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IRA GRANT HEDRICK
1913–2008
elected in 1974
“For contributions to aerospace technology,
particularly in the area of structures and materials.”
By reNso l. caPorali
iRA GRANT HEDRICK, a guiding force in aerospace
technology and former senior vice president and director of all
technical operations at the grumman aerospace corporation,
died on January 14, 2008, at the age of 94.
grant, as he was called by most of his peers and close
acquaintances, was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on February
10, 1913. as a young man he spent one year at the University
of illinois and two years at the University of Washington. He
graduated from the University of arkansas with a bachelor’s
degree in civil engineering. a year of graduate work at
Princeton University, with special emphasis in structural
design/analysis, led to a graduate degree in 1937. from
february 1942 to september 1943, grant worked for Johnson,
Drake and Piper, assigned as “contractor support” to the U.S.
army corps of engineers in North africa on the design and
construction of infrastructure in support of the allied war
effort in that theater of operations. He returned to the United
states in september 1943 and went to work for grumman
aircraft engineering corporation as a stress analyst the
following month. He quickly became the project analyst for
159
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160 MeMorial TriBUTes
the U.s. Navy’s sa-16 albatross amphibian aircraft intended
for, among other uses, open-sea rescue operations. during this
assignment he developed a method for predicting hull loads
that would be experienced during water landings and takeoffs
that became an industry standard. This was but the beginning
of a rapid rise up the technical ladder.
grant was made chief of structures in 1946, chief technical
engineer in 1957, vice president of engineering in 1963, and
senior vice president and director of all grumman technical
operations in 1970—a position he held until his retirement
in 1980. during that time he was directly involved both as
a personal contributor and a technical overseer with every
Grumman aircraft program from the Korean War–era F9F
Panther through the recently retired f-14 Tomcat, as well as
the apollo lunar Module, which successfully landed men on
the Moon. during this time, grant made contributions in the
area of structural design and analysis for which he was widely
recognized. His development of a simple but effective method
for fatigue life prediction enabled the industry to design and
guarantee the operational life of an aircraft. With proper
instrumentation, this led to the ability to track the remaining
life of an individual aircraft.
in the twilight of his career, grant led grumman’s
participation in the Princeton Tokamak reactor, a federal
program to study the feasibility of using fusion reactors to
generate electricity. subsequent to his retirement, grant served
as a senior grumman management consultant until 1994.
a registered New york state professional engineer, grant
was affiliated with several professional societies. In 1974 he was
elected to the National academy of engineering in recognition
of his many contributions to aerospace technology. in 1976 he
was appointed to the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board
and served until 1984. He served on many advisory committees
for the government, industry, and universities. grant received
the american society of Mechanical engineers spirit of st.
louis award in 1967, the american institute of aeronautics
and astronautics (aiaa) sylvanus albert reed award in
1971, the National aeronautics and space administration’s
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161
IRA GRANT HEDRICK
distinguished Public service Medal (the agency’s highest
decoration) in 1984, and the department of the air force’s
exceptional civilian service award in 1984. in 1989 he was
elected an honorary fellow of the aiaa and in 2008 was
elected to the long island Technology Hall of fame.
Beyond his interest in technology, grant was interested in
the development of engineers of the future and in their growth
on the job. He gave lectures at universities and served on several
advisory boards. at grumman he was a colleague and teacher
to generations of engineers who looked up to “the technical
conscience of grumman.” some he mentored at close range.
i went to work for him directly as a technical assistant from
1966 to 1968. in those two years and despite some eight years
of university training, a Ph.d. in aeronautical engineering, and
four years of military service as a naval aviator, it is hard to
imagine a postdoctoral appointment that could have provided
a better learning experience. Beyond the technical knowledge
that he imparted, his demand for thoroughness and integrity
taught like no textbook ever could. Without those two years of
mentoring, i have no doubt that my own life’s journey would
have been very different.
and grant had a life outside of grumman. in the 1960s
he decided to try the operator side of aerospace, learned to
fly, and bought an aircraft that he continued to operate until
advancing years and prudence suggested it was time to quit.
He was also an extremely interested and accomplished tennis
player—probably the equivalent of a golfer with a low single-
digit handicap. At one time he and his son got to the finals
of the father/son national tennis tournament on the grass at
forest Hills.
His wife Tina wrote:
“I knew Grant Hedrick for more than twenty years as
my husband’s boss. When i married him in 1993, he was
80 years old and we had fifteen wonderful years together.
i had been a widow for nine years and grumman and
Northrop were discussing the merger. grant had been
planning to move to california to be closer to his family,
but instead he chose to stay on long island, where
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grumman was located, and married me.
He designed and built a guest wing and his children
and grandchildren and my sons visited often. We played
golf and traveled to california often and to germany
in 1997. We were both active in the development of the
“Cradle of Aviation,” a museum in Garden City, New
york, which now houses many of the grumman airplanes
and the lunar Module.”
Grant was married to his first wife Shirley for more than 50
years. They had three children, sons grant ii (known as Bing)
and Karl and a daughter Cindy.
Grant was predeceased by his first wife, Shirley, and a
son. He is survived by his second wife, Tina, another son, a
daughter, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
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