In memoriam: Wayne C. 'Bull' Durham, associate professor emeritus of aerospace and ocean engineering
Wayne C. “Bull” Durham, associate professor emeritus who taught in Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering for 14 years, passed away on Oct. 24 in Blacksburg. He was 82 years old.
After graduating in 1965 from the U.S. Naval Academy, Durham served his country as a U.S. Navy pilot. Following two combat tours flying F-8 Crusaders in Vietnam, he attended the Empire Test Pilot School in England. He then conducted two tours as a test pilot for carrier suitability and then as operations officer at the Naval Air Test Center in Patuxent River, Maryland, interspersed with other operational tours. He flew thousands of hours in fighter aircraft ranging from the Gloster Meteor to the Grumman Tomcat.
He received his master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1984 and his doctorate in aerospace engineering from Virginia Tech in 1989.
It was then that he began a second career, joining the faculty of the aerospace and ocean engineering department in 1990.
During his tenure with the university, Durham was a dedicated teacher, counselor, and advisor to many undergraduate and graduate students and a mentor to junior faculty. He taught aircraft flight dynamics and control for a number of years, developed a new Flight Test Techniques undergraduate course, and conducted extensive research into related fields. In 1996, Durham was instrumental in the installation of a manned-flight simulator in Hancock Hall.
Former Virginia Tech faculty member Leigh McCue-Weil remembers how much Durham cared about his students.
“He was a wonderful professor, all around,” she said. “What he did with the flight simulator was amazing, and students really got engaged with the content when they could actually apply it. I can't think of anywhere outside of a military school that taught flight test engineering the way he was teaching it.”
Acquired from the Oceana Naval Air Station, the Navy A-6E Intruder Operational Flight Trainer was modified by Durham’s research group to incorporate a computer controlled flight simulator for many different aircraft models, from a Cessna 152 to a Boeing 737 to an F-18.
Durham and his graduate students developed programming that allowed a plane’s computer system to assess problems caused from flight malfunctions or combat damage, determine how it affected the control of the jet, and then make adjustments accordingly. This gave the students a chance to solve real-world problems and serve in all of the various roles required to flight test an aircraft, from test pilot to test conductor to discipline engineer.
Durham was the author of numerous publications and conference papers on flight dynamics and control, and received a patent for Computationally Efficient Control Allocation for improved maneuverability of military tactical aircraft.
According to Professor Craig Woolsey, Durham’s papers on constrained control allocation are still highly cited today.
“His papers describe how to combine many different inputs to achieve a desired control moment when each input has a limited effect,” said Woolsey. “A current example is an electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft with distributed electric propulsors, each of which has a maximum spin rate.”
“My students who took Bull's graduate course on flight dynamics and control thoroughly enjoyed it, especially on days when he shared stories about flying missions over Vietnam.”
Durham was a senior member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots. He retired from Virginia Tech in 2004 as an associate professor emeritus. After retirement, he proudly collaborated with his former graduate students to publish two textbooks.
Durham remained extremely active until his final days. An avid cyclist, he spent many happy hours with extended bike rides through the New River Valley and completed the 100-mile Mountains of Misery race twice, the last at the age of 65. In his last days in able health, Durham enjoyed strolling the Hahn Horticulture Garden with his dog, Evie. In lieu of flowers, the family has asked for donations to the Hahn Garden be made in his memory.
View the full obituary online.
