power on stalls while others were well behaved. Eventually I traced the issue back to the flaps. The long fowler flaps were designed to have attached airflow on the upper surface at full deflection (30º down). On the misbehaving airplanes, the flaps were partly stalled, usually more on one side than on the other which led to large rolling moments. This was hard to deal with during stalls. Reworking the flap leading edges eliminated the stalled flaps and the rolling issue. During these tests there was never the risk of the airplane entering a spin. A different test required stalling the airplane in an uncoordinated condition, one ball width off center, both with wings level and during turning flights. If there was an issue with a configuration, it would show up during the wings level stalls. There usually was no point in testing turning flight stalls until the issue had been fixed and the airplane passed uncoordinated wings level stalls. I found that power off, full rudder was usually required to get to the prescribed yaw angle. Typically, power off uncoordinated entries were uneventful and very benign. The airplane descended nearly wings level in a sideslip. It was a different issue power on, because the prop slipstream and P-factor made this flight condition very unsymmetrical. With increasing angle of attack, the swept back vertical tail becomes less effective. The resultant thrust line moves to the right, yawing the airplane left. ½ to ¾ of the rudder deflection to the right was necessary to fly the stall coordinated. To fly ball left, uncoordinated stalls power on, full right rudder is needed. One ball right required merely a reduction of right rudder. The full right rudder cases brought the Columbia 300 to the edge of what its wing could handle. Even with full left stick, the bank angle increased to the right beyond the allowed 15º to 45º and more in 2 seconds at aft stick. I believe that if this condition had been held longer, the airplane would have entered a spin. I did not try to find out for sure. There was a third way how to fly power on stalls (the other two being coordinated or uncoordinated according to the rules). If the pilot applied little or no force to the rudder pedals, the airplane settled in a laterally more stable condition. Even though this condition was still uncoordinated, the airplane had less tendency to drop a wing. Since a pilot who is not paying attention is more likely to fly this way than properly coordinated or with full rudder input, this characteristic is very desirable. I found that the power on, right rudder case could be improved a little by rotating the right wing stall strip down. Unfortunately this deteriorated a different marginal case (rudder abuse, left rudder), it was a trade-off. We tried to improve this case for the Columbia 400 by reducing the area of the elevator in the propeller slip stream. This in turn reduced the angle of attack that can be achieved during power on stalls, but it was insufficient in our case. Ultimately the Columbia 400 with the turbocharged engine could not meet the spin resistance requirements and had to be made spin recoverable. A low powered airplane should have less issues meeting the power on spin resistance requirements.

16 January - June 2012

Columbia 350 Tail with Spin Chute The most interesting spin resistance tests were always the rudder abuse tests. The airplane is stalled coordinated, wings level. Once the stick is at the aft stop, full rudder is applied in one second and held for seven seconds. This initiates a yaw rate which, power off, typically results merely in a sideslip with increasing bank angle in the direction of the rudder input. There was usually little difference in what the airplanes did between left and right rudder deflection, power off. Power on was completely different. With right rudder, it was usually no problem, because in a coordinated power on stall the rudder was already partly deflected to the right and any further right deflection would not result in much yaw. But to the left, one now had much more rudder deflection available. Because of this, the Columbia 300 is equipped with a rudder limiter. This device reduces the rudder deflection to the left when the power exceeded a certain manifold pressure and the stall warning is on. But it still allowed a fairly large rudder input from about ½ right rudder to about ½ left rudder. Now it became important for the testing to actually use that one second and not apply the rudder too fast. If the yaw rate was too high, the airplane would initiate a snap roll-like maneuver, as I found out the hard way when a non-compliant Columbia failed this test. Even if recovery control inputs were applied as soon as I realized the airplane was failing the test, it did not stop the rotation until the airplane was upside down. If I had waited any longer, I would have been in a spin. After this happened more than once, we decided to install a spin recovery system. Because the left rudder abuse case was the most critical and the highest risk, I investigated ways to reduce the risk. Holding the rudder input for seven seconds as the regulations required would result in a developed spin in a non-compliant airplane. I was looking for a way to recognize if the airplane was going to fail this test before it was too late. I found that normally the airplane would roll in the direction of the rudder input, first slowly with a rate of about 30º per second. This was still normal and expected. If the pilot held the rudder input and the airplane would accelerate the roll and exceed 60º bank, it was already to late. The rotation would continue to about 180º (in about 2 seconds from wings level) before it could be stopped. Technically, this did not mean the airplane had failed the test yet. It was allowed to take up to 4 seconds to complete 360º of roll or yaw and if it recovered immediately upon the application of recovery control input, it met the requirements. I just doubted the “immediate recovery” part very much, had I waited longer and held the rudder deflection. My experience with a compliant airplane in the left rudder abuse case showed a difference. Even though the airplane would also roll initially in the direction of the rudder input with about 30º per second, it would then stabilize at that roll rate, increase bank and yaw angle and lower the nose until it was about 45º pitched down while picking up speed. It would not enter a spin or snap roll in the 7 seconds of rudder deflection.

January - June 2012 17 Since I was flying a lot of these tests with all the modifications, I needed a better way to tell if the airplane would pass the test than holding full left rudder for 7 seconds. I did this by taping a row of tufts in front of the flaps and ailerons, full span, both wings. Fortunately on this low wing airplane I could see the tufts in flight. Now I could see where the wing stalled. By comparing the pattern on compliant and noncompliant airplanes, I found that while the airflow on the inboard wing was fully stalled on the left and right wing, the separation stopped at the cuff where the ailerons were. On the outboard part of the wing (left wing with left rudder input) of compliant airplanes the airflow on the upper surface remained attached. It never stalled except very briefly and then reattached right away during the rudder abuse tests. On a noncompliant airplane, the outboard wing airflow separated as indicated by the tufts after about one second into the maneuver and remained stalled. This gave me an excellent early warning. I was able to perform the tests and safely abort before reaching 90º bank angle if I saw the outboard tufts reversing. Based on my tests and what I learned, I think the text of the regulation 23.221 for rudder abuse should be formulated slightly different. I found that a compliant Columbia 350 never entered a spin in any of the tests, but currently the rule allows a 360º heading change in 4 seconds. If the airplane enters a spin, the first rotation may take 4 seconds (as it sometimes is the case with the Columbia 400). If the airplane responds immediately to the controls, it would have passed the test. But the altitude lost in such a maneuver plus the recovery to normal flight well exceeds the typical pattern altitude in a Columbia and would not save the pilot in the typical low altitude stall-spin case. I think the rule should specifically prohibit the airplane from entering a spin and should allow flow visualization with tufts on the outboard wing as evidence of attached airflow. This would give the pilot a specific abort criteria and reduce the risk of the test.

18 January - June 2012 REFLECTIONS

January - June 2012 19 20 January - June 2012 January - June 2012 21 The Exciting Messerschmitt 262 By Eric Brown

The 1930 patent by the young RAF Pilot Officer for a practical turbo- was the true advent of the Jet Age in aviation. The transformation of this brilliant concept into actual working hardware was badly delayed in Great Britain by a bureaucratic lack of confidence in the scheme at the Air Ministry. There can be little doubt that copies of the patent, which could be purchased quite openly in London, found their way to and probably influenced turbojet development there in the mid-1930s.

Certainly the Germans embraced the new idea so enthusiastically that the first test runs of the British Whittle Unit and the German Heinkel S2, which were both of the centrifugal compressor type, took place in 1937. Thereafter the Germans raced ahead and flew the world’s first jet airplane, the Heinkel 178 on 27 August 1939. This was followed by the world’s first twin-jet airplane the Heinkel 280 on 2 April 1941. The He280 exhibited good handling characteristics and a performance which gave it potential as an operational fighter. It was fitted with an ejection seat, a pressure cabin and tricycle landing gear.

22 January - June 2012 In the beginning

Initial German jet propulsion activity was mainly centred in the Heinkel company, but interest soon spread and initiated design studies in the fall of 1938 for an airframe to be powered by the revolutionary new axial-flow gas turbines being developed by the Bayerische Motorenweke (BMW). The Messerschmitt team favoured a single-engine layout, but realised that a long intake duct would degrade engine performance so opted for twin engines. The basic design of this P.1065 was completed by June 1939, and a wooden mock-up was inspected by German Air Ministry officials on 1 March 1940, to be followed by an order for 3 prototypes.

At first it was intended to mount the engines inside the wings so that varying engine designs could be more easily arranged to give the correct CG position, but that was changed to underwing mounting to simplify spar design. BMW now informed Messerschmitt that its engines would be larger and heavier than originally predicted, and so it was decided to have swept outer wing panels to resolve the CG difficulties this presented. It was thus that sweepback was introduced fortuitously into the 262, rather than deliberately, to delay the onset of compressibility effects in flight, although this advantage was already well known to the Germans.

In parallel with BMW, the Junkers company was also developing its Jumo 004 axial-flow gas turbine which first ran on 6 August 1941. However, both companies were experiencing serious development problems and were not keeping up with the progress on the Me 262 airframe. By early 1941, the three prototypes of the 262 were completed, but no jet engines were available, so Messerschmitt decided to fit the first prototype with a single 1,200hp Junkers Jumo 210G piston-engine and propeller and thus take the opportunity to flight test the airframe. In this form the tail-wheel equipped Me 262 made its first flight on 18 April 1941. The subsequent tests proved very encouraging, and eventually in February 1942 two BMW 003 turbojets were fitted and the first flight test was made by Messerschmitt Chief Test Pilot Frtiz Wendel on 30 March 1942, powered by both jets and the piston- engine. This flight could very easily have ended in disaster, for both jet engines failed at 165ft on take-off, but the pilot was able to struggle back to a safe landing on the power of the Jumo 210G.

The first all-jet flight by the 262 was made on the third prototype with 2 x 1,848lb static thrust pre-production Jumo 004A-0 engines on 18 July 1942 with Wendel again at the controls. Previous taxiing trials had shown that the tail was being blanked off by the fuselage, and thus elevator and rudder control were ineffective up to take-off speed. In order to overcome this drawback, Wendel had to apply a touch of the brakes at take-off speed to lift the tail and get lift-off. As a consequence of those first all-jet flights it was decided to change to tricycle landing gear and enlarge the wing because of airflow breakaway along the centre section.

Decisions, decisions, decisions

On 22 April 1943, the 262 was flown by General , who was so

January - June 2012 23 impressed that he persuaded the Air Ministry to transfer most of Messerschmitt’s production from the Bf 109 to the Me 262. Although the aircraft was ordered into production on 5 June 1943, there was much delay caused mainly by Allied bombing of the Messerschmitt factory at Regensburg on 17 August 1943. Another factor was the fixation of Field Marshal Milch, Head of the German Air Ministry, for large production figures for the older and simpler aircraft to impress Hitler, and his apathy towards the more complex .

In June 1943 the first Me 262 with tricycle landing gear was flown. In November of that year, production received a fillip when a new protagonist of jet aircraft became head of the development section of air armament at the Air Ministry. On 26 November a flying demonstration of the 262 was made to Hitler at Insterburg. He immediately seized on it as being the ideal aircraft to carry a 500kg (1,100lb) bomb load against England, and so production was now divided between the fighter version and the fighter-bomber version. This fateful decision was to cost Germany dear, as the war had progressed to a stage where the Luftwaffe needed a massive force of fighters for the survival of the Third Reich. A further setback to production was another heavy Allied bombing raid on the Regensburg factory in February 1944.

The real thing

The initial production aircraft was the Me 262A-1, unofficially named ‘Schwalbe’ (Swallow), but the bomber version was more appropriately known in the Luftwaffe as ‘Sturmvogel’ (Storm Bird). The actual man-hours taken for each airframe was about 9,000 as opposed to a planned 6,000, because of transport and supply difficulties.

In the summer of 1944 the first Me 262A-0s underwent service acceptance trials at the Rechlin Test Establishment and came through with flying colours, although some non- critical reservations were expressed. It was generally felt to be easier to fly than the Bf 109 although not so manoeuverable. Its slow acceleration and deceleration in level flight were minuses, but its huge pluses were its great rapidity in the dive and its top level speed, which outclassed piston-engined fighters by at least 100mph. With this highly satisfactory assessment the Me 262A-1a entered operational service in the fall of 1944.

24 January - June 2012 The Me 262A was a low-wing cantilever monoplane in which the 40ft 11½ in span wing fitted into a recess in the underside of the fuselage. From the fuselage the wings were swept back 28 degrees at the leading edge and swept forward at the trailing edge between the fuselage and the jet nacelles. There were Frise-type ailerons in two sections on each wing, and slotted flaps inboard of the ailerons with maximum extension of 60 degrees and a backward movement of about five inches. Full-span automatic leading-edge slats were also fitted. The fuselage was an all-metal semi-monocoque structure of near triangular section with rounded corners; the triangular shape was chosen to provide an aerodynamic fairing for the retracted main wheels of the landing gear, the base of the triangle being wide enough to accommodate the wheel wells. This triangular cross-section also gave the pilot a good field of vision and minimised the induced drag between fuselage and wing.

The cantilever tailplane was mounted halfway up the fin. The rudder and elevators were mass-balanced; a geared tab was fitted to the rudder and also used for trimming, and there were trim-tabs in the elevators with two gearings available to the pilot on his control column, the low being for take-off and general flying and the high for high-speed manoeuvering. The landing gear retracted inwards under hydraulic power and there was hydraulic braking for all three wheels, the main wheels by foot-pedal toe pressure and the nosewheel by handbrake.

The jet engines were of course the heart of the Me 262A-1a which was powered by 2 x 1,980lb static thrust Jumo 004B-1 eight-stage axial-flow gas turbines in nacelles slung under each wing. Junkers had received a contract from the German Air Ministry in July 1939 to build a turbojet engine, and Dr Anselm Franz, who was in charge of this development, was aware of Whittle’s work in England but was initially unaware of the work at Heinkel or BMW. The design of the 004A started in the fall of 1939 and was completed in the spring of 1940, and it was first test run on 6 August 1941. The Jumo 004A was replaced in 1943 by the 004B which was 100kg (220lb) lighter, and in December 1944 the 004B-4 series with hollow turbine blades went into production.

