RETIREES NEWSLSETTER (Sept 2002)

FALL LUNCHEON

Our luncheon will be held on Saturday, 19 October 2002 (Jim Hitchcock’s 70th B. D.). Gathering time is 12 noon, with social mixing for about 45 minutes. Our luncheon theme this year is Octoberfest, so wear your most festive, but casual, Octoberfest outfit. The restaurant is the THIRSTY DOG GRILL AND BREWERY, located at 48 Alex-Bell Road in Centerville, Oh. It is really on the northwest corner of Rt. 48 and Alex-Bell with entry off Alex-Bell 1/8 mile west of Rt. 48. The menu contains fish, chicken, beef, salads, their own variety of beers and wine, but no hard liquor. We will have the use of a private room which can easily hold up to 60 persons, so guests are most welcome. We hope to have a good attendance. If you plan to come please let Wally Breuer know [(937) 434-3691 or debreuer@gemair.com>] by 16 Oct. so he can give the THIRSTY DOG a number to plan for.

SOCIAL FUND NEEDS REPLENISHMENT!

It has been an expensive year for our Social Courtesy Fund and the balance is below $50. Your donation in the amount of $5 (not tax deductible) will be most appreciated. Checks should be made payable to Harold Kepler, 90 Sheldon Dr., Centerville, Ohio 45459.

MEMORIAL PLAQUE FUND:

There have not been any charges to this fund in the past year. Fund balance reported in October 2001 was $1159.35. Interest earned this past year was $10.56, giving a current balance of $1169.91.

NECROLOGY:

We give our sincere sympathy to Jim and Lucy Bridgman and Family on the death of their daughter, Kathleen McFadden, on April 1, 2002. Our sympathy also is given to Florence Davis and Family on the death of our colleague, Dr. Richard M. Davis, who died on July 10, 2002. A nomination for a memorial plaque to honor Dr. Davis’ service to AFIT is in process. We extend our sympathy to the children of Helen Kaplan, widow of Dr. Bernard Kaplan. Helen passed away August 31 in Columbus and was buried in Riverview Cemetery in Dayton on September 2nd. Word was received in May of this year of the deaths of Bill and Jeanne Mckenna in April of 2001. Col. Mckenna was on the faculty of the Mechanical Engineering Department in the early 1960s. Dr. Shine expressed our sympathy to the Mckenna children. Dr. Calico received word that Carol Smith passed away recently. Carol was the wife of B. G. (Ret) Mike Smith who was on the Aero/Astro faculty in the early 1980s. From about 1985 until 2000 Mike was the Head of the Aero Dept at the AFA. Dr. Calico has expressed our sympathy to the Smith Family.

NEWS FROM AFIT:

It is definitely an exciting time at AFIT The Secretary of the Air Force, Dr. James Roche, is a strong proponent of graduate education for Air Force personnel. He has made increasing the amount and quality of graduate education available to Air Force personnel a major theme of his tenure as SECAF. This is obviously good for AFIT and the Air Force. Over the past several years AFIT has enrolled between 200 and 250 new students per year in the resident school. Current plans would have this increasing to 1000 by the year 2008 and both the dollars and the Air Force Council has approved the manpower required to educate that number of students. Clearly this will be a huge challenge for the school as it will require more than doubling the current faculty and will stretch the facilities to the maximum. While it is by no means certain that all of the projected growth will materialize either due to budget constraints or the lack of available students it is clear that we will be growing significantly.

While on the growth theme two additional initiatives are worth mentioning. The first is that the Air Force is considering allowing students selected for intermediate service school (ISS) to attend AFIT as an alternative to attending Air Command and Staff College (ACSC) at Maxwell AFB. These students would receive credit for attending ISS in residence and also receive an AFIT degree. Since the current ACSC program is 10 months long AFIT has been asked by the Air Force Chief of Staff to develop a 12-month non-thesis master's program for these students. The second is that for the first time ever AFIT has enlisted personnel enrolled in graduate programs. Eight Air Force and six Marine enlisted personnel will begin full time graduate programs this fall.

