So finally discovery of Suirprise Fighter was a hint for finding a name of YF-23 Chief Configuration Designer. Woahoo!
Mr. Darold B. Cummings (info from http://brainernet.com/index.html)
Mr. Cummings has 38 years experience in aircraft design and
development, product design, and education. He retired from Boeing
as a Technical Fellow in 2004, and started The Center for Innovation,
which focuses on presenting Creativity Workshops to the industry,
universities, and government agencies. He holds twenty four patents
in a variety of fields. In addition to his experience in the United States,
Mr. Cummings has worked with Dasa and RFB in Germany, Bae in
England, Aermacchi and General Avia in Italy, and Promavia in
Belgium. He has also worked with both Mikoyan and Yakovlev (in the
U.S.) on the development of requirements for their new jet trainer
aircraft. Mr. Cummings last position at Boeing was manager of the
Exploratory Concepts Group within Advanced Design/Phantom
Works in Huntington Beach, California.
Mr. Cummings was a configuration designer at Boeing (Heritage
Rockwell) from 1967-1982. During that time he worked on the B-1,
early Stealth aircraft, AFTI, and Low-cost Fighter designs. In 1978 he
was appointed Chief Engineer of the Next Generation Trainer (NGT)
program. In 1988 he joined Northrop Corporation as the Chief
Configuration Designer for the YF-23 Fighter Program. He was also
the Chief Designer for the Northrop Multi-role Fighter and CAS-X
projects. In 1988 he rejoined Boeing (heritage Rockwell) as the Chief
Engineer/Chief Designer of the Ranger 2000 Jet Trainer Program, with
responsibility for designing and building three prototype aircraft for
the USAF/USN fly-off competition. In 1996 he led the team to develop
the Space Maneuver Vehicle (SMV) Flight Demonstration Aircraft,
which flew successfully in August of 1998. From 1998 to 2004, Mr.
Cummings worked on UAV and Deep Strike Aircraft projects. His last
Boeing project was to develop a flying car concept for Dr. Robert
Krieger, president of the Phantom Works. A subscale flying prototype
was developed, and is on display at the Seattle Museum of Flight.
Mr. Cummings has also been a member of the Cal Poly University,
San Luis Obispo, Industry Advisory board for twenty years, and has
assisted the student AIAA design teams for the past ten years.
Professor David Hall at Cal Poly and Mr. Cummings are writing an
aircraft design textbook, which they plan on publishing in 2007. Mr.
Cummings is a current member of AIAA.
Mr. Cummings most interesting hobby is designing, building, and
riding land speed record motorcycles. He currently holds 12 World
Land Speed records, all set at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
Education:
B.S., Industrial Design, California State University, Long Beach, 1967
Security Clearance:
Secret
