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WILLIAM CYRUS MENTZER
1907-1971
BY ROBERT W. RUMMEL
WILLIAM CYRUS MENTZER died on December 23, 1971, at the
Stanford Medical Center in Palo Alto, California. With his passing,
the aviation industry lost one of its most distinguished members a
pioneer in the area of high-speed aircraft and in techniques in
airline engineering maintenance and overhauling of aircraft. He
was highly respected as a leader and innovator by his peers
throughout the field of aviation.
Mr. Mentzer's career spanned the entire period of the develop-
ment of modern transport aviation from the time of the Ford
trimotor to the introduction into service of the giant Boeing 747
aircraft. His personal efforts were recognized as having contrib-
uted to the development of no less than fifty aircraft. It was during
this period that the air transport industry replaced its fledgling
wings and grew to the maturity typified by widespread reliable and
safe air transportation systems. "Bill" Mentzer, as he was known to
all of his friends, personally impacted developments of this period
and left lasting marks of achievement.
William Cyrus Mentzer was born May 27, 1907, at Knoxville,
Iowa. He graduated from the University of Nebraska during the
spring of 1929 with a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism and
from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) during 1931
with a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering. His
early aspiration was to be a journalist. While waiting for a promis-
ing opportunity during the summer of 1929, he took a job as a
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mechanic's helper in the Cheyenne, Wyoming, shops of Boeing Air
Transport, one of the early air carriers that would later become
part of United Air Lines. It was this early exposure to aviation that
shaped the course of"Bill" Mentzer's life. After graduating from
MIT in 1934, he chose to throw his lot with the air transport division
of United Aircraft and Transport, a holding company, from which
United Air Lines emerged.
Mr. Mentzer's progress through United Air Lines was measured
and wholly predictable. He rose from Engineer in 1934 to Senior
Vice-President- Engineering and Maintenance during March
1962. During 1938 he became Chief Engineer, in 1945 Director of
Engineering, in 1946 Vice-President Operations, in 1947 General
Manager of Engineering, in 1958 Vice-President Engineering,
then Senior Vice-President Engineering and Maintenance. At the
peak of his career, Mr. NIentzer headed an organization consisting
of some 6,000 United Air Lines maintenance and engineering
personnel.
In 1935 Mr. Mentzer was assigned by United Air Lines' young
President, W. A. Patterson, the task of writing specifications for an
aircraft that would be larger and faster than any then-existing
transport. This led to the development of the triple-tailed Douglas
DC-4E, a program participated in by five of the leading airlines of
that era. Notwithstanding the intervention of World War II, a
somewhat smaller derivative design, the Douglas DC-4, which di-
rectly reflected earlier Mentzer efforts, emerged and found wide-
spread use throughout the world.
Mr. Mentzer was one of the first aeronautical engineers to apply
scientific methods to the solution of problems encountered in
airline engineering and maintenance operations. This general
methodology is now recognized as a separate discipline and is
generally referred to as operations research or management
science.
In 1940 Mr. Mentzer and H. E. Nourse of United Air Lines, Inc.,
jointly published a paper entitled "Some Economic Aspects of
Transport Aircraft Performance." This paper was a mathematical
model that related airline operating costs to airplane design pa-
rameters. The "Mentzer-Nourse" equations first described in this
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paper have been continuously refined and updated, and today are
in worldwide use as the "ATA Operating Costs" formulas. All this
played an important role in the development of transport aircraft,
which have brought the airline industry to its current level of
efficiency.
Mr. Mentzer's in-depth studies of the basic character of airline
maintenance requirements led to the development of new concepts
of airframe and engine maintenance, overhaul, and inspection.
Implementation of these concepts produced important operating
economics with no degradation in reliability.
During 1957 he received the President's Award, United Air
Lines' highest tribute to an employee, for his outstanding work as
chairman of a committee responsible for integrating the activities
of the entire airline in preparing for operations of the first United
Air Lines jets, the Douglas DC-8's, and Boeing 707's. Transition
from the "piston" era to the jet era involved detailed evaluations
and changes to nearly every facet of every support function of the
airline. It was virtually tantamount to remaking the airline to
efficiently accommodate jet-type aircraft.
Beginning in 1965, Mr. Mentzer chaired the newly formed U.S.
airline Supersonic Aircraft Committee, a committee consisting of
the top-ranking engineering airline officials. This Committee was
requested to assist the Federal Aviation Administration and the
manufacturers in the development of the U.S. supersonic transport
aircraft. It participated in the detailed evaluation of manufacturer
proposed designs and systems in coordination with the Federal
Aviation Administration on the basis of the organized direct partic-
ipation of appropriate airline technical staffs. Mr. Mentzer also
participated in the affairs of the airline "Concorde SST Committee."
Mr. Mentzer, in recognition of his outstanding engineering
accomplishments, was elected a Member of the National Academy
of Engineering in 1968. Before this, during 1967-68, he served as a
Member of the Ad Hoc Committee on Aircraft Operations. He also
accepted membership on the Ad Hoc Study Advisory Committee
on Aeronautics in 1969 and served as a Member of the Aeronautics
and Space Engineering Board of the National Academy of En-
gineering from May 1, 1969, to his passing.
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He also was a Member of the Society of Automotive Engineers, a
Fellow in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics,
and a Member of the Corporation Development Committee of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He served on the Visiting
Committee of the Stanford University School of Medicine and on
the Advisory Committee of the Institute of Transportation and
Traffic Engineering of the University of California.
The Federal Aviation Administration/Department of Transpor-
tation's "Award for Distinguished Service" was presented to Mr.
Mentzer on May 27, 1969, for "effective leadership and counsel" in
support of two areas of aviation activity. One area was his service as
Chairman of the Airline Supersonic Transport Committee and the
other was his leadership in the "development of innovative tech-
niques and maintenance procedures which contribute to air
safety." This award is reserved for those outside of the Federal
Aviation Administration who have made aviation safer, more eco-
nomical, or more efficient.
During 1969, Mr. Mentzer was also presented by his colleagues
in the Air Transport Association of America with their "Nuts and
Bolts Award," the highest award that can be granted by that
Organlzatlon.
In 1972 the Guggenheim Medal was awarded posthumously in
recognition of Mr. Mentzer's "manifold accomplishments in airline
engineering, maintenance, and economic disciplines."
In his private life, he enjoyed a long and happy marriage and a
family of three children William, Jr., Molly, and Sally. He and his
wife traveled widely, which, as a history buff, he especially enjoyed.
William Cyrus Mentzer combined a penetrating and analytical
mind with personal modesty and skill in facilitating cooperation.
The foundations he provided contributed significantly to the evo-
lutionary development of the fine air transportation system en-
joyed today.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
air lines
