Vernon R Schmitt

Vernon R. Schmitt, a native of Columbus, Ohio, is an alumnus of the Ohio State University College of Engineering. He retired as a civilian project engineer from the U. S. Air Force Flight Dynamics Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base after spending more than 30 years on research and development programs related to flight control and servo actuation systems. After retiring, Mr. Schmitt was a consultant to the Flight Dynamics Laboratory for the next 15 years in support of its flight control research programs. He was responsible for research and development efforts on fly-by-wire by the Douglas Aircraft Company, Sperry Phoenix Corporation, LTV E-Systems, and the in-house work on the B-47 aircraft. Following World War II military service Mr. Schmitt spent two years in the Controlled Aircraft Group which also had overlapping programs on Guided Missiles. He was assigned to the Guided Missile Section at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (at that time Wright Field) and was responsible for the flight control systems on the Matador and Rascal Missiles. These projects covered a period of about eight years. The latter part of his military career was spent with the Special Weapons Branch which dealt with controlled bombs, e.g., Azon and Razon types, and television-controlled bombs which are today referred to as “smart” bombs. Two years of his military time were spent as instructor on the Norden bombsight and the C-i autopilot. During his instruction time Mr. Schmitt designed a controlled bomb that in many respects resembled the Razon bomb. This was submitted to the Air Force for possible use and it wasn’t until the author was in the Special Weapons Branch that he realized everyone in that branch had seen and reviewed his design.