People S, Chapter 17

1. Contributors of Topical Articles,  S

21 writers have written 35 articles or tidbits, supplementing career summaries:

Vernon Sandusky, Jack Sater, Dave Saxerud, Ray Schleski, Lou Schlueter, Bob Scholz, Ron Schroeder, Joe Schwarz, Bill Sharf, Ed Sharpe, Dave Shelander, Marc Shoquist, Jon Simon, John Skonnord,  Ron Q. Smith, Jerry Smolian, Samuel S. Snyder, Arlyn Solberg, Craig Solomonson, Gary Stanull, and Mike Svendsen.

2. Career Summaries - S:

2.1 Duane Sandstrom, 1958-2000.

After graduating from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering in June 1958, I reported for work on July 1, employee number 09545, at Remington Rand Univac, Plant 3. New grads in 1957 were offered a job for nearly every interview. In 1958 job offers were not as plentiful, but I received six offers before deciding on Univac. My starting salary was $110 per week; veterans got $113 per week. I was issued a round brass badge that seemed to weigh about ½ pound. If the badge had a black rim, it meant you punched the clock. I was part of the new hire group that did not punch a clock. The work consisted of developing tests for vacuum tube circuit boards for the Univac File Computer. The other project that was new and hiring new grads was Nike Zeus, followed by Nike X. The File Computer was manufactured in an old warehouse called Plant 3 on University and Prior. The building had no air conditioning and in order to get some air, the large sliding doors on the side of the building were left open all day. With the open doors, the plant was full of flies, especially the cafeteria.

After about six months, I transferred to the test lab in Plant 2, and worked in a group of four, headed by Carl A. Johnson, doing test, evaluation, and availability of semiconductor devices. The work involved qualifying many semiconductor vendors, most of which no longer exist {Editor’s Note: in 2009}. About 1960 I moved to Plant 5 and joined George Raymond’s Reliability Engineering group. I worked on specification development, test, reliability analysis, and selection of qualified vendors for semiconductor devices used for Naval Tactical Data System (NTDS) and a classified National Security Agency (NSA) project called Lightening. While in Plants 2 and 5 some of the usual off-site lunch places were Montgomery Ward dining room, the Esquire, the Town House, and if feeling rich, the Lexington. With Knox Lumber next to Plant 5, it was a place to visit during lunch to pick up supplies for a home project.

In the fall of 1960, I attended a meeting in the Plant 2 cafeteria about a new project that was starting in the Norwalk, Connecticut facility. We were given limited information about the project. After attending an interview meeting in Norwalk, I was offered a temporary assignment to work the project. About one month later, we packed some personal belongings and my wife, six weeks old son and I drove to Norwalk to begin work. The project turned out to be the Univac 1004 card processor. The design of the 1004 operated out of “the Barn” on an estate owned by James Rand, known as Rockledge, about three miles from the Remington Rand Norwalk Facility. The estate had a large stone mansion where Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the CEO of Sperry Rand had an office. It was reported that Gen. MacArthur occasionally traveled to Norwalk to use the office. The other person from St. Paul selected to work in Norwalk was I.G. (Pete) Skaar.

I started work on the 1004 in November 1961, and George Cogar was the project engineer. I considered him one of the most remarkable persons I ever worked with. An interesting web site is http://www.rowayton.org/ Select Historical Society on the left side of the first page, then select Remington Rand’s early computer research for photos and text. This web site has information on the east coast version of early computer development. The http://www.wikipedia.org/ site also has information on George Cogar and the 1004. The 1004 design was completed on the summer of 1962 and manufacture was in Utica, NY. Around 8,000 of the 1004’s were built, and a fair number are still in operation today. The 1004 was a plug board programmed card reader and line printer. Punched cards with 80, 90 and 160 columns were part of the design process. I do not believe the 160-column card was ever used.

After completion of the 1004 design, I returned to St. Paul and continued working Reliability Engineering doing circuit and semiconductor component analysis and vendor selection. The large quantity logic transistors for evaluation and use were the 2N501 a PNP germanium transistor from Philco, or Sylvania or CBS and the 2N559 NPN silicon transistor from Western Electric. The 2N501 was used in the NTDS computer and related equipment and 2N559 in Nike Zeus and Nike X. Some other semiconductor vendors that were evaluated and became suppliers were: Texas Instruments, Clevite, Motorola, Bendix, Tung-Sol, Erie, Fairchild, Hughes, Pacific Semiconductor Inc. (PSI), Westinghouse, GE, Honeywell, International Rectifier, Rheem, and Sperry [Norwalk].

From 1963-65, I developed factory acceptance programs for the UNIVAC Type 1540/41 magnetic tape units and the 1532 I/O console. I was also involved in developing test software for the AN/UYK-20B system at the Point Mugu Naval Air Station. From 1965-67 I worked in the new FAA group that included the ARTS and SPAN contracts. From 1967-70, I worked various Air Force proposals and contracts defining special modifications for Cathode Ray Tube displays, printers and communication multiplexers. I became project engineer for the Air Force Global Weather Central (AFGWC), contract at Offutt AFB in Omaha, Nebraska. AFGWC consisted of four Univac 1108 computers and numerous peripherals that were used in weather forecasting. The Offutt facility interfaced to Tinker AFB in Oklahoma for processing of weather information.

In 1970 I left Univac to join a new company called Weismantal Assoc. Inc. that consisted mostly of former Univac employees. The work involved defining electrical and functional characteristics of the central processor and system peripherals. After eight months, Weismantal went out of business and I then went to Control Data, where I worked on a study and proposal using the CDC 7600 for missile tracking on a ballistic missile defense system called Safeguard.

In 1972 I returned to Univac, and worked in a group lead by Leo Kennedy. The work involved sonar processing used in the U. S. Navy, P-3C LAMPS Mark III acoustic analyzer. I was also involved in IR&D effort to define and design of the PROTEUS advanced acoustic processor. Another development during this time was the design and checkout of a unit that would calculate a fast Fourier transform and was to be used for sonar processing. I also worked with Sperry Gyro on the Towed Array Sonar system and then became responsible for portions of the LAMPS MAD signal processor proposal.

In 1977-78, I worked in the design, writing and checkout of firmware for the Data Bus Controller used on the TCCF project at Martin Marietta, in Orlando, Florida. This project involved a number of trips to Orlando for installation and checkout of the communications controller. From 1979-81, I worked the 6977 project for the Israeli Air Force. We worked with about eight resident Israeli engineers who were on subcontract from the electronics division (ELTA) of Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI). The system involved designing, specifying, test and installation of a tele-communications system for the Israeli Air Force. After three years, the project ended and all documentation was stored in file cabinets. The project then went to an international court. Following the 6977 project, I spent many months writing various proposal sections - including the proposal for the AN/UYK-43. After award of the AN/UYK-43 contract, I was involved in project activities from checkout of the first four pre-production units to customer technical support. After checkout, manufacture of the AN/UYK-43 was transferred to Clearwater, Florida. I also did system-engineering support for various shipboard applications of the AN/UYK-43. The first major user of the AN/UYK-43 was a contract with RCA for the AEGIS ships in Moorestown, NJ.

In the fall of 1988, I was asked to go to Montreal, Canada to support a new contract during the contract definition phase at Paramax called New Shipboard Aircraft (NSA) and New Search and Rescue Helicopter (NSH) for the Canadian Forces. Work included developing avionics equipment specifications and statement of work for the request for proposal. Both NSA and NSH involved the European Helicopter Industries (EHI), EH101 helicopter for use on the new Canadian Patrol Frigate. The EH101 was to replace the ageing Sikorsky Sea King helicopter. The EH101 was a joint venture designed and built by Agusta of Italy and Westland of the UK. The three engine Agusta Westland EH101 helicopters were to be shipped to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and IMP Group Ltd. a subcontractor to Paramax would install the electronics, then paint and functionally test the aircraft before delivery to the Canadian Department of National Defense. The program manager for the NSA/NSH program was Paul Flagg. Paul believed strongly in good communication, did a great job of keeping everyone informed of the status of the tense relations between Paramax and EHI, and made people feel they were part of the contract effort. Living in Montreal provided a good experience in learning to live in a French-Canadian culture.

After returning to Eagan, I worked the AN/UYK-43 project for one year. In 1989-1990 I returned to Montreal to work with Mel Javinsky on the next proposal phase of NSA. From 1988-91, I spent about 1.5 years in Montreal in development of various NSA and NSH proposals. The NSA contract was eventually awarded to Paramax, but was cancelled within weeks after a new Canadian Prime Minister was elected.

In the fall of 1994, Unisys was awarded the Anti-Surface Warfare Improvement Program (AIP) contract for the Navy P-3C Orion aircraft. The design for the aircraft modification was done in Eagan, with actual aircraft work completed at the Lockheed facility in Greenville, SC. I developed about half of the mechanical and electrical Interface Design Specifications for the nearly 100 new equipments that were installed on the modified P-3C. The interface specifications resulted in installation drawings that were developed by the Greenville engineering group. A major component of the upgrade was the Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR), from Texas Instruments, provided as Government Furnished Equipment by the Navy. AIP transitioned into Upgrade Improvement Program (UIP), which was a similar modification to the P-3C for the Royal Norwegian Air Force, (RNoAF). My work on AIP and UIP resulted in many trips to Greenville to work with the on-site aircraft modification engineers. Other P-3C modification proposals and contracts worked were the Capabilities Upgrade Program (CUP) proposal for The Netherlands and Block Modification Upgrade Program (BMUP) for the U. S. Navy.

In retrospect, in the 40 years between Remington Rand Univac and Lockheed I worked with a lot of good, capable people, too numerous to list. I am thankful I survived the 90’s and I was able to determine when I would end the life of living in a cubicle. I retired from Lockheed Martin on March 31, 2000.

My wife and I have a son and two daughters. As parents of a Delta Air Lines employee, we have the benefit of free travel that we frequently use to visit our four grandchildren.

