The University of Texas at Austin
College of Engineering

Timeline: 1940s

Timeline

1940:







1941:
The Civilian Pilot Training program was established under the auspices of the Civilian Aeronautical Administration. Students who completed both ground and flight training in this program entered both the Army and Navy Air Corps.

The Engineering Defense Training Program was expanded and renamed the Engineering, Science, and Management War Training Program.
Civilian Pilot Training photo
Center for American History, UT-Austin
"Civilian Pilot Training Group"
Men of Ingenuity
  The Engineering, Science and Management War Training Program contributed a full-time, one-semester course in the elements of Aeronautical Engineering to the University of Texas at Austin.
 

IAS photo
Center for American History, UT-Austin
Institute of Aeronautical Sciences
The Cactus Yearbook, 1945

 The professional association for The Institute of Aeronautical Sciences was chartered at the University of Texas at Austin.

The Engineering Defense Training Program was expanded and renamed the Engineering, Science, and Management War Training Program.
1942:

Dr. Milton Thompson proposed building an aeronautical research center at the University of Texas at Austin.

The Department of Aeronautical Engineering, with a more extensive course curriculum for the undergraduate program, was formed with Dr. Milton Thompson as its chair.

192 of 225 graduates of the Civilian Pilot Training course enlisted in both the Army and Navy Air Corps.

WRW map
Center for American History, UT-Austin
"Preliminary Sketches for an
Aeronautical Engineering Building"
UT College of Engineering Records
 

The Curtiss-Wright Engineering Cadette Program, one of the first organized efforts to recruit women as engineers, was conducted at the University of Texas at Austin. Read more

1943: The first Bachelor of Science degrees in Aeronautical Engineering from the Department of Aeronautical Engineering were awarded.
  Millard Barton joined the department faculty.
1945: Dr. Milton J. Thompson and Dr. C. Paul Boner organized The Defense Research Laboratory for advanced research in military technology.
  The first female graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.
  Facilities were built for research in thermodynamics and flight mechanics.
  Faculty from Aeronautical Engineering worked with Electrical Engineering faculty on increasingly sophisticated guidance and radar systems.
1946: The Off Campus Research Center (later the Balcones Research Center, then the Pickle Research Campus) was established.
1947: The Engineering Mechanics Department was established.
  John Seaman and Warren Meyer joined the department faculty.
  The first Master’s of Science degree in Engineering Mechanics from the Department of Engineering Mechanics was awarded to Robert Felgar.
  Dewey Younger (BS ASE 1949; MS EM 1950) built the UT Flying Saucer and was accused of starting the famous “Flying Saucer Sighting Scare”.
Read more
1948: The Department of Aeronautical Engineering granted its first doctoral degree.
1949: Dr. Kenneth Jehn joined the department faculty.