Interview with Apollo M. O. Smith

Abstract

An interview in September 1995 with aerodynamicist Apollo M. O. (Amo) Smith. Smith received his BS (1936) and MS in mechanical and aeronautical engineering (1938) from Caltech. In this brief interview, he recalls his early experience building and flying gliders with John R. Pierce; his undergraduate years at Caltech; the testing of various aircraft in the ten-foot wind tunnel at GALCIT [Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology] as a graduate student; working on rocketry with Frank J. Malina, Edward S. Forman, and John W. (Jack) Parsons; his employment at the Douglas Aircraft Company, beginning in 1938 in its El Segundo division; and his two years of work (on leave from Douglas) as chief engineer of the newly formed Aerojet Engineering Corporation (1942-1944), developing the JATO [jet-assisted takeoff] rocket.