2.2 Vernon Sandusky, 1967-1994

   Lowell, I just happened to stumble across your Legacy web site while doing a Google search on AN/UYK-20. Many of the names in the biographies are known either first or second hand to me. I don't know if I ever met you personally, but your name was certainly known to me.
   I started with RRU in June of 1967 after graduating from Iowa State University as an Electrical Engineer, was assigned to Field Engineering (Jerry Gross) and was told I would have a year of training before my first assignment. Well, the training part was right. I was crammed with the 1218, CRPI, 1232 and more in preparation for working on project Moonbeam, but the year shrunk to two months and Moonbeam disappeared. By August I was transferred to Ed Olsziewski's and Jerry Sargent's organization and on my way to Vandenberg where I worked for 7 years as part of the Titan Guidance Crew for Val Vitols. During that time I also got to work a bit on the HAP (High Altitude Program) and as a trouble shooter for SLBM (Sea Launched Ballistic Missile) Radar Tracking systems.
   Later, I took the opportunity to be a part of the startup of the Sperry Univac office in Sunnyvale where Bill Chapin was pursuing business wherever he could find it. I worked on a lot of proposals, but we failed to win any significant work and the office was closed down. However, one small bit of it called MATCALS (Marine Air Traffic Control And Landing System) survived and there was funding to pursue the initial development at a NAVELEX facility on Mare Island. I worked on this system for the next 15 years as Engineer In Charge and was proud to see it deployed in the first Gulf War. I believe that it is also seeing duty in the current war {Editor note: Afghanistan and Iraq}.
   Along the way I worked on the Athena, 1218, 1230, CP-642B, 1616, AN/UYK-20, AN/UYK-44 and AN/UYK-44 computers along with peripherals that went with each generation. I did a lot of programming over the years mostly in assembly language for diagnostics for those systems, but I never liked doing structured programming for a deliverable product. There was no fun in that, so I was mostly a hardware guy. Today when I tell people about guiding missiles into orbit with the Athena with a 1 kilobyte core memory and a 2-kilobyte rotating drum memory, they just look at me strangely. And then there were the 1218 and 1230 computers with an 8K memory chassis that took two people to remove.
Winning the first Gulf War was nice, but as soon as it was over, Congress cut Defense spending by at least 30% and you know the rest of that story. By about 1994 every Defense facility in the Bay Area [Mare Island, McClelland AFB, Moffat NAS, Oakland Army Base, Oakland Naval Supply Center and many others] were closed. There was no Defense business to be had.
   I was senior enough with 25+ years of experience that I could probably have transferred to the East Coast where some business remained, but at the age of 50, I decided that after winning many millions of dollars worth of contracts for the company during my career I figured I could do it for myself. So, I took the layoff, started my own business, and used the severance pay to support myself while it got underway. The business, Network Solutions, has been successful and this year has won the Small Business of the Year award from the Benicia Chamber of Commerce, the Above & Beyond Award from the Vacaville Chamber of Commerce and the Spirit of Solano award for businesses in Solano County.
The names I remember where those from the Field Engineering organization. I think that Curt Anderson is still around. I know that Jerry Gross passed away. Ernie Swallie is retired in Las Vegas. So many fine people worked for Univac. You could always count on them.
Thanks for your web page. I have marked it in my Favorites. Vern 

2.3 Norb Santoski, 30 years

   I'm known as The Polish Digit-meister. I'm an Electrical Engineer by schooling (UW - Madison), and also have an MBA (from the University of St. Thomas - St. Paul). I've worked in support groups during my career [both in Engineering and in Manufacturing], and have taught (part-time) many semesters at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul for courses in Operations Management, Statistics, and a course in Design of Experiments in their Master's program in Manufacturing Systems Engineering. I've also taught Statistics at Metro State University in St. Paul, and at Rasmussen College in Eagan.
   I spent 30 years with Univac/Sperry/Unisys, three years at United Defense in Fridley, and six months at Medtronic in Fridley, the latter two "gigs" as a contract Reliability Engineer. My strengths: Statistics, and Reliability Engineering. I hold a Certified Reliability Engineer (CRE) certification from the American Society for Quality (ASQ), and have taught CRE refresher courses sponsored by the ASQ. Oh, by the way, I'm a long-time Green Bay Packer fanatic, and own ONE share of stock in the Green Bay Packers Organization. Doesn't make me a bad guy!

2.4 Jack Sater, 1959-1992

   I joined Remington Rand Univac one week after graduation from South Dakota State with a BSEE in 1959. I had planned to wait a couple of weeks before starting work so I could recover from the rigors of study, but I was requested to start the following week because a large number of new people had been hired to work on NTDS and the company had set up a class on programming for all of us. At that time, there was no academic coursework leading to a Computer Science degree so the company hired engineers, mathematicians, and other science graduates and taught them how to program.
   We met for several weeks in a building on the corner of Ford Parkway and the East River Road in St. Paul, across from the Ford plant {Editor's note - the original Plant 6.} Our instructors included Dr. Brown, Mark Koschman, Clyde Allen, Walt Haberstroh, Dick VerSteeg, and Gene Gluesing. After completing the course, I was assigned to Systems Engineering to work on NTDS weapon systems. Since I had spent four plus years as a Navy Fire Control Technician prior to entering college, I was excited that I might put some of that knowledge to use at a higher paying job. However, this was a different world than the analog world that I had lived in, where communication with Combat Information Center (CIC) aboard ship was handled via sound-powered phone.
   I was assigned to work on the design and development of the Interconnecting Digital and Analog Converter (IDAC) subsystem, needed to provide the interface between NTDS and the DE Mark-9 weapon system. Along with others, I worked on the design and the test of IDAC during development and during the installation and test on board the Service Test ships. Later, I was assigned to San Diego for several months to work on the operational software for the weapon systems. I made numerous week-long voyages on board the King or Mahan while debugging software, then came back on the weekend to re-compile at Point Loma prior to going out again on Monday. I felt like I had re-enlisted in the Navy, except that now I had the equivalent rank of Lt. Commander while aboard ship and lived in Officer’s Quarters. Quite a change for a former Second Class Petty Officer!
   On one occasion, I needed to go back to Pt. Loma, CA to re-compile during the week, so my Navy partner, Lt. Commander Tex Sease got me on a Carrier On Delivery (COD) flight from the Oriskany. The only problem was that I was on board the King, so when a highline was hooked up between the King and the Oriskany to transfer supplies and personnel I was sent across on the boson's chair myself. There is nothing quite like riding across the water between two ships at sea while being tossed around. I had participated in conducting that activity often as a Tanker sailor, but had never taken the ride myself. Then when I got to the Oriskany I got to experience flying off an aircraft carrier [not catapulting off, thank goodness], with what seemed like a major dip downward as we left the deck of the carrier. Noel Stone and Arnie Hendrickson were also on that same flight. Later I was surprised to learn that we had no insurance coverage when we were on that flight or at sea!
   After spending four years working on NTDS, I was assigned to a spin-off group from NTDS to work on Air Traffic Control. The Federal Aviation Agency [now Administration] had been trying to develop a prototype of an automated air traffic control system in Atlanta, GA. Their computer and software vendor was not performing well and the FAA was looking at NTDS for help. Specifically, they needed a highly reliable computer and more sophisticated software that was a proven entity. Univac proposed the use of two 1218 mil-spec computers and the adaptation of some of the NTDS software, particularly the tracking as well as the command and control software. The FAA was put in contact with Univac by the Navy, who wanted to show Congress that their work on NTDS should continue to be funded because it also had application to civilian efforts. After submitting a brief proposal Univac was awarded the contract, and also took over the task of System Integrator from the FAA, integrating a radar/beacon digitizer from Burroughs and competing displays from Texas Instruments and Hazeltine into a prototype automated air traffic control system. My involvement with Air Traffic Control (ATC) automation began with the design and development of the prototype Automated Radar Traffic Control System (ARTS) in Atlanta, GA, the first automated air traffic control system in the world, and continued for the next 28 years until my retirement in 1992. From this humble beginning, a market was developed that continues unto today and has resulted in many millions of dollars of business for the company. Among the many firsts that were accomplished in the industry were:

• First automated real-time flight plan processing system (File Computer)
• First operational automated terminal system
• First real-time cutover in an operational environment
• First consolidation of major air traffic control facilities into a single facility
• First operational metro-plex facility
• First automated minimum safe altitude warning system
• First terminal automated conflict alert warning system
• First all-digital terminal system
• First to win the Air Traffic Control Association’s Industry Award twice for “Outstanding Achievement in the Design and Development of ATC Systems”, once for ARTS III and again for the New York TRACON ATC system.

Two highlights that occurred during my tenure in Air Traffic Control Systems involved life-saving situations:

1. In October 1972, the pilot of a Beech craft Baron suffered a heart attack while making an approach to Shreveport Regional Airport. The passenger, who had never flown before, managed to pull him off the yoke. The air traffic controller, using data provided by the airport’s ARTS III installation, talked the passenger and aircraft to a successful landing.
2. In 1981, New York TRACON’s ARTS IIIA system flashed a Minimum Safe Altitude Warning alert to an air traffic controller, who was then able to direct a commercial airliner from hitting the World Trade Center in Manhattan.

I also had a couple of interesting travel situations:

1. In 1966, I was among a group of about eight engineers and programmers who had just completed system acceptance of the New York Center Beacon Alpha Numeric (NYCBAN) system which had been relocated from the Indianapolis Center and site-adapted for the New York Center at Ronkonkoma, Long Island. At that same time, there was a sudden nation-wide strike of all airlines [I’m not sure of the cause] and we were stranded on Long Island. After a couple of days of phone calls and considering renting a couple of cars to drive back to Minnesota, we were informed to rent a couple of cars and drive to an airport in North Philadelphia where we would be picked up by a chartered aircraft owned by Kimberly-Clark Co. in Wisconsin. We drove to the designated airport and then waited several hours for the plane to show up. The pilot, who had no co-pilot, explained that he had been flying all around the country ferrying people since early that morning and so he was late in getting to us. We boarded the DC-3 late that evening and flew to Kenosha, WI where he took on fuel and we walked across a runway to get to a café that was just closing up. It was around 11 pm and we hadn’t eaten since morning, so we persuaded the café to open up again so we could get sandwiches. We took off shortly after that and arrived in Minneapolis after midnight, and while we waited to get a taxi we saw the plane take off again and head for Kenosha. I’m sure the pilot violated all the rules about flight time and having a co-pilot, but we felt fortunate to be back in Minnesota!
2. In 1969 I flew to London and then Manchester, England to present a paper on air traffic control to the British Computer Society’s DATA FAIR ‘69. It was held at Manchester University, and the paper was to be presented twice on successive days. In order to stir up interest in the presentations, a movie of the first landing on the moon was shown. It had been borrowed from the Air Force in strictest secrecy because it had not yet been shown to the American public. It had the desired effect in attracting a large audience, with the large lecture hall filled to capacity and with people sitting in the aisles. After the first day, the Univac person who had brought it from the U.S. had to return immediately and I was given the responsibility to get it back home secretly and safely. After showing it again the next day to an even larger overflowing crowd, I returned to London to await my flight home. When I got to the airport, Pan American refused to let me take my carry-on, stating that it was too large to fit under the seat. Since I had no luggage to check, and was not about to check that film, I argued that I had flown over on Pan American and was allowed to keep it under my seat. They had a very small, narrow box that they tried to place my bag in, and when it didn’t fit they said I had to check it. I finally was able to negotiate a deal where I bought a small bag from Pan Am, transferred some of my clothing into it, and then carried both bags onto the plane. I was very relieved when I got back to St. Paul and was able to deliver it to the original carrier of it so it could be returned to the Air Force.

