Russel McKee Herrington Jr.
September 10, 1920 – December 3, 2014

Reference: https://obituaries.greenhillsla.com/obituaries/Russel-Herrington/#!/TributeWall
                  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/139748541/russel-mckee-herrington
 

When newly assigned flight test engineers arrived at Edwards Air Force Base in the 1950s through the 1990s they were handed a thick document titled “Flight Test Engineering Handbook” (link), first published in May 1951. The primary author was Major Russel Herrington. That document was considered to be the “bible” for conducting flight testing at Edwards. It contained descriptions of flight test techniques, equations needed to compute test data, and large numbers of graphs and tables for quickly looking up information related to flight testing. It became common practice for engineers to call the handbook “The Herrington Manual”, or an even shorter title of “Herrington”. It was common to hear engineers say things like “be sure to bring your Herrington to the control room”.

There is limited information on the internet about Russel Herrington’s Air Force career. A document from the United States Military Academy states he graduated from the Military Academy in June 1943 and was assigned to the Air Corps. This photo of Russel in his Academy uniform is posted on the FindAGrave website.

Congressional Records indicate he was promoted to the rank of Captain in the Air Force in July 1948 and to Major in December 1950. According to Fred Stoliker (link), Major Russ Herrington was assigned to head of the Performance Engineering Branch in 1951, shortly after the branch was established at Edwards.

A list of Air Force accidents indicates he was the pilot of an F-86E that crashed at Edwards AFB on October 30, 1952. The crash was labeled as a landing accident caused by an inflight fire. The aircraft was destroyed. No information was located regarding any injuries to the pilot.

In 1958, then a Lt Col, he was Chief of the Dyna-Soar project office at Air Research and Development Command (ARDC) headquarters. In 1960 he was assigned to the Air Force Ballistic Missile Division as Director of Air Force Space Boosters, Space Programs. In 1962, then a Colonel, he was assigned to the Titan III system program office, Space Systems Division. In 1966 he continued to be assigned to the Space Systems Division at Los Angeles Air Force Station. The date of his retirement from the Air Force and details of his post-military career were not found during internet searches. His home during his retirement years was located in Palos Verdes Estates in Southern California.

This is Russel and his wife as posted in his obituary