January - June 2012 25 The remarkable Jumo 004 turbojets were at the same time the major strength and weakness of the Me 262. Their development had suffered from political pressure to procure fast production and from a lack of strategic materials, so that the in-service scrap life of the engine was only 25 hours. General Galland has stated that in JV44, the crack 262 squadron, his jets accumulated only 12 hrs and 20 mins between engine changes.

The engines ran on 87 octane aviation gasoline mixed with 5% lubricating oil, so were very volatile in the event of a crash. There were four fuels tanks in the fuselage – an armoured forward main tank ahead of the cockpit with 900 litres, a forward auxiliary tank of 170 litres located under the cockpit, an armoured aft main tank of 900 litres behind the cockpit, and an aft auxiliary self-sealing tank of 600 litres behind the aft main tank. Total capacity was 2,570 litres (678 US gals).

Starting was by a small Riedel two-stroke motor built into each jet unit and which used the same type of fuel as the main engines. The cockpit had a sideways-hingeing canopy, and the pilot was protected by 15mm armour plate front and rear and by a 90mm bullet-resisting windscreen. Armament consisted of 4 x 30mm MK108 cannon in the nose and aimed to converge at 400–500 yards. The upper guns had 100 rounds per gun, and the lower guns 80 rounds per gun. In the later stages of the war the fighter version was fitted with 24 x 55mm R4M unguided rockets, 12 under each wing. The bomber version had two external bomb-carriers under the fuselage and could carry either 2 x 250kg (551lb) bombs or 2 x 500kg (1,100lb) bombs. Fuel drop tanks could be fitted on the bomb-carriers in lieu of bombs.

Flight experiences

The first flight I made at Schleswig-Jagel was in a captured Me262B-1a/U1 two-seat night-fighter fitted with SN-2 Lichtenstein radar. This was not by choice as I would have preferred to start with the single-seat fighter, but I felt it might be my only chance to fly the rare two-seater so I took it. Having subsequently flown mainly the single-seater, I realise that the night fighter version cannot have easy to cope with on night operations. It had a 200mph (322km/h) safety speed on take-off, a reduced rate of climb, a reduction of some 37mph (60km/h) in speed due to the antler-type antenna on the nose, and the Luftwaffe pilots were flying a development aircraft of limited endurance in dark skies lit only by searchlights and fires from bombed German cities. The first such night fighter unit became operational on 17 December 1944 with 17 Me 262A-1a and 7 Me 262B-1a/U1 aircraft, mainly employed against the Mosquito bombers attacking Berlin. Their successes and losses were just about equated.

In my book Wings of the Luftwaffe I have described in some detail what was involved in flying the Me262A, so I shall confine myself now to describing some of the shortcomings which plagued this revolutionary airplane. Basically the 262 was underpowered and this showed up in its slow acceleration on take-off, which was also affected by the fact that it was fitted with low pressure tyres for operation from grass airfields. The Jumo 004 engines had to be handled very cautiously by making slow throttle movements to avoid compressor stall especially above 20,000ft. No airbrakes were fitted and this and the throttling restrictions made formation flying imprecise and meant that the airplane was difficult to decelerate, 26 January - June 2012 necessitating a long drag-in landing approach. This was particularly undesirable in low visibility conditions and made the 262 vulnerable to attack on any landing.

It hardly contributed to the pilot’s peace of mind that no ejection seat was fitted, although they were available in Germany. Neither was his comfort guaranteed in the cockpit which suffered from overheating even with the temperature control lever in the OFF position. Operationally the heated windscreen was very prone to cracking, usually just a few minutes after switching off the heat.

Other annoyances were the tendency for the nose wheel to swivel broadside for take-off and landing unless the modified Kroefte wheel fork was fitted. A much more serious problem was the matter of an emergency landing with only one engine operative. So many fatal crashes resulted from this, due to the 262 being basically underpowered and to the lack of jet flying experience of the pilots. Eventually the Air Staff ordered that such landings should be made without lowering the landing gear. Such belly landings reduced fatalities, January - June 2012 27 but fire still often broke out from rupture of the fuel tanks or of the Riedel starter engine fuel container.

Into action

The first semi-operational Me 262 fighter unit was Trials Unit 262 (EK 262) and it completed its evaluation work in September 1944, when the first accredited fighter wing was formed. This included two squadrons of about twenty Me 262A-1a aircraft and became operational on 3 October 1944. Initially the pilots had problems with scoring hits at high speed and elected to slow down, losing their main advantage, while the slow muzzle velocity of the MK108 cannon also exacerbated the problem. Then on 8 November 1944 the wing commander, Major Walter Nowotny, was killed, apparently shot down by a British Tempest squadron, and the wing was disbanded having made 22 kills for the loss of 17 Me 262s. Some of Nowotny’s pilots went to a new fighter wing, JG 7, and others went to form a new fighter training unit with Me 262B-1a two-seat trainers.

In accordance with Hitler’s edict the first Me 262A-2a fighter-bomber units had been formed in September 1944 and had their own training unit. These bomber units were more numerous than the pure fighter units by the beginning of 1945 but their effectiveness was questionable. By far the most successful use of the 262 was short-range photographic reconnaissance, and a special such unit was formed in December 1944 with Me 262A-1a/ U3 unarmed aircraft but equipped with two vertical Rb 50/30 cameras. The jet’s speed which could be fully utilised on such dedicated missions gave it virtual immunity.

The problem of scoring hits in high speed fighter attacks was alleviated with the fitting of twelve 55mm R4M unguided rocket projectiles under each wing of the 262, and these were devastatingly lethal. This RP armed version was designated the Me 2624-1b, but did not enter squadron service till March 1945. By that time the writing was well and truly on the wall for the Third Reich, and as one of its final despairing gestures on 5 February 1945 it formed JV44 an elite squadron of its leading fighter aces under Lieutenant General Adolf Galland, with 16 Me 262s and 15 pilots, but those numbers increased as pilots from disintegrated 262 units flew their aircraft to join JV44.

In the final analysis how did the Me 262 fare in combat? It was undoubtedly highly successful against Allied bombers but less so against enemy fighters because of its high speed sighting problems which were exacerbated by its lack of airbrakes, by its vulnerability during the take-off and landing phases of flight, by its temperamental engines, and by its lack of experienced fighter pilots. However, when flown by experienced pilots as in JV44, some 45 kills were obtained in just over a month of operations.

In spite of the inevitability of ultimate defeat, German aviation technological innovation was never stifled and so the search for perfection in the Me 262 was continued up to virtually the last day of the war in Europe. On 27 February 1945 the Me 262C-1a made its first flight with the addition of a jettisonable Walter rocket unit of the same type fitted to the Me 163B, with jettisonable propellant tanks slung beneath the fuselage and the rocket efflux exhausting from a modified tail, and giving a step-controlled thrust up to 3,740lb (1,700kg). This gave the 262 a startling climb to 38,400ft (11,700m) in 4½ 28 January - June 2012 minutes from a standing start.

Experiments with alternative armament were also made, and four Me 262A-1a aircraft were fitted with a single 50mm MK214A cannon in the nose with much of the 9ft (2.82m) barrel protruding. Results in firing trials were very good, giving vastly improved ranges over the 30mm cannon.

It is interesting to recall the impact that the Me 262 made on the British Air Ministry when photo reconnaissance evidence revealed this jet–propelled aircraft on an airfield near the Messerschmitt factory at Augsburg in January 1943. Grave concern showed in intelligence reports that the Luftwaffe would have at least one type of jet-propelled aircraft in operational service in 1944, with a performance potential that would render obsolete all current types of Allied aircraft. The immediate reaction was to spur on the production of Britain’s own first jet fighter, the , and to put pressure on the RAE Farnborough to urgently pursue the flight testing in the transonic range.

Uncertainty about the role of the new jet airplane, about the numbers that were operational, and about its production rate, caused further Allied anxiety, and so the bombing raids on jet plants and testing establishments were stepped up. By the late summer of 1944 some Me 262a had crashed behind Allied lines in France, and the wreckage was sent to RAE Farnborough, where an accurate estimate of the jet’s performance was made.

The main sufferers from the 262 were the USAAF bombers, and General Spaatz now treated this threat very seriously and so he was a strong advocate of increasing the bombing raids against jet development installations.

In March 1945 the use of the Me 262 as a fighter-bomber declined and it reverted to its effective role as a pure fighter. This increase in fighter operations was reflected in the USAAF ’s loss of 24 bombers on 18 March and the RAF’s loss of 17 Lancasters on 31 March. All this, however, was a last dying kick, for jet fuel was scarce and the supply of jet-trained pilots was exhausted.

To sum up, the Me 262 was in my view the foremost warplane of its day – a hard hitter which significantly outperformed all its contemporaries but which, fortunately for the Allies, was not available to the Luftwaffe in sufficient numbers to affect drastically the course of events in the air over Europe. It was a true pilot’s airplane which had to be flown with skill and panache. Basically underpowered and fitted with engines sufficiently lacking in reliability to keep the adrenalin flowing, it was thoroughly exciting and even demanding to fly. It was so innovative that it will always remain a landmark in the history of aviation.

January - June 2012 29 MEMBERSHIP NEWS AND UPDATES

The following are Members we have lost contact with. If you have any contact information for them please contact Becki at SETP Headquarters, 661-942-9574 or [email protected]. Arnold, Julian Austin, F.H. Chretien, Jean-Loup Galli, Hans-Rudolf Glendinning, R. J. D. Gordon-Johnson, P. Saeger, Elmar Shultz, William Steckbauer, T. C. Ziegler, Henri ******************************************************* Due to the increased cost of printing and mailing, each member has received a DVD of the 2011 Symposium Proceedings, but it is also available for sale in both paperback and Kindle. Please use the following links to order:

Paperback Version – $10.00 - SETP Members receive 50% off Use discount code: AYJHEFYW https://www.createspace.com/3726253

Kindle Version - $4.99 http://www.amazon.com/Aerospace-Profession-Symposium-Proceedings- ebook/dp/B007GFX388/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332262378&sr=8-1

If you have any questions, please contact Becki at SETP Headquarters.

********************************************************

30 January - June 2012 SPECIAL BUSINESS MEETING Minutes

The Special Business Meeting of The Society of Experimental Test Pilots was held on Friday, 15 June 2012, at Mojave Air & Space Port, Mojave, CA at 6:30pm. In attendance were 27 members, which provided a quorum as required by the SETP Constitution. (Names of attendees are on file at SETP Headquarters.) President-Elect Benjamin introduced the slate of officers for 2013/14 presented by the Nominating Committee. For President-Elect: Kevin Prosser (AF) Calspan Corporation Grady Wilson (F) Wilson Aero Consulting For Vice President: Tim Below (AF) Gp Capt, Mark Stucky (AF) Scaled Composites

For Secretary: Troy Fontaine (M) US Customs & Border Protection Mark Stucky (AF) Scaled Composites For Treasurer: Dan Vanderhorst (F) Department of the Air Force Michael Wallace (AF) The Boeing Company For Legal Officer: Nicola Pecile (M) National Test Pilot School Gary Plumb(AF) DCS Corporation President-Elect Benjamin then opened the floor for additional nominations for each Office, indicating that individual nominations need not have a second. Eric Hansen made a motion to accept the slate of officers as presented. seconded the motion and all voted in favor. There being no further business to discuss President-Elect Benjamin adjourned the meeting.

DON’T FORGET TO VOTE! Election ballots have been mailed or made available online in your profile. Last day to vote is 10 August 2012.

January - June 2012 31 2012 SYMPOSIUM INFORMATION

56th Annual Symposium & Banquet The Grand California Hotel Anaheim, CA 26-29 September 2012 Visit www.SETP.org for more information and to register!

