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Information for this biography was taken from Russ Clark’s autobiography which he recorded beginning in January of 1986, edited by his daughter, Dorothy Kemp. The J. Russell Clark Collection, as a part of the History of Aviation Collection of the University of Texas at Dallas, is the repository of the personal historic files that Russ Clark collected throughout his career. |
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A Rewarding Career with Vought Other Prestigious Positions and Awards
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John Russell "Russ" Clark, internationally known aircraft designer and Vought executive, was continuously engaged in the aerospace business from the late 1920s through 1980. His Vought career began with United Aircraft, in Stratford, Connecticut, October 1,1935. He retired from Vought (LTV Aerospace) in 1972, but continued as a member of the board of directors until 1973 and as a consultant to the company until 1984. During his forty nine years associated with Vought, he moved through the ranks from design and project engineering to being the founding head of the Vought Astronautics division in 1959 and subsequently the head of the Vought Aeronautics Division from 1964 to 1969 with 26,000 employees and sales of $500 million at the division’s peak. From 1969 to 1972 he was Senior Vice President, Technical, LTV Aerospace.
Russ was born in Rockport, Massachusetts in 1908. He grew up in Annisquam, a neighboring small village on Cape Ann. He worked many odd jobs through his school years and with the help of his family and partial scholarship funding he was able to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He began his studies in Electrical Engineering. However, when Lindbergh made his successful transatlantic flight, Russ enthusiastically changed to Aeronautical Engineering at the start of his junior year in 1927. He was in the Army Air Corp. at MIT and had his first airplane ride in the spring of 1928 in a Curtiss "Jenny" Biplane, which was used as a trainer in WWI. In the summer of 1928, he attended a six week training program at Mitchell Field in Long Island. The instructors were WWI combat pilots. He flew in Curtiss Falcon Biplanes and did such things as aerial gunnery with a gun camera.