Jump to content

John A. Manke

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John A. Manke
Portrait in 1978
Born(1931-11-13)November 13, 1931
Selby, South Dakota, U.S.
DiedJanuary 31, 2019(2019-01-31) (aged 87)
Lancaster, California, U.S.
Alma materMarquette University (BS)
Occupations
Years active1956-1984
SpouseMarilyn Manke
AwardsNASA Exceptional Service Medal

John Arnold Manke Sr. (November 13, 1931 – January 31, 2019) was an American test pilot and aerospace engineer. He was the first person to achieve supersonic flight in a lifting body and first to land a lifting body on a runway. He was director of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center from 1981 to 1984.[1]

Early life

[edit]

Manke was born in Selby, South Dakota in 1931. He studied at the University of South Dakota before joining the U.S. Navy in 1951. After his Navy service, he attended Marquette University in Milwaukee, where he was selected for the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) and earned a degree in electrical engineering in 1956.

Career

[edit]

After graduating from Marquette, Manke joined the U.S. Marine Corps to serve as a fighter pilot. He left the service in 1960 as a Major in the Marine Corps Reserve and worked for Honeywell Aerospace as a test engineer for two years.

He joined NASA on May 25, 1962, as a flight research engineer.[2] He was assigned to the pilots' office and flew multiple support aircraft, including the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, Douglas F5D Skylancer, General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark, and Douglas C-47 Skytrain.[3][4]

Manke served as a North American X-15 flight planner and completed X-15 ground school with Michael J. Adams.[5] Together, they conducted a test run of the Reaction Motors XLR99 engine at the Rocket Engine Test Facility. He left the X-15 program in 1967 after Adams was killed in an accident during the third X-15 flight.[6]

John Manke with X-24B lifting body

In 1968, he began piloting rocket-powered wingless lifting bodies optimized for spaceflight. He became the first person to attain supersonic speed in a lifting body on May 9, 1969, during his test flight of a Northrop HL-10.[7][8] Manke also flew the Martin Marietta X-24 and Northrop M2-F3 a record 42 times.[9][10] His precision unpowered landing during a test flight of the X-24B at Edwards Air Force Base on August 5, 1975, prompted design engineers of the Space Shuttle to forego jet engines, initially intended to aid shuttle landing approaches.[11] He also flew exploratory flights in the fly-by-wire Vought F-8 Crusader to develop control system design changes for the space shuttle.[12]

Manke became facility manager and chief of flight operations at Dryden, and later at Ames Research Center when the two NASA centers were integrated. He served as director of flight operations at Dryden and Ames from October 1, 1981, until his retirement on April 27, 1984.

He participated in technology development for programs including the Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier, X-15, Northrop B-2 Spirit, and Grumman X-29. In total, Manke flew 4,500 hours in 56 different aircraft.[13] He earned his Mach 3+ pin flying the Lockheed YF-12 Blackbird.

He died in Lancaster, California in 2019, aged 87.