GERRY T. MORTON TECHNICAL TOUR: Plans are underway for a tour of the Mojave Air & Space Port. The tour will visit Masten Space Systems, National Test Pilot School, The Space Ship Company and Scaled Composites on Wednesday, 26 September. Gather at the SETP registration area at 7:00am for continental breakfast and the tour will depart the hotel 7:30am. Lunch will be held in the hangar of NTPS. The bus will return at 5:30pm and the cost is $75.00, which includes continental breakfast, transportation, tours and lunch. Dress for the tour will be business casual and closed toe shoes. One tour will be outside so a hat, sunglasses and long sleeves are recommended. WELCOME RECEPTION: A Welcome Reception will be held in the Sequoia Foyer on Wednesday, 26 September from 6:30pm to 8:00pm. Light hors’ d oeuvres will be served. Dress is business casual and there is no cost for this event. TECHNICAL SESSIONS: Technical Sessions will begin on Thursday, 27 September at 8:30am and conclude on Saturday, 29 September at 12:00pm. All attendees will receive continuing education credits through Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. If desired, order a CEU certificate on the registration form. Dress code is business attire or military uniform of the day. The Saturday session is open to guests. SPOUSES EVENT: A tour has been arranged for Thursday, 27 September. The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, the former home of a railroad tycoon, is many things - an extensive library filled with rare books, a large art collection containing numerous European prints and paintings and botanical gardens of almost unmatched splendor. The bus will leave at 9:15 a.m. for the trip to San Marino where there will be a 90 minute estate tour of The Huntington. After the tour, enjoy lunch in the Rose Garden Tea Room starting with a pot of brewed tea and a basket of freshly baked scones, followed by a buffet of finger sandwiches, cheeses, fresh fruits, salads and specialty petite desserts. Following lunch, feel free to browse the art collections and gorgeous gardens. Please wear comfortable shoes as this is a walking tour. The bus will leave at 3:00 pm for the return to the hotel by 4:30pm. The cost is $60. SPOUSE’S SEMINAR - “WHEN AN ACCIDENT HAPPENS - ARE YOU PREPARED?”: On Friday, 28 September, join us from 9:30am to 11:30am in the Trillium Room for a lively and informative session designed for spouses and significant others on Estate Plans, Wills, Trusts and Insurance. Find out which documents all of us need to have readily available, regardless of age, marital status or wealth. You’ll gain practical knowledge on how to put a plan in place for yourself and your family. We’ll show you how this planning will save you potentially thousands of dollars, months of time, and much unnecessary stress and heartache for survivors. It would also cost potentially thousands of dollars to pay a professional to take you through this process, so please take advantage of SETP’s generous sponsorship of this service. The SETP Partners have produced a complimentary handbook to help you get started or perhaps enhance what you already have done. We will have a Certified Financial Planning® practitioner on hand to answer your questions. There is no cost to attend, but please register on the attached 32 January - June 2012 form. Complimentary childcare services will be available during this presentation from 9:00am - 2:00pm only. If you need childcare, please indicate so on the registration form. Advance reservations for childcare during this presentation are required. LUNCHEON: A Luncheon, with Guest Speaker Capt Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger, III (US Airways) will be held on Friday, 28 September from 12:30pm to 2:00pm. Best known for serving as Captain during what has been dubbed the “Miracle on the Hudson,” Sullenberger is an aviation safety expert and accident investigator, serves as a CBS News Aviation and Safety Expert, and is the founder and chief executive officer of Safety Reliability Methods, Inc. He is a 1973 graduate of the USAF Academy and flew F-4 Phantoms in the USAF from 1975 to 1980. This luncheon is included in the registration fee, and guests may purchase tickets for $55.00 per person. FRIDAY NIGHT RECEPTION: On Friday, 28 September, the dinner reception will be held inside DISNEYLAND. All attendees will receive free entry into Disneyland from 5:00pm to closing at midnight. The SETP Reception will be held at Festival Arena (maps will be provided). The social hour will begin at 6:00pm, with a dinner buffet served from 6:30pm-8:30pm. Due to the length of the walk transportation will be provided for those who may require it. Please use the order form to request this service. Dress for the event is casual and the ticket is included in the registration fee. For those not registered, tickets are $75 and children ages 3-9 are $25. SETP ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING: The SETP Annual Business meeting will be held upon adjournment of the final symposium session on Saturday, 29 September. This meeting will be open to all grades of membership and corporate representatives. An update on Society activities will be presented and 2012/13 SETP Officers will be installed. AWARDS BANQUET: On Saturday, 29 September, the 56th Annual Awards Banquet will be held at 6:30pm in the Sequoia Ballroom. A social hour will begin at 5:30pm. Tickets for the event are $135.00. This is a fundraiser for our Scholarship Foundation, so U.S. residents can deduct $85 as a charitable contribution on your tax return. You will receive a tax receipt when you order your tickets. Dress for the event is Black Tie or military mess dress and appropriate formal wear for ladies. The program will include a wine auction (wine donated by SETP Charter Member George E. Cooper (F) - Cooper Garrod Winery) presentation of Fellows, the Ray E. Tenhoff, Tony LeVier, H. R. Salmon, J. H. Doolittle, and Iven C. Kincheloe Awards. ACCOMMODATIONS: The Grand Californian and the Paradise Pier are now accepting room reservations. The group rate is $202 for single/double at the Grand Californian. For those wishing to stay at the Paradise Pier, located across the street from the Grand Californian, the room rate is $168 single/double. A very limited block of U.S. military/ government rooms has been reserved at the Paradise Pier Hotel, for active U.S. military/ government employees at a rate of $122. Reservations for both hotels can be made by calling 1-714-520-5005 or online at http://www.mydisneymeetings.com/gcsi12a/. When booking your reservation please indicate that you are with Society of Experimental Test Pilots and mention group code gcsi12a. The cut-off-date for reservations is Tuesday, 4 September 2012. Reservations after the cut-off-date are subject to availability.

CHILDCARE SERVICE: Complimentary childcare will be provided on 28 September from 9:00am until 2:00pm only. This will allow you to attend the estate planning seminar and the Luncheon should you desire. If your family desires additional childcare services any other time throughout the week, you should contact Lisa Bramlett with Sitters Unlimited at 714-758-5645 for further information and to arrange their services. Sitters Unlimited is licensed and bonded, providing childcare since 1979. SETP will not coordinate any childcare services needed outside of the complimentary times mentioned.

January - June 2012 33 The registration fees will increase on 10 September 2012. CANCELLATIONS: The deadline for refunds on cancellations is 21 September. ATTIRE FOR EACH EVENT Welcome Reception Business Casual Technical Tour Business Casual and comfortable shoes Technical Sessions Business/Military uniform of the day Spouses Event Business Casual and comfortable shoes Friday Night Reception Casual Banquet Black Tie/Military Mess Dress

********************************************************************* Southwest Symposium C.R. Smith Museum (American Airlines) Saturday, 27 October 2012 The SETP Southwest Section, in conjunction with the SFTE North Texas Chapter, would like to extend an invitation for attendance at our 2012 Flight Test History Symposium, to be held on Saturday, October 27th at the C. R. Smith Museum at the American Airlines Training Center, located near the DFW International Airport. We would also like to extend an invitation to any member interested in giving a presentation on any flight test program or activity. We are particularly interested in those unique stories that tell how and why programs where done in past days (any non-current program), and the sometimes serendipity that resulted in the final making or breaking of a program. Also of interest would be how the lessons learned from earlier programs sometimes get used to good effect on new programs, or sometimes get relearned the hard way. We are not asking for formal papers with lots of data, but rather the “this is how it really was” stories that we all like to tell at the bar in a simple PowerPoint format. Please send proposed presentations to Bob Moreau, SW Section chairman, at [email protected]. Or you may call him at 901-517-5601.

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6th European Flight Test Safety Workshop 6-8 November 2012 Hotel Scandic Frimurarehotellet, Linköping, Sweden More information will be provided at www.SETP.org as it becomes available

34 January - June 2012 2012 SYMPOSIUM HIGHLIGHTS

5th Annual Southeast Section Symposium

The fifth annual Southeast Symposium was held on 23-24 February in Ft. Walton Beach, FL. As the first symposium of the year for the Society, it again set the bar high. Highlighting this year’s event was the awarding of a $1000 scholarship to MIT-bound high school student Katherine Stone as winner of our essay contest. Also, Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) post graduate student Mr. Nicholas Kasdaglis, winner of the SETP Foundation 2011 Graduate Academic Flight Safety Award presented his paper CFIT Prevention “The Access to and Use of Information Principle” as one of the session’s presentations.

Held again at the Ramada Plaza Beach Resort, the two day event kicked off with a no host evening reception in the Senator room adjacent to the hotel bar on Thursday night. Following a continental breakfast the next morning, the AM Session Chairman, Brig Gen Bill Thornton, kept things running smoothly and on time as we heard 5 superb presentations. The 107 attendees for the luncheon, including 4 students from FIT hosted by the SE Section, and 5 local high school students who were finalists in the essay contest, were treated to an outstanding presentation by Mark Stucky of Scaled Composites on test flights of Spaceship 2 and White Knight 2.

January - June 2012 35 The PM session saw 5 excellent presentations that were kept on track by session chairman USAF Col Colin Miller. Presentation of the Emerald Coast award by SE Section Chairman Adam MacDonald and SETP President Steve Rainey completed the day’s events. Though there were many fine presentations, this year’s trophy went to Capt Garret Knowlan and Lt Col Don Grove for their paper entitled CV-22 Engine Inlet and Scroll Time on Wing Improvement Test. We would like to thank the many members of the SE section who worked so hard to make this year’s symposium a resounding success. Most importantly a heartfelt thanks to our sponsors, ARINC, DCS Corp, General Dynamics, MTSI, Sikorsky, and Sunshine Aero; whose donations allowed us to again keep the attendee costs to a minimum this year.

42nd San Diego Symposium

The 42nd San Diego Symposium was held at the Catamaran Resort Hotel and Spa on 23-24 March 2012. After a short introductions, attendees welcomed the first of nine technical presenters who enlightened the crowd on a topics ranging from human factors to “just” avionics testing. All of the presentations offered hard-learned lessons that will aid future test programs.

36 January - June 2012 Major Ryan Howland Symposium Chairman

On Saturday attendees were treated to two non-technical presentations. First, the Virtual Flight Academy explained the goals of its unique organization that offers an opportunity to mentor young aspiring aviators in a fun and stimulating environment (www.virutal- flight-academy.org). Next, SETP President Steve “Hooter” Rainey presented the customary “SETP State of The Society” briefing, which included results from the recent climate survey and offered an informative look into corporate mindset of the membership.

Three esteemed judges compared notes and unanimously determined a winner and honorable mention. Greg Lewis was recognized with the honorable mention for his “Development of a Flight Demonstration for Civil Certification Icing Flight Testing,” and Roy Martin presented the Jack Northrop award to Maj Chris Gentile for his winning presentation, “Have PAIN: In-flight Comparison of Anti-G Suits with Physiological Monitoring.”

Mike Carriker of The Boeing Company was the keynote speaker for the Saturday night banquet. During dinner, Mike engagingly recalled his recent experience traveling “Around the world in 42:27, the Boeing 787 World Record Flight”. Mike’s amazing story paid tribute to previous around the world records and lauded the Boeing team that worked tirelessly to guarantee the flight’s success.

It was a true honor to serve as the San Diego Symposium Chairman. I sincerely thank Laurie Simmons, Becki Hoffman, and Paula Smith for all of their hard work that made this weekend a success.

Cheers, Lag Ryan A Howland Symposium Chairman

January - June 2012 37 28th Annual East Coast Symposium The 28th Annual East Coast Symposium was held on Friday, 13 April 2012 in Patuxent River Naval Air Station at the River’s Edge Catering and Conference Center. This was a fantastic East Coast Symposium thanks to the highly focused efforts of Symposium Chairman Mr. Klas Ohman (M) and his East Coast Symposium planning committee. A total of 179 people attended— including experienced flight test professionals, USNTPS students, as well as some Naval Academy Midshipmen majoring in aerospace engineering. Additionally, we were pleased to have the current SETP President, Mr. Steve Rainey (AF), several former SETP Presidents, four USN Patuxent River test squadron COs, as well as the Commander, Naval Test Wing Atlantic in attendance.

The technical sessions, chaired by Mr. Steve Wright (M) and Mr. Jerry Gallagher (M), included: • “F-35B Initial Ship Trials” (Maj Richard Rusnok, USMC (M) and Mr. Peter Wilson, BAE Systems) • “P-8A Loads Envelope Expansion” (LCDR Shannon Hoover, USN (AM) and LT Matt Swartzwelder, USN (M)) • “MH-60S 20mm Gun System Airworthiness” (LCDR Reid Adams, USN) • “F/A-18A-D Single-Engine BINGO Profile Evaluation”(Maj Jon Ohman, USMC (M)) • “E-2D Aerial Refueling Risk Reduction Effort” (LT Terrell Gropp, USN (AM) and Les Ryan, Northrop Grumman (AF)) • “MH-60R Right Hand Extended Pylon Jettison Failure Investigation” (LT Lora Gorsky, USN (PAM)) • “Catapulting the F-35C” (LT Chris Tabert, USN (M), Jennifer Chisler, NAWCAD, and CDR Eric Buus, USN (M)) • “iOS Flight Test Instrumentation” (MIDN 1/c Tanner Bosch, USNR and MIDN 1/c Dan Thyberg, USNR, US Naval Academy Class of 2012) • The luncheon keynote speaker was CAPT Rob Niewoehner, USN (Ret.) (AF). His presentation “Doing the Right Thing, Even When It Hurts” recounted the technical and political challenges of overcoming transonic wing drop during the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet program. The engineering and programmatic themes of his presentation resonate in past, present and future test programs and are valuable lessons learned and relearned for all of us.

The Leroy Grumman Award for best paper, presented by NGC Representative Dave Seeman, went to the “MH-60S 20mm Gun System Airworthiness” brief given by LCDR Reid Adams, USN, of HX-21. After the technical sessions, a reception at the storied Lounge was sponsored by the USNTPS Alumni Association and turned out to be a fantastic social event enjoyed by all.

The East Coast Section gives special thanks to our corporate sponsors: Avian, Aviation Systems Engineering Corporation, The Boeing Company, General Electric, Hawker Beechcraft, Northrop Grumman, Rolls-Royce, WBB Consulting, and Wyle. Finally, the success of this symposium would not have been possible without the outstanding support of SETP Headquarters, the East Coast Section officers/volunteers, and the gracious staff of the River’s Edge. 38 January - June 2012 The next East Coast Section event is the “Welcome to Flight Test” reception for the June 2012 USNTPS graduating class (Class 141). This reception will be held at the Flight Deck lounge on Patuxent Naval Air Station in June 2012 and will be a joint event organized by SETP, SFTE and the USNTPS Alumni Association. A separate announcement and flyer is forthcoming.

Symposium kick-off by Section Chairman Eric Mitchell (AF) and Symposium Chairman Klas Ohman

SETP Leroy Grumman Award Winner LCDR Adams with NGC Rep Dave Seeman. January - June 2012 39 LT Gropp (AM) explaining E-2 tanking techniques to LCDR Bill Berryman (M).

Steve “Chewy” Rorke, CAPT Greg “Fence” Fenton (M), and Tom “TP” Phelan (M) reminiscing: “We were waaayy better back then!”

40 January - June 2012 SETP/SFTE Flight Test Safety Workshop

The Flight Test Safety Committee sponsored their annual North American Flight Test Safety Workshop on 1-3 of May in Seattle, WA. The purpose of the Safety Workshop is to provide an open forum where test safety issues can be presented, discussed and probed with other members and disciplines of the flight test community. The Society of Experimental Test Pilots and The Society of Flight Test Engineers coordinated the event.

The theme of the workshop was “I learned about flight test from...” The workshop focused on “lessons learned” in flight test and the application of those lessons learned. At the end of each session a panel discussion was held allowing free flowing, unbounded discussion fueled by that session’s papers.

The week started with a technical tour. The tour started by spending the morning touring the Seattle Museum of Flight, home to over 150 historic aircraft. In the afternoon the tour moved north to the Boeing factory where they toured the 747 and 787 production lines.