After nearly forty years of use building 640 is scheduled to undergo a major renovation. The project has passed all of the funding hurdles and can be put on contract as soon as the defense budget is approved by Congress and signed by the President. It is a $13.1M project and when completed it will be a superb facility. It will be done in two or more phases and is expected to take at least two years to complete. While we are not looking forward to temporary moves and overcrowding during the construction we are certainly looking forward to the finished product. Finally after a delay of too many years AFIT will be recognizing Distinguished Alumni again this year. The selection of honorees is in the final stages and they will be recognized at a banquet on 14 November at the Officers Club. We look forward to this being an annual event in the future. (From Dean Calico).

AFIT HERITAGE DAY:

In commemoration of fifty years of graduate level instruction at the Air Force Institute of Technology, a Heritage Day will be held on November 14, 2002. During the afternoon, reviews will be given of the evolution of programs in Science and Engineering, in Acquisition and Management, and in Civil and Environmental Engineering. These will be followed by presentations describing the current activities in AFIT’s three Schools, and a presentation on the future of the Institute. A banquet, beginning at 6:30 in the Officer’s Club, will be used as an occasion to honor several graduates that have been selected jointly by the AFIT Foundation and Association of Graduates and the faculty for recognition as Distinguished Alumni. (From Peter Torvik, President of the Board, AFIT Foundation).

SPECIAL REPORT: AFIT RETIREES GROUP, A BRIEF HISTORY

If memory serves it was in 1984 that Bill Ericksen and I decided to get retirees, along with their spouses, together for a social lunch. We also invited retired military who had served on the faculty, along with a contingent that had moved on to the OSU faculty. This latter group included the Colson’s, Thurston’s, Gatewood’s, Bailey’s and Burggraf’s. This Columbus group have been very regular in attending our lunches. Our first lunch was a success and the group decided to schedule a lunch twice a year, one each in the spring and fall.

When Bert Carson died in 1990 the group decided to honor his memory with a memorial plaque to be mounted in the halls of building 640, provided we could secure enough donations to support the project. A self appointed committee of Bill Ericksen, Harold Kepler, and Wally Breuer took on the task of raising the money for the Carson plaque. We were very successful and Bert’s plaque was dedicated on 9 August 1990. Quickly following the Carson plaque were ones for Downing, Lubelfeld and Graetzer, whose deaths had preceded Carson’s. In the summer of 1991 we wrote and took to the Faculty Council a proposed Policy on Memorial Plaques, which was approved. Since then plaques for Zieman, Bielkowicz, Keister and Larsen have been mounted. The plaque fund is supported by the family of the deceased plus donations from our group.

We established a Social Courtesy fund in the 1980s to support mailing expenses, bereavement flowers/ gifts to charity, and gifts to hospitalized members. Our organizational structure remains informal and operates through a committee of Breuer, Bridgman, Kepler, Torvik and Helen Downing. Torvik writes the Spring newsletter and MCs the luncheon while Breuer takes those responsibilities in the Fall. (From Wally Breuer).

NEWS FROM RETIREES:

From John Blakelock: I served on the faculty at AFIT from June 1957 to June 1965 and obtained the academic rank of Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering. In May of 1965 I was selected by the Commander in Chief of the Pakistan Air Force from three nominees for assignment as Dean/Principal of the Pakistan Air Force College of Engineering. I stayed for 4 years and saw the first two classes graduate (trimester schedule). For my services, I was awarded the Sitara-i-Khidmat (Star of Distinguished Service) by the President of Pakistan and the Legion of
Merit by our Air Force. Early in 2000 I received a letter from the present Commandant (and former graduate) of the Pakistan Air Force College that they had dedicated a new auditorium to me, naming it the 'Blakelock Auditorium' - with the following citation on the inaugural plague: "BLAKELOCK AUDITORIUM: Dedicated to Colonel John H. Blakelock (USAF), the founding Principal of PAF College of Aeronautical Engineering. His Pioneering efforts transformed an uncertain vision into a formidable reality and fostered it to become the cradle of Aeronautical Engineering and a Centre of Excellence in this region. We owe it all to the genius and dedication of this man."

