Charlie French, Aeronautical Engineer

Charlie French worked 36 years for Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin) and served on the following projects before retiring in 1985.  Listen to the audio interview with Charlie French

· XB-51 – An airplane far ahead of its time. Three engines; two in pods from fuselage and one in tail. “T” tail. Variable incident wing. Fast as the fastest fighter (F-86), its rotary bomb bay and door allowed it to make high speed bombing runs. But we were helping Europe recover, so the British Canberra was purchased – and Martin built it!

· Matador – First deployed missile of USA. Boost and jet.

· Mace – Spin off from Matador. Low altitude flight with map matching guidance.  This product was also easier to relocate and set up.

· Lacrosse – Designed by Cornell, built by Martin. Boost and glide.

· Pershing – Given credit for helping end the cold war.

· ASALM – (Advanced Strategic Air-Launched Missile) The major innovation in ASALM was the integrated rocket/ramjet propulsion system.  A solid-fueled rocket motor accelerated the missile to supersonic speed, when the now empty rocket casing served as the combustion chamber for the ramjet sustainer.

· SLAT – (Supersonic Low-Altitude Target)  A low-level, high-speed aerial target to simulate anti-ship missile threats.