NASA PIONEER R. DALE REED DEAD AT 75.Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. - Aeronautics researcher Robert Dale Lieutenant Robert Dale (1812–20 July 18531) was the first European explorer to cross the Darling Range in Western Australia. Robert Dale was born in England in October 1812. Reed, whose ``lifting body'' research played a role in the design of the space shuttles, has died at age 75 of complications of cancer, NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. announced Monday. Reed spent most of his 52-year career at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center The Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC), located inside Edwards Air Force Base, is an aeronautical research center operated by NASA. On March 26, 1976 it was named in honor of the late Hugh L. , where he also pioneered the development of research aircraft remotely controlled by pilots on the ground. ``He was a very neat guy,'' Dryden spokesman Alan Brown said. ``He made tremendous contributions to the area of aerodynamics aerodynamics, study of gases in motion. As the principal application of aerodynamics is the design of aircraft, air is the gas with which the science is most concerned. .'' Reed actually retired from NASA in 1985, but he spent four years at Lockheed Advanced Development Projects and then returned to NASA as a contract engineer. Up until last October, he had worked at Dryden for NASA contractor Analytical Services and Materials on projects that included the X-33 and X-37 experimental spacecraft. A longtime Lancaster resident, Reed died Friday at a San Diego hospice. Memorial arrangements were pending. He is survived by his wife, Donna, and four children: Cristy, Charmaine, Chariann and Robert. Reed began working in 1953 at Dryden, then the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics High Speed Flight Research Station. In 1962, Reed built a model of a wingless ``lifting body'' model based on a design from NASA's Ames Research Center, which was looking at alternatives to parachute-equipped space capsules. Reed used the model to show the potential of the lifting body design, for which there was little support for flight testing. He flew his model off the tops of buildings, then towed it aloft behind a conventional model airplane. His wife, Donna, filmed the flights with a home movie camera. The model's stability as it glided - despite its lack of wings - convinced others at NASA that a piloted lifting body was possible. A full-scale glider version was built with a tubular steel frame and mahogany plywood shell for $30,000. A hot-rod shop souped up a Pontiac convertible to be used to tow the lifting body like a kite. Rocket-powered lifting bodies such as the M2-F2 and the X-24A and X-24B subsequently were developed. Reed's fascination with using model airplanes for flight research led to NASA's remotely piloted research vehicle program, in which the pilot on the ground sat in a cockpit containing all the instruments and sensors of an airplane. A computer control system was incorporated into later remotely piloted airplanes. Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich Michael Dennis Antonovich (born 1939 in Los Angeles, California) is a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors representing the Fifth District, which covers northern Los Angeles County, the Antelope, Santa Clarita, Pasadena, and parts of the San Fernando and San will ask the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is the five member governing board of Los Angeles County, California. Members of the board of supervisors are elected by district, the current members as of April 2006 are:
Charles F. Bostwick, (661) 267-5742 chuck.bostwick(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: In this 1967 photo, Robert Dale Reed, a NASA researcher who died last week in San Diego, examines a model he built of the M2-F1, in front of the actual wingless ``lifting body.'' National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), civilian agency of the U.S. federal government with the mission of conducting research and developing operational programs in the areas of space exploration, artificial satellites (see satellite, artificial), |
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