Aerospace Education and Research at Auburn University - From the Wright Brothers' Flight School to the Space Station

John E. Cochran, Jr. *

Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849-5338

The history of aerospace education and research at Auburn University spans the period from the Wright Brothers’ flight school in Montgomery, Alabama, to the present. This paper briefly recounts the major events of that period and provides information about some of the individuals who played significant roles.

The Early Years

The Wright Brother’s achievement of manned, powered, heavier-than-air flight in 1903 and their later successes, described in 1908 issues of Scientific American,1,2 provided the spark to ignite enthusiasm for aeronautics in faculty members and students of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute (API). Located in the small town of Auburn, Alabama, API would soon be intimately connected with flight and flying machines. Even before the Wright Brothers' great accomplish-ments, some independent researchers in Alabama were serious about the subject of aeronautics. In 1874, Lewis Archer Boswell, a physician from Eastaboga, near Talladega, Alabama, patented an “Improvement in the Aerial Propeller-Wheels.”3 Boswell continued to be actively interested in aeronautics until his death in 1909. At least one Scientific American article about the Wright Brothers' historic flight was reprinted in the API student newspaper, the Orange and Blue, and a paper on aeronautics was presented at a meeting of the Engineering Society in 1908. In an interview some eighty years later, Robert Knapp, an API alumnus and later a U. S. Air Force General, (See Fig. 1.) claimed that the Wright Brothers had visited Auburn in 1907, stayed in his home (he was very young at the time), and met with engineering professors John J. Wilmore and M. Thomas Fullan. Knapp said the professors worked with the Wrights to redesign their aircraft so that it could be disassembled and transported in a wagon.4 Knapp’s memories could not be verified. However, it is well documented that the Wright Brothers visited Alabama in 1910 in search of a site for a winter flying school. They found one near Montgomery, went back to get their airplane and returned to conduct instruction for three months later that year. In the fall of 1910, the Opelika Daily News (Opelika is a town adjoining Auburn) contained an announcement of instruction at __________ *Professor and Head, Department of Aerospace Engineering; Associate Fellow, AIAA.

API on "aeronautic construction and the principals [sic] of aviation," as part of a class in kinematics of machin-ery. Professor Fullan gave lectures on aviation around the state, and there were many "air minded" students and faculty on campus.4 Just prior to the United States' involvement in World War I, a Reserve Officers Training Corps was formed at API. Service in World War I interrupted the studies of many API students and the lives of many alumni. According to Ref. 4, at least fifty students served in the army or navy air corps. During the war and for a while thereafter, a unit of the Student Army Training Corps provided training for around 1,700 students and funds for a shop and laboratory. After the war, the land used by the Wright Brothers for their flying school was the site for Maxwell Field. Robert Knapp, then a Lieutenant in the U. S. Army stationed at Maxwell Field in Montgomery, Alabama, helped encourage the interest of students in aeronautics. Knapp flew to and from Auburn to visit his brother and landed in a pasture owned by W. W. Webb, a veterinarian who had built two runways for his own airplane. Capt. Asa Duncan and Lt. Knapp flew sections of the first airmail route through Alabama in 1925. The student newspaper, the Auburn Plainsman, the alumni association's Auburn Alumnews and The Auburn Engineer, a School of Engineering publication, contain many articles on aeronautics during the period 1925-30. A visit by Charles Lindbergh to Birmingham in 1927 added to the considerable interest in aeronautics at API.4

First Aeronautical Program In 1930, API President Bradford Knapp, who lead the reconstruction effort at the school beginning in 1928, and Dean of Engineering, John J. Wilmore, re-cruited and hired Volney C. Finch to establish an aeronautics program in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Finch, a retired naval pilot had worked at the Naval Aircraft Factory and had done research in aircraft structures and engine cooling. A graduate of the Naval Academy, Finch had studied at MIT, had received a M.S. degree from the University of

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Washington, and had written four textbooks on aircraft design and engines.4 Alabama Polytechnic Institute became one of twelve universities or colleges in the United States offering a degree in Aeronautical Engineering.4 The first aero-nautical courses taught at API were a junior course that covered aviation topics ranging from aerial navigation to meteorology and a senior course in aircraft design. Additional courses were added as an aeronautics option. As was to be the case for a number of years, the entire field of aeronautics was considered fair game. After all, the knowledge base was still relatively small. The December 1931 issue of Southern Aviation5 contains an article describing a program, under Professor Volney C. Finch and Instructors Solon Dixon, (See Fig. 2.) and Victor W. Randecker, which included “airplane design, maintenance and operation of airplanes, and the business of commercial aviation.” Since that time, although the titles have changed, there have been parallel programs in aeronautical engineering and aeronautical administration at Auburn. The API catalogue for 1931-326 lists graduate courses in aeronautical engineering, including airplane structural design, aircraft instruments, advanced aerodynamics, aeronautical problems and theoretical aeronautics. The aeronautical labs were highly applied. Six types of airplane engines, including a 220 horsepower J-4 Wright Whirlwind, were used to study propulsion fundamentals. Airplane fuselage frames were used to test welded joints. A Vought U. O. two-place biplane with a radial air-cooled engine and a Boeing pursuit plane with a water-cooled engine were both used to demonstrate aeronautical principles and design techniques.4,7 The aeronautical engineering program produced thirteen graduates of the aeronautics option in 1932. A full four-year curriculum and a separate degree in aero-nautical engineering were in place by 1933. Marshall S. Cayley, a member of the first aeronautical engineering class of eleven students, later attended the Boeing School of Aeronautics, served in World War II and worked for United Airlines for 32 years. Robert G. Pitts, another 1933 graduate, was to figure prominently in aerospace education at API. The depression of the early 1930's caused great difficulties in all areas, but higher education in the southeast was particularly hard hit. Finch had plans for an engine test bed and wind tunnel in the mechanical and aeronautical building,8 but, funds were not available. In fact, API ran out of money to pay employees and offered, as some relief, eggs, meat and produce, from the agricultural sector of the school, and

