I worked at Rocketdyne Canoga Park from 1980 through 1985 as a young engineer fresh out of school. I was assigned to the Space Shuttle (SSME) Turbopump manufacturing group where I earned my hands-on PhD. My teachers and mentors were the men and woman who first powered The USA into space and then to the moon. The tools were simple (but very large) manual machine tools, edm cutting systems, pantograph copying platforms and electroforming (electroplating) processes to form very complex parts. NC was still in development and CNC was still years away.
Myrtle main mentor was "THAT" guy. Frank was a genius. He was Rocketdyne's in-house go-to guy who could solve most any manufacturing problem, find a way to salvage most any part which had a manufacturing discrepancy or develop a new plan to manufacture a new part released from the design office. Frank was a once in a generation talent. I absorbed all I could from his knowledge, wisdom and passion for doing the right thing....no shortcuts were allowed.......EVER! This was a manned flight project we were working on and human lives were on the line.
Throughout my career I used and expanded on everything I learned during those 5 short years. Now at the end of my career, my disappointment is I never found the next "Frank" to pass the knowledge to. I blame this on the new generational work ethic, lack of passion, won't commitment to a common goal or simple lack of inquisitive interest.
New manufacturing technology has pretty much ended the old machine shop methods and processes. I acknowledge we can make better parts with modern design and manufacturing perocsses, 3D printing and everything that will come next. I get it.
My short time at Rocketdyne Canoga Park was life changing and give me a foundation to build my future on. I am forever thankful and blessed to have had Frank as my daily mentor. He was my friend, my teacher and Rocketdyne's "that guy". Godspeed Frank