1978 AAE Distinguished Engineering Alumnus

Wendell S. Norman

Director, von Karman Gas Dynamic Facility
ARO Incorporated, AEDC Division
Arnold Air Force Station
MSAE ’58, PhD ’61

Dr. Norman began his career as a professor at the Air Force Academy. He then joined ARO as an aerodynamicist and has directed aerodynamic studies on such vehicles as the space shuttle, the X-24 research plane, the Trident missile and the cruise missiles. He has developed a number of research and test facilities, such as HIRHO, which will be a high-density, high-speed shock tunnel; and a high Reynolds number transonic test facility which will be capable of studying high-speed, realistic flows. He was active in applying ground test data and analytical techniques to the analysis of re-entry vehicle motion. Dr. Norman is also a part-time professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Tennessee Space Institute.