Finally, I would like to state that I never worked with a finer group of people than I did while at Univac, and not only the people in ATC. There was a spirit of cooperation and motivation to “get the job done” regardless of the hours spent in doing it and whoever got credit for it. Other departments shared resources unselfishly when needed and the culture for success was embedded in everyone. It was a great experience!

2.5 Bob Scholz, 1959-1993

   NTDS R&D System -After graduating from Iowa State College with a BS in Electrical Engineering I reported for work at Remington Rand Univac (RRU) in June 1959. After attending a course on computer programming I was assigned to work in Building 6 of Plant 2 rewriting a test program for the NTDS R&D Magnetic Tape Unit. It was a challenge to check out the program. Due to a lack of extra logic cards for the R&D system people would "borrow" cards from the Magnetic Tape Unit to replace failed cards in another peripheral without returning them. Then when I would try to run my test program, which had worked previously, suddenly it couldn't get the Magnetic Tape Unit to operate. Shortly thereafter spare logic cards became available and this no longer was a problem.

   NTDS Service Test Systems -Due to my successful experience rewriting the test program for the R&D Magnetic Tape Unit I was assigned to write the test program for the RD-243 Magnetic Tape Unit designed for NTDS Service Test. This program became part of the package of POFA (Programmed Operational Functional Appraisal) Tests which tested the interfaces and functions of the equipment connected to the digital NTDS computers utilizing computer programs operating in the digital computer.
   One of the features added to some Service Test peripheral equipment was duplex logic. This logic allowed a peripheral to be electronically switched between two computers. The RD-243 Magnetic Tape Unit was one of the first equipments designed and built with this duplex interface. As my test program had to test the duplex logic I was also assigned to write the formal Functional Specification for Peripheral Equipment Duplex Operation.
   I was then assigned to assist Jack Sater in writing the POFA program for the IDAC (Interconnecting Digital to Analog Converter) equipment which was the interface between digital NTDS and the analog weapon system. The IDAC equipment allowed the NTDS computer to communicate with the analog Weapon Direction Equipment (WDE) and designate targets for engagement by the missile launchers and guns. The interface at the Weapon Direction Equipment consisted of relays and analog channels. The IDAC was solid state and could operate at much higher speed than the WDE. We took the partially debugged IDAC POFA to the Naval Electronics Laboratory (NEL) in San Diego where IDAC was connected to WDE to complete the debugging. We operated the WDE relays at such a high rate that the WDE engineers said we would rapidly wear them out if we didn't change something. It was a simple matter to insert delays in the POFA program to slow things down which demonstrated the advantage of programs in a general purpose digital computer to the WDE engineers.

   NTDS Follow On - I was assigned to write the functional specification for the KCMX (Keyset Central Multiplexer) interface between NTDS and analog and digital systems. The KCMX greatly expanded the capabilities of the previous generation KSC (Keyset Central) adding many analog to digital converter channels, discrete input and output signals, and output channels for connection to digital to analog converter boxes. The KCMX allowed the NTDS computers to interface with the systems of many different ship types. This assignment required working with electrical and mechanical engineers in the hardware design department of UNIVAC. This working relationship would prove valuable in future assignments.
   In 1965 I took a short term assignment in San Diego to supervise the equipment definition group for the ASWSC&CS (ASW Ships Command & Control System) an NTDS system for antisubmarine warfare ships. The system was to be implemented on Destroyer Escorts and ASW Aircraft Carriers. The KCMX was to be a critical piece of equipment in the system. It was necessary to add a few additional functions to the KCMX to allow it to interface with some unique ASW equipment. This was easily accomplished and allowed the KCMX to be used on even more ships.

   In 1969 I managed the group of system engineers responsible for developing the hardware and software specifications for the JPTDS (Junior Participating Tactical Data System) NTDS system for small ships. JPTDS was one of the first systems developed using the new generation of powerful shipboard computers, the AN/UYK-7, developed by Univac. The AN/UYK-7 used integrated circuits and was many times more capable than the original NTDS computers. It was now possible to perform all command and control functions for small ships in a single computer. Although JPTDS wasn't implemented on any ships many of its concepts were implemented in future shipboard systems. One piece of equipment developed as part of this project was the Data Exchange Auxiliary Console (DEAC) which combined the functions of paper tape and magnetic tape in one compact unit and was utilized in future shipboard systems. I took a two year assignment as manager of a Hardware Engineering group responsible for developing a new higher performance magnetic tape unit for NTDS and a plasma flat screen display unit for Trident submarines. This assignment was part of a program to cross train hardware and system engineers in each other's disciplines so we could work better on future projects. A hardware engineer from the same Hardware Engineering department I was assigned to was assigned to my previous systems engineering. My hardware engineering assignment ended in 1974 and I joined the International Systems group to work on the system design of the land based operation centers for the Iranian Navy. It was a nice change to get back into the design of an actual system.

   In 1976 I became Project Manager for the Iranian Navy DDG 993 Shipboard Combat System which involved managing approximately 90 people. Univac utilized the U.S. Navy DLGN 38 combat system design which included a four bay AN/UYK-7 multiprocessor and modified the software to delete U.S. Navy sensitive capabilities and incorporate Iranian Navy requirements. T he system was to be implemented on four guided missile destroyers the U.S. Navy sold to the Iranian Navy. A shipboard combat system and a computer program development center were implemented in Eagan for system development and training. A training program was developed for Iranian Navy personnel who came to Eagan. The four ships had not been delivered to Iran when the Iranian government was overthrown so the U.S. Navy ended up with the very capable ships.

   In 1978 I became Manager of the International Navy department of Navy Systems Engineering managing approximately 150 people. Projects included Iranian DDG 993, German F-122, Japanese DDH-2403, Canadian SHINPADS and others. The projects involved system design, operational program development, simulation program development, test program development, system certification and integration, and training of foreign nationals.
   I continued in various management positions through the 1980s with my final system support group consisting of approximately 25 people. The group supported many projects including AN/UYK-43, Aegis, NEXRAD, AN/UYK-44 in equipment specification, equipment recommendation, technical performance monitoring, test development, test monitoring, newsletter development, and user support.

2.6 Rollie Schwitters, 1974-2007

   My career history with Lockheed Martin in Eagan and the heritage company names of Unisys, Sperry and Univac has a trail through several other company names before arriving at Sperry-Univac in Eagan, MN in 1974. I graduated from South Dakota State University in June 1965 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering. My first job began with Control Data Corp. in Arden Hills, MN, in June 1965 as a data communications design engineer on the CDC 6600. Back then, there was still a lot of employment traffic from Univac going to CDC, but only one year later in August 1966, I was convinced by a former college roommate’s brother (who worked at UNIVAC) to join UNIVAC – Data Products Division in Roseville, MN.
   At UNIVAC in Roseville, I worked on the hardware design of communications line terminals and controllers for the Univac 1100 and 9000 series computers. This was also my first exposure to software development as I took company courses in FORTRAN, COBOL and 1100 assembler languages and as an automated design engineer, applied the knowledge to maintaining equation files of hardware design.

   Three years later, in September 1969, I left to work for a small company named Weismantel Associates, Inc. (WAI) doing hardware design on a new computer family and writing diagnostic software. WAI was started by Wally Weismantel – a former Univac Roseville employee. I worked for Denny Westlund who at one time was my boss at Univac Roseville. {Editor’s note: Another former Univac employee, Bob Jablonski, also worked for Weismantel for awhile.} In 1971, WAI filed for bankruptcy and I was forced to find new employment with Midwest Systems Corp. (MSC). MSC was a part of Memorex and MSC also ended up in bankruptcy. As an aside, I married my wife Jan in August 1968 who worked for CDC in Bloomington, MN. We had our first child in March 1971 and coincidently, Jan was included in a CDC layoff when WAI went into bankruptcy. So, we went from two incomes to none and we had a new baby to boot – a bit of an adjustment I must say. The MSC employment was very brief [a few months] and then I went to work as a diagnostic programmer for ATRON in Eagan which became a subsidiary of Mohawk Data Sciences (MDS) headquartered in Herkimer, NY.

   One of the founders of ATRON was Joe Stoutenburg. Joe returned to Sperry Univac in Eagan about a year before the MDS decision to close the ATRON subsidiary and consolidate it with operations in Herkimer. Joe had been President of ATRON and when he left, Denny Westlund took over. {Editor’s note: ATRON engineers also included former Univac employees Hy Osofsky, Dave Zemke, et al.} Joe was instrumental in my gaining employment at Sperry Univac in Eagan in December 1974. Denny Westlund also became an employee of Sperry Univac in Eagan at that time. So began my career in Eagan until my retirement in January 2007. As another aside, when ATRON closed, my wife was now pregnant with our second child. We couldn’t risk the closing of Sperry Univac too - so we never had any more children.