script. After fighting for financial survival and winning many political battles, including keeping the aero-nautical program, Knapp returned to his home state as president of Texas Technological College.4 Rather than appoint a new president, the Board of Trustees established an administrative triumvirate of John J. Wilmore (Dean of Engineering), B. H. Crenshaw and L. N. Duncan. The three were actually able to function well enough together to bring some measure of financial stability. However, before that happened, another setback, this time to aeronautical education in particular, occurred in 1933. Finch, unable to support his family on what API could pay, accepted a position at Stanford University. Additionally, an aviation accident that year claimed the life of a student. In spite of these problems, aeronautics continued to be very popular and B. M. Cornell returned to API as a replacement for Finch. A true visionary, Cornell proposed, in 1934, a combination research center and recreational facility, including a golf course, on the site of the W. W. Webb airport, which was still privately owned. He wanted API to conduct interdisciplinary research in areas such as cotton fabrics for aircraft structures. Although Cornell's ideas were not included as part of the API planning, the aeronautics program, which included aeronautical business subjects, con-tined to be very popular and productive with 119 students in 1935. One of the 1935 graduates was Wilbur Tichenor, who, during World War II, became Col. Tichenor, and later was Director of Facilities at API. After receiving a master’s degree from the California Institute of Technology, Robert G. Pitts returned to Auburn as Cornell's assistant in 1935. With the help of students, he rebuilt wrecked aircraft to raise funds for the department. The 1937-38 senior design class also helped Pitts design and construct API's first wind tunnel. 4 Cornell advocated the entrance of API into the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP), but the privately owned Auburn-Opelika Airport (improved W. W. Web airport) was needed for the venture. Competition from Georgia Tech and the University of Alabama was a factor in convincing API President Duncan to take over ownership of the airport and engage API in the process of training civilian pilots. The payment to the former owners totaled about $375. Cornell and Pitts began the ground school part of the CPTP in 1939 with twenty students. Alabama Air Service handled the flight instruction. Cornell and Pitts also helped instruct in the Tuskegee Institute ground school. Cornell convinced Duncan the API could do a

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better job of flight instruction and the Auburn School of Aviation was formed with Pitts in charge. During the next year, students from the advanced CPTP at Tuskegee Institute, some of the famous "Tuskegee Airmen," also received advanced flight instruction at the Auburn-Opelika Airport, because the field at Tuskegee had not been approved for aircraft heavier than Piper Cubs. After a somewhat lengthy political process, federal funds for improving the airport were obtained in 1941. Over the course of the next several years, over 1,400 pilots trained at API.4

The Department of Aeronautical Engineering

1942-1960 Cornell retired in 1942 and Pitts became Head of the newly formed Department of Aeronautical Engineering, as well as Director of the Auburn School of Aviation and manager of the Auburn - Opelika Airport, positions he would hold for 35 years. A Cal Tech diploma and a picture of Theodore von Karman on Pitts’ office wall in Wilmore Laboratory impressed visitors knowledgeable enough in aeronautics to recognize the world famous engineer. During the 1940s, Pitts contributed signifi-cantly to aviation in the southeast and especially to military aviation flight training as he helped design, build and develop numerous airfields and train pilots. From its beginning until 1942, API was on the semester system.8 “On June 8, 1942, the Alabama Polytechnic Institute began operation on a year-round Quarter System-four quarters of 12 weeks each-which permits students to graduate in three calendar years instead of four.” Aeronautical engineering was a “critical occupation.” The first quarter system AE curriculum consisted of 218 hours. Physical training was required, but students earned no credit for the course. The quarter system was retained until 2000. One of the initial reasons to retain the quarter system was that under it API could better handle the influx of students on the “GI Bill.” The enrollment in the institute climbed to over 9,000 in the late 1940s. A co-op program was initiated for several purposes. First, the co-op program helped students earn money one quarter to pay their fees and expenses the next. Second, it provided practical experience. Third, it reduced the number of students on campus at any one time. In the opinion of many, the co-op program worked better on the quarter system. Early engineering graduates of the Department of Aeronautical Engineering included Robert Hails, who rose to the rank of Lt. General in the U. S. Air Force. Hails, was instrumental in the development of the Head-Up Display (HUD) for military aircraft. He

