Dick Nelson Helped Boeing Cross Atlantic, Reach For Moon

If he'd been born in some other millenium, at some other eye-blink in history, Richard Nelson might have been the guy in charge of building a pyramid.

As it was, Dick Nelson took a temporary job at The Boeing Co. in the middle of the Depression. He would go on to manage the design and construction of machines that would take humans into the heavens as they had never gone before: fighter planes that would help the U.S. win World War II; a rocket booster that would heave Neil Armstrong to the moon.

"He was the kind of guy who could take on a big project and get it done," said his son, Buzz, a Boeing test pilot and chief pilot for the Boeing 767. "He was an organizer, a take-charge guy."

Richard Nelson died of heart failure Tuesday (Nov. 14) at Overlake Hospital Medical Center. He was 84.

Mr. Nelson was born in St. Paul, Minn. After receiving a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Minnesota, he moved to Seattle in 1934 to accept a temporary job at The Boeing Co. as the company's 100th engineer.

It was at Boeing that he met Floy Beagles, secretary to Boeing's president at the time. The two married in 1938, built a house in West Seattle and had two children: Richard (Buzz) and Camille.

Mr. Nelson went on to play key roles in major Boeing projects. He helped direct the design and manufacturing of the 314 Clipper that Pan American bought for transoceanic flights, the B-17 "Flying Fortress" that helped win World War II and the Boeing 307 Stratoliner, the world's first pressurized airplane and one of the largest civilian planes of its era.

Mr. Nelson then moved from the airplane side of the business and managed the production of Boeing's first ground-to-air missiles.

In 1961, when Boeing got the contract to help build the Saturn V rocket that powered the Apollo 11 to the moon, Mr. Nelson was put in charge of the manufacturing plant in New Orleans. Boeing built the massive first-stage booster for the rocket - a machine with 7 1/2 million pounds of thrust. The booster was was built in New Orleans so Boeing could barge it to Cape Canaveral in Florida.

In 1969, NASA honored Mr. Nelson with a public-service award for his contribution to the Apollo 11 moon landing.

After leaving New Orleans, the Nelsons returned to the Seattle area and settled in Bellevue. In 1973, he traveled to Russia to promote the peaceful use of space. He retired from Boeing in 1976 but continued to work as as a consultant to NASA on the space shuttle.

Interestingly, Mr. Nelson never received his pilot's license even though his wife earned hers in the 1930s.

Buzz recalled his father as a man who thrived on the challenge of designing and building things. An excellent machinist and mechanic, Mr. Nelson could often be found in his workshop - which his children nicknamed the `Two Cents, New Again Garage' - with his drill press, band saw and lathe, fixing everything from broken toys to appliances and engines hauled over by friends.

Friends and family remember him as an excellent story-teller, a perfectionist and dedicated instructor, and an avid outdoorsman who loved to downhill ski, hunt and fish.

Mr. Nelson was a past board member of the National Rifle Association, primarily interested in competitive shooting, and also was past president of the Steelhead Trout Club of Washington.

"If you went on a camping trip with him, he was always upbeat," said his long-time skiing and fishing buddy, William H. Cook of Bellevue. "It could be raining and blowing and tough, but he could always figure out a way to have fun."

Camille, a stockbroker in Seattle, fondly recalled how she and her father would always stop to get a chocolate ice cream soda at the drug store after he picked her up from her dance class.

"It was always a little bit on the sly," she said. "Dad was always supposed to be slimmer than he was."

Mr. Nelson's wife died in March. He is survived by his son, Buzz; daughter, Camille Uhlir of Seattle; and five grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 6 p.m. Sunday at Boeing's Museum of Flight.