ALABAMA AVIATION HALL OF FAME
CALVIN D. SHOEMAKER
Calvin D. Shoemaker is a native of Pleasant Grove, Jefferson County, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham. His ancestors have lived in Alabama, and in the area of Pleasant Grove, for many generations. His great-grandfather was a Captain in the Confederate army.He had a normal childhood in his suburban hometown , attending elementary school at Summit Hill School , and High School at Hueytown High. He was water boy on the 1939 baseball team, and graduated in 1941.
War clouds were gathering, and young Cal joined the Navy, where he hoped to get into aviation. He was stationed at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola as a seaman, and had his first ride in a Navy plane, an OS2U Kingfisher which was catapulted off of the dock
.
He applied for training as a Navy pilot, and had good reason to believe he would be accepted, when Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 resulted in a mass transfer of naval personnel to the Pacific. Cal rapidly progressed through the enlisted ranks and became a Warrant Officer. In 1943, he was accepted for flight training, after turning down a chance for an appointment to the Naval Academy, and was sent back to the United States for Pre-Flight education and flight training. He received his Wings of Gold and his commission as an Ensign in 1945, one day after the Japanese surrender and World War II ended.
He was assigned to a TBM Avenger squadron which was based at Ft. Lauderdale, when Flight 19 of his squadron lost 5 planes and 19 men in a famous disappearance in bad weather during a night training flight over the Atlantic, east of Ft. Lauderdale. . Cal had been scheduled for that flight; but, due to a malfunction in one of the planes, he did not go. Otherwise, he also would have been lost, and this story would end here.
He was assigned duties on the west coast, flying Hellcats and Corsairs, as well as the TBM. He met Marcelle Senecal in Los Angeles, and they were married in 1946. . Cal served out his obligated Naval service in this immediate postwar period, and then elected to return to civilian life in Birmingham. He worked for U.S. Steel for about two years, and was active in the Birmingham Naval Air Reserve Unit. He decided to go back into aviation full time, and returned to the west coast, where he was hired by Douglas Aircraft Company as a production test pilot for the AD Skyraider series , and was test pilot for their transition to jet aircraft production. He worked for Douglas for 13 years, during which time he was sent to enroll as a civilian at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School at Patuxent, Maryland because of the large amount of testing he was performing for Douglas on military aircraft. He was in Class #12, which included Major John Glenn, and two future Admirals, T.B. Hayward, who would become Chief of Naval Operations, and J. B. Stockdale, famous as a Vietnam POW. While there, Cal was a founding member (Pictures #17 and # 18) of the international Society of Test Pilots.
In 1963, Cal joined Lockheed, to help develop research plans for the following five, ten and 20 years. As it developed, he spent much of his Lockheed time selling the L-1011 to potential overseas clients, as well as serving some short tours in Vietnam. After leaving Lockheed, he entered into a phase of his career which has resulted in the development and implementation of one of the greatest innovations in global navigation since the invention of the compass. He spent thirteen years working with our Department of Defense, NASA, and NATO in the development of the Global Positioning System, known to all as GPS. The first years were involved with all phases of the system. Then he was assigned as Manager of Human Factors Engineering, and Manager of Operations Application for the User Segment. After his worldwide inspections, the 26+2 satellite constellation and the Global Positioning System itself was declared operational. Having completed his work on the GPS, Cal decided to retire.
From bat boy at Hueytown High School, to his first passenger flight in a n OS2U Kingfisher,to outstanding test pilot, to pioneer developer of the Global Positioning System, Calvin D. Shoemaker has come a long way. Because of his outstanding contributions to aviation and especially to the technology of navigation, he is now inducted into The Alabama Aviation Hall of Fame.
War clouds were gathering, and young Cal joined the Navy, where he hoped to get into aviation. He was stationed at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola as a seaman, and had his first ride in a Navy plane, an OS2U Kingfisher which was catapulted off of the dock
.
He applied for training as a Navy pilot, and had good reason to believe he would be accepted, when Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 resulted in a mass transfer of naval personnel to the Pacific. Cal rapidly progressed through the enlisted ranks and became a Warrant Officer. In 1943, he was accepted for flight training, after turning down a chance for an appointment to the Naval Academy, and was sent back to the United States for Pre-Flight education and flight training. He received his Wings of Gold and his commission as an Ensign in 1945, one day after the Japanese surrender and World War II ended.
He was assigned to a TBM Avenger squadron which was based at Ft. Lauderdale, when Flight 19 of his squadron lost 5 planes and 19 men in a famous disappearance in bad weather during a night training flight over the Atlantic, east of Ft. Lauderdale. . Cal had been scheduled for that flight; but, due to a malfunction in one of the planes, he did not go. Otherwise, he also would have been lost, and this story would end here.
He was assigned duties on the west coast, flying Hellcats and Corsairs, as well as the TBM. He met Marcelle Senecal in Los Angeles, and they were married in 1946. . Cal served out his obligated Naval service in this immediate postwar period, and then elected to return to civilian life in Birmingham. He worked for U.S. Steel for about two years, and was active in the Birmingham Naval Air Reserve Unit. He decided to go back into aviation full time, and returned to the west coast, where he was hired by Douglas Aircraft Company as a production test pilot for the AD Skyraider series , and was test pilot for their transition to jet aircraft production. He worked for Douglas for 13 years, during which time he was sent to enroll as a civilian at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School at Patuxent, Maryland because of the large amount of testing he was performing for Douglas on military aircraft. He was in Class #12, which included Major John Glenn, and two future Admirals, T.B. Hayward, who would become Chief of Naval Operations, and J. B. Stockdale, famous as a Vietnam POW. While there, Cal was a founding member (Pictures #17 and # 18) of the international Society of Test Pilots.
In 1963, Cal joined Lockheed, to help develop research plans for the following five, ten and 20 years. As it developed, he spent much of his Lockheed time selling the L-1011 to potential overseas clients, as well as serving some short tours in Vietnam. After leaving Lockheed, he entered into a phase of his career which has resulted in the development and implementation of one of the greatest innovations in global navigation since the invention of the compass. He spent thirteen years working with our Department of Defense, NASA, and NATO in the development of the Global Positioning System, known to all as GPS. The first years were involved with all phases of the system. Then he was assigned as Manager of Human Factors Engineering, and Manager of Operations Application for the User Segment. After his worldwide inspections, the 26+2 satellite constellation and the Global Positioning System itself was declared operational. Having completed his work on the GPS, Cal decided to retire.
From bat boy at Hueytown High School, to his first passenger flight in a n OS2U Kingfisher,to outstanding test pilot, to pioneer developer of the Global Positioning System, Calvin D. Shoemaker has come a long way. Because of his outstanding contributions to aviation and especially to the technology of navigation, he is now inducted into The Alabama Aviation Hall of Fame.