entered API in 1941 but left in 1943 to serve as a pilot in the U. S. Army Air Corps. Hails returned in 1946 and graduated in 1947. He recalls that a “water tunnel, or trough” was used to demonstrate the flow over airfoils. A contemporary of Hails, Robert H. Harris, rose through the ranks at General Electric to become a vice president. A 1943 graduate, Leroy Spearman, went to work for the NACA. He has continued to work at NASA's Langley Research Center in the areas of aerodynamics and foreign missile technology for well over fifty years. The AE curriculum in Hails' and Spearman's era included surveying, probably because of its importance in airport construction. In 1945, Pitts developed and published a Master Plan for the Auburn-Opelika Airport.8 He served on the State Aviation Commission, was active as a speaker to civic groups, and Junior Chamber of Commerce Man of the Year. In 1948, he had a hand in organizing the "Flying Farmers." The Alumnews for September 1951 contained an article entitled, "A Million Dollar Value - The Auburn Airport."8 The airport was Class III, in the range of I to VI based on size. Pitts was involved in extension activities that included the Flying Farmers, an organization of farmers and others who advocated the use of aircraft in agriculture. The National Flying Farmers Meeting was held in Auburn in 1952.9 In 1955, Graham Newman, a sophomore in aeronautical engineering, wrote an article on the Department that appeared in The Auburn Engineer.12 The engineering faculty members at that time were Pitts, R. B. Miller, R. R. Sanders, and W. G. Sherling, Jr. Aviation subjects were taught by Pitts, Sanders, and M. O. Williams. All the faculty members had degrees in engineering, but only two had masters degrees, Pitts (Cal Tech) and Sherling (Georgia Tech). A wind tunnel was in operation and there was an integrated relation-ship between aeronautical engineering, aviation administration, and flight training using the airport as a hands-on laboratory. Pratt & Whitney flew thirty-five students and faculty members to East Hartford, Connecticut for a plant trip. The enrollment was approximately 300 with around 50 in aeronautical administration. Although a program that helped start many careers in aeronautics and astronautics, until 1959, the aero-nautical engineering program was not accredited by the Engineering Council on Professional Development (ECPD). The impetus for its accreditation was pro-vided by a serious academic problem. The electrical and mechanical engineering (EE and ME) programs lost accreditation in 1957, the same year the API football team won the national championship. At the request of President Ralph Draughon, the Alumni

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Association launched the Engineering Emergency Fund Drive with the goal of raising $250,000 to improve the School of Engineering. Dr. Roy B. Sewell '22 was chairman of the drive and trustee Dr. Frank Samford '14 was co-chairman. Both Sewell and Samford were great supporters of academics as well as athletics. Mr. Joe Sarver, executive director of the alumni association worked with Sewell, Samford, other alumni, friends, and industry to raise twice the goal.12

A board of consultants was hired to recommend actions that should be implemented to achieve re-accreditation and accreditation of additional engineering programs. They recommended five actions: (1) reorganize the curricula of the School of Engineering with more stringent requirements on credits in science, mathematics, and engineering sciences; (2) increase the amount of research done by engineering faculty members and students; (3) increase the teaching staff and decrease the teaching loads; (4) increase salaries and wages; and (5) provide additional space and equipment. Additionally, the ECPD required that the liberal arts component of the engineering curricula be substantially increased. President Draughon hired one of the consultants, Dr. Fred H. Pumphrey, as the new dean of engineering. Pumphrey, a former API professor of electrical engineering, then at the University of Florida, lead the implementation of the recommendations. Under Pumphrey's leadership, the EE and ME programs were re-accredited and the AE program, which was ex-panding rapidly because of the increased emphasis on both aeronautics and astronautics, was accredited as an aerospace engineering program. The faculty of the School of Engineering increased by 40% and a new building, Dunstan Hall, primarily for EE, was constructed. Additional equipment was obtained for AE and ME operations in Wilmore Laboratories.13 Although the aeronautical engineering program was not accredited prior to 1959, it produced many graduates who contributed significantly to aeronautics and astronautics. Some are noted above. One of Auburn University's astronauts, Thomas K. Mattingly, received a degree in aeronautical engineering in 1958. According to Ms. Polly Martin,7 her husband, Fred W. Martin, who joined the faculty in 1956, supervised Mattingly and other AE students in much of the construction of the low-speed wind tunnel. Mattingly flew missions in the Apollo program and was the "astronaut left behind" on the famous Apollo 13 mission and was instrumental in bringing the crew of the disabled craft back to earth safely. Later, Mattingly and Henry W. Hartsfield, a 1954 API graduate in physics, flew together on STS-4.

