Jack Strier
Birth: Jan. 6, 1921
Death: Jan. 5, 1995
Spouse: Beth Jean Gilmour Strier (1913 - 1992)
Burial: Joshua Memorial Park
Lancaster, California, USA
From www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA433209 "A Career in Test and Evaluation Reflections and Observations" from an oral history interview of Charles E. "Pete" Adolph, conducted by Dr. Richard P. Hallion. This document was dedicated to the memory of Jack Strier.
Jack Strier spent his flight-test
career-from 1952 until he retired in 1980-at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
His legacy was not the aircraft he helped to perfect, but rather the people he
mentored, taught, and developed. He was a United States Marine Corps aviator
during World War II and flew F-4U Corsairs and F-6F Hellcats. After his release
from active duty in 1946, he returned to the University of California at Los
Angeles and earned a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering in
1949. Following a two year stint with Hughes Aircraft, he accepted a position as
the performance and flying qualities engineer on the H-23B helicopter, followed
by assignments as project engineer on the B-36F bomber heavyweight performance
tests, the H-19B helicopter, the Cessna XL-19C turboprop, and the YF-84J and
F-104A jet fighters at Edwards in the Performance and Flying Qualities
Engineering Branch. In 1956 he was promoted to engineering supervisor, and in
1960 he became assistant branch chief. As a supervisor, Jack participated in the
test and evaluation of nearly every aircraft to enter the Air Force inventory
over the next twenty years. Mr. Strier also contributed to a wide range of Air
Force source selections and participated in record-setting attempts with the
F-104 and F-106 as project engineer, advisor, and National Aeronautics
Association observer. While involved in these projects, Jack trained a
generation of flight-test engineers in the basics of performance and flying
qualities testing. His skills as a teacher of the fundamentals of test planning,
test conduct, data analysis, and reporting were without parallel. He personally
mentored more Air Force personnel in the
From AIAA, Scaned by Ron Hart.
