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Joseph Gordon Vaeth

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Joseph Gordon Vaeth
BornFebruary 12, 1921
New York City
DiedMarch 11, 2012(2012-03-11) (aged 91)[1]
Olympia, Washington
Burial placeRock Creek Cemetery
NationalityAmerican
Other namesJ. Gordon Vaeth
Occupation(s)Engineer, Author

Joseph Gordon Vaeth (1921-2012) was an officer in the United States Navy and a civilian aeronautical engineer employed by the Office of Naval Research and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Vaeth was a lifelong advocate for the use of lighter-than-air aircraft. He was the author of eight books and numerous articles.

Early life

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Vaeth was the son of Joseph Anthony Vaeth (d. 1938), a New York University professor of languages, and his wife Sara (Billard) Vaeth, the sister of Coast Guard Commandant Frederick C. Billard.[2] In 1941, he graduated from New York University with a Bachelor's of Arts; in September 1941, he was employed as an instructor at the Admiral Billard Academy, named for his uncle.[3]

Career

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During World War II, Vaeth was commissioned as a Lieutenant and commanded the US Navy airship fleet in the South Atlantic. After the war, Vaeth was employed by the Navy Special Devices Center, and was involved in Project Helios, a plan for a manned balloon flight to 100,000 feet.[4] He was a member of the American Rocketry Society, the British Interplanetary Society, the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences and the League of Aeronauts.[4]

Vaeth worked with the naval unit at the White Sands Proving Ground, and in 1951, he authored 200 Miles Up, a history of guided missile development.[4] In 1955, he was quoted in press about US plans to launch an artificial satellite.[5][6] Vaeth served as an aeronautical engineer with the Office of Naval Research. In 1960, he was employed as a manned spaceflight expert by Reflectone Electronics. [7] In the 1970s, Vaeth served as Director of Systems Engineering for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.[8] In 1977, Vaeth published an article concluding that Amelia Earhart likely died after running out of fuel.[9][10]

The Graf Zeppelin airship was the subject of Vaeth's 1959 book

Veath was a longtime advocate of airships. Journalist James J. Kilpatrick said that Vaeth:[11]

is known around our office as 'the airship man.' Mr. Vaeth, a former naval officer, [was] system director of engineering for the National Environmental Satellite Service. His other fulltime job, a labor of pure love, [was] to promote the airship revival. In the same way that other men are nuts about fire engines or steam locomotives, Mr. Vaeth [was] nuts about zeppelins.

As early as 1939, Veath was advocating for the use of airships.[12] In 1959, Vaeth authored a book about the Graf Zeppelin airship. In 1963, papers carried an image of Vaeth holding a piece of wreckage from the USS Shenandoah, a dirigible which crashed in 1925.[13] In 1974, Vaeth testified before the United States Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences about the possibility of nuclear-engines permitting dirigibles to achieve speeds up to 150 miles per hours.[14]

Personal life

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In 1951, Vaeth married Joanne Corell; the two had a son.[15] After her death, in 1995 he married Corrine Ranken of Olympia, Washington. [16]

Works

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  • Vaeth, J. Gordon (1951). 200 miles up : the conquest of the upper air. Ronald Press Co. p. 207.
  • Vaeth, J Gordon (1958). Graf Zeppelin: The Adventures of an Aerial Globetrotter. New York: Harper & Brothers., on the Graf Zeppelin
  • Vaeth, J. Gordon (1962). To the Ends of the Earth: The Explorations of Roald Amundsen. Harper & Row.
  • Vaeth, J. Gordon (1965). Weather eyes in the sky : America's meteorological satellites. Ronald Press,U.S.
  • Vaeth, J. Gordon (1968). Langley, man of science and flight. Ronald Press.
  • Vaeth, J. Gordon (1968). The man who founded Georgia. Crowell-Collier Press.
  • Vaeth, Joseph G. (1992). Blimps & u-boats: U.S. Navy airships in the battle of the Atlantic. Annapolis, Md: Naval Institute Pr. ISBN 978-1557508768.
  • Vaeth, J. Gordon (2005). They Sailed the Skies: U.S. Navy Balloons and the Airship Program.

References

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  1. ^ "Obituary for Joseph Gordon Vaeth". The Olympian. March 15, 2012. pp. A4 – via newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Obituary for Joseph Arthony Vaeth". Ste. Genevieve Herald. 8 October 1938. p. 1.
  3. ^ "Admiral Billard Academy Opens with 144 Enrolled; Three Instructors Added". The Day. September 23, 1941. p. 6 – via newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b c "Guided Missile History Treated By an Engineer". Richmond Times-Dispatch. October 14, 1951. p. 103 – via newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Scientists Hail Satellite Project as Greatest Ever". Wichita Falls Times. August 11, 1955. p. 25 – via newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Our First Jump into Outer Space". The Charlotte Observer. September 16, 1956. p. 119 – via newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Evening star 12 Jun 1960, page 55". Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "J. Gordon Vaeth Collection | National Air and Space Museum". airandspace.si.edu.
  9. ^ "'Lady Lindy' Remains Mystery Figure". Spokane Chronicle. November 9, 1977. p. 24 – via newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Mystery Clouds Final Flight of Amelia Earhart". The Indiana Gazette. November 2, 1977. p. 37 – via newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Progress Report on a Dream". Suffolk News-Herald. July 20, 1975. p. 4 – via newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Daily News 27 May 1939, page 143". Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Dirigibles To Help Arctic Development". The Akron Beacon Journal. October 11, 1963. p. 2 – via newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Dirigible Gets Navy's Attention". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. November 28, 1974. p. 165 – via newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Marriage of Corell / Vaeth". The Reporter Dispatch. January 2, 1951. p. 6 – via newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Marriage of Dixon / Cooper". The Olympian. May 13, 1995. p. 20 – via newspapers.com.