In a 1981 Auburn Plainsman interview,8 Mattingly recalled, “… In retrospect, to my experience, learning how to do with what you’ve got has been a far more potent lesson than all the far more theoretical esoteric subjects we could have covered.” Other examples of pre-accreditation successes are Ron Harris '58, who was a NASA engineer and administrator and later a Rocketdyne manager and Axel Roth '59, currently the Associate Director of George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, who has been a NASA engineer and administrator for over 30 years. Graduates of the aeronautical administration program during this period included John Stein, who became CEO of Golden Enterprises, makers of Golden Flake Potato Chips and other snack foods. Although there was definitely something to be gained from practical engineering experiences like those of the late 1950s AE graduates, to achieve accreditation the aeronautical engineering program had to be improved. Part of this improvement appeared in the curriculum. Without question, much of the impetus for curriculum development was a very small object orbiting the Earth. In 1956, Martin had tried to get a course in ballistics and space flight included in the aeronautical engi-neering curriculum, but Pitts would not submit it to the curriculum committee because space flight was thought to be “…beyond the realm of achievement.”14 Shortly after the launch of Sputnik I, Pitts did submit Martin’s proposal for the course, “Rocket Mechanics,” and it was approved the next day. In Fig. 3, Sherling and students inspect the “hot shot” tunnel. Pitts and Martin are shown in Figure 4 standing in a section of what was to become the pressure tank of the high-speed wind tunnel in 1959.

The Department of Aerospace Engineering 1960- 1969

With the support of alumni, industry, and the state, additional engineering faculty members were hired and research was emphasized along with instruction. In 1960, the Army Guided Missile Agency awarded a contract for special studies to the Aerospace Engineering Department. Under this contract, Branimir D. Djordjevic, a Yugoslavian engineer and military pilot who defected at the end of WW II, first developed instructional manuals for civilian Army engineers. During the next several years, Djordjevic wrote a seven-volume report on that covering most areas of aerodynamics and flight dynamics and a condensed handbook version of the report. Fred Martin and another new faculty member, James O. Nichols, as well as several graduate students, worked with Djordjevic. Djordjevic was of the European school and hence had

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amazing handwriting. He utilized colored chalk expertly and notes worthy of his lectures required a good set of colored pencils if the numerous axis systems of stability and control were to be appropriately identified. By 1962, the aerospace engineering curriculum included more physics, mathematics, an introductory course in astronautics, boundary layer theory, gas dynamics and space propulsion systems.18 Due to the demand for engineers with advanced degrees, especially at Redstone Arsenal, the Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering was approved in 1961.20,21 Funding for Auburn Research Foundation projects in the School of Engineering increased from about $35,000 in 1957 to more than $320,000 in 1961 and institutionally sponsored research was at the $100,000 level.22 Sherling received a National Science Foundation grant in 1962 to fund the development of a hypersonic, "hot shot," tunnel. Martin was principal investigator on a $60,000 Air Force contract to investi-gate atmospheric re-entry trajectories.23 Djordjevic was an associate investigator and Margaret Baskerville, a professor in the Department of Mathematics, was a consultant. After completing the project, Martin returned to VPI in 1965 to earn a Ph.D. in a related area. He returned in 1966. The Master of Science program produced a number of graduates who later earned Ph.D.'s. and entered academia. Examples are Jewel B. Barlow, now a professor at the University of Maryland and John E. Burkhalter, W. A. Foster, Jr. and the author, now professors at Auburn. During the early 1960's, astrodynamics was a new subject area. Although an undergraduate course in "astro" was taught in the AE department, graduate students in engineering, physics, and mathematics learned much of the classical methods of celestial mechanics, and the new area of satellites attitude dynamics, from a mathematics professor, Philip M. Fitzpatrick.24 The author's love for the subject of astrodynamics is due largely to Fitzpatrick and his challenging sequence of courses that covered (very precisely!) the gamut from the dynamics of particles to the two-body problem to Lagrange's planetary equations to the application of Hamilton-Jacobi theory to satellite attitude dynamics problems. Kenneth E. Harwell, a Cal Tech graduate (M.S. and Ph.D.) came to Auburn in 1963. One of his assign-ments was to lead the development of a doctoral program in aerospace engineering. A University of Alabama graduate (as was James O. Nichols), Harwell

still worked hard at Auburn to develop not only the Ph.D. program, but also a world-class gas dynamics laboratory. Harwell's first Ph.D. student and the program's first graduate was Dwayne McCay, formerly a NASA engineer and manager and currently Vice-President for Research at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Harwell taught the author a lot more about gas dynamics and space propulsion than he can now recall. With the expansion of the U. S. space program, Auburn's aerospace engineering program grew in terms of students and research. New faculty positions were funded and the subject of propulsion was one of the "hottest." Richard H. Sforzini was invited to come to Auburn as a Visiting Professor in 1966 after seven years with Thiokol Chemical Corporation. As Director of Engineering at Thiokol's Space Booster Division, Sforzini had led the development of the world's first three million pound thrust solid-propellant rocket motor ("solid rocket motor").25 Prior to his work at Thiokol, Sforzini was a U. S. Army officer whose assignments included ordnance field maintenance and instruction at the U. S. Military Academy, and study that lead to the degree of Mechanical Engineer from MIT. Interestingly, the Army required him to specialize in automatic control. Sforzini became a permanent faculty member after one year and remained on the faculty for an additional twenty years. He developed and taught propulsion courses and conducted research for the U.S. Army and NASA. The research that Sforzini and his graduate students did for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center included the development of models and simulations of the internal ballistics of the solid rocket boosters for the Space Transportation System ("Space Shuttle"). A very important consideration in the successful use of the solid rocket boosters was the prediction of the degree of thrust difference in the two boosters, which, of course, would produce a yawing moment on the launch con-figuration. Sforzini was an excellent instructor who taught special extension courses for NASA and the U. S. Air Force and graduate courses in the Video-Based Instructional Engineering Outreach Program instituted at Auburn in 1984. One of Sforzini's co-workers in solid rocket propulsion research was W. A. Foster, Jr., the second Ph.D. produced by the AE department. Foster, who is now a professor in the department, did his graduate work in structural dynamics under Malcolm A. Cutchins. However, in working with Sforzini he became well versed in solid rocket propulsion also. One of Sforzini's many students was Walt Woltosz, who later developed computer software for the