   My employment at Sperry Univac in Eagan in 1974 had an unusual beginning in that a layoff had occurred two weeks prior to my arrival [the employment offer was a month earlier] and there were many folks who questioned why I was there. Because of the layoff, the initial work assignment was unrelated to the work I had interviewed about. The work assignment was to complete development of firmware for a standardized AN/UYK-7 Non-Destructive Read-Out (NDRO) memory that had been started by an employee that had been terminated in the layoff. The NDRO job led to late night testing at the Military Equipment Test Center (METC) in the midway area of St. Paul, MN, and it seemed unchallenging compared to my last position at ATRON which was the manager of a diagnostic programming group. However, over time, I had many interesting and challenging technical and management assignments. My career highlights are described below in chronological order (oldest to most recent).
   DDG-TDS Program: During the mid to late 70’s, I was in Dick Kuhn’s Surface Combat Systems organization and developed application software for a U.S. Navy (USN) program called the DDG Tactical Data System (TDS). My responsibilities included the executive and our air control module and development included requirements analysis, design, code, test and integration. Code was written in CMS-2 and assembler languages. The DDG-TDS project had to be developed in accordance with the military SECNAVINST 3560.1 standard which had significant documentation requirements that included a PPS (Program Performance Specification), PDS (Program Design Specification) and Operator’s Manual as well as others. It was a time when automated tools were beginning to support some of the software development process to meet the documentation requirements. Some people may remember DODO diagrams and BISON isograms. This program also required support for formal verification testing of the product by the Software Quality Assurance (SQA) personnel. Verification testing was performed in San Diego at a USN test site on Point Loma that entailed several trips there. If your software worked well, this facilitated time to be a daytime tourist since most testing was performed during 2nd and 3rd shift.
   AN/UYK-44 Program: During the early 80’s, I worked for Myron Kranz in Keith Oliver’s organization as the lead programmer for the Built-in-Test (BIT) firmware and diagnostic software for the AN/UYK-44 computer development. The AN/UYK-44 was a USN program to replace the AN/UYK-20 and there was a similar program involving the AN/UYK-43 development to replace the AN/UYK-7. Both programs were competitive with Sperry Univac beating out IBM and it was during this time frame that the company name became Sperry. In the past, diagnostic software didn’t have the same development standards that application software had, but the AN/UYK-44 BIT and diagnostic software had the same standards applied with PPSs, PDSs, etc. that had to be developed and we did a pretty good job with that. The AN/UYK-44 computer had a new maintenance concept that used a maintenance processor {Editor’s note: see highlights of Lowell Benson’s career summary} to determine the health of the computer’s components to support meeting the very high detection and isolation requirements. There was a maintainability demonstration performed for the USN to prove the computer met the detection/isolation requirements. Unlike some other maintainability demonstrations, this one had high integrity about it and we passed. Following the AN/UYK-44 development, I had similar responsibilities on an Air Force Weasel Attack Signal Processor (WASP) and it too had very stringent development documentation standards.

   B-2 Stealth Bomber Program: During the mid 80’s, I became a software development manager on the Air Force B-2 Stealth Bomber program. Most of the software was BIT and diagnostic software. The program had rigorous security requirements in that it was a SAR (Special Access Required) black program. Sperry was subcontracted to Northrop to build the avionics computer for the B-2. We interfaced also with Boeing who developed the operating system. We were working with state-of-the-art technology as the B-2 was an implementation of the flying wing concept and it was evasive to radar detection. At the time, security requirements did not permit others in the building to know about the program and who the participating companies were. So, the program was called AP-10 and it was located in the basement of the Sperry Park building in Eagan. The program had a secure phone line connection that permitted us to have conversations with the prime contractor although we did not discuss classified items over the phone. Several trips were made to Los Angeles to see Northrop and when we traveled we always stayed at a hotel that was not within the vicinity of the Northrop facility. The only information you could provide to your spouse (or anyone else not on the program) was the hotel location. Years later when the program was declassified, I discovered that an individual who I knew very well from my church had worked the same program as a 3M employee. During the development, an incident occurred in which two protestors managed to get past the guards, broke into the lab area, damaged some of the hardware under development and poured blood over it. They were arrested and found guilty, but ultimately received very light punishments. There was high anxiety after the incident with concern if the protestors knew where the hardware was targeted to be used. They apparently didn’t know.

   CP-2044 Program: In 1989 and early 90’s, I was a software development manager on the CP-2044 program (also known as the USN P-3C Maritime Surveillance Aircraft AN/ASQ-212 Upgrade Program). By this time, our named had changed as Burroughs took over Sperry Corp. in 1986 and we became Unisys. The CP-2044 program was a replacement of the CP-901 computers on the USN’s P-3Cs with new mission systems. My responsibilities initially were for development of the BIT and control firmware as well as the diagnostic, acceptance test and environmental test software, but later included all of the operating system, application and simulation software as I replaced Wes Shellenbarger who became Director of Software Engineering in Reston, VA. An Engineering reorganization occurred at about that same time and then I reported to Denny Abbott who became the CP-2044 Project Engineer. The software development environment utilized state-of-the-art technologies including hardware design modeling tools, software requirements and design modeling tools, program design languages, new high order programming languages (Ada and ‘C’), simulation tools, documentation tools and management planning/status tools utilizing local area networks with workstations at everyone’s desk that interfaced to the development environment. The program pioneered a software architecture that used structured analysis and object oriented design. It was a time when software engineering transitioned to a documented process-oriented discipline. The program became the pioneer for implementing engineering process in Eagan to meet the process requirements of the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) developed by Carnegie Mellon University. The U.S. Government began to expect defense contractors to have repeatable mature software processes with proof required in process audits on new programs being bid.

   S-3B CPMU and Ada Programs: During the mid to late 90s, I was the Project Engineer for the S-3B CPMU and S-3B Ada Software development programs. I was a latecomer to the S-3B CPMU development (taking over for Tom Lunney who retired) and worked for Chuck Mills who was an Engineering Director who came from Montreal to Eagan in another Engineering reorganization. The CPMU replaced the mission system computer on the carrier-based S-3B aircraft. The hardware was developed by the Canadian Winnipeg operation; CMS-2 application software was translated in Eagan to re-target it to the CPMU and then integrated at NAWC in Warminster, PA. Management of the development was complicated by late night lab times at NAWC for the Eagan software engineers and test engineers and by the need for a detailed understanding on my part of each problem to know which software engineer to send from Eagan and which hardware engineer from Winnipeg that they needed to be persuaded to send to Warminster. However, by early 1995, the hardware was accepted by the USN and the S-3B Ada software development was initiated. The Tactical Mission Program was completely re-written in the Ada language. The S-3B Ada Program development environment went even beyond CP-2044 in utilizing a sophisticated software development environment. The development was performed in its own secure location in the building which helped to make it a productivity leader. This was a program that was also a leader in following engineering processes and was used multiple times in SEI process audits – each one completed successfully. It was also used in the successful ISO 9001 certification exercise for Eagan.

   RNLN CUP Program: My participation in the Royal Netherlands Navy Capabilities Upkeep Program (RNLN CUP) began with proposal work in late 1999 until completion of the last upgraded aircraft in June 2006. By the time this program started, we had gone through two name changes, having been acquired by Loral and subsequently by Lockheed Martin. During this time, I reported to Chuck Mills and then later to Dave Bohne – also an Engineering Director. As the Project Engineer for this program, it ultimately became the last major program of my career. T he development entailed upgrading the RNLN’s P-3C aircraft mission system with a blend of the designs from the predecessor USN AIP and BMUP programs along with some CUP unique features. T he development had a significant amount of mechanical engineering with Eagan mechanical engineers providing the leadership and installation design guidance to LMAC (Lockheed Martin Aircraft Center) in Greenville, SC who developed and documented the design. LMAC was also the installer of the upgrade. The Tactical Mission Software was based upon a BMUP baseline. The program went on to become one of Eagan’s most successful programs. The last (10th) aircraft was completed within one month of the original schedule and the program contributed significantly to the Eagan profit picture. However, the program had a strange ending in that the Dutch had a military spending budget problem and sold their P-3s to Germany and Portugal.

   There were several other programs and proposals that I worked on during my career, but the programs described above represent what I think were the highpoints of my career. The most demanding period of my career was during the S-3B CPMU and Ada Programs when more than 40 people reported directly to me in a functional organization as well as a project organization.

2.7 Tom Sinkula, 1969-1976

Most of the Career Summaries on this site actually talk about people’s careers while at Univac/Sperry/ Paramax/Lockheed (It’s still UNIVAC to me). While my career there was enjoyable and “challenging”, my lasting memories at UNIVAC are of the friends I made and all enjoyable times I had with those friends.

   My initial job interview is a good example. While in my final months at the University of Wisconsin in Madison (May 1969), I arranged for an interview with the Systems Software department at Univac. I arrived in St. Paul the day before my interview and arranged to meet a friend of mine who lived in the Twin Cities. We went out for a “few drinks”, where a “few drinks” turned into “many drinks”. The next morning came very early and, wouldn’t you know it, I was very groggy and late for my interview. I met with Dick Olson (Ole) of Systems Software, who invited me out for lunch and drinks. The thought of more drinking nearly made me sick, so I said to Ole, “I had too much to drink last night – in fact, I still have a bit of a buzz, so I think I’ll pass!!”. His response was, “I was wondering why you’re so lethargic and unresponsive. By the way, I think I’ll make you a job offer!!”. My thoughts on that? “What a great company!!
   I took the job working for Ole and was placed on the DXGN project--we were chartered to write the Realtime Executive program for the AN/UYK-7 computer. My colleagues on this project were Steve Becchetti (Dante), Joanie Wolf, Karen Tomborelli, Charlie Whiton (Chaaales), Cliff Cunningham, and last but not least, Dennis Christ. I spent most of my working days with Dennis who, like me, was a just another grunt except he had red hair. We scheduled computer time at the Military Equipment Test Center (METC) in St. Paul and spent our working days (and nights) there. More typically, we worked the second shift and would head over to Mr. Joe’s after work.
   The METC was an interesting place with a lot of interesting personalities. People like “Liquid Lenny” and Max the engineering techs. One time during a customer demo, Liquid Lenny leaned against the 1240 tape drive, pushing the lights with his shoulder causing the unit to malfunction in the middle of our demo. Lois Lane, the secretary at METC awoke me at home one morning because I had left flowers on her desk. Was she happy? No, she said the flowers were lilies which meant she was dead!
   After another late night at METC, I was awakened the following morning by Will Branning. He was wondering why I wasn’t there for my scheduled computer time. My response to him? “It’s my computer time and I’ll do what I want with it.” Good thing he had a sense of humor.
   Nothing could compare to the camaraderie instilled by Clyde Allen, our group manager in Systems Software. From the E. Tip Young semi-annual golf tournament, to our softball team, to our Christmas parties. Our department consisted of people named Dante, Chaaaales, NoNeck, Mad Dog, Lionel, Jimmy Biwabik, and the Butcher (Daryl Nelson). We published our own “UNIVAC News Release”, which kept everyone up to date on current events. We had a great group who actually got a lot of work done while having a good time. We threw a basketball team together consisting of John Watkins, George Johnson, Ed Garry, Tim Templeton, J.L. Miller, Jim Sherek, Rick Price, and others I can’t remember right now. Guess what—we took first place in the Univac B League and went on to win the Univac championship by beating all the A League teams. I’ll never forget the time Ole and I went to Washington D.C. He took me the Golden Pheasant Bar/Restaurant, where I engaged in conversation with a lovely woman (I was single at the time). As the evening wore on, I noticed she had a pistol in her purse!! When I questioned her on it, she told me she was a policewoman, and by the way, I could come up to her apartment. I passed on the invitation. Ole and I have never forgotten her or the Golden Pheasant.