My last four years of Air Force service (1969-1 Jan 1974) were spent as the first director of the new ASD Computer Center. After retirement from the Air Force, I served as the first director of the new Dual Degree Program between Wilberforce University and the University of Dayton. The program was designed to encourage more Afro-Americans into Engineering. In September 1976 I started graduate studies at the University of Dayton and obtained my Ph.D. in AeroSpace Engineering in December 1979. Upon graduation I took a research job with Application Research Corporation (ARC), working primarily with large digital surface-to-air missile simulations. Jack Crouch joined ARC a few years later and we worked together on many of the simulations. I retired from ARC in October 1987, and began work on the second edition of my book "Automatic Control of Aircraft and Missiles," which was published in 1991 (first edition published in 1965). For the past few years I have built ship models and remote-controlled aircraft models.

From Jim Bridgman: My book, titled "Introduction to the Physics of Nuclear Weapons Effects," was published by the Government Printing Office for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), formerly the Defense Nuclear Agency. The book is hard bound, 535 pages and over 200 illustrations. It is unclassified, but distribution is limited to government agencies and their contractors. Any one active under those categories can obtain a copy free from DTRA. The book is already in use by AFIT GNE students. (Jim will happily autograph a copy for a dollar or less.) The following is extracted from the flyleaf of the dust cover: "This book evolved from class notes for three courses developed by the author for beginning graduate students at the Air Force Institute of Technology, Graduate School of Engineering and Management. These courses are required for AFIT nuclear engineering graduate students. The notes were motivated by the lack of a textbook covering all of the effects of nuclear weapons….

On other subjects I took part in the 50-th reunion of my class (1952) at Annapolis. It was a great experience. On the very same dates, Lucy returned to Syracuse NY for the 50-th reunion of her class from St. Joseph’s School of Nursing. We have been continuously comparing notes about who had the better time. (It’s a tie). On weekends (and even some weekdays) we have been doing a lot of sailing on our 26-foot sailboat "Seven Granddaughters" on Grand Lake St. Marys with the grandchildren. To be precisely correct, I have been doing a lot of sailing while Lucy enjoys her self ashore at the boat club. She says she would rather socialize than sail (any day!). We miss our daughter Kathleen who was a member of the club and an enthusiastic (and skilled) first mate on the boat.

From Frank Brown: Thanks for keeping us up-to-date on retired AFIT faculty. Here's a summary of our recent history. Bobbie and I moved from Fairborn in 2000 to a retirement community called Tide Point, on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. We had an orderly 5-year moving plan, but abandoned it when we saw this place. Having lost access to a darkroom, Bobbie is taking up digital photography. It's a joint project: she does the skilled photographic part; I do the low-level computer grunt work. I've also kept up an interest in research. In 2001 I published a paper (with a Romanian colleague) in the journal Multiple Valued Logic. In the spring of 2003, Dover Publications will issue a second edition of my book, Boolean Reasoning. I thought revising the book would be just a matter of correcting some errors, but it turned into a very demanding three-month slog. I hope the result is an improvement.

From Ernie Dorko: Betts and I are both fine. I continue to teach part time at our local Catholic high school--St. Pius X. This is my fifth year (incredible as that seems). I am currently teaching Computer Science. I am also taking courses in computer programming at our local community college--The Albuquerque Technical Vocational Institute, known locally as TVI. It felt funny last year when I started to be sitting on the student side of the teacher's desk but I got over that very quickly. I have found that teaching high school is very rewarding if challenging. Betts continues to take art classes and to take care of me. She enjoys doing oils, watercolors, and prints.

This past summer our vacation consisted of an Odyssey. We took the AMTRAK train to Chicago (yes there still is one) and attended the 70^th Birthday symposium for one of my professors at the University of Chicago. We stayed at the Palmer House, which has many fond memories for us. Then we rented a car and drove across Michigan (Stopped at Win Shulers in Marchall, Michigan where I had proposed to Betts—she remembered that the table we sat at was the identical one at which I had proposed). Onward to Detroit to spend a day at my old high school--Holy Redeemer with some of my old high school buddies. Then, onward to Upper Michigan to visit with Betts' brother and his family. He works as an electrician at one of the Indian casinos. They took us to the casino. I GAMBLED for the first (and probably last) time in my life. Strange experience--like being in another universe. You asked for my dates at AFIT--the best I can remember I started in October, 1967 and left 19 years later which would put the date at 1986. I did start in ME which then became Aero-Astro (you would know when that occurred). I went to Physics when there was a further recombination of departments--probably in 79 or 80.