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handicapped including British astrophysicist Steven Hawking and pre-school children.26 Cutchins started his career at Auburn in 1967. Noted for his innovative teaching, he developed and taught many courses in structural dynamics and, in the latter years simulation. His students undoubtedly remember his multiple-choice exams, the correct answers of which would produce resultant answers like "War Eagle" (the Auburn battle cry). During the early 1960’s, the number of hours in the aerospace engineering curriculum was reduced from 240 to 228 by requiring calculus in high school and reducing the credit for some courses from five to four quarter hours. In 1969, the number of credit hours was reduced again to 208 by rewriting syllabi and changing the credit for many undergraduate courses from five or four hours to three hours. These changes were supposed to provide students with more time between classes to read and do other assignments. However, they also resulted in many students taking five or six major courses at the same time instead of three of four five-hour courses. Reducing the number of hours also involved dropping engineering drawing and labs such as machine tool and foundry. Thus, much of the tech-nology content was removed from the curriculum. It was assumed that students had taken engineering drawing in high school or could learn computer assisted design (CAD) software on their own. The enrollments in both aerospace engineering and aviation management grew during this time. The aerospace engineering enrollment was around 200, exclusive of freshmen. Students worked hard to stay in school, driven by both their career goals and the alternative of being drafted. Two years of ROTC were mandatory and the advanced program was an option many chose. Djordjevic, died in 1967 due to complications following surgery. This was a great loss to the department and the author, who had been one of his graduate students.

The Lunar Landing and a Downturn in Enrollment

When the Eagle landed on the Moon, the world including Auburn University cheered! However, as all those in aerospace engineering know, that great achievement meant that the federal government could redirect funds from the space program to other areas, principally the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War and the Great Society. The downturn in spending on space flight lead to a decrease in aerospace employment and a corresponding decrease in enroll-

ment in the aerospace engineering program at Auburn and across the nation. For the students who stayed in the program, this was actually beneficial due the smaller class sizes. One of these students was James Voss '72, an Army ROTC student and varsity wrestler. Voss' desire was to become an astronaut, a rare achievement for Army officers. His determination and perseverance, perhaps developed as a wrestler, helped him achieve his goal and flights as a mission specialist on the Space Shuttle and two Space Station Freedom missions. The downturn in enrollment led, as is usually the case, to a decrease in the number of aerospace engineering faculty members. The author was one of the relatively new faculty members who stayed. Several faculty members who came to Auburn in 1968 had departed by 1973. Fortunately, when the NASA research declined, Department of Defense research was maintained at a high level and graduate school was a way to delay military service. In order to justify faculty positions, research was even more strongly encouraged. Collaboration of AE faculty on research projects, which had always been common (e.g., Sforzini and Foster) became more so. Cutchins and Burkhalter collaborated with Fred Martin on a major research project dealing with store separation from aircraft for the U. S. Air Force Research Lab at Elgin AFB. That project involved both experiments in the Auburn wind tunnels and theoretical research using finite aerodynamic elements (sources, sinks, vortices, etc.). Other research in the 1970's included, spacecraft attitude dynamics (Fitzpatrick and Cochran), missile launcher dynamics (Cochran), the development of an aerial seeding device for broadcasting pine seeds (Cutchins Burkhalter, and Foster), and spacecraft guidance and control (Art Bennett and Cochran). It is interesting to note that Bennet's contract was funded as a part of NASA's Comet and Asteroid Rendezvous and Docking (CARD) Mission, which was never flown. Thirty years later, NASA’s NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft would accom-plish things about which we only studied and dreamed.

