by Harold O.
It has been 40 years since I left Martin Marietta in Middle River,
Maryland. where I had spent 18 years (from 1955 to 1973). I worked with two
wonderful bosses during those years—William (Bill) Grey and Charlie Schell.
Bill was my supervisor during the time I worked as an engineer performing jet
engine performance calculations. At the time, Martin was competing on a contract
with the Air Force for a new fighter/bomber. The company’s unique approach was
to use water injection to increase thrust. Right after the announcement that we
won, all the workers on the project were on a “high.” We were invited to a
celebration party. Soon after this party the plant went on a short holiday, and
when we returned we got the bad news that the contract had been cancelled. What
a disappointment!
I was transferred to R&D where I worked on two interesting projects.
They were calculating the heat transfer for the lunar drill, the drill that was
used on the Moon and the research for an underwater ramjet, which I named “Marjet.”
Charlie and l were awarded a patent (3171379 Hydro-Pneumatic Ramjet). Martin was
awarded a Navy contract.
I left Martin Marietta in 1973 and went to work for Naval Air System
Command (NASC) in Washington, D. C. At nearly 90, I am happily pursuing my
hobby of coin collecting and keeping active by trying to help my bowling team
(Hawks) win.