On the first day of the workshop, The Flight Test Safety Committee once again sponsored a Flight Test Safety Tutorial. This year’s theme was “Brain Rules” presented by Dr. John Medina. The tutorial focused of ways to improve learning and memory: The effects of rest and stress affect our ability to perform and how multitasking impairs our performance. The tutorial was well received by the audience, as evidenced by the incorporation of Dr. Medina’s lecture (facts, thoughts, ideas) in virtually every presentation during the following two days of the workshop.

The tutorial was followed by a presentation on the “Survivors Handbook by Katherine Benjamin and Billie Flynn from the SETP Foundation. The “Survivors Handbook” is available to all members and non-members on the SETP website (www.setp.org).

The technical program started with opening remarks from Flight Test Safety committee Chairman ‘Moe’ Girard and Boeing’s Chief Pilot for Product Development Michael Carriker. Each challenged the audience to “take advantage of the lessons learned; participate in the panel discussion and to put forward their own viewpoint” sharing in the exchange of information.

The workshop had 109 attendees (100% attendance!), representing 13 companies from 7 nations. When the committee planned the workshop it set a goal of 80 attendees, and it was gratifying to exceed that goal. Thanks to all SFTE and SETP members who solicited attendance for the workshop- it paid off. We were very fortunate to have Billie Flynn, Paul Bolds-Moorehead, John Cashman and Pete Donath as our session chairs. The session chairs were instrumental in getting maximum participation from the audience during the panel discussions and they did an outstanding job!

The committee followed the strictest of non-attribution rules to ensure an uncensored flow of safety information. The presentations that have been cleared for publication will be posted to www.flighttestsafety.org shortly. All of the authors deserve great praise for their efforts. The 2012 Bombardier Aerospace Best Presentation Award recipients were Maurice

January - June 2012 41 ‘Moe’ Girard and Aaron Tobias, from the Cessna Aircraft Company, for their excellent presentation on “Envelope Expansion Dive: Refining Buildup Techniques.” Honorable mention was given to Paulo Quattrocchi from Embraer, for his presentation “Additional Emergency Exit for Flight Test” and Jim Sandberg, “I Learned About Flight Test From… Just Hanging Around Long Enough.”

Also announced was this year’s recipient of the Tony LeVier Flight Test Safety Award. The Tony LeVier Award was established by the Flight Testy Safety Committee to formally recognize a single individual, or group of individuals, who over some period of time, has made a significant flight test safety contribution to a specific program, organization, or the flight test profession as a whole. This year’s recipient of the Tony LeVier Award is the Boeing 787 Flight Test Team, represented by Randy Neville, Mike Carriker, and Jean Gessler along with the FAA 787 flight test team represented by Gene Arnold and John Hed. Congratulations to all.

Special thanks to Boeing, Bombardier Aerospace, Cessna, and Wyle for providing sponsorship for the event. I would be remiss if I did not recognize Paula Smith from SETP, Claude Pasquis of CLP Productions and Ralph Mohr of Boeing for all the work they did to make the workshop a great event.

The next two Flight Test Safety Workshops will be as follows: November 6-8 2012, Linköping, Sweden. Hosted by MATS Lundberg, SAAB and April 23-25 2013, New Orleans, LA.

We hope to see you there! Gerald ‘Jerry’ Whites Chairman, Seattle Flight Test Safety Workshop Flight Test Pilot Consultant TRIAD Systems

Annual Central Section Symposium

On June 1st, the Central Section held their annual symposium at the Old Town Conference Center in Wichita, KS. The event started the night before with a social event hosted by Cessna at their facility. It was a great opportunity for old friends to meet, enjoy some great BBQ food and look through some of the Citation mockups. There was also a prototype and production Mustang available to look at, with the prototype highlighting some of the safety equipment Cessna uses in their flight test aircraft.

The next day, the attendees were provided with a great lineup of technical papers. Marc Mannella (AF) and Carlos Blacklock Jr, both from Bombardier, started off with a presentation on “The Little Strake that Could – Balancing Asymmetric Aero Mods on a Special Missions Regional Jet” describing the challenges faced when integrating some strangely shaped additions to an aircraft. The next paper was given by Aaron Tobias (M) and Maurice Girard (AF) from Cessna titled “Envelope Expansion Dives: Refining Build-up Techniques”. This presentation provided some excellent techniques that can be

42 January - June 2012 used to avoid mach overshoots and their potential disastrous consequences. Following a short coffee break, Norman Howell (AF) had an interesting paper called “Introducing Vz: Best Efficiency of Climb Speed for Small Airplanes”. Norman’s hope is that Vz will be commonly used by pilots just like Vx and Vz. The next paper came from Terry LeSage (M) at Cirrus titled “Alternate Method of Characterizing Static Error Corrections” which described an innovative GPS WAAS method to calibrate pitot static systems.

The luncheon keynote speaker this year was David Coleal, who is the Senior Vice President/General Manager of the Fuselage Segment for Spirit AeroSystems. Mr. Coleal has spent a significant amount of time in the aviation industry with time at both Learjet and Cirrus before he went to Spirit. He provided some interesting insights into the future of the aviation industry and also an update on the amazing recovery made by Spirit after a Tornado hit their facility this spring.

After lunch, Boeing’s Jon Latall and Wes Sawhill gave a presentation on “KC-767A and C-130J Probe and Drogue Compatibility Testing – How We Made It Work” describing, amongst other things, the challenges of the bow wave of a large aircraft impinging on the refueling basket. Following this, Dr. Lionel Alford (M) from Hawker Beechcraft described the AT-6 test program with a paper called “First Article Test of a Complex Fighter Aircraft”. Finally, Will Gibbons (AM) from Cessna reminisced over some of the highlights of his career with a presentation called “Twenty Five Years in Flight Test Lessons Learned”. After that, our judges Gerald Baker (F) from the FAA, Warren Hansen (AF) from Cessna and Steve Stowe (AF) from Boeing departed the conference room to decide the winner of this year’s best paper award. While their heated discussion continued, Doug Benjamin (F) from Boeing and SETP President Elect provided a quick talk about the State of the Society.

Just before the conference closed and the group made its way over to the bar at the Old Town Hotel, Doug Benjamin presented the Lloyd C. Stearman award for the best paper. The winner this year was Aaron Tobias and Maurice Girard for their paper about Mach Dives. Congratulations to both of them and thanks again to the judges for taking the time to carefully evaluate each of the papers this year.

The Society would of course like to thank our corporate sponsors in helping to reduce the costs for the symposium. Thanks goes to Bombardier, Garmin, Honeywell, Cessna, Hawker Beechcraft and Boeing. Overall, it was another great symposium in Wichita.

Stuart Rogerson (M) Chairman

January - June 2012 43 SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION NEWS

The following notes were received from Scholarship recipients:

To the SETP Scholarship Foundation,

Thank you so much! I’m sorry I can’t think of something more sophisticated to say, but I am overwhelmed by your generosity. Thank you!

From Sean Brohmer

To The Society of Experimental Test Pilots, Thank you so much for your financial contribution towards my education over the past four years. Your support really helped me accomplish my goal to become a teacher. I hope that I can give back to the Society in the same way that you have given to me.

With sincere gratitude, Jessica George

Dear SETP Scholarship Foundation, I had a great semester this spring and will be doing a field study course this summer that I am very excited about. I’m thrilled to tell you that I have been accepted by the Chair of the Anthropology Department to do an undergraduate honors thesis next year. I’ll be writing about grief in non-human primates, which I am having an article published on in January. As always, your assistance means the world to me and my family.

Thank you so much again for all your help! Robin R. Fiore

44 January - June 2012 SETP FOUNDATION NEWS

As part of the SETP Foundation Project “Academic Bridge to the Aerospace Industry,” the SETP Flight Test Safety Workshop has included a place in their technical program for a University Student to present his/her winning technical paper for the past two years. This year’s winner is Florida Institute of Technology graduate student, Ben White. His paper is entitled “Ethical Automation Philosophy: The Key to Cockpit Harmony.” He is pictured receiving the SETP Foundation Certificate at this year’s Flight Test Safety Workshop with Moe Girard, Dick Newman, and Workshop Chairman, Jerry Whites.

Thank you for recognizing my work at ISEF 2012 with an honorable mention award. I have always had an interest in experimental aviation, and because of my love of history, I found out about the early use of wing fences on aircraft. I attended the SETP seminar at ISEF in San Jose, and I truly remember that seminar more than any other I attended that year. It is a tremendous honor for you to have recognized me with this award.

I hope to continue my work on wing fences on wind turbines through my college years and I appreciate your encouragement. I also want to express my appreciation for your organization sponsoring ISEF 2012. You are making an investment in the future of thousands of students like me.

Daniel J. Dorminy

January - June 2012 45 KNOW THE CORPORATE MEMBER

Universal Avionics Systems Corporation By: Paul Damschen (M)

Universal Avionics Systems Corporation (UASC) is a leading manufacturer of innovative avionics systems for business jets, turboprop aircraft, transport aircraft, , regional and commercial airliners used by corporate, military and airline operators. The company offers advanced avionics as a retrofit solution for the largest diversification of aircraft types in the industry. Hubert L. Naimer, known for his innovative ideas for modernization of cockpit flight instrumentation, founded Universal Avionics Systems Corporation in 1981. As early as 1976, Mr. Naimer had a vision of a master navigation system that would compute the input of a variety of sensors on an aircraft and provide guidance throughout all phases of flight. With his personal conception and vision, Mr. Naimer introduced the first Flight Management System (FMS) in 1982 to the corporate aircraft market. Since that time, our vision has expanded to include product development of highly advanced avionics systems for the entire cockpit. UASC has numerous aviation firsts; the first SBAS capable Flight Management System; the first Synthetic Vision display system (Vision-1); the world’s first solid state Cockpit Voice Recorder; and most recently the first retrofit capable FANS/CPDLC datalink system. UASC is no stranger to the new and novel applications that make aviation safer and informs flight crews of the dangers that may be around them. Universal Avionics 46 January - June 2012 has approximately 20,000 UNS systems installed on over 9,500 aircraft in over 150 different aircraft types in over 115 countries around the world. The UASC Flight Test fleet of aircraft consists of two King Air aircraft, and B350 and F90, each of which have been tasked with multiple modifications, Type Inspections, flight demonstrations, and R&D flight tests. The company also has a CE-650 Citation which carries the company’s equipment and serves as both a flight test bed and corporate demonstration aircraft. Located in Tucson, Arizona, Universal’s headquarters is strategically located near Tucson International Airport to support the company’s flight test activities. Concentrated with headquarters on the campus are the company’s Marketing, Customer Support Divisions, as well as a state- of-the-art Manufacturing facility. Additional Marketing and Customer Support facilities are located in Wichita, Kansas and Basel, Switzerland. Vital research and development activities are housed in two separate facilities located on the East and West U.S. coasts. Situated in the high-tech corridor of Redmond, Washington, is the hub for research, development, engineering and design activities for Universal’s FMS, TAWS, Synthetic Vision, CVR, ASU and Communication products. A second facility in Duluth, Georgia is dedicated to cockpit display development and production including Flat Panel Displays of various sizes. Universal Avionics’ products are made by pilots, for pilots with a singular goal: to improve aviation.

WANTED: MEMBER and CORPORATE MEMBER INFO AND PHOTOS!!!!!!!!!!!

Keep the members up to date on your Individual and Corporate news, events, and happenings!! The Society is soliciting flight test related news about SETP members and Corporate members for publication in the WHO...WHAT...WHERE section of COCKPIT Magazine. If you know of some interesting information about an SETP Member(s) or Corporate Member, please send it in. If you have some photos to accompany the news, all the better! All information and photos submitted will be given serious consideration for publication in COCKPIT Magazine. Flight Test events, awards, promotions, gatherings, etc. should be reported and shared.

To submit news and photos please contact Becki Hoffman at 1-661-942-9574 or [email protected]

SETP Headquarters P.O. Box 986 Lancaster, CA 93584 January - June 2012 47 NEW MEMBERS AND UPGRADES

The Society would like to welcome the following new Members:

Baker, Kevin (AM) Dahiya, Shivnath (M) FltLt, RAAF CDR, Indian Navy Joined 18-April-12 Joined 20-Jun-12

Kutryk, Joshua (PAM) McGovern, Seamus (AM) Capt, RCAF Col, USNR Joined 20-Jun-12 Joined 15-Feb-12

Scaburri, Alessandro (AM) Soukup, Joel PA(M) Col, Italian AF Maj, USAF Joined 14-Mar-12 Joined 15-Feb-12

Ward, Matthew (M) LT, RN Joined 16-May-12 48 January - June 2012 PHOTOS NOT AVAILABLE FOR THE FOLLOWING NEW MEMBERS:

Biter, Ethan (PAM) Bridge, Patrick (M) LT, USN Maj, Australian Army Joined 18-Jan-12 Joined 20-Jun-12 Calhoun, David (PAM) Carvalho, Marcos (M) LT, USN Maj, Brazilian AF Joined 18-Jan-12 Joined 18-Jan-12 Chia, Bellamy (PAM) De Cecchis, Paul (PAM) Maj MAJ, USA Joined 20-Jun-12 Joined 15-Feb-12 Gibson, James (PAM) Gray, Charles (M) Maj, USMC Col, USMC Joined 14-Mar-12 Joined 14-Mar-12 Hamilton, Justin (PAM) Hamilton, Tucker (PAM) LT, USN Capt, USAF Joined 14-Mar-12 Joined 20-Ju0-12 Hill, Edward (PAM) Hurst, Ian (PAM) LT, USN LT, USCG Joined 18-Jan-12 Joined 18-Apr-12 Kingen, Michael (PAM) Lynch, Shaun (PAM) Capt, USMC CDR, USN Joined 116-May-12 Joined 18-Apr-12 Meagher, Thomas (PAM) Ott, Carl (M) Capt, USAF MAJ, USA Joined 20-Jun-12 Joined 18-Jan-12 Pedersen, Soeren (M) Richardson, Casey (PAM) Flying AD Maj, USAF Joined 20-Jun-12 Joined 20-Jun-12 Rosenstock, Douglas (PAM) Russell, Robert (PAM) Capt, USMC Maj, USAF Joined 20-Jun-12 Joined 20-Jun-12 Schlappi, Kyle (PAM) Schofield, Jacob (PAM) Maj, USAF LT, USN Joined 14-Mar-12 Joined 18-Jan-12 Snelling, Brad (AM) Tyalor, Jonathan (PAM) FAA Wing Commander, RAF Joined 14-Mar-12 Joined 18-Apr-12 Thurston, II, James (PAM) Wagner, Robert (M) CDR, USN CW4, USA Joined 14-Mar-12 15-Feb-12

January - June 2012 49 Congratulations to those members who have upgraded their membership!

