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Memorial Tributes: Volume 22 (2019)

Chapter: DALE D. MYERS

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Suggested Citation:"DALE D. MYERS." National Academy of Engineering. 2019. Memorial Tributes: Volume 22. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25543.
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Suggested Citation:"DALE D. MYERS." National Academy of Engineering. 2019. Memorial Tributes: Volume 22. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25543.
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Suggested Citation:"DALE D. MYERS." National Academy of Engineering. 2019. Memorial Tributes: Volume 22. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25543.
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DALE D. MYERS

1922–2015

Elected in 1974

“Leadership in mastery of space flight and applications of aerospace technology.”

BY ROBERT CRIPPEN

DALE DEHAVEN MYERS died May 19, 2015, in La Costa, California, at age 93. He was born January 8, 1922, to Wilson Alexander Myers, a physician, and Ruth Minerva Myers in Kansas City, Missouri, where he grew up and graduated from Southwest High School. His inspiration for aeronautics was Charles Lindbergh, whom he met at age 5.

Dale attended Kansas City Junior College and then the University of Washington, earning money for his education by working in the Aeronautical Department’s wind tunnel for 50¢/hour. It was an experience that served him well. He graduated with a bachelor of science in aeronautical engineering in 1943.

He went to work as an aerodynamicist at North American Aviation. His first big challenge was using the wind tunnel to find a solution to an unrecoverable inverted spin with the new P-51 Mustang. He solved the problem with a new strake on the airplane.

He progressed to assistant director in the Aerophysics Laboratory, where he worked on the F-82 and studied the application of canards for efficient supersonic flight. The method was used on the Navaho missile, the first Mach 2 turbojet. During this time he lost his left eye in an automobile accident.

Suggested Citation:"DALE D. MYERS." National Academy of Engineering. 2019. Memorial Tributes: Volume 22. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25543.
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He was promoted in 1957 to vice president and program manager of the Hound Dog cruise missile to be used on the B-52. Program management proved to be his real forte, and the Apollo program gave him an opportunity to really shine as manager of the Command and Service Module. Shortly after the successful Apollo 11 mission he began working on the Space Shuttle.

In 1970 he was asked to join the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as associate administrator for manned spaceflight, replacing George Mueller. He oversaw the remainder of the Apollo missions, Skylab, and initial planning for the Apollo-Soyuz mission. He also led the studies that defined the Space Shuttle configuration.

He became president of North American Aircraft Operation (now part of Rockwell International) in 1974. He oversaw the B-1 development, testing, and production as well as the fighter and commercial elements of the company, including the work of the Atomics International Division on energy systems.

Government again requested his service in 1977, as undersecretary of the Department of Energy (DOE), where he developed a new budget system and a new program phased authorization system. He also initiated decentralization of project management and a consolidated management information system, and was heavily involved in all high-technology research and development.

He returned to industry in 1979 as president and chief operating officer for Jacobs Engineering Group, a diversified construction company. He worked on the architecture, engineering, and construction of high-technology facilities for the aerospace and electronics industry, and brought in federal programs from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), DOE, and NASA. He left the company in 1984 to form his own industry consulting company, Dale D. Myers & Associates Aerospace and Energy.

When President Ronald Reagan asked Dale to serve as NASA deputy administrator after the Challenger accident, he reluctantly agreed. He played a major role in the Shuttle redesign and the return to safe flight, and was a driver in

Suggested Citation:"DALE D. MYERS." National Academy of Engineering. 2019. Memorial Tributes: Volume 22. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25543.
×

developing a space station program. He returned to his consulting company in 1989.

In addition to his NAE election in 1974, Dale Myers received numerous awards and recognition, including Distinguished Service Medals from both NASA and DOE. He was an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a fellow of the American Astronautical Society, and in 2016 he was inducted into the International Air and Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air and Space Museum. He also held an honorary doctorate from Whitworth College. After his death the University of Washington remembered him with a plaque and his picture at the wind tunnel where he worked as an undergraduate.

He is survived by daughters Janet Westling (Mike) and Barbara Curtis, five grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. His wife Marjorie (née Williams) died in 2009.

Janet remembers that her father

found time for fishing, family celebrations, and world travel with his wife (they celebrated 66 years of marriage before she died). He worked for Kistler in his 80s on the recyclable rocket as a consultant. Much of what was learned at Kistler has been picked up by others and the “race to space” continues. He was still giving talks into his 90s. He was infectious and inspirational when it came to anything related to space. His extended family near and far were influenced by him. I’m still learning more about my dad. Now he’s a star in space, and I think of him smiling down on all who follow in his footsteps.

Barbara wrote that her father

married his 19-year-old college sweetheart…. After about 10 years of marriage, Marge thought Dale was working too hard and there was no time for vacations. She suggested they get a small getaway place. He said, “Great; a mountain cabin where I can fish for trout.” She said she had her heart set on a beach cottage. They owned the beach house for more than a half century until Marge got Alzheimer’s. Dale said it was the best investment decision he ever made…. In interviews, Dale

Suggested Citation:"DALE D. MYERS." National Academy of Engineering. 2019. Memorial Tributes: Volume 22. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25543.
×

always shared his success in business with his wife, saying there was no way he could have done all he did without her.

Barbara also recalled that when she and other family members attended the Apollo 13 tribute at the San Diego Air and Space Museum, Dale received a standing ovation. Two months later he died of heart failure. He again received a standing ovation when he was inducted into the International Air and Space Hall of Fame in November 2016; she was sorry he was not there for that show of appreciation.

Suggested Citation:"DALE D. MYERS." National Academy of Engineering. 2019. Memorial Tributes: Volume 22. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25543.
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Suggested Citation:"DALE D. MYERS." National Academy of Engineering. 2019. Memorial Tributes: Volume 22. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25543.
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Page 252
Suggested Citation:"DALE D. MYERS." National Academy of Engineering. 2019. Memorial Tributes: Volume 22. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25543.
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Page 253
Suggested Citation:"DALE D. MYERS." National Academy of Engineering. 2019. Memorial Tributes: Volume 22. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25543.
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Page 254
Suggested Citation:"DALE D. MYERS." National Academy of Engineering. 2019. Memorial Tributes: Volume 22. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25543.
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Page 255
Suggested Citation:"DALE D. MYERS." National Academy of Engineering. 2019. Memorial Tributes: Volume 22. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25543.
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Page 256
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This is the 22nd Volume in the series Memorial Tributes compiled by the National Academy of Engineering as a personal remembrance of the lives and outstanding achievements of its members and foreign associates. These volumes are intended to stand as an enduring record of the many contributions of engineers and engineering to the benefit of humankind. In most cases, the authors of the tributes are contemporaries or colleagues who had personal knowledge of the interests and the engineering accomplishments of the deceased. Through its members and foreign associates, the Academy carries out the responsibilities for which it was established in 1964.

Under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering was formed as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. Members are elected on the basis of significant contributions to engineering theory and practice and to the literature of engineering or on the basis of demonstrated unusual accomplishments in the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology. The National Academies share a responsibility to advise the federal government on matters of science and technology. The expertise and credibility that the National Academy of Engineering brings to that task stem directly from the abilities, interests, and achievements of our members and foreign associates, our colleagues and friends, whose special gifts we remember in this book.

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