AEDC Fellow Frank Jackson leaves legacy with Complex

  • Published
  • By Raquel March
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, TENN. --  AEDC 2005 Fellow Frank Jackson III will be remembered for his contributions to AEDC wind tunnels after his passing on Oct. 15 at the age of 77.

Jackson, a former chief engineer of the ATA Integrated Test and Evaluation department, was a driving force behind the delivery of many aeronautical test capabilities and improvements, essential to the nation's weapon system development needs. He researched testing in the AEDC Propulsion Wind Tunnel 16-foot supersonic wind tunnel (16-S) to develop optimum second-throat diffuser configurations that have remained in use for 39 years.

Jackson served as senior research engineer responsible for specification, design, procurement and installation of a new high-angle automated model support system for the 16-foot transonic wind tunnel (16T), which significantly improved model attitude range, pitch and roll rates and test productivity. As director of the Jacobs Sverdrup Flight Systems department he supervised execution of more than 12,000 hours of wind tunnel testing in the 4-foot and the 16-foot transonic wind tunnels and hypersonic tunnels A, B and C.

Jackson held a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI) and a master's of science degree in aviation systems from UTSI.

After graduating from Georgia Institute of Technology, Frank settled in Tullahoma in 1960 and joined then support contractor ARO Inc. as a Project and Facilities Engineer at AEDC.

In 1987, Frank became Director of Engineering and Maintenance and in 1990 was promoted to Director of Engineering and Development and Director of Planning. He later served as Director of Operations and Maintenance and as Chief Engineer, and as the Director of the Test and Facility Support Department and Chief Engineer of the Aircraft Test and Evaluation Department. From 1990 through 1996, Frank led AEDC contractor efforts in support of the National Wind Tunnel Complex Program and was a member of the Joint Industry-Government team at NASA Langley and the Contractor Requirement and Operations team at NASA Lewis.

Jackson was an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and a member of the Tennessee Society of Professional Engineers.