This article first appeared in the July-August 1972 Flight Test News.
John Stack, former Corporate Vice President – Engineering and Consultant for Fairchild Industries, was fatally injured Sunday, June 18 when he fell from the horse he was riding.
Mr. Stack joined Fairchild in 1962 as a vice president following his retirement as Director of Aeronautical Research for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
He pioneered many experimental aerospace techniques. Mr. Stack advocated and directed research which led to development of America’s high speed aircraft and exploration of transonic and supersonic flight. The
results of his work in aeronautical research won him nearly every accolade possible in the field of aviation, including the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy, Collier Trophy (twice), the Institute of Aerospace Sciences Sylvanus Albert Reid Award, the Air Force Association Science and Research Award and the Society of Engineers (Sweden) medal.
Mr. Stack was a member of the joint NASA-Department of Defense-Federal Aviation Agency task group on supersonic transport development; Aeronautical Technical Advisory Panel, Department of Defense Scientific Advisory Committee; Visiting Committee of the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology Mathematics Department; Director of the Citizens National Bank, Hampton, Virginia; a trustee of Hampton Roads (Virginia) Academy and a member of the Virginia Peninsula Industrial Capabilities of Government Test Committee.
Mr. Stack was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, in September 1906. In 1928 he graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and in that same year joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the forerunner of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Helen Sturtevant Stack; a daughter, Mrs. John Sim of Yorktown, Virginia; a son, John Peter Stack of Yorktown, and seven grandchildren.
Funeral services were held at 4:00 pm, Tuesday, June 20, at Grace Episcopal Church, Yorktown, Virginia, with burial in the churchyard cemetery.
This article first appeared in the July-August 1972 Flight Test News.
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