Edward N. Hall

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Edward N. Hall

Edward N. Hall (born August 4, 1914 in New York City , † January 15, 2006 ) was an American general , engineer and initiator of the US Minuteman missile program .

Life

Hall was born on August 4, 1914, the son of a fur trader. His family was poor because of the Great Depression , but he got through a competition to Townsend Harris High School . He studied chemical engineering at the City College of New York , but was unable to find a job after graduation and enrolled in the US Army Air Force . After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , he was sent to Britain as a lieutenant . He oversaw the repair and maintenance of B-17 and B-24 bombers . In 1943, he received the Legion of Merit Award for developing a rapid method of repairing serious aircraft fuselage damage.

He developed an interest in rocket technology in 1945 after visiting the V2 factory in Nordhausen . He was later transferred to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base , Ohio , where he was soon building bigger and better liquid-fueled missiles. By 1954 he already had a rocket with a thrust of 600 kN, more than twice as much as the 250 kN of the V-2. During his work he worked on the Bomarc , Navaho , Snark , Rascal and Atlas missiles . In 1957 he switched from liquid fuel to solid fuel. In 1958 he designed the concept of the three-stage Minuteman ICBM . After leaving the US Army in 1959 , he worked for 14 years as an engineer with the United Aircraft Corporation . He was married and had a daughter and two sons.

Awards

  • 1999 - Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Award
  • 1999 - U.S. Air Force Space Command Hall of Fame - Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Hall, Edward N.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American general, engineer and initiator of the US Minuteman missile program
DATE OF BIRTH 4th August 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH January 15, 2006