A New Department Head and Star Wars Robert G. Pitts retired in 1978 and his name was added to the Auburn-Opelika Airport. James C. Williams III, a Virginia Polytechnic Institute and University of Southern California graduate and North Carolina State faculty member, was named head of the department in 1980. Jim Nichols served as head during the interim. When Williams became head of the depart-ment, the organizational structure was changed. Gary Kiteley, Associate Professor of Aviation Management, who had been managing the airport, was made the Executive Director. Kiteley was also in charge of the Auburn School of Aviation that conducted flight

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training. Other aviation management faculty members were Bob Merritt, Leo Frandenburg, Bill Callan, Hal Decker, and Ollie Edwards. All these gentlemen were retired military officers with aviation and teaching experience. In the early part of the 1980’s, the author took a “sabbatical” as associate director of athletics. During that time, a Purdue graduate, Mario Innocenti, was the principal professor in the flight dynamics and control area. Enrollment was increasing. By 1984, the Strategic Defense Initiative had produced a boom in research. When the Challenger exploded in January of 1986, the winter quarter was just beginning and undergraduate enrollment (excluding freshmen) had increased to 230. By 1988, it was about 270. The peak in 1990 was 316. One of Jim Williams objectives as department head was to increase the graduate enrollment. As the events of the 1980’s unfolded, this objective was achieved and several new faculty members were hired. Don Spring, a more than twenty-year civil service veteran of the U. S. Army Missile Command came to Auburn in 1983 to begin a second career as a professor. An expert in missiles and hypersonic aerodynamics, Spring taught courses in aerodynamics and was director of the wind tunnel facilities. Ron Jenkins, another Purdue graduate and excellent instructor in propulsion also joined the faculty in 1985. A major research project during the middle and late 1980s was a "Stars Wars" guidance and control project for the U. S. Air Force. Guidance laws and simulations of exo-atmospheric interceptor concepts were developed. Other research of the period involved the characterization of wire rope vibration isolators and a study of the orbital lifetime of tethered satellites and free tethers. A visiting professor, Krishna Kumar from ITT Kampur, worked with Cutchins and Cochran on analytical models of wire rope. An officer in the U. S. Air Force, Ted Warnock did some seminal work on the tether lifetime problem utilizing neural networks to store data. There were no tethered satellites until several years later. Applied aerodynamics research and aerodynamic testing of FOG-M missile models were other projects that kept the aerodynamics faculty busy. David A. Cicci was hired in 1988 to teach astrodynamics courses including orbital mechanics and orbit determination. Like Burkhalter and Cochran, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. An excellent teacher, Cicci concentrated on improving the curriculum and engaged in some Star Wars research.

Robert S. “Steve” Gross also joined the AE faculty in 1988. Another excellent teacher, Steve has won all the teaching awards the department and college bestow at least once. His specialty is composite materials. On one research project, he applied his knowledge of com-posites to help College of Veterinarian Medicine professors develop artificial joints for animals. The increased enrollment in aerospace engineering and the need for more space and better laboratories justified a new building and a contribution by Mr. John M. Harbert, III, a 1946 Auburn civil engineering graduate, made the construction possible. Two adjoining buildings, one providing aerospace engi-neering offices and laboratories, and the other classrooms for use by all engineering students, were built adjacent to the civil engineering building in the Harbert Engineering Center. Construction was started in 1989.

The fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 began another downturn in the demand for aerospace engineers and another cycle of lower enrollment in aerospace engi-neering. The flow of research dollars through the Space Defense Initiative also dried up. However, an interesting applied research project with Hayes Targets (a part of Hayes International, later PEMCO) took up part of the slack. In that project, Burkhalter, Spring, Cochran, and Innocenti designed a maneuverable towed target, a control system for it and a simulation of the system of towing aircraft, towline, and target vehicle. Burkhalter created the aerodynamic design, which had "plus" canards and "X" wings. Spring conducted wind tunnel tests and Innocenti developed the control system. Tae Soo No, a graduate student (now a professor in South Korea), and Cochran developed the simulation using a lot of theory from previous tethered satellite research. This was apparently the first operational simulation for such a system. It was used to predict the behavior of the system prior to flight tests and to develop control logic for deployment, retrieval, and maneuvers. The guidance was a command type and a stability augmentation system (SAS) was included. The SAS channel for roll was especially important. Analytically predicted aerodynamic characteristics of the towline and the vehicle as well as data from wind tunnel tests of target models were used in the simulation. Hayes Targets constructed the target and a limited full-scale wind tunnel test was conducted at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. A flight test was then conducted near Phoenix, Arizona without Auburn's assistance in Arizona. However, Hayes representatives were not confident enough to turn on the SAS during deploy-

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ment. Without it, the vehicle's motion was unstable, especially in roll and its motion was erratic. As a safety measure, the towline was cut and the vehicle crashed. Fortunately, the vehicle was not seriously damaged because it landed in a large cactus. Hayes included Auburn (Cochran) as a part of the team for the next test, possibly to have someone to blame if it failed too. The SAS was used for the second test and the vehicle flew very well. After deployment, it was maneuvered so that the towline and the vehicle formed a cone behind the towing aircraft as required. The retrieval was also successful. Apparently, this was the first time a remotely controlled towed vehicle was flown beside and above the towing aircraft and recovered successfully.27 Flight test data was used to provide better estimates of aerodynamic coefficients that increased the fidelity of the simulation. This maneuverable towed system was a forerunner of decoys now flown off C-130s and other aircraft.