   I only worked in Systems Software at Univac for seven years (1969 to 1976), but those years are as vivid in my mind as if they were yesterday. In case you’re wondering, I’m still in the IT business and still working. I’m an Oracle DBA working for Scott County in Shakopee, Minnesota. 

2.8 Tom Soller, 1959-2001

   I joined UNIVAC in June 1959 after graduating from Iowa State with a BSEE degree. At that time, UNIVAC was hiring a substantial number of new grads – among other reasons, to staff up for the Naval Tactical Data System (NTDS). NTDS was envisioned as a project to digitize the shipboard Combat Information Center. In some ways, it could be thought of as a shipboard (mobile and ruggedized) version of the SAGE system which had just completed its initial deployment as the North American air defense system.
   That group of new hires included many who turned out to be lifelong friends, including Jack Sater, Bob Scholz, Curt Hanson, Mel DeBlauw, Walt Schmidt, and Bill Geiger. The new hires assigned to NTDS systems engineering attended training in a building on Mississippi River Boulevard which was right across Ford Parkway from the Ford Motor Plant.
Those were great years, both for the employees and the company. Digital computers were a new and coming technology. The Twin Cities were a hotbed for formation of new companies in the area of digital technology. The company was growing and in the process of forming and reforming every day. There were many interesting things happening. In the interest of managing the size of this document, I will only mention a few:

• One of the lead instructors for our new employee training class had given his two-week notice on his way to CDC.
• At one point, Dr. George Chapin, Director of System Engineering for NTDS, gathered the new hires in the Plant 1 auditorium to give us his views on the responsibilities of a systems engineer – in those days a relatively new role. As George went through an impressive list of skills and knowledge possessed by systems engineers, I felt pretty good about being hired for this august role. This enhanced self-image quickly returned to earth, however, when George noted that none of us were qualified, but we were all that the company had to staff the department.
• The excitement (and fear) among the NTDS staff when Hy Osofsky and his small team undertook a redesign of the initial NTDS shipboard computer (the AN/USQ-17) which was left to us by Seymour Cray on his way out the door to CDC. I believe that in today’s business environment, such a bold initiative would never be permitted. What a shame, since the new design became the AN/USQ-20, one of the most successful computers in the history of the defense industry.

   My early assignments upon joining NTDS involved writing test programs (Programmed Operational and Functional Appraisals or POFAs) for selected peripheral subsystems, including a ship-to-aircraft data link and the universal keyset. The data link effort was particularly interesting. The data link had been designed by Bell Labs under contract with the Bureau of Weapons. Needless to say the Bell Labs design team did not lack confidence in their design. However, early test runs with my POFA indicated that there were problems in their subsystem. This led to a spirited exchange of correspondence between me, a new grad right out of school, and the Vice President in charge of the Bell Labs project. This eventually led to a big meeting in St. Paul with me and my manager on one side of the table and a substantial delegation from Bell Labs on the other. Bureau of Weapons and Bureau of Ships (the NTDS contracting organization for the Navy) were also well represented. Fortunately for me, joint work in the NTDS test bed proved that the POFA was correct in its diagnosis of problems in the subsystem. There is nothing like the courage (or stupidity) of a new grad!

   After a few years on NTDS, I was assigned to the pursuit of some new business opportunities that spun out of NTDS. One of particular note was the Coordinated Ships Electronic Design Program (CSEDP). This was a paper study to define a “next generation” all-digital ship. UNIVAC was a subcontractor to Sperry Gyro with Hazeltine as the prime for the overall project. Harlen Thomesen and I led the UNIVAC part of the effort. This was an interesting opportunity to work with our corporate siblings in Great Neck. I met some really great and talented people, but suffice it to say the business culture was sure different – including engineer unions and bullhorns to define lunch hour!!

   In the late 1960’s, UNIVAC won a small contract to automate the terminal air traffic control system in Atlanta, Tahoma. This project, called Automated Radar Terminal System (ARTS), was envisioned to build on our real-time systems and radar tracking expertise from NTDS. UNIVAC had implemented an earlier project for the FAA involving the printing of flight strips at the enroute centers using the File Computer, but ARTS was seen as a new market. I was assigned to the systems and software team along with several others, including Dick Paulsen, Jack Sater, Andy Westerhaus, Denny Kisby, and John Kelly. Jack Mann was the supervising engineer, Ernie Mutschler, the program manager, and Hank Donaldson, the marketer. Within the FAA, ARTS was sponsored by a small “maverick” group while FAA, overall, was strongly committed to a massive next-generation system called NAS (the National Airspace System) for which IBM had the implementation contract.

   The ARTS project was the most gratifying activity of my entire career. The total project team, including UNIVAC, subcontractors and FAA personnel from Washington, DC, and Atlanta, were sharply focused on delivering a working system. Few, outside of the team, took the project seriously. In a short while, we delivered a working system which was eventually replicated at all major U.S. terminals. I believe that ARTS played a major role in the safe operation of the air traffic control system for decades and led to a great deal of business for UNIVAC and its successors.
   I also participated in some directly related projects including a demonstration of similar technology in the Indianapolis, Indiana, Enroute system. The tragic collision of two passenger planes over Long Island, New York, led to UNIVAC's winning an unsolicited proposal to apply ARTS technology to the so-called New York metroplex [the terminals at LaGuardia, JFK and Newark.] Again, through constant evolution, UNIVAC systems played a major role in the safety of air traffic in the New York metropolitan area. All in all, I believe that the terminal ATC program was one of the most successful in the history of the company, both technically and financially.

   In the late 1960’s, after a brief period on the Defense Systems technical staff, working with Ken Fechter, Sid Rubens, and Russ Headly, I joined the newly-formed computer graphics group. The group was headed by Ken Fechter; the early staff included Lee Granberg, Dr. Dave Hansen, Chuck Kiesling, Gordy LaValley, Gerry Bestler, Roger Moerke, and Joe Kimlinger. We were chartered to consolidate all display-related development activity across both commercial and defense. The intent was to provide focus for what was perceived to be an important new growth activity for the company. Initial projects included a high speed graphic display development for NASA and the production phase of the Uniscope 300 which had been developed for airline reservation agents at such UNIVAC customers as United Airlines and Northwest.

   Within a short period of its founding, the group’s charter was expanded to include the new and growing area of digital communication products, and the decision was made to relocate the Communication and Terminals Division (C&T) to Salt Lake City Utah. The Salt Lake City location has historically been part of the Sperry defense systems operation, but C&T was attached to UNIVAC commercial. At the time of the move, I led a small team of systems engineers [including Harry Wise, Norm Priebe, Gil Braun, and Bob Schaus] who were engaged in defining the communication protocol for the new Uniscope 100 product which was then on the drawing boards.
   I moved to Salt Lake in 1971 and was involved in a broad range of systems and software development activities. Key product projects included the Uniscope 100 [one of UNIVAC's few high production volume products, and DCP/Telcon (a communication subsystem based on a processor design {Editor's Note: the An/UYK-20} from defense operations] which was the basis of a highly successful long-term communication/networking product family for UNIVAC commercial. I played a role in the planning and development of UNIVAC’s first formal digital communication architecture called the Distributed Communication Architecture (DCA). By 1976, I was back in the Twin Cities, first working in commercial operations and then rejoining Defense Systems.
   During that time, I worked on some proposals [along with Jim Olijinek, Bob Bro, Gary Anderson, Harlen Thomesen, John Fritz, Terry Armstrong, and David Kirkwood] attempting to combine our commercial communication technology with the technology from the new Semiconductor Division in major applications for the military. I was also part of the system design team on a large communication system for a foreign military organization. As a result of that assignment, I [along with Bob Jablonski, Bruce Klugherz, Dick Marchek, and many others] learned more than we ever wanted to know about dealing with a contractual relationship that had gone bad.
   In 1984, I joined the 1100 Series systems engineering group in Roseville. One of my assignments [along with Jim Palmer, Fran Haider, Dave Anderson, Frank Castaldi, and others] was to consummate a relationship with Hitachi of Japan. I learned a great deal about the challenges of breaking down natural barriers between two engineering organizations separated by geography and culture. The object of the joint effort was development of a complex large scale mainframe product. Over time, I developed a great deal of respect for the skill and dedication of Japanese engineers. Against all odds, the resulting product was a major success and people from both companies worked together as a highly integrated and effective team.
   As many will remember, the mid-1980’s brought the merger of Burroughs and Sperry that created Unisys. I had a unique opportunity to participate in the merging of the two technical organizations. While much trauma and difficulty resulted from the merger process, I would note that both engineering organizations included skillful and dedicated people whom I am proud to count among my best friends.
   During the 1990’s, the computer business changed more than it ever had before. Much of the product content was commoditized. In search of new revenue streams, companies turned toward services. While there was clear growth in demand for services, the challenge was to participate in the growth while achieving acceptable profit margins. On the product side, the emphasis turned from hardware to software. However, marketplace demand for standardization moved the industry away from proprietary software approaches. All the while, companies like Unisys were obligated to serve their customer bases, largely using proprietary products, with new technologies and services. I spent the latter part of my career working on open software architectures and technologies and on ways to leverage software deliverables through value-added services.
   I retired in 2001 after 42 years of service. Rather than one career with one company, it seemed to me that I had at least 6-8 different careers with at least that many companies. As a result there were always new challenges, the time went quickly and co-workers were generally great to work with. I couldn’t have asked for a better working career!

