REDONDO BEACH, Calif. – Doug Shane, president of Northrop Grumman’s Scaled Composites business, was presented the prestigious 2012 James H. Doolittle Award by the Society of Experimental Test Pilots Sept. 29 in recognition of his outstanding accomplishments and engineering achievements in aerospace technology.
“Doug has been a force of innovation and leadership in aerospace design and test for over 30 years,” said Paul Meyer, vice president and general manager of advanced programs and technology for Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. “His ability to think outside the box and pull forward revolutionary ideas through test and operation has directly influenced the current and future state of the aerospace industry. We are fortunate to have Doug’s leadership on our team.”
In 1982, Shane was the first engineer hired by Burt Rutan, the legendary aerospace designer and founder of Scaled Composites. He has helped shaped the organization to excel in air vehicle design, tooling and manufacturing, specialty composite structure design, analysis and fabrication, and developmental flight tests of air and space vehicles. In 2008, Shane was appointed president of Scaled Composites.
Shane’s flight test experience includes the first flights of eight prototypes, including White Knight, Adam 309, VisionAire Vantage, ARES light attack jet and Williams International V-Jet II. He acquired more than 3,900 flight hours in more than 155 types of aircraft over 30-plus years. A fellow and past president of SETP, he also won the Iven C. Kincheloe award in 1997 and was a co-recipient of the Robert J. Collier trophy in 2004.
Scaled Composites operates as a separate company within Northrop Grumman, which acquired it in 2007. It serves Northrop Grumman and other customers, providing a level of expertise second to none in rapid design and prototyping, and leveraging innovative thought and design solutions to deliver game-changing results.