List of test flights

[edit]
No. Date Vehicle Flight No. Max Speed (kph) Mach Max Altitude (km) Flight Time Notes
1 May 28, 1968 HL-10 Flight 7 698 0.57 13.72 4m 5s
2 Jun 11, 1968 HL-10 Flight 8 697 0.57 13.72 4m 6s
3 Oct 3, 1968 HL-10 Flight 11 758 0.62 13.72 4m 3s
4 Nov 13, 1968 HL-10 Flight 13 843 0.69 13.00 6m 25s
5 Apr 17, 1969 HL-10 Flight 15 973 0.79 16.07 6m 40s
6 May 9, 1969 HL-10 Flight 17 1,197 1.00 16.25 6m 50s First supersonic flight of a lifting body
7 May 28, 1969 HL-10 Flight 19 1,311 1.07 18.96 6m 38s
8 Jun 19, 1969 HL-10 Flight 21 1,483 1.21 19.54 6m 18s
9 Aug 6, 1969 HL-10 Flight 23 1,641 1.34 23.19 6m 12s
10 Sep 18, 1969 HL-10 Flight 25 1,340 1.09 24.14 7m 6s
11 Oct 22, 1969 X-24A Flight 6 623 0.51 12.19 3m 58s First glide flight
12 Apr 2, 1970 X-24A Flight 11 919 0.75 17.89 7m 15s
13 May 14, 1970 X-24A Flight 13 795 0.65 13.59 8m 33s
14 Jun 17, 1970 X-24A Flight 14 1,051 0.86 18.59 7m 12s
15 Aug 11, 1970 X-24A Flight 16 1,047 0.85 19.48 6m 53s
16 Oct 14, 1970 X-24A Flight 18 1,261 1.03 20.70 6m 51s
17 Oct 27, 1970 X-24A Flight 19 1,446 1.18 21.76 6m 57s
18 Jan 21, 1971 X-24A Flight 21 1,093 0.89 15.82 7m 42s
19 Feb 18, 1971 X-24A Flight 23 1,606 1.31 20.54 7m 27s
20 Mar 29, 1971 X-24A Flight 25 1,667 1.36 21.49 7m 26s Fastest X-24A flight
21 May 25, 1971 X-24A Flight 27 1,265 1.03 19.90 9m 8s
22 Jun 4, 1971 X-24A Flight 28 867 0.71 16.58 8m 37s
23 Oct 19, 1972 M2-F3 Flight 36 961 0.78 14.36 5m 59s
24 Nov 1, 1972 M2-F3 Flight 37 1,292 1.05 21.73 6m 18s
25 Nov 21, 1972 M2-F3 Flight 39 1,524 1.24 20.33 6m 17s Fastest M2-F3 flight
26 Dec 21, 1972 M2-F3 Flight 43 1,377 1.12 21.79 6m 30s
27 Aug 1, 1973 X-24B Flight 29 740 0.60 12.19 4m 12s
28 Aug 17, 1973 X-24B Flight 30 722 0.59 13.72 4m 27s
29 Aug 31, 1973 X-24B Flight 31 771 0.63 13.72 4m 37s
30 Sep 18, 1973 X-24B Flight 32 724 0.59 13.72 4m 31s
31 Nov 15, 1973 X-24B Flight 34 961 0.78 16.08 6m 44s
32 Dec 12, 1973 X-24B Flight 35 1,038 0.85 19.08 7m 14s
33 Mar 5, 1974 X-24B Flight 37 1,139 0.93 18.39 7m 17s
34 May 24, 1974 X-24B Flight 39 1,212 0.99 17.06 7m 28s
35 Jun 28, 1974 X-24B Flight 41 1,480 1.21 20.77 7m 7s
36 Aug 29, 1974 X-24B Flight 43 1,170 0.95 22.08 7m 47s
37 Nov 15, 1974 X-24B Flight 45 1,722 1.41 21.96 8m 1s Fastest X-24B flight
38 Jan 14, 1975 X-24B Flight 47 1,862 1.52 22.18 7m 57s
39 Apr 18, 1975 X-24B Flight 49 1,279 1.04 17.65 7m 30s
40 May 22, 1975 X-24B Flight 51 1,744 1.42 22.37 7m 41s
41 Jun 25, 1975 X-24B Flight 53 1,427 1.16 17.68 7m 6s
42 Aug 5, 1975 X-24B Flight 55 1,381 1.13 18.29 7m 0s First controlled landing of a lifting body

Awards

[edit]

Personal life

[edit]

He married Marilyn Manke in 1954, and the couple lived together in Lancaster, California. They were married for 65 years and had 5 children.

Manke was Catholic and served as a eucharistic minister for Lancaster's Sacred Heart Parish. He built and flew his own lightweight aircraft and gliders. He was a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "John A. Manke - NASA". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved December 9, 2025.
  2. ^ "Space History Photo: Test Pilot John A. Manke and M2-F3 Lifting Body". Space. February 28, 2013. Retrieved December 9, 2025.
  3. ^ Pearcy, Arthur (1993). Flying the Frontiers: NACA and NASA Experimental Aircraft. Naval Institute Press. pp. 121, 150. ISBN 978-1-55750-258-2.
  4. ^ Hallion, Richard P. (1984). On the Frontier: Flight Research at Dryden, 1946-1981. Scientific and Technical Information Branch, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. pp. 159–166.
  5. ^ Evans, Michelle (May 2022). The X-15 Rocket Plane: Flying the First Wings Into Space. U of Nebraska Press. pp. 237, 347, 353, 442. ISBN 978-1-4962-2984-7.
  6. ^ Jenkins, Dennis R. (2007). X-15: Extending the Frontiers of Flight. NASA. pp. 393, 442–443, 474, 582, 592. ISBN 978-0-16-079285-4. Retrieved December 9, 2025.
  7. ^ NASA SP. Scientific and Technical Information Office, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 1970. pp. 159, 267. Retrieved December 9, 2025.
  8. ^ Hallion, Richard (2010). NASA's Contributions to Aeronautics. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. p. 382. ISBN 978-0-16-084635-9.
  9. ^ Lister, R. Dale Reed, Darlene. Wingless Flight: The Lifting Body Story. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 121–123, 140–149, 173. ISBN 978-0-8131-3222-8. Retrieved December 9, 2025.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Staff (U.S.), NASA Historical (1972). Astronautics and Aeronautics, Chronology on Science, Technology, and Policy. pp. 371, 437.
  11. ^ "August 5, 1975: John Manke Testing Shuttle Landings". Air Force Test Center. Retrieved December 9, 2025.
  12. ^ Smith, Melvyn (1989). Space Shuttle. Haynes. pp. 99–100. ISBN 978-0-85429-600-2.
  13. ^ Hallion, Richard (1987). The Hypersonic Revolution: From Scramjet to the national aero-space plane, 1964-1986. Special Staff Office, Aeronautical Systems Division, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. pp. 884, 928. Retrieved December 9, 2025.
  14. ^ "John A. Manke Historical Marker". www.hmdb.org. The Historical Marker Database. Retrieved December 9, 2025.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_A._Manke&oldid=1326616015"