2.9 John Spearing, 1964-1985

   Summarizing my 21 years with Univac, Sperry Univac, Sperry Corporation, et al., is a difficult task and I'm not sure where to begin and where to end. Suffice to say, I feel very fortunate to have been with the Company during such a dynamic period of time, one that would provide growth and prosperity for many years to follow.
   Who would have guessed that winning a role in a Navy R & D project in 1963 would result in the Company becoming a major player in airborne ASW projects like the P-3C, S-3A, TSC, Japanese P-3, and Canadian Long Range Patrol Aircraft (LRPA). In my view, two major factors made that happen. First, the Company built high quality hardware tailored for those projects and, second, we had an incredibly talented pool of software developers with a work ethic that was tops in the industry.
   I joined the Company in 1964, spent a year working on A-NEW in St. Paul and then transferred to the Johnsville, PA, site when our Navy customer asked for the systems/software work to be done at Naval Air Development Center (NADC). Working side-by-side with customer personnel in their facility had its challenges, but did provide Univac employees with an immersion into systems development and integration for ASW applications that would provide competitive advantage for the Company on future projects. Following A-NEW Mod 3, P-3C production efforts shifted to Lockheed in California and our work at Johnsville focused on A-NEW Mods 4/5 along with other new contracts that we had won at NADC.
   Involvement in carrier-based Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) prototypes again provided the catalyst for our successful teaming with Lockheed on the S-3A. After spending six years at Johnsville and one more year in St. Paul, I transferred to Valencia California where S-3A software development had just begun. Being the Site Manager at Valencia from 1971 to 1973 was a great experience. Of all the exiting moments, two come immediately to mind.
   Late one night I received a call from a Lockheed representative indicating the one of our employees had "breached security" and entered the Systems Integration Laboratory (SIL) at Lockheed's Rye Canyon Facility. Come to find out one of our programmers had arrived at the entry gate a couple minutes late and had missed the Lockheed guard who had left for scheduled rounds. Not wanting to lose 20 minutes of his computer time at the SIL, he climbed the chain-link fence and went to work. The incident caused quite a stir with opinions ranging from "he should be fired" to "he should be given a medal for devotion to duty." The programmer was allowed to return to work after a stern lecture on following the rules.
   Another vivid memory of our S-3A experience at Valencia was the dreaded monthly management reviews. Once a month top management from both sides (Dick Heppe, Fred Jacques, Frank Wyche, Dom Amara, etc. from Lockheed, and Ernie Hams, Dan Brophy, etc. from Sperry Univac) would meet in Burbank to status the software development. Some called the meetings a reenactment of the gunfight at OK Corral while others felt they resembled the Spanish Inquisition. As the presenter of the software status report, I was always careful to wear my Kevlar lined suit coat and felt very relieved when the meetings were over. In retrospect, having intense management scrutiny on a regular basis was more helpful than not and a reason why we stayed focused and made it to BIS Trials on schedule.
   After returning to St. Paul from Valencia in 1973, I spent two years in Avionics Program Management and then transferred to the newly formed International Division to head the marketing function. The Company was in the enviable position of having allies of the U.S. wanting to achieve interoperability with the U.S. military through equipment standardization. As the incumbent supplier of Naval Tactical Data Systems (NTDS) computing equipment, Sperry Univac had a unique entree to reach dozens of customers around the globe, initially for their navy systems needs and then for other computer products and services. This was a wonderful business opportunity for the Company along with an exciting and educational opportunity for International personnel. Most memories are very positive, but in a few instances are better forgotten. An attempted bribe in Iran by, of all people, a customs officer was a bit unnerving as I contemplated spending time in an Iranian jail for either accepting his proposition or for refusing it; or the time we arrived late in Kuwait City and, along with another Sperry traveler, found "no room in the inn" and had to spend the night in a transient foreign workers barracks filled on that occasion with Iraqi TCNs. We took turns sleeping that night. Incidents like those made round-the-clock, tag team negotiations with the Japanese on P-3 (intended to wear us down) seem almost routine. Efforts to expand international business paid off, however, and Sperry Univac achieved a major new source of sales and profitability.
   After six years in International, I had the opportunity to lead the domestic marketing effort as we prepared to compete for the UYK-43 and UYK-44. Winning both of those two mega-projects was an incredible accomplishment for the Company. Years later, I had the opportunity to talk with members of IBM's management team that competed against us. They were stunned by losing both contracts as they were convinced there was some customer predisposition to have more than one standard computer incumbent.
   As an inexperienced new grad from the U of M in 1964, I could never have imagined the opportunities that Sperry Univac would offer to me from 1964 to 1985. Experiences and management skills gained at Sperry prepared me for the challenges of the second half of my career which began in the spring of 1985. 

2.10 Woody Spitzmueller, 1966 to 2004

- My Career at Heritage LM Companies
   My career began with a job offer at Plant 2, St Paul, then an immediate 1,200 mile drive from St Paul, Minnesota to Johnsville, Pennsylvania, along with 13 other new hires in June 1966. We were offered positions as programmers working on various P-3C related efforts at the Naval Air Development Center. On our arrival at the field site, we started six months of training in programming assembly language for the 1206/1212 computers. Verlin Stewart was the long-suffering instructor who managed to mold most of us into flying programmers. After completing training I was assigned to work for Gene McCarthy, primarily developing simulation software. Eldon Stevens was the site manager at that time. He was succeeded by John Spearing.

   P-3C Programs: In the '60s, testing of software intended for the P-3C on-board mission computer meant working on the aircraft. After spending time in the laboratory working on Mod 2/3 simulation software, I logged some 150 flight hours on various P-3C development efforts, including (primarily) Mod 7, which was a proof of concept effort for the Update II Program. We developed a drum-based, dynamic computer memory allocation scheme, permitting the airborne software suite to grow in total size beyond the limits of the 64K-sized memory of the CP-901 computer. Dave Stephenson did most of the original design work. In 1972, several of us, working under Tom Allen, spent a couple months in Eagan at Plant 8, writing the P-3C Update II competitive proposal. Unfortunately, the company lost the competition to CDC.

   Trident Program: In 1973, I opted to take an on-site job at General Dynamics Electric Boat Division (EB), in Groton, Connecticut, assisting in the development of the Trident Submarine simulation program, being prepared by EB, for the purpose of testing the Trident submarine Ship Control Application Program which was being developed in St Paul. I replaced Frank Efta who was heading back to Minnesota for personal reasons. Jim Cady and I, joined by Tom Harsh, were the Sperry team at EB for the next three years. This was an opportunity for me to get to know many of the Navy System programming staff in St Paul, headed by Bernie Gaub, as they were regular visitors to the EB site, coordinating our efforts on this major program.

   Japanese P-3C PGC/SDF Program: In 1976 I was offered a marketing support job back in Eagan, joining John Spearing and Tom Allen in the recently organized International Marketing area. John Goettl was spread too thin working a potential P-3C opportunity with Lockheed (Burbank) in Japan, so I was assigned to assist. Eagan politics severed my support role in marketing, but dealt me good fortune in Denny Stanga’s International Engineering group under Joe Stoutenburg. Denny gave me a lot of latitude in the pursuit of the Japanese software generation and development center (PGC/SDF) planned for the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) base in Atsugi, Japan. After Lockheed was forced to retreat from pursuit of the aircraft sale because of the scandal involving Prime Minister Tanaka, we opted to go it alone. We hired the uniquely qualified former Naval Attaché to the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D.C., Captain Yasuhiro Tamagawa, aka Tommy Tamagawa. I had the great fortune to be the lone gaijin on a number of trips to Tokyo with Tommy and also developed a great relationship with Lt Cdr Takefume Saito, aka Take Saito, who was hired to manage our tiny Tokyo office. Keiko Tamagawa, Tommy’s daughter, was hired as Saito’s assistant. After Lockheed’s disgrace, we approached the JMSDF directly and eventually were awarded a sole source development contract for the P-3C Program Generation Center/Software Development Facility (PGC/SDF). This was the first direct commercial contract to a U.S. firm awarded by the JMSDF. There was an accompanying FMS award to NAVAIR and Warminster NADC for the mission and supporting software, airborne equipment, training and technical support. I left the engineering group to accept a position with Bob Alexander’s International Program Management group and was given responsibility for the JMSDF PGC/SDF Program. I remained in Program Management until my retirement.
   The development task was extensive; including development of all the facility support software, integration with commercial and military hardware, and test with all the USN supplied hardware/software. We were also responsible for training in the U.S. of some 30 JMSDF personnel who were accompanied by their families. I was the mother hen, assisting Commander Watanabe with winter clothing, housing, transportation, schooling social events, etc. If you worked in Corporate Square, Building C, while the JMSDF crew was on site you probably learned NEVER to count on using the copier after hours. In Japan, we were responsible for the complete installation and formal test. This included all power systems, earthquake proofing, GFE, commercial equipment and testing.

   I will never forget the day when, with the assistance of our trading company Sumitomo, we packed up the lab in Bldg C in the afternoon, trucked it to Northwest’s air cargo facility at the airport, loaded it on a 747 freighter (using half of the aircraft capacity) and took off that evening for Tokyo. Marv Williams and I rode in the cockpit of the freighter, assisting with cooking for the crew of three and riding the jump seat for landings at Seattle and Tokyo. By the afternoon on the day of our arrival in Japan, the equipment was all spotted in the brand new test laboratory at the JMSDF Atsugi base. Art Francis was the Project Engineer and Don Stang, Tom Beaudreau, Ed Keenan, Denny Moe, and Ken Nelson were a few of the very dedicated team of development and installation engineers who supported the program. Many project staff got an opportunity to travel to Japan, and I recall that Duane Bendt and Capt Bob McCabe, USN Ret, went along for early meetings.

