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WILLIAM B.
1915-1987
BY RENE H. MILLER
BERGEN
W ~~ ~ B.BERGEN, aerospace engineer and executive, died
on October 9, 1987,of cancer at the age of seventy-two in his
home at St. Michaels, Maryland. His entire career was spent in
the aerospace industry, first at Martin Marietta where he was
president of the Martin Company Division at the time of his
leaving to join the Rockwell Company in 1967. There he servecl
as president of the Space Division and was the principal execu-
tive responsible for the command and service module forApollo
during the crucial period of its development. After his retire-
ment in 1975, he served as a consultant, including a year with
Rolls-Royce in England.
Bill Bergen was born at Floral Park, Long Island, New York, a
escendant in a direct male line from the Dutch colonists who
settled in America prior to 1675. He graduated from the Massa-
chusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1937 with a B.S. in
aeronautical engineering and in the same yearjoined the Glenn
L. Martin (GLM) Company (now Martin Marietta Corporation)
as a structures engineer. He became interested in the emerging
problem of aeroelasticity, a problem that soon proved to be of
critical importance to the company. At the time, GLM was
developing the PBM-l flying boat, using the then new concept of
large extrusions in an innovative wing design in which all
bending loads were taken by the spar caps with a thin skin acting
mainly as a torsion box. The intent was to avoid the weight
27
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28
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
penalties of shear lag. However, the result was a
~ . .
wing highly
flexible in torsion. Literature on the subject of wing flutter had
just become available (National Advisory Committee on Aero-
nautics, NACA TR 496) and calculations of torsion-flexure
flutter indicated a critical speed well below design dive speed.
The company was understandably skeptical of these complex
analyses but authorized the construction of a dynamically similar
flutter model after Bergen had demonstrated the phenomenon
of flutter with a simple tabletop wince tunnel driven by a cooling
fan. A dynamically similar model of the PBM-1 was quickly
constructed, probably the first scaled flutter model ever built,
and tested at NACA, Langley. The model exhibited a perfect
example of the equally new ant] poorly understood} problem of
wing torsional divergence, well below the computed flutter
speed.
By this time the PBM-] was nearing rollout and there was no
possibilityofJesign changes. Itwas decided to conductacautious
flight-test program with primary emphasis on flutter prediction.
Accordingly, Bergen designed a wing vibrator in order to excite
the wing in flight, hopefully well away from flutter, with the
intent of measuring the reduction of damping with speed and
extrapolating to the critical flutter speed. Since this involved
extensive real-time computations cluring flight, the flutter ana-
lysts joined the flight test crew. Similar tests had just been
conducted in Germany, resulting in the crash of a ~U90 for
reasons that at the time were not well understood. A similar fate
was probably spared the PBM-] because other problems associ-
ated with the highly flexible wing quickly surfaced.
The aircraft was equipped with retractable wing floats and the
first attempt to retract and then extend these in flight resulted
in the starboard Float jamming in the retracted position clue to
wing flexibility. Bergen was asked if he would climb out on the
port wing during the approach to landing and craw] out to the
tip in order to keep the wings reasonably level during landing, a
successfully executed maneuver. His reputation was further
enhanced when a redesigned, now fixed, float exhibiter] a steady
vibration that grew alarmingly with speed. Bergen designed a
damper that cured the problem. By this time it was concluded
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WILLIAM B. BERGEN
29
that the battle with wing vibration had been lost and the aircraft
was returned to the shop for a complete wing redesign using the
corrugated skin and cover previously standard at GEM.
