ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. -- Maj. Gen. Leif Sverdrup was once quoted as saying, “If at first you don’t succeed, you’re like most people. The wonderful challenge of life is enjoyable.”
One of Sverdrup’s numerous successes stands as a testament to his leadership and, for the past 75 years, has played is significant role in aeronautical research and development.
Sverdrup not only founded the engineering firm that would contribute greatly to bringing the Arnold Engineering Development Center from a vision to reality, but he also served as the president of the first AEDC operations contractor.
Born on Ytre Sula in Norway on Jan. 11, 1898, Sverdrup displayed an interested in science at a fairly early age, conducting chemistry experiments in his parents’ basement at the age of 13.
Three years later, he boarded the Kristianiafjord and departed Norway for the U.S. Following his arrival in New York on Dec. 7, 1914, Sverdrup traveled by train to his uncle’s home in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Through his work as a farmhand, Sverdrup earned enough to begin attending Augsburg College in Minneapolis.
“I thought that what might hurt me most later wasn’t so much being uneducated as remaining that way,” Svedrup said years later.
He graduated in May 1918 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. That July, he enlisted as a private in the U.S. Army.
During this time, the five-year residency requirement was waived for members of the armed forces seeking to take out U.S. citizenship. Sverdrup took advantage of this while in training and, on Sept. 30, 1918, took an oath of allegiance and became a U.S. citizen.
“While in basic training, he received his certificate of naturalization,” Beyond the Speed of Sound, a book detailing the history of AEDC, states.
In early 1919, Sverdrup was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Field Artillery. By that point, World War I had ended, and Sverdrup opted to go into the inactive reserves, where he was honorably discharged in 1929 after serving two five-year terms.
It was also in 1919 that Sverdrup decided he wanted to become an engineer. He enrolled at the University of Minnesota. It was there that he met Professor John I. Parcel, his indeterminate structures professor.
Sverdrup graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1921 with a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering. He took the first job he was offered – bridge inspector for the Minnesota State Highway Department.
After spending a year in that job, he took a position as chief bridge engineer for the Missouri State Highway Department.
“But it would be a bridge in Hermann that would prove the catalyst to propel a young Sverdrup into business success when, in 1927, he was selected to design a bridge over the Missouri River,” Beyond the Speed of Sound states. “Leaving the Missouri State Highway Department, Sverdrup started out on his own.”
But Sverdrup recognized he needed a business partner. In 1928, Sverdrup and Parcel, his professor while a student at Minnesota, formed Sverdrup & Parcel, a civil engineering firm specializing in the field of bridges.
“I didn’t want to be alone,” Sverdrup said. “I wanted a partner who was older than myself. Since I was not known in the technical world, John Parcel came to mind at once. I went to see him, and he agreed to come with me.”
Sverdrup & Parcel was officially founded on April 1, 1928.
In October 1941, at the request of the Army, Sverdrup took on a job that his firm previously declined – developing airfields in the Pacific so American bombers could be flown to Gen. Douglas MacArthur for the defense of the Philippines. Sverdrup then signed a contract to plan and design all the work in the Fiji Islands, New Caledonia, New Hebrides and the Solomons.
On Dec. 9, 1941 – two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor – MacArthur requested that Sverdrup & Parcel handle all of his engineering work.
“During this period, Sverdrup relinquished all connections with his firm – no profits, salary or business communications,” Beyond the Speed of Sound states.
According to an article published in the January 1976 of High Mach, the Arnold Engineering Development Complex newspaper, as World War II broke out, Sverdrup was in the Pacific “carving airstrips out of jungles,” supervising construction of a chain of air bases for a plane-ferrying route to the Philippines and Australia, which his firm designed for the Army Corps of Engineers.
In 1942, Sverdrup returned to active duty service as a colonel and served continuously in the southwest Pacific until the end of 1945.
“During the Leyte and Luzon invasions of the Philippines, he was acting chief engineer to Gen. Douglas MacArthur and later became commanding general of the Engineering Construction Command in the southwest Pacific,” the 1976 High Mach article states.
When MacArthur pinned the Distinguish Service Cross on Sverdrup in 1945, he referred to Sverdrup as an “engineer-soldier at his best.”
During Sverdrup’s absence, his firm had begun developing wind tunnels at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio. In 1946, Sverdrup & Parcel was presented with the possibility of designing a complex of wind tunnels and other test facilities at a site for the military.
That project was the Air Engineering Development Center, and the blueprints developed by Sverdrup & Parcel would later be put to use in the construction of AEDC.
On March 29, 1950, then-Secretary of the Air Force Symington directed that AEDC be operated by a corporation under contract to the Air Force. The Air Force and Sverdrup & Parcel met several times over the following month.
“The secretary of the Air Force called me to this office and asked whether our organization would agree to operate the center,” Sverdrup said. “The secretary advised that if a contract were made, the fee would have to be lower than the lowest then in effect for civilian operation of a military agency. The lowest fee was then 4% of the estimated cost. I suggested that we might be able to take it on for 3.5%.”
These discussions led to the establishment of Arnold Research Organization Inc., a subsidiary of Sverdrup & Parcel that was the first company awarded a contract to operate AEDC.
ARO was incorporated in the latter part of April 1950. The company signed its first contract with the Air Force to maintain and operate AEDC on June 29, 1950.
Prior to this, Sverdrup & Parcel had been awarded contracts to study potential sites for the then-planned aeronautical research and development center that later became AEDC, and input from the firm was also sought in the Elk River Dam project to provide cooling water for AEDC test facilities once the site near Tullahoma had been chosen.
Sverdrup served as president of ARO until January 1964. ARO served as the sole AEDC operations contractor until 1981. After that, the AEDC Scope of Work was broken into separate packages, and Sverdrup Technology Inc., formerly ARO, carried one of the contracts until 2003.
In addition to the Distinguished Service Cross, Sverdrup was also awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit and the Purple Heart.
“He won military citations and medals from England, Australia and other lands, including Norway’s esteemed Order of St. Olaf,” Beyond the Speed of Sound states. “After the war, he reactivated the 102nd (Ozark) Division of the U.S. Army Reserve.
“For his service as Commanding General of the Division from 1947 to 1958, the Army added an Oak Leaf Cluster to his Distinguished Service Medal. Sverdrup was one of St. Louis’ best-known civic leaders. He headed fund drives for the Boy Scouts, the United Fund, and the Arts and Education Council. He also served three terms on the Board of Visitors of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.”
Sverdrup died in early 1976 after becoming ill during a duck hunt. He was buried with full military honors in Valhalla Cemetery in Hanley Hills, Missouri.
The January 1976 article written in tribute of Sverdrup referred to him as “a dreamer and, more important, a doer.”
“Boldness has genius, power and magic in it,” Sverdrup once said. “Just go ahead and do things, and you’ll be surprised at what you can accomplish. It really isn’t as much genius as it is staying right with the thing. Genius is probably 90% hard work anyway.”
This is the 10th in a series of articles highlighting the history of Arnold Engineering Development Complex during its first 75 years. Additional articles will be published throughout 2026 to commemorate the anniversary of AEDC.