   S-3B AN/AYK-23 CPMU and Ada Software: Over the next several years I worked spares and other smaller programs. I eventually landed in Jim Olijinek’s organization working with Gene McCarthy again, also Dan Whitsett and Bryce Richards in the pursuit of an S-3B update program for replacement of the Co-Processor Memory Unit (CPMU). We assembled a very creative technical approach, including an alternative approach to fold the CPMU function into an updated AYK-10 S-3 mission computer, and obtained management's blessing for a cost-sharing proposal. We were successful in winning the contract and the AYK-23 CPMU Program was born; my role transitioned to the Program Manager. However, the award from NAVAIR came with a twist. The Canadian government, which used the AYK-10 on their fleet of CP-140 Maritime Patrol Aircraft and was partnering with NAVAIR in the effort, added funding to the contract, with the condition that the new equipment must be built in Canada. Fortunately, the company was well positioned to support this requirement. However, Glen Johnson had no PM on staff at Winnipeg with the necessary NAVAIR relationship, so I assumed a position working for Glen in Winnipeg managing the hardware development. I retained my day job working for Jim Olijinek in Eagan managing the classified CPMU software development program. Although we had some very exciting NAVAIR meetings early on, overcoming funding shortfalls, the program proved to be quite successful and spawned the AN/AYK-23 production in Winnipeg, which was moved to Montreal when the Winnipeg facility closed, and the S-3B Ada Software Development Program in Eagan. Tom Lunney and Rollie Schwitters were the software Project Engineers in Eagan. Fern Berard and Gary Payne were the Project Engineer and Deputy PM respectively in Winnipeg. Fred Gunn assumed the role of Program Manager when the project was moved to Montreal, and Chuck Stockman assumed the PM role for the Ada software effort in Eagan.

   F-16 Block 60: With the S-3 programs running smoothly I was nominated by Al Zettlemoyer as Program Manager of the third, and final, development effort of my career. In 1999 I was designated as the PM liaison to Lockheed Martin, Fort Worth, for the F-16 Block 60 mission processor development program. The Eagan-designed mission processor would incorporate the functions of both the Block 50 mission processor (Raytheon) and HUD video processor (Elbit). The Block 60 prime contract included F-16 fighters sold to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by LM Fort Worth with the value of $600M. The challenging part of our contract was that, in addition to a state of the art computer, we were responsible for replacing the existing hardwired avionic data bus with a 2 Giga-bit fiber optic bus. We were also responsible for providing all other LM Fort Worth Block 60 Program subcontractors, building the sophisticated new sensors on the aircraft data bus, with the electrical/optical converter we termed the Fiber Daughter Board. Denny Abbott was initially assigned the role of Project Engineer. That role eventually involved Gish Devlamick, John Corson, and Chuck Mills. The project relied heavily on the engineering optical team headed by Brian Leininger, and including Chuck Kryzak, Don Dargontina, Dean VandeWalker, and Jim Howe. John ______________ was hired to assume the FDB engineering lead. Mark Bush was the manufacturing lead and Bill Derendal headed up the test group. About a year into the development, Bob Shutt took over the program and I assumed the Deputy PM role which I retained until my retirement. Mert Horne, Jeff Parker, and even Rick Martin each had their turn as PM. The program proved to be technically challenging and a costly effort to penetrate the tactical avionics arena, but did permit us to forge a relationship with LM Fort Worth that provided follow on business opportunities such as the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program.
   I will never regret the decision to sign on with Remington Rand Univac in 1966 and pursue a career in field of military computer systems. My successes are in large part due to the talented engineering and support staff who worked tirelessly on the various programs which I was responsible for managing.

2.11 Jim Stephenson, 1981-2006; Systems Engineer and Staff Engineer at LM-MS2 Eagan

   Jim joined the US Navy in 1975, after graduating from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN. He was commissioned as an Ensign on the US Navy via OCS, Newport, RI in December 1975, and then attended the six month Submarine School in Groton, CT. His orders sent him to Squadron-16, Pearl Harbor, HI where he attended Submarine Weapons Officer Training at the Naval Submarine Training Center Pacific Fleet (NSTCP). Jim served as the Assistant Weapons Officer onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln (SSBN-602 Gold), then qualified as Weapons Officer, and was transferred to Lockheed Missiles and Space Company where he served as the United Kingdom Program Officer on the A3TK Polaris Missile Program as the US Navy Plant Rep., at NAVPRO, Sunnyvale, CA. After 5 years in the US Navy, Jim chose to enter civilian life.

   He spent 1-year as a Prototype Supervisor in a magnetic head company in Sunnyvale, CA, prior to joining Lockheed Missiles and Space Company on September 9, 1981. Jim continued to participate in the Navy Reserve, and served in three different reserve units prior to separating from the Navy as a Lieutenant Commander. Jim found his most challenging work in Naval Intelligence serving in a submarine billet attached to CINCUSNAVEUR, London.
   Jim has continued his work at LM since 1981. His 25 years at Lockheed Martin has taken Jim to four different LM facilities throughout the country, and has exposed him to many different systems engineering technologies and challenges prior to coming to Eagan, MN. These areas included Trident Missile Systems Engineering at Lockheed Missiles and Space, Sunnyvale, CA; Advanced Cruise Missile and Mission Control Aircraft at Tahoma Lockheed Aircraft Company, Marietta, GA.; and Nuclear Weapons Reliability Engineering at the Trident Submarine Base, Kings Bay, GA.
   Since coming to LM-MS2 Eagan in the Fall of 1997, Jim has worked on SQQ-89, PE on VTUAV, PE on Trident ECS(Q70), Seawolf ECS (Q70), PE on Universal Packaging IRAD, Packaging Lead on JTRS, and Systems Engineering on FURIES.

Career Highpoints:
   Riding out a Pacific hurricane on the surface of the ocean in 1978 as a new qualified Officer of the Deck (OOD). The submarine had experienced a near catastrophic event that took the submarine deeper than its operating environment could handle, and limited its speed and depth capabilities to surface operations at 3-kts speed. Jim spent 8-hrs on the bridge taking green water over the conning tower, while driving the boat back into Guam. He was commended by the Squadron-15 Commodore, and was rewarded with the opportunity to give General Jimmy Doolittle a tour of his submarine [photo right.]
   A member of the team of official “Plank Owners” for the Strategic Weapons Facility Atlantic (SWFLANT), and received a Commendation for achieving Initial Operating Capability (IOC) at the Trident Missile Facility, Kings Bay, GA. Jim Speaking with General “Jimmy” Doolittle (1979) –
Submarine Tour Onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln
   Serving as the Single-Point-of-Contact for all Nuclear Weapons issues at the Trident Submarine Base, Kings Bay, GA.
   Working on advanced nuclear weapons technologies with Sandia National Laboratories.
   Providing Naval Intelligence briefings to CINCUSNAVEUR.
   Working on various AN/UYQ-70 programs at LM.
Leading Technology Items:
   Worked with a specialized team of US Government and contractor personnel developing methodologies to ensure that nuclear weapons maintained the safest design possible preventing any possible accidental detonations or release of radiation.
   Lead a team of specialized engineers that developed shock simulation capabilities and new shock mount damping materials.
   a. James Brusoe developed “Sim901” that uses Matlab, a commercial "Matrix Laboratory" package to perform numerical computations using matrices and vectors. The LM-MS2 Eagan product predicts, with unprecedented accuracy, the isolated payload behavior experienced during barge testing.
   b. Dr. Craig Carmichael developed “UniPac” a Universal Packaging tool that uses Artificial Neural Network SW to produce refined models of rack configurations, including the most appropriate isolation mounts, and directs the output through an interface into ProE.
   c. Dave Shelander and Julie Neuman developed a proprietary mixture of enhanced shock isolation materials that improved damping from 5% to 27%.
   The developed capabilities provide LM with advantage in MIL-S-901 heavy weight shock simulation, design, and testing. The developed technologies are now being used in Q70, and have been recognized both at LM Eagan and IS&S Manassas as a discriminator for both the CEDS and the Joint Tactical Radio System proposals.
   Jim is married to a Senior Staff Systems Engineer, Debra Stephenson, also at LM MS2 Eagan. They have two sons, Mark and Scott, who attend Iowa State University.

2.12 Bernie 'Mike' Svendsen, 1959-1984

   My name is Bernard “Mike” Svendsen and I graduated in 1959 from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. I had asked my uncle [Commander Edward C. Svendsen] if he had any thoughts about the electronics industry and where I might go to work. His comment was brief: “well, UNIVAC is doing some interesting things with computers”. UNIVAC was close to home so I joined in Aug ’59. I didn’t understand how really important and interesting it was until I recently read the book “When Computers Went to Sea”.
   The semiconductor industry was in its infancy then and the majority of my 25 years at Univac were involved in semiconductor specification, design, evaluation, testing, quality, failures, cost, availability and manufacturing at our suppliers and at our in-house facility. You might say we matured together.
   I was a member on Sperry’s Corporate Councils on Semiconductors, Standardization and Procurement.
   I worked at all of the plants in the Twin Cities and in many disciplines - Electrical Engineering, Reliability, Test, Procurement, Quality, Production, Quality Assurance, Operations Management, Bipolar Operations and the Semiconductor Control Facility.
   I joined the Semiconductor Division of Motorola in 1984 and spent 15 years as a Sales Manager, marketing and selling semiconductors.
   I retired in 1998. My wife, Joan, and I now have time to enjoy our three sons, a daughter, and their families with eight grandchildren.

