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 accomplishments, 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.
API on "aeronautic construction and the principals [sic]
of aviation," as part of a class in kinematics of machinery. 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
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.
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, recruited 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
1
script. After fighting for financial survival and winning
many political battles, including keeping the aeronautical program, Knapp returned to his home state as
president of Texas Technological College.4
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 aeronautical 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.
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, contined 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.
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. twoplace 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
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
The aeronautical engineering program produced
thirteen graduates of the aeronautics option in 1932. A
full four-year curriculum and a separate degree in aeronautical 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.
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.
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
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
2
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.
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
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
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 significantly to aviation in the southeast and especially to
military aviation flight training as he helped design,
build and develop numerous airfields and train pilots.
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 relationship 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.
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 coop 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.
Although a program that helped start many careers
in aeronautics and astronautics, until 1959, the aeronautical engineering program was not accredited by the
Engineering Council on Professional Development
(ECPD). The impetus for its accreditation was provided 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
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
3
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.”
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
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.
A board of consultants was hired to recommend
actions that should be implemented to achieve reaccreditation 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.
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 engineering 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.
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 expanding 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
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
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.
4
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 VicePresident 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.
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
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.
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
Sherling received a National Science
level.22
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 investigate 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.
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 configuration. 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.
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.
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
Kenneth E. Harwell, a Cal Tech graduate (M.S. and
Ph.D.) came to Auburn in 1963. One of his assignments was to lead the development of a doctoral
program in aerospace engineering. A University of
Alabama graduate (as was James O. Nichols), Harwell
5
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.
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 technology 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 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 accomplish things about which we only studied and dreamed.
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.
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 department, 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
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-
6
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.
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 composites to help College of Veterinarian Medicine
professors develop artificial joints for animals.
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.
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 engineering 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.
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.
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 engineering. 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.
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.
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-
7
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 unmanned 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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Don Spring retired from his second career in 1998
and Wichita State graduate, Anwar Ahmed, filled his
position. Ahmed’s specialties are experimental aerodynamics and fluid mechanics. He is especially
interested in flow visualization and is very fond of
water tunnels.
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.
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.
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.
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
8
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.
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.
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.
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 programs. 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.
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
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.
1. Scientific American, August 29,1908, cover, pp.135136.
2. Scientific American, September 26, 1908, pp. 208209.
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
3. Boswell, Lewis Archer, “Improvement in Aerial
Propeller-Wheels,” U. S. Patent No. 155,218,
September 22, 1874.
4. DiFante, Archangelo, Aviation at Auburn University: An Introduction 1908-1941, Master of Arts
Thesis, Auburn University, December 8, 1989.
9
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.
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.
24. Fitzpatrick, Philip M., Principles of Celestial
Mechanics, Academic Press, New York, 1968.
25. Sforzini, Richard H., Private communication of
material, July 2002.
9. “Head of the Aeronautical School,” The Auburn
Engineer, February 1932, p. 119.
26. Williams, John, “Tech Opens Stephen Hawking's
Universe,” Business Week Online, June 20, 2001.
10. The Auburn Polytechnic Institute Bulletin, March
1942, Inside front cover.
27. “Hayes Officials Study New Uses for SoftwareManeuverable Tow Targets,” Aviation Week and Space
Technology, June 24, 1991, p. 42.
11. "Robert G. Pitts File," Auburn University Library
Special Collections.
28. “Whirly Like a Bird,” Discover, July 1998, p. 57.
29. Benjamin, Roger, and Carroll, Steve, “The
implications of the Changed Environment for Governance in Higher Education,” William G. Tierney, Ed.,
The Responsive University: Restructuring for High
Performance, Johns Hopkins University Press,
Baltimore, 1998, pp. 92-119.
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. 89 & 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 autobiographical 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.
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)
21. Carson, E. Bruce, “The Undergraduate Program in
Aerospace Engineering,” The Auburn Engineer,
December 1962, pp. 8 & 23.
10
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. 4 Robert G. Pitts and Fred W. Martin in a section
of the tank for the high-speed wind tunnel (1959).
Fig. 3 W. G. “Bill” Sherling, with students, Bob
Culberson and Wiley Robinson, inspecting the “Hot
Shot” hypersonic tunnel (1962).
Fig. 5 Auburn University Aerospace Engineering
Building (2001).
11