Richard C. Scherrer (1919–2018) was an aircraft designer notable for pioneering work on revolutionary aircraft designs with extremely low radar cross sections that led to the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk and

Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit The Northrop (later Northrop Grumman) B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber, is an American heavy strategic bomber, featuring low-observable stealth technology designed to penetrate dense anti-aircraft defenses. A subsonic flying ...

Career

Dick Scherrer graduated from 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 ...

, with a BSC in Aeronautical Engineering, in 1942.Previous Distinguished Alumni Awards
Retrieved 30 August 2011. From 1942 to 1959 he worked at the NACA (later NASA) Ames Research Center. There, he conducted flight research programs with thermal de-icing systems and wind tunnel tests of supersonic aerodynamic heating, internal and external aerodynamics. He was also a member of NACA Internal Aerodynamics Subcommittee and assistant head of the 1x3-foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel Branch. Early in his time at NACA, in 1942, he wrote a proposal to develop both a jet engine and a research aircraft to test it. Likely unaware of the work being done at NACA Langley, let alone of the top secret acquisition of the Whittle engine by Air Corps Chief

Hap Arnold Henry Harley Arnold (June 25, 1886 – January 15, 1950) was an American general officer holding the ranks of General of the Army and later, General of the Air Force. Arnold was an aviation pioneer, Chief of the Air Corps (1938–1941), ...

in the spring of 1941, Scherrer never managed to acquire the necessary support to continue his jet propulsion research. From 1955 to 1965 he also worked as an independent engineering design consultant to Arrow Development on the design of “Dumbo”, “Tea Party”, “Matterhorn”, “Little Train That Could” and “Flying Saucers” rides for the

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...

theme park.Scherrer, Richard, resume dated October 2003. In June 1959 he went to work at Lockheed-California in Burbank California. At Lockheed, he conducted

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are t ...

(ASW) system analyses and airplane design studies to establish requirements and capabilities for the

Lockheed P-3 Orion The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engined, turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner.

as the Project Manager responsible for developing the basic airplane design concept for a DARPA/US Air Force competition to develop a low radar cross-section aircraft. Working with radar expert Denys Overholser, mathematician Bill Schroeder and senior lead airplane designer Ken Watson, they produced a design that won the competition. The result was the

Have Blue Lockheed ''Have Blue'' was the code name for Lockheed's proof of concept demonstrator for a stealth bomber. ''Have Blue'' was designed by Lockheed's Skunk Works division, and tested at Groom Lake, Nevada. The ''Have Blue'' was the first fixed ...

technology demonstrator that led to the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk. During the summer of 1976, Dick suffered a stroke and left the program. After recuperating, he returned to Lockheed a year later as Chief Advanced Design Engineer of the Skunk Works. In this position, he worked on the design of a low radar cross-section reconnaissance aircraft. In the mid-1980s the Airforce Chief Engineer for Stealth programs, Bill Elsner, has been quoted as saying " there would never have been a Stealth Airplane but for the genius of Dick Scherrer." In September 1979 he left Lockheed and went to work at the

Northrop Corporation Northrop Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer from its formation in 1939 until its 1994 merger with Grumman to form Northrop Grumman. The company is known for its development of the flying wing design, most successfully the B-2 Spiri ...

as a design consultant on their entry for the Advanced Technology Bomber. There, he refined the planform, airfoils and internal arrangement of what became the

after Northrop won the US Air Force competition. Starting in July 1984 he worked at

Ling-Temco-Vought Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) was a large American conglomerate which existed from 1961 to 2000. At its peak, it was involved in aerospace, airlines, electronics, steel manufacturing, sporting goods, meat packing, car rentals, and pharmaceuticals, am ...

on developing a design for the US Navy AX competition. In doing so, he supervised large scale radar cross-section model detail design, fabrication and testing. This competition was won by the McDonnell Douglas A-12 Avenger II. From October 1985 to December 1986 he conducted project review tasks for DARPA and SAIC at

Boeing Military Airplane Company Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS) is a division (business unit) of The Boeing Company based in Arlington, Virginia. It is responsible for defense and aerospace products and services. It was formerly known as Boeing Integrated Defense System ...

and

Sikorsky Aircraft Sikorsky Aircraft is an American aircraft manufacturer based in Stratford, Connecticut. It was established by aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky in 1923 and was among the first companies to manufacture helicopters for civilian and military use. Pre ...

. In July 1987 he returned to Northrop where he worked for four years, conducting preliminary design studies of future stealth aircraft. After retiring to Marrowstone Island in

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

, he worked on the development of new models for Express Aircraft, including retractable landing gear and turbine powered variants.Express Series 2000FT Specifications
Retrieved 30 August 2011. In 1995, Dick received the Distinguished Alumni award from the Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics of the

and in 2010 he was elected to membership in the National Academy of Engineering. He was also an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scherrer, Richard American aerospace engineers Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering 2018 deaths 1919 births University of Washington alumni