Bieryla, James (AF) Bigalk, Greg (AF) Col, USAF Boeing Upgraded 14-Mar-12 Upgraded 14-Mar-12

Chandler, Peter (AF) Chiasson, Marc (M) Airbus Maj, USAF Upgraded 16-May-12 Upgraded 18-Apr-12

Cicci, Henry “Ed” (AF) Davin, Matthew (M) FAA LT, USN Upgraded 20-Jun-12 Upgraded 20-Jun-12

Doeppner, Ronald (AF) Fann, Scott (M) Sikorsky Aircraft Capt, USAF Upgraded 18-Apr-12 Upgraded 15-Feb-12

50 January - June 2012

Fedors, David (AF) Gorsky, Lara (M) Col, USAF LT, USN Upgraded 18-Apr-12 Upgraded 20-Jun-12

Hanson, Regan (M) Hinson, Daniel (AF) LT, USN CDR, USN (Ret) Upgraded 15-Feb-12 Upgraded 14-Mar-12

Hoh, Roger (AF) Hohner, Gabriel (M) Hoh Aeronautics Inc. LT, USN Upgraded 20-Jun-12 Upgraded 18-Jan-12

Howland, Ryan (M) Lee, Richard (AF) Maj, USAF Boeing Upgraded 18-Apr-12 Upgraded 16-May-12

Makepeace, Anatole(M) Martin, Andrew(M) RAF Maj, USAF Upgraded 14-Mar-12 Upgraded 20-June-12 January - June 2012 51

Rusnok, Richard (M) Reichelt, Richard (AF) MAJ, USN Upgraded 16-May-12 Upgraded 15-Feb-12

Schiffelbein, Jonathan (M) Seager, Chris (M) LT, USN Maj, USAF Upgraded 16-May-12 Upgraded 20-Jun-12

Tabert, Christopher (M) Tippner, Peter (M) LT, USN FltLt, RAAF Upgraded 14-Mar-12 Upgraded 18-Apr-12

Wagner, Eugene (AF) Wainwright, William (AF) Riverside Research Boeing Upgraded 15-Feb-12 Upgraded 18-Apr-12

52 January - June 2012

Wees, Darren (M) Weiss, Donald (M) Maj, USAF Northrop Grumman Upgraded 16-May-12 Upgraded 18-Jan-12

PHOTOS NOT AVAILABLE FOR THE FOLLOWING MEMBERS WHO HAVE UPGRADED THEIR MEMBERSHIP: Calloway, Joshua (M) Ericson, Todd (AF) LT, USN Col, USAF Upgraded 18-Apr-12 Upgraded 18-Apr-12 Hoover, Shannon (M) Johnson, Kip (M) LT, USN Maj, USAF Upgraded 18-Apr-12 Upgraded 14-Mar-12 Kelly, Matthew (AF) Kim, Jong Wook (M) Col, USMC Korean Aerospace Industries, Ltd. Upgraded 18-Apr-12 Upgraded 18-Apr-12 Kipper, Rory (M) Mantz, Brock (M) LT, USN Capt, USMC Upgraded 16-May-12 Upgraded 18-Jan-12 McCarley, Zachary (AM) Meek, Theodore (M) Maj, USMC Maj, USAF Upgraded 20-Jun-12 Upgraded 18-Jan-12 Minor, Joseph (M) Pupalaikis, Robert (M) Maj, USAF Upgraded 14-Mar-12 Upgraded 18-Apr-12 Schellberg, Steven (AF) Schultz, Eric (AM) Keystone Helicopter Corp Maj, USAF Upgraded 18-Apr-12 Upgraded 15-Feb-12 Smith, Hubert (AF) Smith, Paul (AF) Upgraded 18-Apr-12 Golden Arm Associates Upgraded 18-Apr-12 Spaulding, Timothy (AM) Thompson, Lawrence (M) Capt, USAF American Airlines Upgraded 20-Jun-12 Upgraded 14-Mar-12 Tinnesand, Scott (M) Boeing Upgraded 20-Jun-12

January - June 2012 53 WHO...WHAT...WHERE

Terry Lutz (AF) and Frank Chapman (AF) piloted the first flight of the RR Trent XWB engine mounted on the wing of the A380 Msn001, F-WWOW. To read the full press release visit ww.airbus.com. Click on New and Events . *******************************************

An international group of test pilots gathered at the Boeing chalet during the

From left to right: Mike “Wingnut” Bryan (Boeing, 787) (AF); Phil O’Dell (RR, Spitfire/ Vulcan); Frank Chapman (Airbus, A380) (AF); Randy Neville (Boeing, 787) (F); Ricardo Traven (Boeing, F/A-18) (F); Tom Griffin (Boeing, 787); Paul Newton (Boeing, 787) (AM); Dave Desmond (Boeing, F/A-18) (M); Peter Chandler (Airbus, A380) (AF); Mike Carriker (Boeing, 787) (F); Mal Ridley (Airbus, A320) (M)Kneeling: Steve “Bull” Schmidt (Boeing, F/A-18)

The Society is sad to report that Rosemary Allavie, widow of SETP Fellow Jack Allavie, passed away on 12 April 2012 in Riverside, CA.

The Society is sorry to report that Virginia Wood, widow of 1975 SETP President James W. Wood passed away on 10 June 2012. To leave condolences, please visit Virginia's memorial website at www.virginia-wood.last- memories.com.

The Society is sad to report that Martha Ettinger, wife of SETP Fellow Bob Ettinger, passed away on 6 July 2012.

54 January - June 2012 WEST COAST

SETP West Coast Section Chapter Meeting

Special Guest Speaker: Keith “Coma” Colmer (M), Virgin Galactic

When: Thursday, August 9, 2012 Where: Naval Air Weapons Station, China Lake, Ridgecrest, CA 1600-1700: Tour of the Naval Museum of Armament & Technology 1700-1730: Coma will chat about SpaceShipTwo (Museum Meeting Room) 1730- 1800: Food, Drink and World Problem Solving

Base Access Information: Military/DoD: CAC Card is all you will need U.S. Contractors: Contact either POC below NLT 2 August to ensure base access Foreign Nationals: 30 days notice required!! Contact either POC below NLT 29 June

Event POC’s: Major Zach “LIBI” McCarley, 760-428-3373, [email protected] Captain Erin “Bobo” Kellogg, 760-939-0311, [email protected]

Visit www.SETP.org for more driving directions.

SETP SECTION CHAIRMEN CANADA CENTRAL Jason Randall Steve Stowe [email protected] [email protected] EAST COAST EUROPEAN Eric Mitchell Wolfgang Schirdewahn [email protected] [email protected] GREAT LAKES NORTHWEST Robbie Robinson Ed Kolano [email protected] [email protected] SOUTHEAST SOUTHWEST Adam MacDonald Robert Moreau [email protected] [email protected] WEST COAST Todd Ericson [email protected]

January - June 2012 55 BOOK NEWS

I always wanted to fly can be purchased on Amazon.com. Kindle - $19.25 Paperback - $25.00

56 January - June 2012 LAST FLIGHTS

Col Jack Dwain Beckelman USAF (Ret) (M), was born on 3 February 1920 and passed away on 18 December 2011. Jack had a strong interest in aircraft at an early age, which he developed into a life-long career. Prior to the start of WWII, in 1941 Jack entered the Army Air Corps. After completion of training at the West Coast Training Center, he was awarded the rank of First Lieutenant. Jack piloted a B-17G, which he named “Paisano,” from Horham, England, flying 33 missions over Germany and France with the 8th Air Force, 95th Bomb Group, 336 Squadron. Jack, along with his faithful crew of 9, earned eleven medals for heroism and merit, including the Legion of Merit with one Oak Leaf Cluster (OLC), the Distinguished Flying Cross with one OLC, the Air Medal with three OLCs and the American Defense Medal. However, his most prized was the French Croix de Guerré, awarded by the French Government with General Jimmy Dolittle in attendance. The respective mission was a low-level instrument flight at night, supplying the French underground. After WWII, the Air Force sent Jack to Texas A&M where he graduated in 1948 with a Bachelor of Science degree. He was later assigned to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he graduated in 1951 with a Master of Science in Aeronautical Engineering. His 30 year career in the U.S. Air Force allowed him to pursue his love of flying, during which time he was able to fly many of the planes in their inventory including the F4 Phantom, the F100 Super Sabre and the F106 Delta Dart. When asked the question, of all the planes you have flown in your lifetime, what is the one you like most?” Jack responded by saying “The one that I was flying at the time.” Jack spent time in the Pentagon and was assigned to many Air Force bases in his career, retiring in 1970 from Holloman AFB as base Colonel in charge of missile tests. Jack and his beloved wife Jerry then moved to El Paso where they remained active with various Air Force retirement groups and St. Paul’s United Methodist Church. He also taught Lear Jet flying and flew for various commercial interests. Jack is survived by Carolyn Perry (niece/caregiver) and husband Fred, Floyd Cox (nephew) Janie Floyd (sister-in-law), Jim Floyd (nephew) and wife Nohemi, Guy Floyd (nephew) and wife Carla, Greg Floyd (nephew) and wife Beverly, Annette Monreal (cousin), Dan Beckelman (cousin), Tim Beckelman (cousin) and 10 great-nephews and great-nieces. Donations in Jack’s name may be made to St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 7000 Edgemere Blvd., El Paso, TX 79925, or the 95th Bomb Group Memorials Foundation, c/o Nancy Freemantle, Treasurer, P.O. Box 6154, Eureka, CA 95502.

January - June 2012 57 Col James S. Carson (AF), was born on 21 February 1925 and passed away earlier this year. From 1955-1957, James was Project Officer at Edwards AFB on the F-84F, F-101 and F-107. He then moved to the Chief Aircraft Branch, Test Operations Headquarters at ARDC. In 1960-1961, James was Senior Project Officer and later Test Director on the F-105 program at Eglin AFB. He flew experimental test flights at Eglin working with the Republic (RAC) people. From 1961-1964, he was assigned to the 18th Tactical Fighter Wing as the Chief of Operations and Training. During this period, the Wing converted from F-100’s to F-105’s. The assignment was a fortunate one for both the Air Force and James as he completed the testing job on the F-105 as the Test Director, then took the system into the field and personally gave it to the user. They did well and became combat-ready in a short period of time. For this task they received the Presidential Unit Citation. The unit was extremely effective when the war in Southeast Asia became an issue to the U.S. Government. He advanced in the aerospace testing profession from being a new test pilot out of school to one that had a strong voice in guiding the future activities of that profession. James retired from the USAF in 1972 and moved to Paraguay where he started ranching. He did business as a sawmill operator, cattleman and tea grower. He remarried into an old Scotch family and owned 20,000 acres of rich jungle. Life was primitive but he liked what he was doing.

Col Fred Drinkwater (F), was born on 17 May 1926, and passed away peacefully at his home surrounded by his family, on 16 March 2012. Fred was a Marine Corps aviator and a pioneer of experimental aviation. He began his flight career as a Corsair pilot in Korea, where he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Upon returning home, he took a position as a test pilot at NASA Ames Research Center. He continued as a pilot in the Marine Corps Reserves, commanding a squadron of A-4s at Alameda NAS. He retired from the Marines in 1986 as a full colonel, and from Ames in 1988 as Chief, NASA Ames Research Aircraft Operations. During his career at Ames, Fred worked on a wide variety of flight programs. He developed flying techniques for the VTOL jet X-14, and worked with fellow Navy pilot Neil Armstrong developing techniques for landing the LEM on the moon. He was in the vanguard of developing landing systems for extreme low L/D flight, precursor to the space shuttle landing scheme; he worked on many V/STOL aircraft and rotorcraft, including the Tiltrotor, precursor to the Marine V-22 Osprey. Other aeronautics projects included numerous flight simulations, aviation safety, accident recreation, etc. Fred also flew NASA airborne sciences projects in high-altitude astronomy, advanced radars, sea ice dynamics, arctic mammal surveys, hurricane formation, and many others. Fred joined SETP in 1959 and became a Fellow in 1968. At home Fred could always be found in the garage fixing cars and bicycles, or building model ships, carving whales, and making furniture. He loved to ski and play tennis with 58 January - June 2012 the family, and was always ready with the camera when kids and grandkids visited. We fondly remember his recipe for New England clam chowder. He taught us good manners, and to always treat our mother with utmost respect. Fred was preceded in death by his wife of 60 years, Florence Elizabeth Jones Drinkwater, his son James Alan Drinkwater, and grandson Lt. Thomas J. Claiborne. He is survived by son Fred Drinkwater, daughters Ellen Claiborne, Barbara Wier, and Louise Christy, brother Tom Drinkwater, sister Louise Seymour, and six grandchildren. After their marriage in 1951, Fred and Florence lived in El Toro and Palo Alto, and then settled for many years in Saratoga. From 2009 until his death, Fred resided at Sunrise Senior Living in Sunnyvale where he received loving and professional care. Donations in Fred’s name may be made to the following funds: Semper Fi Fund, PO Box 609, Oceanside, CA 92057 (semperfifund.org); Tom Claiborne Memorial Scholarship Fund University of Colorado Foundation, Attn: Gift Processing, 4740 Walnut, Boulder, CO 80301.

