20 min listen
RFT 350: Admiral Robert Shumaker
FromReady For Takeoff - Turn Your Aviation Passion Into A Career
ratings:
Length:
43 minutes
Released:
Dec 9, 2019
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
Bob Shumaker was born in New Castle, Pennsylvania in 1933. His father was a lawyer and his mother a writer. After graduating from public schools he attended Northwestern University for a year and then the United States Naval Academy where he was a boxer, a cross-country runner and a scholar. After flight training he joined VF-32, a fighter squadron in Jacksonville, Florida flying F8 Crusaders. He was a finalist in the Apollo astronaut selection, but a temporary physical ailment prevented his selection. In 1964 he earned a masters degree in aeronautical engineering and then joined VF-154 in San Diego, California. About this time he married Lorraine Shaw of Montreal. In February 1965 he was shot down on a mission over North Vietnam and spent the next eight years as a POW. After eight years of imprisonment and having suffered multiple tortures and solitary confinement, he was repatriated and returned to school to earn a doctorate degree in electrical engineering. As a Captain he was the government project manager for tactical missiles such as HARM, HELLFIRE and MAVERICK. In 1983 he was promoted to the rank of Commodore and became the head of the Naval Postgraduate School. At the Pentagon, as a Real Admiral, he was responsible for coordinating the research efforts of the Navy’s air, surface, electronics and space activities. He retired from the Navy in 1989 and became an assistant dean at the George Washington University and later served as an associate dean at the University of North Dakota. He retired in 1991 and then built an experimental aircraft which he’s flown to Alaska and other exotic locations.
Released:
Dec 9, 2019
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
RFT 005: Travel Security Preparations: We discuss travel security preparations and the activities you must do BEFORE you travel. Ready For Takeoff - Aviation and Commercial Airline Podcast - Your source for thoughts from the flight deck and beyond for Airplane Geeks looking for aviation... by Ready For Takeoff - Turn Your Aviation Passion Into A Career