Memorial Service for Al Eggers - Nov. 9
Rick Kwan
re-entry and supersonic interference lift, passed away on Sept. 22,
2006, at his home in Atherton. A memorial service is set for November
9.
He joined NACA in 1944, and became chief of its Vehicle Environment
Division in 1954, and headed the Manned Satellite Team in 1958. In the
1960s, he served as a NASA's Deputy Associate Administrator for
Advanced Research and Technology, and later became Assistant
Administrator for Policy. He went on to become Assistant Director for
Research Applications at the National Science Foundation, and later
headed NSF-spinoff RANN - Research Applied to National Needs.
The following excerpt is taken from an October 14 article by Sue
Chenoweth, San Jose Mercury News, on-line at:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/obituaries/15759016.htm
---- begin excerpt ----
...according to NASA, Mr. Eggers' greatest achievement while in the
agency's employ was his work on supersonic interference lift, which led
to the XB-70 Valkyrie supersonic bomber.
"Al was my boss on that project," said C.A. "Sy" Syvertson, a former
director for NASA, now retired. But it turned out their stealth bomber
was "most unstealth," he said, because the Russians came up with a
radar system that made it a perfect target.
"Other aerospace companies besides NASA tried to develop a ballistic
missile entry vehicle," Syvertson said. "Al once confided that had they
kept going, competing scientists would have found out what he and
Harvey (Allen) did -- that a blunt-nose design would allow astronauts
to re-enter Earth's atmosphere without burning up," he said. "Al said
they just quit too soon.
"Al was tenacious," Syvertson said. "When he tackled a problem, he
wouldn't quit until it was solved."
---- end excerpt ----
Al Eggers was present at the May 2006 AIAA San Francisco Section Honors
and Awards Banquet, where a special presentation was made to "Sy"
Syvertson. Also on hand were their Ames colleagues George Cooper, Vern
Rossow, and Jack Boyd.
There is a write-up on Al Eggers in Wikipedia at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_J._Eggers