At the Fort Worth International Airshow in 2002, Mr. Hillaker talks about the aircraft he designed while working for General Dynamics in Fort Worth. F-16s used by the Air Force Thunderbirds are in the background. "Harry’s legacy is an incredible aircraft that . . . continues to be in demand today after 30 years of production," said Ralph Heath, president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. STAR-TELEGRAM ARCHIVES/IAN McVEAF-16’s Developer, Harry J. Hillaker, Dies At 89 -- Star Telegram
General Dynamics engineer helped design the legendary fighter jet
It was a chance meeting in a bar with a loudmouthed Air Force fighter pilot that set Harry J. Hillaker on a path that led to the design of the F-16 fighter jet, arguably the best military airplane of the jet age.
Mr. Hillaker, an aeronautical engineer at General Dynamics for 44 years and known to many as the "Father of the F-16," died Sunday at his home in Fort Worth. He was 89.
As a senior engineer at General Dynamics’ Fort Worth aircraft plant in the 1960s, Mr. Hillaker led a design team that worked, secretively at first, with a small group of Pentagon insurgents to turn a collection of ideas, theories and concepts into what would become the F-16.
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My Comment: The plane that he designed will still be flown in aeronautical shows decades from now.