Post Cold War, the Space Station, and a Third Department Head

The beginning of the 1990’s was marked by the flight of Col. Jim Voss on STS-44 as a Mission Specialist. Voss has since flown on several missions and helped assemble the initial version of the International Space Station. A major event for the department was the move into the new Aerospace Engineering Building that had been begun five years earlier. The new building (See Fig. 5.) contained enough office space for all faculty members and many graduate students. It also provided what we thought at the time was enough laboratory space. Another major event was the second change in department head in the history of the department. In 1992, after successfully guiding the department into the promised land of new facilities, Jim Williams returned to full time teaching. The author became department head with visions of the great opportunities that lay ahead. Enrollment in the engineering program was still decreasing, but demand for the aviation management program remained strong. Research funds were hard to get, but we had some plans. A flight simulator/air traffic control laboratory funded by a Federal Aviation Administration Airways Science grant, obtained by Williams and Kiteley, was added to the department assets. Roy Hartfield (Ph.D., University of Virginia), with a specialty in non-obtrusive flow measurement joined the faculty in 1990. Hartfield is also a railroad enthusiast and in a former career was a contractor.

Jim Nichols retired in 1993, after 33 years of exemplary service as a faculty member, acting department head, program coordinator and principal design instructor. Ron Barrett, a enterprising graduate of the University of Kansas (twice) and the University of Maryland and a disciple of Jan Roskam was hired to teach airplane design, which he continues to do very well. At least equally as important, Barrett established an international reputation in the new field of adaptive aerospace structures and a laboratory in which un-manned aerial vehicles are currently being proto-typed. He received a Discover Magazine award in 1997 for his solid-state adaptive stabilator control for helicopter main rotors.28

When Innocenti returned to Italy (the University of Pisa) in 1993, his position was filled by John B. Lundberg, another University of Texas at Austin graduate. John added to the department’s capability in astrodynamics and controls. An excellent teacher, he developed a GPS laboratory and began the involvement of Auburn AE students in the NASA Reduced Gravity Experiment program. In 1999, John took a position at the Naval Surface Warfare Center. Jim Williams retired in 1997 to do more flying and travel with his wife. After retirement, he was still involved in engineering accreditation as a visitor for several years. His retirement resulted in the loss of much expertise in viscous aerodynamics. Don Spring retired from his second career in 1998 and Wichita State graduate, Anwar Ahmed, filled his position. Ahmed’s specialties are experimental aero-dynamics and fluid mechanics. He is especially interested in flow visualization and is very fond of water tunnels.

Academic Reallocation The 1990s will be remembered as a truly difficult time for higher education in Alabama. There was what could be interpreted as a delayed reaction to the same difficulties (budget cuts, program closures, etc.) that higher education encountered in the late 1980s. Shortage of funds for public K-12 schools lead to a significant reduction in funding for colleges and universities. It is ironic that the governor who made the decision to cut funding to Auburn University was the Honorable Fob James, an Auburn alumnus in civil engineering and football star. James was of the opinion that higher education was inefficient. In times of shortage of funds, extreme measures are often taken. In the opinion of some, the university had been overextended in terms of programs offered and services provided. An offer of early retirement

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incentives reduced the number of faculty members at the expense of losing veteran faculty who were still major contributors. The next step was to use the priority process, set up during the preceding four years before as part of a “continuous quality improvement” management emphasis, to cut programs and services and reallocate funds. As noted by numerous higher education experts, setting priorities within universities is always difficult.29 It is doubly difficult for some programs that happen to have low enrollments caused by cyclic economic and political forces. Although by 1997 enrollment in aerospace engineering was increasing, that did not seem to matter much in the priority setting process. In 1998, an election year, things reached a climax. When choices were forced, the aviation management program was deemed by some to be of lesser priority than other programs in the College of Engineering. Without the aviation management program, the aerospace programs were considered too small to justify a separate department. Thus, preliminary recommendations were made to phase out the aviation management program, which had 235 students, and merge the aerospace and mechanical departments. A significant effort, somewhat political and similar to those commonly used in response to proposals to close a military base, was mounted. Aerospace engineering and aviation management students, their parents, faculty, alumni, industry representatives and other constituents campaigned to retain the Department of Aerospace Engineering department and all its pro-grams. That effort was successful in most respects. The Department of Aerospace Engineering and all its programs were retained and future support of the department and all the affected programs was promised. However, in the end game, the aviation management program was considered more compatible with programs in the College of Business. It was moved there in 1999 as a part of the new Department of Aviation Management and Logistics. Arguably, the major positive result of the reallocation exercise was the recognition by the Board of Trustees that tuition increases and major fund raising were required if Auburn University were to remain competitive and increase in prominence.

Today As of October 2002, the aerospace engineering faculty consists of nine members. We have a staff of five. Bill Holbrook is a model maker extraordinary. Ginger Ware is our office administrator who keeps things running. Evia Vickerstaff keeps student records and assists Roy Hartfield and Steve Gross with student

recruiting. Maxine Bryant keeps our books. Jim Lin is our Ph.D. electrical engineer. Excluding freshmen, around 100 students are enrolled in the undergraduate program. The future looks bright since, this year about 160 aspiring freshmen have expressed the intent to enter the program. The relatively low student-to-faculty ratio in the undergraduate program will probably not remain low for long, but should continue to be low enough to allow for considerable student/faculty interaction. The graduate programs (Master of Aerospace Engineering, Master of Science, Doctor of Philosophy) have a combined enrollment of about 30. Current research emphasizes are the application of genetic algorithms to design missiles, design and prototyping of micro aerial vehicles, experimental aerodynamics and fluid mechanics, applied structural dynamics, orbital mechanics, and modeling and simulation of flight vehicles and transportation systems. Even though much time is spent on research, the faculty members are all committed to providing excellence in instruction at all levels. Plans are in effect to increase the undergraduate and, especially, graduate enrollments. Of course, this implies that research funding and faculty size must be increased also. The areas of modeling and simulation of transportation systems, dynamics and control, and aerodynamics will be emphasized in recruiting new faculty members.

