Joseph Fulton "Joe" Ware Jr. (November 8, 1916 – April 23, 2012) was a flight test engineer at Clarence "Kelly" Johnson's famed

Skunk Works Skunk Works is an official pseudonym for Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs (ADP), formerly called Lockheed Advanced Development Projects. It is responsible for a number of aircraft designs, highly classified research and developme ...

in the

Lockheed Corporation The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer. Lockheed was founded in 1926 and merged in 1995 with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin. Its founder, Allan Lockheed, had earlier founded the similarly named but otherwise-u ...

on the first two

Air Force One Air Force One is the official air traffic control-designated Aviation call signs, call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. The term is commonly used to denote U.S. Air Force aircraft modifie ...

's, the U-2, the

SR-71 Blackbird The Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird" is a retired long-range, high-altitude, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed and manufactured by the American aerospace company Lockheed Corporation. Its nicknames include " Blackbird" and ...

, and many others from

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, becoming Department Manager of Engineering Flight Test. He was the son of Joseph F. Ware Sr.

Family history

Joe Ware was from the South, Virginia, and had family who fought in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

as well as the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. Ware was the son of Joseph F. Ware Sr., professor at Virginia Tech,

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

officer, Commandant of the

Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets The Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets (VTCC) is the military component of the student body at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Cadets live together in residence halls, attend morning formation, wear a distinctive uniform, and receiv ...

, and football player.

Early life and education

Ware was born in

Blacksburg, Virginia Blacksburg is an incorporated town in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States, with a population of 44,826 at the 2020 census. Blacksburg and the surrounding county is dominated economically and demographically by the presence of Virginia T ...

. He enrolled in Virginia Polytechnic (now

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

) at age 15 and attended the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory at the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...

aged 20, graduating with a Master's in Aeronautical Engineering a year later in 1938.

Early career

Ware worked as a test engineer at the Wright engine test facility at

Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Lockheed in 1941, a few months before the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Empire of Japan on the United States Pacific Fleet at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, its naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Territory of ...

in December of that year. During

, as well as working in his career at Lockheed, he served in the

Civil Air Patrol Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is a Congressional charter, congressionally chartered, federally supported Nonprofit corporation, non-profit corporation that serves as the official civilian auxiliaries, auxiliary of the United States Air Force (USAF). CA ...

with

Robert Cummings Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings (June 9, 1910 – December 2, 1990) was an American film and television actor who appeared in roles in comedy films such as ''The Devil and Miss Jones'' (1941) and ''Princess O'Rourke'' (1943), and in d ...

Career at Lockheed

Ware was the flight test engineer in charge of numerous advanced military and reconnaissance aircraft at the

, Lockheed, from 1941 to 1974, including but not limited to the Hudson Bomber, the

P-38 Lightning The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is an American single-seat, twin piston-engined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) by the Lockheed Corporation, the P-38 incorporated a distinc ...

, the AT-22 (Flight Engineer Trainer, Sheppard Field, TX) during WWII, the YP-80A, all radial-engined and turbo-prop variants of the

Constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The first constellati ...

, including (serial number) "1961" (

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American Aerospace engineering, aerospace engineer, business magnate, film producer, and investor. He was The World's Billionaires, one of the richest and most influential peo ...

' former personal airplane which was used at Lockheed as an engine and prototype testbed) and the

WV-2 WV2 or WV-2 may refer to: * Lockheed WV-2 Warning Star, a surveillance aircraft * West Virginia's 2nd congressional district * West Virginia Route 2 * WorldView-2 WorldView-2 (WV 2) is a commercial Earth observation satellite owned by DigitalGlo ...

(as well as the WV-2E roto-dome prototype), Columbines II and III (which were the first Air Force Ones for President Dwight D. Eisenhower), the P-2 series, the YP-3V1 Orion prototype and series including the P-3A&B, the YC-130 Hercules, the Model 286, Lockheed's XH-51 and

AH-56 Cheyenne The Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne is an attack helicopter developed by Lockheed for the United States Army. It rose from the Army's Advanced Aerial Fire Support System (AAFSS) program to field the service's first dedicated attack helicopter. Lockh ...

helicopters, the

F-104 Starfighter The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is an American single-engine, supersonic interceptor. Created as a day fighter by Lockheed as one of the " Century Series" of fighter aircraft for the United States Air Force (USAF), it was developed into an all ...

, Lockheed's space shuttle proposal, and was also Department Manager of Engineering Flight Test for the U-2 and the

Area 51 Area 51 is the common name of a highly classified United States Air Force (USAF) facility within the Nevada Test and Training Range in southern Nevada, north-northwest of Las Vegas. A remote detachment administered by Edwards Air Force B ...

was made a test base for the U-2 and was later used for flight testing the A-12 and the

SR-71 The Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird" is a retired Range (aeronautics), long-range, high-altitude, Mach number, Mach 3+ military strategy, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed and manufactured by the American aerospace company Lockheed Co ...

In retirement

After retiring from Lockheed in 1974, Ware engaged in an active career in the

United States Coast Guard Auxiliary The United States Coast Guard Auxiliary (USCGAUX, CGAux, or USCG Aux) is the uniformed, civilian volunteer component of the United States Coast Guard. Congress established the unit on 23 June 1939, as the United States Coast Guard Reserve. On F ...

attaining the rank of commander. A lifelong pilot, and holding a commercial certificate, he flew flag officers of the Coast Guard in his personal aircraft, such as a

Beechcraft Duke The Beechcraft 60 Duke is an United States, American-built twin-engine, piston-driven fixed-wing aircraft designed and produced by Beechcraft. The aircraft has retractable tricycle landing gear and a pressurized cabin. The engines are turboch ...

and engaged in

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

operations with same, as well as his

T-28 T28 may refer to: Aircraft * Enstrom T-28, an American helicopter * North American T-28 Trojan, an American trainer * Slingsby T.28, a British glider Armoured land vehicles * T-28 (medium tank), a Soviet tank * T28 super-heavy tank, an ...

, and also in

counter terrorist Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to comb ...

activities with the Coast Guard on his boat. He and his third wife, Jenna, owned numerous airplanes, including but not limited to the T-28 Fennec and an award-winning 1937 SR-9B Stinson "Gullwing" Reliant. On September 4, 1998, Ware, his wife Jenna Ware (social worker and transsexual), and Hayden Griffin, Ph.D. (Virginia Tech professor of engineering), co-founded the Joseph F. Ware Jr. Advanced Engineering Laboratory at

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ware, Joseph F. Jr. 1916 births 2012 deaths People of the Civil Air Patrol Virginia Tech alumni California Institute of Technology alumni Lockheed people American aerospace engineers