Betts and I celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary this year! Our son Tom is doing well. He still lives in the small Oklahoma town of ADA (a town that a surprisingly large number of people know about). We look forward to the NewsLetter. I do look back fondly on my days at AFIT. We have been in Albuquerque now for about 14 years and still like it.

From Bill Elrod: The children of Bill and Carolyn Elrod gave them a big surprise party in August, celebrating their 50 years of marriage. Best wishes B&C for many more happy and healthful years.

From Bill Goldberg: We were at AFIT-SE from 1967- 1971 and I was an adjunct professor from 1971-1974 while at the Materials Lab. After an action packed 3-year assignment working for Colonel Dick Saxer at the Air Force Materials Lab., we left Wright - Patterson AFB in July 1974 to go to the Air War College (AWC resident program), Air University, at Maxwell AFB, AL. From Alabama, we went across the USA in 1975 to Southern California and the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Organization, Advanced Ballistic Missile Reentry Systems Program Office, commanded by Colonel Saxer. I served in several positions including Director of Plans & Programs and Director of Reentry Systems Technology (1975-1979). We developed ICBM/SLBM carbon-carbon nosetips , carbon phenolic heatshields, & reentry vehicle design technologies. For the last 2 years (1980-81) I was Deputy Director & Director of the Advanced Space Systems Technology Program Office. This technology program included the Space Test Program (space experiments/experimental spacecraft), new infrared sensors/electonics, space radar, and advanced space booster concepts.

I retired in 1981 and we moved to Huntsville, AL where I worked for Teledyne Brown Engineering from 1981 to 2000. From 1981-1983 I directed Ballistic Missile Defense system studies that defined a new generation of radar/infrared sensors, sensor platforms (UAV’s) and defense missiles (endo-atmospheric and exo-atmospheric interceptors). From 1983?-1991, I led a multi-discipline systems engineering team that assisted the Army and its contractor team (Boeing & Hughes) in developing the Airborne Surveillance Testbed (AST) . This Boeing 767 aircraft was a demonstrator for a large UAV integrated with LWIR surveillance & tracking sensor system. The AST is still flying data gathering missions at missile test ranges. From 1991?-1994 I was the Chief Systems Engineer for the Armored Systems Modernization (ASM) Program. I led development of systems designs/concepts and engineering development plans for the next generation of armored vehicles beyond the Abrams M-1 Tank. Our team beat the General Dynamics Team in the design competition but we lost the political war. From 1994 to 2000, I was Director of Environmental Engineering and also Technical Director of Systems Engineering. A major Army contract effort was the design, development & operation of mobile equipment to safely destroy recovered old chemical weapons found buried on various former military sites.

Since I retired from TBE in 2000, I have been an Independent Consultant & Chief Scientist, Guest Associates, Inc (GAI). I provide engineering, marketing /proposal and technical management consulting services to various client companies including an Israeli chemical weapons defense firm.

From Stewart Johnson: I arrived at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base after three years as a graduate student under USAF sponsorship at the University of Illinois in Urbana. We were at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) from 1964 until 1975 except for one year while I was in Texas at the NASA Johnson Space Center (then the Manned Spacecraft Center) during the time of Apollo 14 and preparations for Apollo 15. During my tenure at AFIT we also enjoyed a term at the College of Aeronautics at Cranfield, England and several summers at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory at Kirtland AFB. We really enjoyed AFIT. The Graduate Space Facilities (GSF) Program was a wonderful opportunity to work with many fine students and faculty members including Shelton Alexander, Tom McGetchin, Tom Eastler, Peter Torvik, Jim Bridgman, D.W. Breuer, and many others. One of our field trips included a visit with Gene Shoemaker in Flagstaff, Arizona and trips to Barringer Meteor Crater and the Grand Canyon. After the phaseout of the GSF program we developed a Facilities Engineering Program.

