1966 AAE Distinguished Engineering Alumnus

Walter J. Hesse

Vice President and Program Director, V-STOL Program
Vought Aeronautics Division
Ling-Tempco-Vought Aerospace Corporation
BSME ’44, MSME ’48, PhD ’51

He served with Test Pilot School U.S. Navy, from '49 to '55, training pilots and doing research on flight testing of high-performance aircraft, meanwhile completing work for the doctorate. He joined Chance Vought in 1956 as chief of advanced development planning; became manager of advanced engineering in 1959; program director of nucleonic systems in 1961 and of advanced missile systems in 1964, moving into his present position in 1965.