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Brief History of the Boston
Chapter
The Boston Chapter was formed in 1969 by weight engineers (now referred to
as mass properties engineers) from AVCO Research and Advanced Development
Division, ITEK, Baldwin - Lima
- Hamilton , General Electric Small Aircraft Jet
Engine Division and the Raytheon Company. These companies were all
located in the Boston
area. AVCO has since become Textron and ITEK has ceased to
exist. Before the chapter was formed, weight engineers in the Boston area belonged to the New England Chapter, located
in Hartford, Connecticut, some 100 plus miles away . Onys Kelley, who was SAWE
International President in 1967 and Chief of Weights at AVCO, was
instrumental in starting the new chapter. John Fuller, who was Chief of Weights at Sikorsky and also
International President in 1969, attended the Boston Chapter inaugural
meeting in Waltham, Massachusetts. Membership in the heyday of
the defense business reached in the high 20' s . The
chapter was always represented at the annual International Conference by
members from AVCO, Raytheon, Baldwin - Lima
- Hamilton and ITEK. D J Instruments and Space Electronics joined the
chapter at a later date and always had their equipment on display at the
conference.
The Boston
Chapter Today
Our motto is "We're Small, But Mighty ". We currently have 9
members consisting of 2 Honorary Fellows (Larry Jodry and Dick Boynton, both retired),
Kurt Wiener, Paul Kennedy, Brandon Rathbun, Dan Otlowski, and Eric Grandjacques (of Space Electronics).
Dave Lage and Dan Neville are retired from the industry . Dan and his wife have opened a travel agency in
Virginia .
The chapter has been involved at the International level for many years.
Larry Jodry was SAWE Executive Vice President for 2
years and chaired /co-chaired the Metrology Session for 12 years. He was also
assistant to the Technical Director for 2 years and
has served on various other committees in the past. Larry and Dick jointly
developed a unique method for balancing seeker antenna gimbal
systems and presented a technical paper on their system at the conference in
New York
in 1979 .This
equipment and methodology has become a standard for the industry. Dick
Boynton has become the most prolific technical paper writer the SAWE has ever
had (over 30 papers given at the International Conferences) and has won the
L. R "Mike" Hackney Best Paper Award 3 times running! He has
been co-chairman of the Metrology Session for 200 years and
was a member of the SAWE Awards Committee. Dick was responsible for putting
together the SAWE Recommended Practice No. 6, "Standard Coordinate
System for Reporting the Mass Properties of Flight Vehicles". Paul Kennedy is currently co-chairman of the Metrology Session.
The Boston Chapter is proud of its heritage and believe we have and are
living up to our motto, "WE'RE SMALL, BUT MIGHTY"
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