The abilities he had exhibited during this very difficult clevel-
opment program helped to establish Bergen's reputation as a
highly capable en cl dynamic young engineer. He advancecl
rapidly in the company thereafter. Always ready to tackle new
technology, he became interested in pilotless aircraft at a time
when the guided missile was a new and promising weapon
system, and developecl early automated flight-test equipment for
these systems. In 1945 he became chief of the Guided Missile
Section and paved the way for Martin's entry into the missile and
electronics fields. He had the prime engineering role in the
development of the first U.S. tactical missile, the Air Force
Matador, and the U.S. Navy's Viking high-altitude research
rocket. From 1948 to 1961 he was successively director, Special
Weapons; chief engineer; and vice-president engineering. In
~ 953 he was appointed vice-presic3 ent operations, then executive
vice-presiclent, followed by his appointment as president of the
company in 1959. Under his guiding hand, a management
concept evolved giving Martin the capabilities to handle many
major programs at one time, efficiently. Bergen was the father of
this. Itwas called "systems management" and has been employed
by many companies the worm over. In 1961 the Martin Marietta
Corporation was formed, and Bergen became corporate vice-
presiclent, remaining as president of the Aerospace Division. He
was responsible for the clevelopment of Titan I, IT, and lIT, and
Pershing, Sprint, and Gemini. Aircraft developed cluring this
period included the Martin 404, the XB-5l, and the XP6M-~.
Bill Bergen left Martin Marietta early in 1967 and joined
North American/Rockwell shortly afterward. Very difficultwork
on the Apollo was in progress then, following the disastrous
Apollo fire. He was appointed president of the Space Division
and was instrumental in bringing Apollo and the Saturn V Stage
II programs to a successful conclusion. In 1970 he became
president of the North American Aerospace Group. During his
eight years at Rockwell, he directed, in addition to the Apollo
program, the Space Shuttle development and the B-1 Bomber
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
program. He also had responsibility over the Rocket~yne En-
gines and Atomics International divisions. One of his major
contributions at Rockwell was to emphasize equal opportunity
~ · . .
programs tor minorities.
In 1975 he retired to his home in St. Michaels, Maryland,
where he continued to act as a consultant, including an enjoy-
able period in England as director of the Commercial Engine
Division of Rolls-Royce.
Bergen received several honors during his eventful career. In
1943 he received the Lawrence Sperry Award of the Institute of
Aeronautical Sciences for his pioneering work on aircraft struc-
tures. In 1963 he was awarcled an honorary doctorate of engi-
neering degree from Drexel University. He received three Pub-
lic Service awards from NASA, in 1966 for his contributions to
the success of the Gemini program; in 1969 for his contributions
to the Apollo S program, the first manned lunar orbit mission;
and again in 1969 for his contributions to the exceptionally
successful flight of Apollo 11. The National Academy of Engi-
neering electecI him a member in 1974.
One of Bergen's major personal and professional motivations
was to advance the cause of engineering in the public sector by
means of his frequent speeches and public appearances, and to
bring his enthusiasm and knowledge, and that of his company
associates, to bear on pressing technological issues. His cledica-
tion to public service is evidenced by his willingness to serve
actively on innumerable boards and associations. He was a
member of the board of governors and a fellow of the American
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a fellow of the
American Astronautical Society. He was also a member of the
Association ofthe U.S.Army (IndustrialAclvisoryGroup) ;Armed
Forces Association; Air Force Association; Society of Automotive
Engineers; Delta Tau Delta, of which he was a member at MIT;
the National Space Club; and the Conquistadore del Cielo. He
served on the boars! of directors of the California Chamber of
Commerce and was a member of MIT's Aeronautics and Astro-
nautics Visiting Committee and its Corporation and Executive
Committee.
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WILLIAM B. BERGEN
31
An active sportsman throughout his career, Bergen was an
enthusiastic oarsman at MIT and continued this hobby through
his early days at GEM. He enjoyocl horseback riding, golf, tennis,
hunting, particularly cluck hunting on the Chesapeake, and
fishing. He held both single and multiengine pilot certificates.
Bill Bergen was an inspired engineer and a skillful and driving
manager, fair but demanding. He drove himself as hard as he
drove his colleagues, but his sense of humor always served to
lighten the work loac3 and establish a spirit of camaraderie that
helped to carry his endeavors to their usual successful conclu-
sion. He was warm andkind, and a delightful friend, companion,
anti colleague.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
bill bergen