Acknowledgements Faculty members and alumni not mentioned explicitly herein, who have contributed to aerospace engineering education at Auburn are hereby acknow-ledged. The Master of Arts thesis by DiFante was an invaluable resource writing this paper. It provided a wealth of material and pointed the way to resources that provided information about the years following 1942.

References 1. Scientific American, August 29,1908, cover, pp.135-136. 2. Scientific American, September 26, 1908, pp. 208-209. 3. Boswell, Lewis Archer, “Improvement in Aerial Propeller-Wheels,” U. S. Patent No. 155,218, September 22, 1874. 4. DiFante, Archangelo, Aviation at Auburn Uni-versity: An Introduction 1908-1941, Master of Arts Thesis, Auburn University, December 8, 1989.

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5. “108 Students in Auburn Aeronautic School,” Southern Aviation, December 1931, p. 29. 6. Catalogue of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, 1931-1932, pp. 139-140. 7. Greer, J. A., and Turnipseed, C. L., “The Aeronautical Department,” The Auburn Engineer, March 1931, pp. 139. 8. Finch, V. C., "Aeronautical Education at Auburn," The Auburn Engineer, February 1932, p. 116. 9. “Head of the Aeronautical School,” The Auburn Engineer, February 1932, p. 119. 10. The Auburn Polytechnic Institute Bulletin, March 1942, Inside front cover. 11. "Robert G. Pitts File," Auburn University Library Special Collections. 12. “A Million Dollar Value - The Auburn Airport," Alumnews, September 1951, p. 1. 13. Newman, Graham, "Aeronautical Engineering at Auburn," The Auburn Engineer, December 1955, pp. 8-9 & 35. 14. Pitts, Robert G., “Aeronautical Engineering at Auburn,” The Auburn Engineer, March 1959, p. 9. 15. “Aeronautical Department to Seek Accreditation,” Alumnews, November 1959, p. 3. 16. “The Story Behind Re-Accreditation,” Alumnews, October 1960, p. 5. 17. Martin, Polly, Private communication of auto-biographical material on Fred W. Martin, September 13, 2002. 18. Powers, Blake, “Auburn graduates backup crew for shuttle launch,” The Auburn Plainsman, October 8, 1981, p. C-10. 19. Caption on photo of Branimir Djordjevic, Montgomery Advertiser, June 25, 1961. 20. Teer, Jerry, “Smarting In Success, Auburn Looks for Tougher Problems, Sunday Ledger-Enquirer, Columbus, GA, March 18, 1962, p. D-1. 21. Carson, E. Bruce, “The Undergraduate Program in Aerospace Engineering,” The Auburn Engineer, December 1962, pp. 8 & 23.

22. “Two New Graduate Programs in Engineering – AU Offers ME Doctorate, Aerospace Master’s,” Alumnews, December 1961, p.1. 23. White, Bill, “The Master of Science Program in Aerospace Engineering,” The Auburn Engineer, December 1962, p. 8 & 18. 24. Fitzpatrick, Philip M., Principles of Celestial Mechanics, Academic Press, New York, 1968. 25. Sforzini, Richard H., Private communication of material, July 2002. 26. Williams, John, “Tech Opens Stephen Hawking's Universe,” Business Week Online, June 20, 2001. 27. “Hayes Officials Study New Uses for Software-Maneuverable Tow Targets,” Aviation Week and Space Technology, June 24, 1991, p. 42. 28. “Whirly Like a Bird,” Discover, July 1998, p. 57. 29. Benjamin, Roger, and Carroll, Steve, “The implications of the Changed Environment for Gover-nance in Higher Education,” William G. Tierney, Ed., The Responsive University: Restructuring for High Performance, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1998, pp. 92-119.

Fig. 1 Brigadier General Knapp at age twenty-three (Logan, H. E. and Simms, J. D., Auburn, a Pictorial History, Donning, Norfolk, VA, 1981, p. 108)

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Fig. 2 Solon Dixon, Aeronautical Engineering Instructor and student circa 1931 (Logan, H. E. and Simms, J. D., Auburn, a Pictorial History, Donning, Norfolk, VA, 1981, p. 135)

Fig. 3 W. G. “Bill” Sherling, with students, Bob Culberson and Wiley Robinson, inspecting the “Hot Shot” hypersonic tunnel (1962).

Fig. 4 Robert G. Pitts and Fred W. Martin in a section of the tank for the high-speed wind tunnel (1959).

Fig. 5 Auburn University Aerospace Engineering

Building (2001).

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