After leaving AFIT in 1975 we to went to Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama. I attended and graduated from Air War College. Then we went to the Republic of Korea. I was Deputy Base Civil Engineer at Osan Air Base (south of Seoul) and then Chief of Civil Engineering for the 314th Air Division at Yongsan in Seoul. During our year in Korea Anis taught at Seoul International School where Janelle, Greg, and Eric attended. Korea is a very interesting place. Between Christmas and New Years we went to Japan where Janelle saw the place where she was born (while we were in Japan from 1957 to 1960) and we visited old friends -- both Japanese and American. In the summer of 1977 we relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico where I joined the Civil Engineering Research Division at the Air Force Weapons Lab at Kirtland Air Force Base. We had an excellent team involved in a lot of analysis and design of shelters followed by testing in the desert near Yuma, AZ.

In 1980 I retired from the USAF and joined BDM in Albuquerque where I worked until 1994. Since then I have served as a consultant to Shield Rite (a local firm here in Albuquerque) on the EHFASS (Extreme High Frequency Antenna Support Shelter). That job has taken me to bases such as Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Osan Air Base in Korea, Travis Air Force Base, California, and McDill in Florida. Stewart and Anis have worked on the Steering Committee for international space conferences held in 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, and 2002. That has been a lot of fun. We also went to International Space University (ISU) summer sessions in Kitakyushu, Japan; Huntsville, AL; Barcelona, Spain; and Stockholm, Sweden. Warmest regards, Stewart and Anis. StWJohnson@aol.com phone (505)-298-2124

From Bill Lehmann. Hey Wally! Fun to get your email and think of your fishing trip to Montana with Dick Saxer and Milt Franke. Catch a couple mud suckers for me. I came to USAFIT in Sept 51,left to go to Pentagon in May 1966 as Deputy for Laboratories to the SecAF - SAFRD. Left the SecAf to become Director of Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Manager of Air Force Research in 1974. Got shipped to Air Force Weapons Lab as Director in 1978. Retired from Air Force in 1981, went to University of New Mexico. Went as Chief Scientist of Scientific Support Lab to US Army Combat Development Center in 1982 -1984. Returned to New Mexico Engineering Research Institute at UNM 1985-1992 as Senior Scientific Analyst. Served on USAF Scientific Advisory Board from 1986 to 1992. Received Air Force Exceptional Civilian Service Award with 5 Oak Leaf Clusters. Fun career -- and the best was fighting with the Breuers, Shines, Smiths, and all the rest at AFIT. The Missionary Ridge wild fires this past June did not damage our house but completely burned a home 600 feet down stream from us. (In my 12 Sept newspaper I read where three inches of rain had fallen in Durango, creating huge mudslides in the burned out region so I wrote Bill and asked if they were affected. His response follows.) Our cabin has no problem with mudslides, but county road to town or the Lake has lots-three either way! What a mess. But come see, Free Bed and Breakfast. But hurry, it is thundering now!

News from Peter Torvik. The highlight of the summer for Pete and Pat Torvik was the opportunity to borrow their granddaughter for a week in August. Peter presented technical papers in Denver (April), Palm Beach (May) and at Penn State (October). Pat went along in June to Montreal where the ASEE presented him with their half of the John Leland Atwood award. As this recognition is given jointly by the ASEE and the AIAA, the other half of the award will be presented at the January AIAA meeting in Reno. Peter Torvik has also been serving as the consultant to the Formation Team for the Wright Brothers Institute and Pat finds things to do as President of Greene County Master Gardners and as an Elder at Westminster Presbyterian.

News from Lynn Wolaver: He reports that their son Steve, a long time prosecutor in Green County, is an unopposed candidate for Judge of the Common Pleas Court in the upcoming elections. Our congratulations to Steve and his Parents on his political success. Regarding college football, Lynn was slightly downcast after the Michigan/Notre Dame game. Lynn, Dick Lee and I feel your pain!! GO BUCKS!!


MILESTONES:

Laverne Lewis celebrated 91 years in June, Bill Ericksen 90 years in May, Helen Downing 84 years Aug 1 (she mailed these letters to you), Andy Shine and Harold Kepler 80 years on 3 Jan. I believe this letter shows that we AFIT retirees are a committed, productive and fun group.