CAPT Douglas P. Dunbar, USN (Ret) (M), was born on 30 July 1938 in Mount Vernon, NY and passed away on 3 March 2011. Doug received a B.A. degree in Economics/Management Engineering in 1959 from Columbia College in New York and joined the U.S. Navy that same year. He served in five Light Attack Squadrons in Southeast Asia in the A7A and received the Vietnam Service Medal and 10 Air Medals. From 1964-1967 he was Project Test Pilot at the Naval Weapons Evaluation Facility in Albuquerque, NM. Doug graduated from Class 54 of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in 1969 and served as a TPS Instructor for Class 59 through Class 63. He then served as CO VFA-82 “Marauders” in 1976. He was promoted to Captain in 1980 and served as Program Manager, Air Combat Maneuvering Ranges/Instrumentation, a joint USN/USAF program at Naval Air Systems Command. He retired in 1982 and went to work for BDM Corporation and was Vice President. He later worked for Analysis & Technology and eventually became a consultant. His decorations include the Bronze Star, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Navy Commendation Medal with “V” Valor Device, National Defense Service Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal. Doug was very active in SETP, serving as East Coast Section Secretary in 1978, Vice Chairman in 1980 and 1983 and as Chairman in 1984. He served as Section Secretary again in 1998.

January - June 2012 59 Col Charles Raymond Dunn, USAF (Ret) (AF), was born on 23 December 1937 and passed away on 5 May 2012 after a heroic battle with cancer. He was 74. He was a beloved husband, father, brother, and friend. Born in Northumberland, England, he was the son of the late George and Ellen Lavin Dunn. In England and , Ray graduated from grammar school with honors. He immigrated to the United States as a young teen and won a scholarship to Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School where he also graduated with honors. After studying engineering at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, he joined the Air Force, became a jet pilot, helicopter pilot, and graduated from Navy Test Pilot School. He earned a BA in Electrical Engineering and MBA from USC. Ray served two tours in Vietnam as a rescue pilot with the Jolly Green Giants maintaining a life-long friendship with his fellow servicemen. He was a crew member of the first non-stop flight of a helicopter across the Atlantic Ocean. He retired a decorated soldier from the USAF after 28 years. Some notable aircraft flown: UH-1/TH; T-33; HH-443B/F; HH-53; C-130B; HC-130; DC-130; CH-3; UH-IN, T-29. He then worked at Boeing for 15 years as Manager of Flight Test Operations and Chief Test Pilot for the V-22. Up until his death, he was a certified flight instructor and proud member of Condair Flying Club and Quiet Birdmen. Distinguished awards include: two Silver Stars; two Legions of Merit; Distinguished Flying Cross; Meritorious Service Medal and Air Medal. Survivors include: wife, Ellen Kruczlnicki Dunn of Wynantskill; daughter, Lynley Schroering of Louisville, Ky; daughter, Megan Cox of Bradenton, FL; Michael Patrick Dunn of Philadelphia and five grandchildren: Carley, Emily, Madelyn, Jeremiah, and Afton. He is also survived by two brothers: George and Kevin Dunn. Donations may be made in memory of Charles Ray Dunn to the Lymphoma Research Foundation National Headquarters 115 Broadway, Suite 1301 New York, NY 10006.

Lt Col Charles J. Ferrari (M), was born on 20 January 1938 and passed away on 9 April 2012 at the age of 74. Chuck attended the U.S. Air Force Academy from 1955- 1959 and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Military Science (Aero Major). He also graduated from Aerospace Research Test Pilot School and became an engineering test pilot at the Air Force Missile Development Center. In 1968 – 1969, he completed a combat tour at Korat and Tahkli RTAFB in Thailand. He then became a Project Pilot/Engineer at the Air Force Missile Development Center. Chuck was then transferred to Eglin AFB as Deputy Test Director for OTE and then became Chief, Systems Testing and Chief, Resources Division at the USAF Test Pilot School. In 1980 he became an Engineering Test Pilot, Technical Services for United Airlines where he was responsible for advanced simulation development of the B-767, DC-10 and B-747 60 January - June 2012 simulators. He developed a test guide for FAA approval of two DC-10 and one B-767 simulators and won two awards of merit. He later became Chief Test Pilot for United. Chuck loved the Air Force and all the friends he made. He was quite adventuresome and climbed 50 of the 54 Fourteeners (a mountain peak that exceeds 14,000 feet elevation) in Colorado. Chuck is survived by his wife, Linda, sons Michael (Michelle) Ferrari, Mark (Elizabeth) Ferrari, Bryan (Renee) Ferrari, and daughter Nicole (Todd) Kennedy. He was a grandfather of 10. Interment will be at the Air Force Academy. Donations in his name may be made to The American Cancer Society , PO Box 22718, Oklahoma City, OK 73123.

Lt. Col. John Kilby Foster Sr., U. S. Army (Ret) (M) , was born on 20 April 1927 and died 16 May 2012 at age 85 in Baptist Hospital, Little Rock, Arkansas. He was a resident of Hot Springs Village, Arkansas and a native of Lewisville, Arkansas. He enlisted in the U. S. Army Air Corps in 1945 and served 16 months at the end of WWII before discharged into military reserve service. He graduated Magnolia A&M College in 1949. While a student at the University of Oklahoma in 1950, he enlisted the Oklahoma National Guard. He had completed one year toward a Petroleum Engineering degree at the University when the broke out. He was recalled into service in the Forty-Fifth Infantry Division (Thunder Birds). He completed Officers’ Candidate School in 1951, and leadership school and flight training before sent to Korea for a year-long tour. Returning from Korea, he went for helicopter flight training. In 1954-56, while with the First Armored Division, Fort Hood, TX, he was Maj. Gen. William S. Biddle’s pilot. The following year, he was Maj. Gen. Robert L. Howze’s pilot at Fort Polk, Louisiana. At Fort Rucker, Alabama, 1957-58, John headed the maintenance of helicopters dept. before taking his family to Karachi, Pakistan for a 2-year tour, 1959-1960, where he flew American civilian and military engineers back and forth to U. S. Aid construction sites all over that country in a U-8 fixed wing (Twin Beech). In 1961, Captain Foster became the first U. S. Army pilot to graduate from the Naval Test Pilot School at the Naval Air Station, Patuxent, Maryland. He was a member of TPS Class 28. He spent another year at Patuxent, testing helicopters for the Navy before being assigned to Army Test Activity at Edwards Air Force Base, California, in 1963. At Edwards, Major Foster conducted test programs on newly designed Army planes and helicopters and was honored for breaking two world speed records in a helicopter. At Edwards, he established the speed records in a Bell UH-1D helicopter, one of which exceeded the Russian record. This accomplishment won him the Distinguished Flying Cross and an invitation to appear on the TV show, What’s My Line? with Gary Moore as host. The panel did not guess his line—test pilot—and he won a small monetary sum. In November 1965, Major Foster flew the military evaluation test program on a proto-type Bell Corp. helicopter, later designated the AH-1G Huey Cobra. He said, “This was the most satisfying program I flew during my seven years as a test pilot.” Around this time, he was recognized at the Lewisville Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner as an “honored native son” of his hometown. “I am very proud of this honor,” he said.

January - June 2012 61 Following four years at Edwards, he was sent to Vietnam (1967-68) for the first of two tours. In Vietnam, he was the commander of three different Army Air Fields and deputy commander of the 34th General Support Group. After the first Vietnam tour, he was assigned to Army Material Command in Washington, D. C., in 1969. Upon completion of the second tour in Vietnam (1972-1973), Lt. Col. Foster returned to Army Material Command for another year before assigned to Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) in Washington, D. C. John’s distinguished 30-year career ended in March 1975, and he retired for 25 years in Charlotte Hall, Maryland before moving to Arkansas in 2001. Among his many achievement awards were the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star. He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth (nee) Carroll Foster of Hot Springs Village, Arkansas, three sons, John K. Jr. and David N. Foster of Maryland, and Steven C. Foster of Washington, D. C., and one daughter, Lindsey Ann Denton, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Robert A. Gambrill (M), was born on 28 February 1921 in Athol, Maryland and passed away on 27 February 2012. Bob was the first male member of the Gambrill family to graduate from High School. There were twelve students in his Mardella High School 1938 graduating class. He joined the U.S. Navy in 1939. After boot camp training, Bob was assigned to the USS Rowan destroyer and took it through the acceptance trials and shake-down cruise to join the Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor. He experienced an at-sea hurricane through the Panama Canal. He proved to be a technically talented leader and received several promotions. He ended up in the seamanship division and was put in charge of a battle station with a five inch gun and twenty six foot boat. In 1940, Bob continued his advancement by being awarded the coveted Navy “E” award for excellence in aerial gunnery. He requested assignment to the Naval Academy Prep School in Norfolk, VA and subsequently entered the Naval Academy with the class of 1945. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, 78 midshipmen were permitted to resign and move directly into flight training. He graduated from flight training with high honors and became a naval aviator and ensign. He requested a night fighter squadron flying F7F’s. However, he was promoted to flight instructor in Corpus Christi, Texas where he taught advanced techniques. During this time, he met Betty Barkhuff who was a hospital corpsman in the Navy. He considered this a high point in his career and they were married in Betty’s hometown of Wethersfield, Connecticut a year later. They had two children, Bob III and Patricia. In 1947, Bob was released to inactive duty from the Navy and started a flight school. He enrolled in Wesleyan University and studied math and celestial mechanics with a vision of being an astronaut in the Space Program. He graduated in 1950. He was recalled to active naval duty in 1951 due to the Korean War. In 1953 he was promoted to Lt. Commander while assigned to VF-74 on four different aircraft carriers. He was never bored with a pitching deck to keep his attention.

62 January - June 2012 In 1959 Bob graduated from USN Test Pilot School and was assigned to Patuxent River Naval Air Station. His job, in addition to test pilot duties, was Manager, Anti-Air Warfare Branch of Weapon Systems Test Division. Two of his assigned pilots were John Young and Jim Lovell. In 1961, Bob’s desire to be an astronaut in the Space Program was not realized as he was 40 years of age and considered too old. His knowledge and skills were used by the Navy as the Office in Charge of the FAA Experimental Test Center in Atlantic City. Bob retired again from the Navy in 1966 after 26 years of outstanding naval service. Three days later he was hired by the Federal Aviation Administration as a Flight Test Pilot. During the next 23 years, Bob served in a number of FAA executive positions including Manager of Aircraft Certification in Wichita, Kansas. During his career as an aviator Bob logged a total of 18,000 flight hours and piloted about 280 different aircraft models. Bob and Betty enjoyed their retirement years in Wichita. Betty became an accomplished painter and Bob continued his love of flying by building and flying several different ultra- light airplanes. They were active members of Crestview Country Club playing golf and bridge with their many friends. Bob is survived by his wife of 65 years, Betty, daughter Patricia Wallace, son, Robert A. Gambrill III, one granddaughter, one grandson and one great-grandson. Donations in Bob’s name may be made to: The Society of Experimental Test Pilots Foundation (www. setp.org

Clyde E. Good (F), was born on 20 May 1919 and passed away on 14 April 2012. He was the first military member admit- ted to the Society. He started his flying career in 1941 as an Aviation Cadet in the Army Air Corps. He flew combat missions in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. He started his flight test career in 1951 upon return from a combat tour in Ko- rea. He was first assigned to the Flight and All Weather Test Branch as Chief of the Fighter Section. He did the Phase V The celebration of Clyde’s life was held at test program and developed instrument The Eau Gallie Yacht Club where Bud Evans procedures including the let-down and (F) is a member and where Clyde had also approach in the F-86E for the “Pilots been a member. There was a nice group of Handbook.” He also performed numer- Clyde’s friends including former test pilots: ous icing tests in the F-94. Al Crews, Bob Mosley, Wendy Shawler, Ray Roberts and Bud Evans (pictured with Clyde graduated from the USAF Test Clyde). What isn’t visible in the picture is the Pilot School in 1953. He then became adjacent table with a picture of Clyde at age Deputy Chief of the Fighter Test Section three, flower arrangement and orchids, one at Wright-Patterson AFB. He was the test from Joy Stevens, and a full bottle Chevas pilot on the FICON project for two years. Scotch. Clyde had made so many close This program was the YRF-84 which friends in the area that it was only possible hooked onto a trapeze in the air and was to have a small group of about 50 people at raised into the bomb bay of the B-36. He the gathering. He will be missed by all who made over 150 hook-ups during both day knew him. and night tests. He made the first flight on the production RF-84F and confirmed January - June 2012 63 fit and compatibility checks. While at Wright-Patterson, he also performed many test flights in an F-94B which had the rear canopy cut away for the ejection of a dummy and seat. These tests were done at fifty feet above the ground for devel- opment of a low level ejection system. He also performed spin tests on the T-33. While in the Fighter Test Section, he was qualified in the F-80A, F-94A/B/C, F-86A/E/F, YRF-84E, YF/84F, F-84C/D, F100A, and the MIG-15. He also performed the first test on a runway barrier system using Navy anchor chains. In 1955 he was transferred to the Air Force Plant Representative Office at North American Aviation, where he was made Chief of Air Force Flight Test. While in that position he performed tests on the F-100C/D which included the anti-skid brake system, sundstrand constant speed drive and a new auto pilot. While assigned at North American Aviation, he also did developmental and production tests on the F-86D/K/L/F. Clyde was Executive Director of SETP from 1979 to 1983, a Charter Member and SETP Fellow.

Raymond Dale Hunt (F), was born 4 January 1923 in Kokomo, Indiana to Sherman and Carrie Hunt. He passed away on 15 December 2011 at the age of 88.

In 1943 Raymond entered United States Army Air Corps. During World War II he flew in the European theater of operations. His unit was awarded the distinguished unit citation and he was personally awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

On 30 September 1950, Raymond married Dorothy M. Paver in Richmond, Indiana. They lived in many parts of the country and the world during his military tenure.

