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
