Joseph Frederick Sutter (March 21, 1921 – August 30, 2016) was an American engineer for the

Boeing Airplane Company The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

and manager of the design team for the

Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, t ...

under Malcolm T. Stamper, the head of the 747 project. ''

Air & Space/Smithsonian ''Air & Space/Smithsonian'' is a quarterly magazine published by the National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the ...

'' magazine has described Sutter as the "father of the 747".

Early life and education

Sutter was born in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, and grew up in the vicinity of Boeing's Seattle plant. He was of

Slovenian Slovene or Slovenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe * Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken in Slovenia * Slovenes The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( sl, Sloven ...

descent—his father, Franc Suhadolc (1879–1945) from Dobrova, Slovenia, came to America as a

gold prospector Gold prospecting is the act of searching for new gold deposits. Methods used vary with the type of deposit sought and the resources of the prospector. Although traditionally a commercial activity, in some developed countries placer gold prospe ...

. Sutter attended the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

and graduated with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in aeronautical engineering in 1943.Ronald Reagan Presidential Library: Appointment of Joseph F. Sutter as a Member of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident
/ref>

Career

In 1940, Sutter took a summer job at

Boeing Plant 2 Boeing Plant 2 (also known as Air Force Plant 17) was a factory building which was built in 1936 by The Boeing Company in King County, Washington in the United States. By the time production ceased in the building, the plant had built half of the B ...

while studying aeronautical engineering at the

. Sutter served as a junior officer aboard the

destroyer escort Destroyer escort (DE) was the United States Navy mid-20th-century classification for a warship designed with the endurance necessary to escort mid-ocean convoys of merchant marine ships. Development of the destroyer escort was promoted by th ...

in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He was a young U.S. Navy veteran finishing his degree when both Boeing and

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civi ...

offered him jobs. Boeing believed in

jet aircraft A jet aircraft (or simply jet) is an aircraft (nearly always a fixed-wing aircraft) propelled by jet engines. Whereas the engines in propeller-powered aircraft generally achieve their maximum efficiency at much lower speeds and altitudes, je ...

, so he went there. Former Boeing executive

Jim Albaugh James F. Albaugh (born May 31, 1950) is the former executive vice president of The Boeing Company and chief executive officer of the Boeing Commercial Airplanes business unit. He served in these capacities for Boeing Commercial Airplanes from S ...

believes Douglas would probably own Boeing today if it went otherwise. At Boeing, Sutter worked on many commercial airplane projects, including the

367-80 The Boeing 367-80, known simply as the Dash 80, is an American quadjet prototype aircraft built by Boeing to demonstrate the advantages of jet propulsion for commercial aviation. It served as basis for the design of the KC-135 tanker and the Boe ...

"Dash 80", 707, 727 and

737 737 most commonly refers to: * Boeing 737, an American narrow-body passenger airplane ** Boeing 737 Classic ** Boeing 737 MAX ** Boeing 737 Next Generation * AD 737, a year in the common era * 737 BC, a year * 737 (number), a number 737 may als ...

. He eventually became a manager for the new jumbo-sized wide body airplane, the four-engine

. As chief engineer, he led the 747 design and build team from conception in 1965 to rollout in 1969. He would become known as the "father of the 747". Sutter's final job was as executive vice president for commercial airplane engineering and product development when he retired from Boeing in 1986.

Later life

Sutter served on the

Rogers Commission The Rogers Commission Report was written by a Presidential Commission charged with investigating the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' disaster during its 10th mission, STS-51-L. The report, released and submitted to President Ronald Reagan on Jun ...

, investigating the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' disaster. He was also selected as a recipient of the International Air Cargo Association's 2002 Hall of Fame Award and was an engineering

sales consultant Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale. The seller, or the provider of the goods or services, completes a sale in ...

. As of July 2010, he was a member of the Boeing Senior Advisory Group which was studying the alternatives of a clean sheet replacement of the

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two un ...

or a re-engine of the then-current design, the latter ultimately chosen and later marketed as the

Boeing 737 MAX The Boeing 737 MAX is the fourth generation of the Boeing 737, a narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA), a division of American company Boeing. It succeeds the Boeing 737 Next Generation (NG ...

. For decades, he resided in

West Seattle West Seattle is a conglomeration of neighborhoods in Seattle, Washington, United States. It comprises two of the thirteen districts, Delridge and Southwest, and encompasses all of Seattle west of the Duwamish River. It was incorporated as an i ...

. In 2011, on his 90th birthday, Boeing's 40-87 building in Everett, WA, the main engineering building for Boeing Commercial Airplanes division, was renamed the Joe Sutter building. Sutter died on August 30, 2016 at a hospital in

Bremerton, Washington Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington. The population was 37,729 at the 2010 census and an estimated 41,405 in 2019, making it the largest city on the Kitsap Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremerto ...

from complications of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

, at the age of 95.

Book

Aviation author and historian Jay Spenser worked closely with Sutter for 18 months to write his autobiography, entitled ''747: Creating the World's First Jumbo Jet and Other Adventures from a Life in Aviation'' (). It was published by Smithsonian Books/

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

as a

hardcover A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as case-bound) book is one bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other cloth, heavy paper, or occa ...

in 2006 and as a

paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) book ...

in 2007. This book tells of Sutter's childhood and describes his life and 40-year career at Boeing. The book details Sutter's tenure as chief engineer of the development of the 747 and elaborates on its design, manufacturing, testing, certification, and delivery to the world's airlines. The book also describes subsequent models of the 747 and the two major-derivative updates to the type, the

747-400 The Boeing 747-400 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, an advanced variant of the initial Boeing 747. The "Advanced Series 300" was announced at the September 1984 Farnborough Airshow, targeting ...

of 1989, and the

747-8 The Boeing 747-8 is a wide-body airliner formerly developed by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, and the largest variant of the 747. After introducing the 747-400, Boeing considered larger 747 versions as alternatives to the proposed double-deck ...

Awards

* 1985 United States Medal of Technology award. For his contributions to the development of commercial jet aircraft.US Government list: The National Medal Of Technology Recipients
Retrieved August 18, 2019.

References

External links

Boeing: Remembering an 'Incredible' legend
a blog entry tributed to Joe Sutter
The Sutter twist – an engineering story
a

Wing twist Wing twist is an aerodynamic feature added to aircraft wings to adjust lift distribution along the wing. Often, the purpose of lift redistribution is to ensure that the wing tip is the last part of the wing surface to stall, for example when exec ...

named after him {{DEFAULTSORT:Sutter, Joseph 1921 births 2016 deaths American aerospace engineers United States Navy personnel of World War II American people of Slovenian descent Boeing people National Medal of Technology recipients Writers from Seattle United States Navy officers University of Washington College of Engineering alumni