V. Ralph Pruitt (born July 31, 1936) was an engineer at

McDonnell Douglas McDonnell Douglas Corporation was a major American Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own ...

who won the

Wright Brothers Medal The Wright Brothers Medal was conceived of in 1924 by the Dayton Section of the Society of Automotive Engineers, and the SAE established it in 1927 to recognize individuals who have made notable contributions in the engineering, design, developme ...

in 1974 with Michael J. Wendl, Gordon G. Grose, and J. L. Porter for a paper discussing future aircraft designs that integrate fly-by-wire controls with engine inlets/nozzles and advanced pilot displays.Wendl, M.J., Grose, G.G., Porter, J.L., and Pruitt, V.R. (1974
''Flight/Propulsion Control Integration Aspects of Energy Management''

Society of Automotive Engineers SAE International is a global professional association and standards organization based in Warrendale, Pennsylvania, United States. Formerly the Society of Automotive Engineers, the organization adopted its current name in 2006 to reflect bot ...

paper number 740480.

Biography

Pruitt attended

Oklahoma State Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

, graduating with a BS in aerospace engineering and later earned a master's degree in computer science from the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

. His engineering career spanned work in the design, development, and operational testing of aircraft and spacecraft systems. He was also trained as an aircraft accident investigator and was the director of the systems safety program during the design and development of the

F-15 Eagle The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is an American twin-engine, all-weather fighter aircraft designed by McDonnell Douglas (now part of Boeing). Following reviews of proposals, the United States Air Force (USAF) selected McDonnell Douglas's des ...

.Gregory, J. (1980) ''Who's Who in Engineering'', 4th ed., American Association of Engineering Societies.

Awards

1974

References

American aerospace engineers Living people 1936 births {{US-mechanical-engineer-stub