L. Eugene Root; Aircraft Industry Leader

L. Eugene Root, pioneer U.S. aircraft builder who led Lockheed Missile & Space Co. to maturity and was a charter member of the RAND think tank, has died. He was 81.

Root died Thursday in a Menlo Park convalescent home after suffering a stroke.

As president of the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences in 1962, Root combined his organization with the American Rocket Society, co-founding the major U.S. aerospace society, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Born in Lewiston, Idaho, Root moved to California with his family and attended the College (now University) of the Pacific on a football scholarship. He later earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering and aeronautical engineering at Caltech. Both institutions later honored him as an outstanding alumnus.

From Caltech, Root went to Douglas Aircraft Co. as assistant chief of aerodynamics. He improved the company’s DC-3 and Dauntless dive bomber and helped design its DC-4E, DC-5 and C-54 passenger planes, Skyraider bombers, Skyrocket research aircraft and the Skyray fighter.

Root did extensive research for the Air Force after World War II, traveling to Germany with the Navy Technical Mission to compile German scientists’ data on advanced jet engines and air intakes. He became one of four charter members of RAND, which was created by Douglas at the request of the Air Force to study strategic bombing needs. The organization later evolved into the nonprofit RAND Corp.

In the early 1950s, Root also helped to create the Air Force’s development planning office in the Pentagon. Frequently a consultant to military leaders, he earned the Air Force’s Exceptional Service Award, the Navy’s Distinguished Public Service Award, and the Public Service Award of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Root joined Lockheed Aircraft Co. in Burbank in 1953 as its first director of corporate planning. At his urging, Lockheed began work in missile and space technology, creating its Missile Systems Division in Van Nuys in 1954.

After securing the contract to build the Navy’s Polaris missile, Root moved the division to Sunnyvale and became its vice president and general manager. The division also built the Agena rocket, the key spacecraft used by NASA.

Root moved to Burbank in 1959 but two years later returned to Sunnyvale as president of the renamed Lockheed Missile & Space Co.

Root retired in 1969 after undergoing open heart surgery.

He is survived by two sons, Kirby of San Jose and Brian of Los Gatos.