When he was born, his parents, only in America a few years, decided to show they were good Americans by naming their son after George Washington, the first president.
Inspired by the world of aviation at a young age, from gas-driven model airplanes to the Lunar Excursion Model, he knew this fast-growing field was where he wanted to be.
In high school, Andy started building airplanes out of balsa wood and heavy, opaque paper with little glass gas tanks screwed into the engine. His family still has pieces of those airplanes. He became a pilot in WWII and was a captain by the war's end,earning seven battle stars then later retiring as a colonel in the Air Force Reserves.
After the war, he attended North Carolina State University and graduated with a mechanical engineering degree with an aeronautical option. He worked at RCA in Haddonfield, New Jersey as a design engineer on instrumental and control systems then at White Sands, New Mexico on rockets. His work included the LEM, or Lunar Excursion Module, and the control panel of the Apollo spacecraft, for which he received recognition. Later, living in South Carolina he worked on engines for helicopters used during Vietnam.
This brilliant man's life was cut short at the age of 49 when he had a heart attack one morning.
When he was born, his parents, only in America a few years, decided to show they were good Americans by naming their son after George Washington, the first president.
Inspired by the world of aviation at a young age, from gas-driven model airplanes to the Lunar Excursion Model, he knew this fast-growing field was where he wanted to be.
In high school, Andy started building airplanes out of balsa wood and heavy, opaque paper with little glass gas tanks screwed into the engine. His family still has pieces of those airplanes. He became a pilot in WWII and was a captain by the war's end,earning seven battle stars then later retiring as a colonel in the Air Force Reserves.
After the war, he attended North Carolina State University and graduated with a mechanical engineering degree with an aeronautical option. He worked at RCA in Haddonfield, New Jersey as a design engineer on instrumental and control systems then at White Sands, New Mexico on rockets. His work included the LEM, or Lunar Excursion Module, and the control panel of the Apollo spacecraft, for which he received recognition. Later, living in South Carolina he worked on engines for helicopters used during Vietnam.
This brilliant man's life was cut short at the age of 49 when he had a heart attack one morning.
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