B.N. Mike Svendsen

2.13 Gary Sloane, [friend of H. Wise]

Mr. Benson, it is a pleasure to write you.
I grew up in Salt Lake City; Harry Wise [and his family] lived several blocks from us. I can remember Harry getting pissed at his Saab collection on many an occasion!
I was in junior high when we moved to that neighborhood. Harry was friends with my father, Howard Sloane. My dad is a behavioral psychologist and taught for many years at the University of Utah (U of U). His father, my grandfather, used to own a company called Animalated Advertising; they built kiosks that sat in department stores and shopping malls; the gist of the idea was that a customer (who, for instance, wanted to know where the shoe department was) would walk up to the kiosk and push the 'shoes' button. The inside of the kiosk would light up, revealing a small 'lab' with a keyboard. A door would open; an animal (toucan, monkey, chicken, agouti, you name it) would come out, 'type' on the keyboard, and then the answer would light up on the display overhead. Of course the animals had nothing to do with generating the correct answer; they worked for food, which was automatically dispensed in the back after they pushed the lever on the 'keyboard'. My father wanted to recreate his father's business; Harry helped my father design the electronics for the kiosks along with Bogdan Matoga, another engineer.
I became fascinated with electronics watching this happen; and Harry would bring me bits and pieces of surplus electronics from Sperry where he worked at the time. I remember he once brought me a pill bottle full of small magnetic cores, and told me they were memory; I was absolutely spellbound with the idea that something so physical and mundane could actually remember things.
Harry, my brother Jeff, and I would frequent Salt Lake Instrument. Harry introduced us to the place; Bill Davis, the proprietor, bought surplus from the businesses and military installation in the area. He maintained an (illegal) pool of nitric acid in the back where he'd pitch in anything with gold on it. He sold anything that didn't have enough gold scrap value for the price if 0.17/pound. My first oscilloscope was an old Navy scope; it weighed 63 pounds; I paid $10.71 for it.
   Harry gave me a core memory which I still have; about 11K bits, about a cubic foot. I believe it came from an early Univac; but I have no idea which. Maybe you do; see photo at right.
{Editor's Note: The bottom right lettering is SENSE, I counted 24 tabs on both the left and right ends, thereby concluding that this was from one of our early 24 bit computers.}   I credit Harry with getting me interested in computers; I majored in computer science for several years at the U of U; and have been a programmer my entire career. I remember using the Univac 1108 at the University of Utah before they had CRT terminals. I participated in the first computer class taught in high school; we built logic circuits using relays, and wires with clips on the end!
Harry would be proud; I now collect vintage computing. I have HP2100s, PDP-8s, an HP 2116B, Sun-1, and LOTS of core memory. I have tube computing elements from IBM 705s, and much more. Like Harry, I can't believe what others throw away.
I was dismayed to hear that Harry passed away; I didn't find out until a few months ago. I was unaware of the things Harry did as an engineer; my experiences with him although formative, were limited -- I was young. Had I realized his involvement in the industry I most certainly would have dogged him for even more stories than I already was privileged to listen to!
I last saw Harry in about 2002; one day I got a phone call; "Gary, I'll be in the San Diego airport tomorrow at 8:30; pick me up, drive me to my meeting and we can talk!" I did; it was great to see him. 

2.14 Larry L. Schmidt, 1963 -

BSEE 1962 University of Nebraska - A short history of UNIVAC employment
I joined Univac Defense systems in the fall of 1963 and was assigned to Bob Hanson's test software group. My first project was to write a POFA for the triplexes portion of the recently expanded KCMX. I wrote this in assembly language to run on the 1st 1218 computer.
I was next assigned as help-mate to Ed Nelson for specification development and testing of Army War room equipment for the Pentagon. The principle activity was to create tests and witness acceptance testing of the Stromberg Carlson Situation display.
I then became aware of persons being sought by Dr. George Chapin desiring to transfer to San Diego to participate in the ASWSC&CS program. After interviews by Ray Kott, Gordy Ericson, and Bob Scholz, I came on board the program in early 1965. Bob was on the project as a temp and was to return to the home office when a permanent San Diego project personnel could be obtained. I therefore had a phase in period with Bob and then he returned to his home office.
As Cdr Carl Drenkard [ASWSC&CS Navy Project Officer] relates in his IEEE article of this project, this was an NTDS Spin Off designed to enhance ASW activities in CIC by incorporating data from own-ships sonar/off-ships-sonar [via Link 11,] correlating target info; and commanding ASW weapons. We were to use or modify what we could of NTDS software. Equipment, however, utilized the next generation computer, CP-642B, [AN/USQ-20B] and next generation Hughes Display consoles [AN/UYA-4].
The most interesting task that came my way was to determine at what digital sample rate to buffer output train and elevation data to the ASROC launcher from a digital computer. It had been already determined by Harvey Kloehn [civil service] of the Navy Project Office that an alternate digital electrical path could be established which by-passed the MK 53 analog Attack console of the MK 113 ASROC system. The only question was: at what digital rate should date be outputted? Hence, provision was made for me to conduct tests using the ASROC Launcher simulator at Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS), Pasadena. I devised a digital test program which incorporated worst case firing geometry and discovered that when you increased the digital output sample rate to 125 sps, this rate was well into the zone where the launcher responded just as though it was being driven by its companion analog computer - the MK 53 Attack console. The foregoing was never mentioned in Cdr Drenkard's IEEE article regarding ASWSC&CS. Nor was it mentioned in Capt. David L. Boslaugh's book; "When Computers Went to Sea." It seems logical to postulate that at some point in DE 1047/1049 ASWSC&CS Sea both Harvey Koehn and Cdr. Drenkard went aboard with a tricked up version of the software; turned the requisite by-pass switches; and watched as the launcher moved under direct control of the 642B.

In about 1968, I subsequently joined in with other departed UNIVACers such as Dr. Chapin, Paul Hensel, Ralph Hileman, Wendel Ericson at Litton Data Systems; where C&CA system design studies were in progress on the DDX Program. When that program received its formal name [DD 63 Spruance class ships] and Litton won the contract, I was picked to head up their Command and Decision Subsystem (CDSS) as Program Manager. Just as the ASWSC&CS Program was the Spin Off of NTDS, the DD 963 C&CS was the Spin Off of ASWSC&CS.

2.15 Dale Suckstorff, 1978 - 2011

A 33 year career with Sperry/Unisys/Lockheed Martin.  Dale left a HS teaching job to apply for a programming position developing software 'apps' for US Navy systems.  A 33 year career of various engineering and management positions is detailed in his career summary.

2.16 Eric Spring, 1970 - 2010

I graduated from Iowa State University (ISU) in 1970 with degrees in computer science, math, and statistics. At that time, a computer science degree at ISU was one of the first offered in the country. I started work with UNIVAC and retired in 2010 from Lockheed Martin (LM), after 40 years in engineering.
The only job I had from college to retirement was contributing to Defense Systems at the Eagan, MN, site. The work was challenging, engaging, frustrating, and yet, extremely satisfying. I had worked mostly 30 years as an engineering manager and was on staff to five directors and four Vice Presidents (VPs). My first dozen years were in the software development and integration of the Central Computer Complex (CCC), which was targeted for the new SSN-688 class submarines and based on the UYK-7 computer. A key first-of-its-kind feature was developing an automatic system casualty recovery capability from various hardware failures. Some of my most satisfying work was providing technical support for several years at land bases on the east coast and at sea, usually around the Bahamas. This also involved being the onsite rep for five months at the System Certification and Integration Facility (SCIF) in Newport, RI. I was fortunate to participate in a cradle-to-grave development ending in final operational delivery and sea support.
I thought I could be most impactful to the company by managing groups of engineers, and did so in the System Integration and Test, Application Software Development, Cost Engineering, and other groups. In 1993 I was happy to act as a temporary director to lead the effort to organize Software Engineering when we went to a matrix organization.
For the last 12 years at LM, I also volunteered for corporate University Relations as the LM Technical Liaison to the ISU Electrical and Computer Engineering departments. ISU was named a Key School for LM in 1998. Our Engineering VP was the overall ISU LM Engineering Liaison. Together we would represent LM at ISU on corporate Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECpE) external advisory boards. Our objective: to help direct the Engineering departments to better equip graduating students for entry to LM’s specific needs and to broaden LM’s exposure there for hiring. I also developed a proposal presented to LM corporate to secure a grant to help start a Software Engineering Degree program at ISU. It was approved and became one of the first in the country! I enjoyed many recruiting events on campus and at LM.
On my personal side, at age 23 I bought land in Eagan; with much initial help from work friends, in 1973 my brothers and I started to build our house. If you are going to live in a house, what better way to know how to maintain it than to build it?! It was a steep learning curve; after they left that summer, I spent the next 20 years finishing it! We put in over 30,000 nails, and after 51 years it is still standing—and yes, I live in that house! In 1977, I married Debbie from NE Mpls. We have three wonderful, successful children with whom I love spending time, along with four grandkids. Debbie and I continually updated our home as needed, including adding a three-story addition, and we also bought a lake cabin in 1987 near Webster, WI. We replaced it with a new build in 2002, which was a bit of a disaster—my contractor went bankrupt! After stress, anxiety, and work by us, we now say it’s done.
I still have my first car from college: a 1967 Austin Healey Sprite. It has been a lot of fun over the years, but one night I was headed for a midnight shift at the Military Equipment Test Center (METC). Approaching a red stoplight, I pushed on the brakes and the pedal went to the floor. The brake line had broken. The only one around was a highway patrolman as I slowly rolled through the red light, with us looking at each other! Needless to say, I was late getting to METC.
Since retirement, Debbie and I traveled on an Alaskan cruise, and visited many states and Mexico. I have also kept busy with some fishing in Canada; a short time working in my brother’s deck and basement business; starting a mostly management consulting business, doing proof-of-concept of a friend’s start-up; remodeling my daughter’s house; doing house and cabin projects; cutting and splitting wood; and trying to counter my aging process at Lifetime Fitness.
My wife of 42 years, Debbie, passed away in 2019. Since then, I have devoted much time exploring and deepening my faith. I am very blessed, humbled, and proud of having a beyond-meaningful career; I performed dream jobs, worked for the best company, and did important and unique work with so many of the brightest people in the country. I am very happy to now be a VIP Club Director, contributing where I can.
Eric Spring

In this Chapter

1. Topical Article Contributors
2. 'S' Summaries: 2.1 Duane Sandstrom, 2.2 Vernon Sandusky, 2.3 Norb Santoski, 2.4 Jack Sater , 2.5 Bob Scholz, 2.6 Rollie Schwitters, 2.7 Tom Sinkula, 2.8 Tom Soller, 2.9 John Spearing, 2.10 Woody Spitzmueller, 2.11 Jim Stephenson, 2.12 Bernie 'Mike' Svendsen, 2.13 Gary Sloan, 2.14 Larry L. Schmidt, 2.15 Dale Suckstorff, and 2.16 Eric Spring.

Chapter 17 edited 8/26/2024