ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. -- The Arnold Community Council has announced three Arnold Engineering Development Complex retirees are joining the AEDC Fellows Program.
Bill Phillips, Ph.D., John Hopf and Dave Duesterhaus will be formally inducted as AEDC Fellows during the ACC banquet later this year.
Phillips was selected as an AEDC Technical Fellow, while Hopf and Duesterhaus were selected as AEDC Lifetime Achievement Fellows. These three individuals are being recognized for their disproportionately positive influence on the state-of-the-art aerospace ground testing and the nation’s aerospace technological prowess.
Phillips directly supported AEDC for 34 years as an engineering specialist and physicist. He advanced the state-of-the-art associated with signature modeling and measurement for both AEDC and the nation through his work as a lead investigator for infrared and visible spectrum system measurement programs. His design, development and implementation of spectral models and codes were used by multiple government agencies and defense contractors to ensure system development success.
Hopf directly supported AEDC for 39 years culminating as the subject matter expert for the 716th Test Squadron. He was the lead wind tunnel test engineer responsible for improving productivity, efficiency and safety of virtually every wind tunnel at AEDC during his career. His improvements of captive trajectory systems at AEDC, for example, greatly reduced the risk of catastrophic failures of first-time munitions releases from aircraft. As a result of his national reputation, he was selected to support NASA’s highly visible and sensitive Columbia Accident Investigation Board.
Duesterhaus directly supported AEDC for 42 years beginning as an analysis and design engineer and finishing his career as lead for the Technology Division. In between, he served as director of the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex and Ground Test Representative at the Office of the Secretary of Defense Director of Operational Test and Evaluation. Since retiring, Duesterhaus has served as the ACC vice president and president and, for the last nine years, has been the lead for developing, documenting and delivering advocacy teams to ensure the Pentagon and Congress understand the importance of AEDC and policy initiatives necessary to preserve AEDC’s critical national missions.
The AEDC Fellows program, established in 1989, recognizes AEDC personnel who have made substantial and exceptionally distinguished contributions to the nation’s aerospace ground testing capability. Phillips, Hopf and Duesterhaus represent the 121st, 122nd and 123rd AEDC Fellows selected since the program’s inception.