2014 Frank S. Brown

Mr. Frank S Brown began his aerospace engineering career in 1973 with the Boeing Company, Seattle, Washington. He contributed to numerous commercial and military programs such as the 727, YC-14, NASA Quiet Short-Haul Research aircraft, and AGM-86B Air-Launched Cruise Missile.

In 1981, Mr. Brown began his civil service career at the 6520th Test Group, Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC), leading the aerodynamics test team at the F-15 Combined Test Force (CTF) on the F-15 Air-launched Anti-satellite (ASAT) Program, resulting in, on the first attempt, the first and only successful shoot-down of an orbiting satellite by an aircraft-launched missile. Simultaneous with his efforts on the ASAT program, Mr. Brown was the lead performance and flying qualities (P&FQ) engineer on the T -46 replacement trainer aircraft. His assessment of the poor aerodynamic performance of the T-46 was an important factor which ultimately led to the cancellation of that program, saving untold millions of dollars that might otherwise have been spent on an aircrew training system unsuitable for USAF use.

In 1985, Mr. Brown was assigned to be the lead P&FQ engineer on the F-15E Strike Eagle. Throughout F-15C/D and F-15E development, as well as through tests of foreign military sales versions of the F-15, Mr. Brown was the DoD's leading technical expert on the aerodynamic performance of all F-15 variants.

In 1995, he was assigned to a position as AFFTC performance technical expert, culminating in his current role as the senior performance technical expert for the AFFTC. He has supported all military systems tested at Edwards AFB during development test and evaluation, through technical and safety reviews of the test plans prior to test, as well as during the data analysis and reporting phases. The analysis tools he has developed and adapted have provided a means to analyze missions in specific pieces and critical phases to determine whether systems would meet key performance parameters and military requirements. The analysis results using these tools in their many forms has been used, and will continue to be used, to ensure the data in the flight manuals and tech orders that operational aircrews employ to predict aircraft performance is reflective of actual aircraft capabilities.

Mr. Brown's influence was, and will continue to be, greatly beneficial to the AFFTC engineering community as a whole. He mentored every performance engineer working at the AFFTC today, as well as any who worked at the AFFTC since 1991. In addition to face-to-face training, Mr. Brown provided long-lasting positive impact to the flight test community through the large number of AFFTC performance reports, papers and handbooks published under his expert guidance.