He retired from active duty in 1955 and later that same year he became a test pilot for McDonald Aircraft Company in St. Louis, Missouri where he tested the F101, all models of Phantom II and was Chief System Safety Engineer of the F-15 Eagle.

In 1963 he retired from the Air Force Reserves and in 1986, retired from McDonnell- Douglas. In 1987 he and Dorothy settled in Issaquah, WA.

His family remembers him as a loving husband, father, grandfather and friend who always put others before himself. In his earlier years he loved to fly, mountain climb, hike and cross country ski. He was compassionate and generous with a deep sense of patriotism and family.

Survivors include his loving wife, Dorothy of Issaquah; children, Ray (Margaret) Hunt, Ron (Margaret) Hunt, and Carol (Brian) Underwood all of St. Louis, Missouri; siblings, Doris, Joyce and Nancy; four grandchildren and a host of extended family members and friends.

At his request a service with Military Honors was held at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri. 64 January - June 2012 Col John “Jack” Warren Leaper USMC (Ret) (M), was born on May 5, 1922 in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Clarence G. Leaper and Genevieve Jackson. He passed away on Thursday, 26 April 2012 in Thousand Oaks, CA at the age of 89.

Jack attended St. Thomas College in St. Paul, MN., and in 1942 joined the Cadet Program. Graduating from Pensacola as a 2nd Lt. in the USMC, he fulfilled a dream and saw service in Ie Shima, Okinawa. Jack returned stateside in 1945 from his first tour as a decorated war hero with a Navy Cross and Purple Heart. This same year he married his high school sweetheart and soulmate Dorothy Ann Goldborg.

Jack completed his education at the University of Minnesota as an Aero Engineer and in 1952 was hired by Bill Lear as an experimental test pilot and electronic engineer. In 1954 he was assigned Assistant Chief of Flight Test and in 1958 was promoted to Chief of Flight Test for Lear. Colonel Leaper had an extraordinary passion for flying all models of aircraft and retired from the United States Marine Corp in 1982 after 30 years of service, logging over 10,000 hours in the cockpit. Jack joined SETP in 1960. In 1984 Jack retired as Director of Quality Assurance after 32 years with Lear Siegler, Inc.

Throughout his life Jack was an avid outdoorsman and champion swimmer. In 1959, he settled in Woodland Hills, CA. Jack’s favorite hobby was spending time with his large family and beloved wife, Dorothy who passed away in 2007. His love of storytelling and sense of humor was unsurpassed. Jack touched many lives in countless ways and will be deeply missed by all who knew him. Jack is survived by his eight children, brother Robert Leaper, 12 grandchildren, and four great grandchildren (one predeceased son).

A Military Service was held on May 12, 2012 at Oakwood Memorial Park, Chatsworth, CA. The family has requested any donations in Jack’s memory be made to: The American Cancer Society, 3333 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 900, Los Angeles, CA 90010. .

John M. Miller (HF) was born on 15 December 1905 and we just learned, passed away in 2008.

John’s interest in flying was sparked at 4 years old when he saw his first “flying machine” flown by Glenn Curtiss land across the road from his Dad’s farm in 1910. He had his first flight as a passenger in 1921 in a Canadian JN-4. He diligently studied books given to him by his uncle who had used them in mechanic’s ground school during WWI. His knowledge impressed a visiting barnstorming pilot and he spent every minute after school helping him all summer. The pilot was replacing the decrepit JN-4 January - June 2012 65 and gave it to John with the promise that if he re-conditioned the plane, he would teach him to fly. He read the book “Aerobatics” by Horatio Barber and started taxiing, and two months later, following the illustrations and directions in the book, soloed on his 18th birthday without crashing. He took on a passenger for his third flight and made $25, so became a commercial pilot.

John took the exam for an A&E license in 1927 and got a job working for the Gates Flying Circus as the mechanic on a Curtiss R-4. He earned enough money to buy a wreck of a Standard J-I and rebuilt it to carry two passengers. He got his transport Pilot License and barnstormed with the Standard.

In the winter of 1930, he went to the first Miami Air Races and put on an aerobatic show with the D-25. The Army, Navy and Marine teams were there and the Marines invited him to join the reserve at Pensacola. They later assigned him to a reserve squadron and to temporary duty at Quantico where he was given two weeks to qualify as Naval Aviator.

In 1931 John purchased a Pitcairn PCA-2 autogiro and made the first flights across the continent, which was the first rotary-wing aircraft to do so. He went on tour with it and performed at the National Air Races in Cleveland. He also operated a small airport at Poughkeepsie with a repair shop. This was during the depression so few people were able to own private planes, but the bootleggers were doing a rush business flying Scotch over the border from Canada using the new Standard D-25 biplanes. The bootleggers frequently bent the planes, so his shop did well. He also got married that year.

In 1935 he joined United Airlines as a co-pilot, flying the Boeing 247-D, which was the first modern airliner. W. Wallace Kellett urged him to go to his factory in Philadelphia as a test pilot on the wingless autogiros he was developing. He took a leave of absence from United and took this risky job and was injured twice. He lobbied a bill through Congress to establish an autogiro experimental rooftop operation from the top of the Post Office in Philadelphia to the airport carrying 350 pounds of mail. This was the first wingless aircraft to have an Approved Type Certificate. He was loaned to EAL from Kellett and decided to stay with EAL when his contract ended. He then became Chief Test Pilot at Columbia Aircraft Corp. Columbia designed a new amphibian for air/sea rescue, and John ran most of the testing.

When the war ended, John transferred base to JFK and flew a series of planes: DC-4, four types of Constellations, the L-188 Electra and DC-8. After 25 years as Captain, he retired. He purchased a Bell 47-G helicopter and did contract flying for various Sheriff’s Departments and performed search and rescue missions. He was President of the United Flying Octogenarians, a group of pilots who have flown after the age of 80.

John and his wife of 30 years had two daughters and a son. They produced nine grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

66 January - June 2012 Major General Jeremiah Jed Pearson, USMC, (Ret) (F), was born on 25 January 1938 and made his last take- off on 1 June 2012 at Mission Hospital, Mission Viejo California.

General Pearson was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps upon graduation from Georgia Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Aeronautical Engineering in June 1960. He was designated a Naval Aviator in October 1961.

From November 1961 to July 1964, Jed was assigned to the 2d Marine Aircraft Wing, Beaufort, South Carolina. During his assignment there, Jed’s first operational tour was aboard the USS Independence with VMA-324. During August 1964 he returned to Naval Air Station Meridian, Mississippi, remaining there through September 1965 as a flight instructor.

Upon graduation from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, Patuxent River, Maryland, in 1966, Jed was ordered to the Flight Test Division, where his assignments included the initial carrier trials and structural demonstrations of the F-4J aircraft. During this assignment he was elected as a member of The Society of Experimental Test Pilots. Ordered overseas in July 1968, he was assigned to the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, DaNang, Vietnam, as the Maintenance Officer with VMFA-542. During this tour, Jed flew over 400 combat missions.

In September 1969 he was assigned to the Naval Missile Test Center at Point Mugu, California, where he served in Flight Test and was the project officer on the AWG-14 Radar and AIM-7F missile until January 1973. In June 1973, he reported to VMFA-232, where he served as the Maintenance Officer for thirteen months in theWestern Pacific.

From September 1974 until June 1977, Jed was assigned to Headquarters Marine Corps, Washington, D.C. as the Aviation Plans Officer in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Aviation. While at Headquarters, he was nominated as a USMC Space Shuttle pilot.

He then commanded Headquarters and Maintenance Squadron 24, 1st Marine Amphibious Brigade, Marine Corps Air Station, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, for one year. From June 1978 to July 1981, he commanded VMFA-235. During the last year of this command, VMFA- 235 won the Robert M. Hanson Award as the “Outstanding Fighter Squadron of the Year.”

In May 1984, he assumed command of Marine Aircraft Group 11 after which he was promoted to Brigadier General. Various staff and operational assignments followed including assignment as CG, 4th Marine Aircraft Wing and later as the Deputy Commander of Marine Central Command in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield/ Storm. His last assignment in the Marine Corps was as Head of America’s Manned Space Flight program at NASA. He supervised 19 successful Space Shuttle missions including the first Hubble Space Telescope repair mission. His responsibilities included operations, safety, personnel, logistics and budgeting for all matters related to the manned space flight program. After retirement from the Marine Corps, General Pearson remained as the Head of January - June 2012 67 Manned Space Flight for three years, and for his service in this assignment he was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal and the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal.

Jed was a very private person, a man of few words, but the one characteristic that was evident to all was that he loved to fly, and he was good at it. He had a passion for testing airplanes and taking them to the edge of the envelope. He was extremely proud to be a Golden Eagle and a Fellow in The Society for Experimental Test Pilots. A high point in his flying career was his tour as Commanding Officer, VMFA-235 which he commanded for four years.

He was a man’s man who thoroughly enjoyed a high spirited Happy Hour with his squadron mates or working on old sports cars. He had a very deep commitment to the Marine Corps and was very confident in his abilities to lead both on the ground and in the air. He was a charismatic officer who was highly respected by juniors and seniors alike.

Jed is survived by his wife, Patty, his son, Jeremiah Pearson IV, and daughters, Mary Ellen and Prudy, as well as by his three brothers and one sister

A memorial service and interment will be conducted at Arlington National Cemetery at a later date.

Cdr Peter Pierce, USN (Ret) (M), was born on 2 October 1944 and passed away on 5 November 2011.

Pete attended Duke University and graduated in 1966 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in 1972 and received a Master of Science degree in Administration from George Washington University in 1974.

Pete was a project pilot at the Naval Air Test Center and later a flight instructor at USNTPS. He was recognized by his contemporaries for his exceptional airmanship. As Commander of VF-11, “The World Famous Red Rippers,” Pete lead them through the transition from the F-4 Phantom to the F-14 Tomcat, having put some of the first few Navy Testing hours on the F-14 at PAX River. Pete was 3 years ahead of his year group upon making LT. CDR and entered his command tour with only 13 years in service. He retired as Commander from the USN after a 20 year career and became Project Pilot for Flight Tests at Learjet. He also returned to Patuxent River as a civilian instructor and edited their flight test manual while working forVeda.

Pete attended Regent University Law School and passed the Bar in 1995. After retirement, his hobby was vintage cars.

Pete is survived by his wife Leilani, daughter Kathryn (Mike) Sweeney and brother Paul Pierce.

Inurnment services will be held on 23 July 2012 at Arlington National Cemetery.

68 January - June 2012 Lt. Col. Thomas R. Risher, USAF (Ret.) (AM), former Air Force test pilot, successful real estate broker, traditional southern gentleman, dedicated and loving husband, father and grandfather, died peacefully on January 25 at his winter residence in Viera, Florida surrounded by his family. He was 87. Born and raised in Charleston, SC, Mr. Risher, attended Clemson in 1941 and 1942, when he enlisted as an Aviation Cadet in the U.S. Army Air Corps.

Throughout a storied military career, Col. Risher spent the first 12 years in the numbered Air Forces serving in the Japan Occupation, flying B-17’s and B-29’s until 1948 when he returned to college at Georgia Tech. His education was interrupted once again in 1950 when his unit was mobilized and deployed to Korea, flying B-26’s in combat. Col. Risher flew 56 missions and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and two Air Medals.

After returning from Korea, Col. Risher began the second leg of his military career in the experimental (AFSC) component of the Air Force when he was stationed at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston in 1955 and then Wright Field, Ohio, where in 1956 he received his Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical Engineering at the Air Force Institute of Technology. He was later posted to the Air Force Test Pilot School, graduating in 1957 in the same class with future astronauts Gus Grissom and Gordon Cooper.

Col. Risher’s military career was as varied and diverse as the airplanes he tested, serving in far-away postings such as Laverton AFB, Australia (while attached to the Royal Australian Air Force) in the early ‘60’s, Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico at the Missile Test Center (flying B-57’s, T-33’s, C-130’s and 131’s) and the Air Proving Grounds Center at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida in the late ‘60’s, when Col. Risher retired after a distinguished 25 year military career.

As a young boy in Charleston, Col. Risher would tell his mother that he wanted “…to explore the world and be a pe-o-near,” (mispronouncing the word “pioneer”) when he grew up-- and that wander-lust and wayfaring spirit never left him. His family loved the travel as they journeyed the world, especially when they were stationed in Australia. “We had the opportunity to see things and go places that none of the other kids could,” said daughter Jeri Van Assche. “We lived all over the world and we were at home wherever we lived. I actually went back to Australia for the summer ten years after we had left to see friends I had made there as a child,” recalled his daughter. “It was an amazing and interesting life.”

After retiring from the Air Force in 1969, Mr. Risher moved his family to Winter Park FL, building the first permanent family home on Bear Gulley Lake. During this time he flew briefly for Shawnee Airlines while studying for the Florida Real Estate Broker’s license. Shortly thereafter Mr. Risher founded Tom Risher Real Estate, a real estate brokerage firm specializing in large land parcel sales in and around the Oviedo area.

Tom Risher Real Estate was instrumental in the creation of numerous residential and commercial developments in Seminole and Orange Counties throughout the ‘70’s, ‘80’s and into the ‘90’s, selling and developing numerous projects. His reputation as an honest broker was impeccable. “He was such a great salesman because he never really tried to sell something to somebody if they didn’t want it,” according to son-in-law Fred Van Assche January - June 2012 69 who participated in some of the Tom Risher Brokerage development projects. “He always would say at a contract negotiation… ‘Leave a little on the table for the next guy to make a dollar” He was about the most honest man I ever knew,” said Van Assche.

During his real estate career, Mr. Risher was very active in the community, serving on numerous boards including the Citizens Bank in Oviedo, the Oviedo Publishing Company and as one of the original Founding Members and Board member of The Ekana Country Club, (now called Twin Pines Golf Club) development, contributing much of the land used in the layout of the golf course. Mr. Risher was also a lifetime member of The Society of Experimental Test Pilots, a lifetime member of The Sons of the American Revolution and a member of the Seminole County Board of Realtors.

