Harry James Hillaker (9 May 1919 - 8 February 2009) was an American aeronautical engineer, who is credited as the main designer and originator of the

F-16 Fighting Falcon The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful ...

aircraft.

Early life

He was born in

Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city and seat of Genesee County, Michigan, United States. Located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region known as Mid Michigan. At the 2020 census, Flint had a population of 8 ...

, attending Flint Northern High School. He studied Aeronautical Engineering at the

University of Michigan-Flint A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

Career

Consolidated Aircraft

He started at

Consolidated Aircraft The Consolidated Aircraft Corporation was founded in 1923 in aviation, 1923 by Reuben H. Fleet in Buffalo, New York, the result of the Gallaudet Aircraft Company's liquidation and Fleet's purchase of designs from the Dayton-Wright Company as the ...

in 1941. He worked on the Convair B-58 Hustler.

General Dynamics

He was the chief project engineer for the F-16 aircraft, overseeing the testing of the prototype aircraft, to fulfil the needs of the

Lightweight Fighter program The Lightweight Fighter (LWF) program was a United States Air Force technology evaluation program initiated in the late 1960s by a group of officers and defense analysts known as the "Fighter Mafia". It was spurred by then-Major John Boyd's 'e ...

. The prototype started as the

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded, aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and 5th largest in the Uni ...

Model 401, to become the YF-16, beginning around 1971. The prototype arrived at

Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County and a southern arm is in Los Angeles County. The hub of the base is E ...

in California on 8 January 1974, taking to the air on 2 February 1974, flown by

Phil Oestricher Philip F. Oestricher (1931 – December 18, 2015) was an American aerodynamics engineer and test pilot. He made both the unscheduled first flight of the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon on January 20, 1974 and its official first flight on Fe ...

. In January 1975, the YF-16 had been selected for the Lightweight Fighter program. He retired in 1985.

Personal life

He married on 2 October 1943, and had six children. His wife died in 2017. He died aged 89 on Sunday 8 February 2009 in Texas.Biography
/ref>

References

External links

F-16 Design Origins
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hillaker, Harry 1909 births 2009 deaths American aerospace engineers Engineers from Michigan General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon People from Flint, Michigan University of Michigan–Flint alumni University of Michigan College of Engineering alumni