Upon retirement in 1996 from his second career in real estate, Mr. Risher and his wife Elsie purchased a home in the mountains of North Carolina where they summered. His later retirement years were spent golfing, traveling to the United Kingdom, the D-Day Beach Battle sites in Europe and other far off destinations with his wife and friends, sometimes re-visiting the areas where he was stationed while in the service. A lifetime American and Civil War history buff and student, Mr. Risher read extensively on the War and was an acknowledged expert on many Civil War engagements, journeying to Civil War Battleground sites throughout the South.

Mr. Risher is survived by his loving wife of 62 years, Elsie; four sons, Terry and Tim of Raleigh, NC; Tom (Carol) of Montgomery AL; Ted (Laura) of Seattle WA. He is also survived by a daughter Jeri Van Assche (Fred) of Winter Park, FL and three grandchildren; Dr. F. Martin Van Assche, (Christine) of Jacksonville, FL; Kathryne Van Assche of Brooklyn, NY and Michael Van Assche of Philadelphia, PA; a sister Becky Jenkins (Don) of Charlotte NC and brothers F. Gene Risher (Lib) of Charleston, NC and Harold B. Risher of Hilton Head SC.

Donations can be made to Disabled American Veterans in the name of Col. Risher.

CAPT William M. Russell, USN (Ret) (M), made his last take-off on February 21, 2012 in La Jolla, California. Captain Russell joined the Navy from his native state of Texas and entered the U. S. Naval Academy in May ’43. He graduated in June ’46 and was assigned to USS Leyte (CV-32) where he served in several departments until ’48. He reported to flight training and was designated a naval aviator in December ’49. Bill served two years in the Naval Reserves before joining VF-22 in ’52. He saw combat in Korea with VF-22 aboard USS Lake Champlain (CV-39), flying 25 combat missions in the F2H-2 Banshee. Bill was awarded the Bronze Star and two Air Medals for his heroic actions.

Bill graduated first in his class at Naval Test Pilot School in ’56, and was assigned to the Armament Test Division at Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, MD from ’56-’58. He performed development flight-testing of seven aircraft, including the A4D-1, F11F- 1, F3H-2, and F8U-1 . He was a Replacement Air Group instructor with VF-124 from 70 January - June 2012 ’58-’60 flying the F8U Crusader. He attended the Naval War College, and then served as Executive Officer and Commanding Officer of VF-211 flying F-8’s.

Bill attended Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA and earned a Masters degree in Business Management in ’64. He served in many demanding jobs, including as Personal Aide to the Vice Chief of Naval Operations, Air Boss and Navigator aboard USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63), and the office of Research and Engineering on Secretary of Defense staff. He attended the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in ’69-`’70, and commanded USS Camden (AOE-2) in support of combat forces in the Gulf of Tonkin in ’70-’71. He was awarded the Legion of Merit with combat V for his exemplary leadership.

CAPT Russell reported to Commander SEVENTH Fleet in ’72 and was Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations. Bill served as Deputy Commander, Naval Air Test Center Patuxent River from ’73-’76, retiring from this position in July ’76.

Bill was an outstanding fighter pilot, test pilot, and a most capable and affable naval officer. He loved to fly and he amassed over 7000 hours in single-engine aircraft during his 30- year career. Always positive by nature, Bill inspired others to give their best efforts, and was a popular and respected shipmate.

CAPT Russell continued his passion for flying after retirement, and built and flew two Schroeder HP-18 -15 Meter Racing Sailplanes. He continued to fly his own aircraft until his better judgment told him it was time to retire from the cockpit. Proud of his Golden Eagles status, he was a friendly and active attendee at many annual reunions before his deteriorating health precluded further participation.

His wife Billie, his son Frederick, daughter Yavone Stephens and husband Spencer, son Fred Yannone and wife Gayle, six grandchildren, and eight great grandchildren survive him. His loyal dog “The Dude” also survives his master.

Robert K. “Bob” Smyth (F), was born in New York City on 17 July 1927 and passed away on 10 January 2012.

Bob entered the U.S. Navy in June of 1945 and graduated from Naval Flight Training in 1948. In 1952, he graduated from the U.S. Navy Test Pilot School and served as an exchange officer with the British in 1953- 1954.

In 1955, Bob resigned his commission from the U.S. Navy and accepted a position as an Engineering Test Pilot with Grumman. He flight-tested the F9F Cougar and F11F Tiger series and participated in Gulfstream I Test and Certification program from 1955 to 1960. Bob performed the first flight of the A2F-1 (A-6A) Intruder in April 1960. He was then appointed as a consulting pilot and astronaut liaison on the Apollo Lunar Module program until the spring of 1966. Bob then January - June 2012 71 became the project pilot for the Gulfstream II, performing its first flight in October 1966. In 1967, Bob was appointed Chief Test Pilot for Grumman. His flight test programs included projects on the F9F-6, -8, -8P and -8T, the F11F and -1F, the Mohawk and the Gulfstream I. This work included structural, spin and carrier suitability tests and FAA, British and Australian civil certification tests.

Several years later on December 21, 1970, along with fellow Grumman Test Pilot Bill Miller, he performed the first flight of the F-14A Tomcat. He holds the distinction, along with Bill, as the first crew to eject from an F-14 on December 30, just a little over a week from its first flight. Bob was named Director of Flight Test in 1974. He was also the project pilot for the Gulfstream III, performing its first flight in December 1979.

Bob left Grumman in 1981 and joined Gulfstream in Savannah, Georgia, as Director of Flight Operations. In 1985, he was promoted to Vice President of Flight Ops and Quality Control. Bob participated in most of the Gulfstream III and IV record setting flights around world, over the poles, etc.

In June of 1993, Bob retired from Gulfstream and moved to the Leeward Air Ranch in Ocala, Florida, where he spent the last thirteen years with his wife Sally and their three dachshunds Pfeffer, Minna, and Bella enjoying an active life of flying and traveling.

Some of Bob’s accomplishments in aviation include certified Airline Transport Pilot (G-I, II, III, and IV), single-engine land and multi-engine land-and-sea aircraft. He was a Fellow of The Society of Experimental Test Pilots and was elected to the Carrier Test Pilots Hall of Honor on board the USS Yorktown in Charleston, SC in 1991. He was also a long time member of the Cruising Club of America..

Bob is survived by his wife Sally, sons Robert K. Smyth, Jr. and Andrew W. Smyth and his two grandchildren, Haven and Freya, all of whom reside in Northern California, and brother Donald Smyth of Sonora, California. The Smyth family is grateful to Hospice of Marion County, 3231 SW 34th Ave., Ocala, FL 34474 and requests that any donations or remembrances be made to that organization.

Dr. Darrol Stinton (HF), was born on 29 December 1927 and passed away peacefully on 6 January 2012 in the hospital following surgery a few weeks after his 84th birthday.

Darrol, a former Farnborough and CAA test pilot and founding member of the Historic Aircraft Association, was one of the most influential personalities in air show and historic aircraft safety.

Darrol’s work in helping form the Historic Aircraft Association, creating air display and pilot standards later enshrined in legislation, over the years probably saved 72 January - June 2012 dozens of lives. But that was only a small part of a varied life in which aircraft, ships and water equally dominated Darrol’s interests.

His life in aviation began as an aeronautical engineering apprentice in 1944, with Blackburn Aircraft Limited of Brough on the River Humber. Around 1950 he moved to De Havilland at Hatfield, from where in Darrol’s words he “escaped into the RAF” in 1953, via the RAFVR.

While still in the RAF, he trained as a Ship’s Diving Officer RN. Urged by the team of RAF divers in the sub-aqua club, Seletar, Singapore, he used them to found the now large Royal Air Force Sub-Aqua Association – training the original team to work with the Navy in the event of aircraft accidents in water.

In 1959 Darrol was accepted for the Empire Test Pilots’ School, then crossed the Farnborough runway to join the Royal Aircraft Establishment. His work varied, from pure research and development, to in-flight accident investigation and being a guinea-pig for the RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine. In 1964, Darrol was awarded the MBE for his experimental test flying at Farnborough.

Darrol retired from the RAF in 1969 and joined the Air Registration Board, later to become the Civil Aviation Authority, as a certification test pilot on light aircraft. The work was extensive and varied, from canard to conventional single and twin-engined airplanes, sailplanes, motor gliders and microlights, one of which he famously described as flying like “an animated beach umbrella.”

His work included several visits to the Experimental Aircraft Association Fly-in, at Oshkosh, Wisconsin. On the first occasion, he returned to the ARB, exhausted, having tested 16 weird and wonderful homebuilt aircraft in a single week.

In the 1970’s Darrol was test flying an increasing number of historic, classic and vintage types for which civilian owners were seeking Permits to Fly. In 1978, in answer to CAA concerns about the ability of private owners to properly maintain and display the aircraft, Darrol together with Hawker Chief Test Pilot Duncan Simpson helped found the Historic Aircraft Association, to monitor standards, share information and make appropriate recommendations to the CAA.

For more than three decades, Darrol worked as a Vice-President of the Association and the excellent safety record of historic aircraft at air shows across the UK is part of his fine legacy. He helped create the system of “Display Authorization” which evaluated the performance of individual pilots and helped frame regulations which ensured that any potential display incidents were kept away from crowds.

In 1982, with CAA consent and retirement in sight, Darrol formed his own company of aero-marine consultants together with his lawyer-wife, Jacqueline. On leaving the CAA, he continued as a freelance test pilot, with the International Test Pilots’ School at Cranfield, lecturing on aircraft design as a Senior Visiting Fellow at Loughborough University.

Darrol once described his lengthy professional career as having “become cluttered with January - June 2012 73 technical qualifications.” He was the author of a number of text books and technical papers, he was awarded a Doctorate in Philosophy for his work on dolphin aero-and hydro-dynamics, was a Chartered Engineer, Fellow and past Vice President of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Fellow of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects, Honorary Fellow of The Society of Experimental Test Pilots in the USA, Liveryman of the Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators. Gained many years before achieving all of these, he particularly prized his membership of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers.

Richard Savage Thomas (M), was born on 21 February 1936 in Washington DC to Jean and Ernie Thomas and passed away peacefully on 22 February 2012.

Dick grew up in Chevy Chase, MD and was graduated from Georgetown Preparatory School. In 1952 he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Science and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame and later earned a Masters in International Affairs from the University of Southern California. In 1958 he was commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Naval Reserves. In 1959 he entered the Navy’s Primary Flight School and received his “Wings of Gold.” In 1960 he entered advanced aeronautical training which brought him to Texas where he met the love of his life, and wife of 50 years, Betsy. They were married on February 14, 1962 in San Antonio.

Dick had three deployments to Vietnam, attacking from the USS Bon Homme Richard CVA-31. He flew 333 missions over North Vietnam and numerous South Vietnam close-air support missions. He completed 742 landings in his Naval career. Through his service, he received over 50 combat medals including: Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross with Combat “V” and 1 Star, Purple Heart, Air Medal with Combat “V” and 9 Individual and 33 Strike/Flight Awards, Commendation with Combat “V” and 6 Stars, Achievement with Combat “V” and 1 Star, Combat Action, Presidential Unit Citation, Unit Commendation, Meritorious Unit Commendation, National Defense Service, Armed Forces Expeditionary with 4 Stars, Vietnam Service with 7 Stars, Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Silver Star and Palm, Vietnam Campaign.

In 1968 he joined the Strategic Planning Staff in Omaha, Nebraska and later was stationed in Jacksonville, Florida. While in Florida he developed his lifelong passion for sailing that continued throughout his life. He was blessed with a tremendous sense of humor and loved entertaining friends and family with witty magic tricks. He and Betsy enjoyed sharing their time between La Jolla and San Antonio where they were actively involved in the lives of their children and grandchildren. He was a member of The San Antonio Country Club, The Argyle, La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, La Jolla Country Club, San Diego Yacht Club, and the Army Navy Club of Washington D.C.

Dick is preceded in death by his brother Ted. He is survived by his wife Betsy, and their children Ric Thomas and his wife Kelly of La Jolla, Andy Thomas of San Diego, and Libby Bentley and her husband Rob of San Antonio, as well as grandchildren, Carlisle and

74 January - June 2012 Jake Bentley and Kenan and Jett Thomas, his sister Mary Catherine, her husband Bob and their children Jennifer and Jeff of Washington DC, nephew Mike Thomas and his family and niece Kay Jean Campbell and her family. Donations in Dick’s name may be made to UC Regents for Dr. Anthony DeMaria, JACC, 3655 Nobel Drive #630, San Diego, CA 92122 to help continue his research in cardiovascular disease.

Mr. Berndt Weimer (M) made his last flight on Tuesday, 10 July 2012 in his hometown of Norrköping, Sweden after a long and brave struggle against the disease that finally overcame him.

Berndt began his career in the Swedish Air Force as a fighter pilot flying the J35 Draken, which since then had a special place in his heart. During his Draken period he was stationed at F1 in Västerås and F13 in Norrköping.

He was Squadron Commander of “Martin Blue” when he was recruited to the OTEU of the Swedish Air Force with the aim of integrating the new fighter, JA37 Viggen, into operational service and to pursue the aim of perfecting this aircraft to be the backbone of Swedish air defense.

After several years at the OTEU, Berndt came over to SAAB as a JAS39 Gripen Test Pilot, specializing in the development of the Air to Air capability. During his career at Saab, Berndt was involved in development, flight test and marketing of Gripen both in Sweden and abroad. During this period Berndt became a member of SETP and he took great pride of belonging to this professional organization.

Berndt always had a strong will and he was physically active even when the disease started to take its toll on him. This helped him to fight the disease and gave him some extra time with his family. Berndt will be deeply missed by his wife Ann and their two sons Johan and Henrik. The professional spirit of Berndt will be a strong remembrance of our lost wing man.

January - June 2012 75 The Society of Experimental Test Pilots PRSRT STD P.O. Box 986 U.S. POSTAGE Lancaster, CA 93584-0986 PAID SUNDANCE PRESS 85719

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