Jack N. Funk, Boeing Test Pilot Who Loved Small Planes As Well

When Jack N. Funk was 5 and walking hand-in-hand with his mother across a field, an airplane flew over - a rare occurrence in 1930.

"Mama," he said, "one day I'm going to fly one of those things!"

And fly them he did. At age 18, he joined the Army Air Forces and trained as a fighter pilot. After World War II, he cleared land on the family's Indiana farm and set up a flight school. And by the end of his active-duty stint in the Korean War, he was an engineering test pilot for the Boeing Co.

"For the sheer love of planes, I think he liked the little airplanes best," said his wife of 44 years, Virginia Funk of Medina. "He took me up on our first date in a small plane."

In his early days with Boeing, Mr. Funk, who died May 22 of lung disease at age 70, became test-flight chief for Boeing's Military Division.

Having earned every rating he could, he flew the first craft with a fan-jet engine, the B-52. He also transferred to Germany in 1966 to develop a test program for short-field military aircraft.

By the time he retired in 1985, Mr. Funk, who had a degree in mechanical engineering, had helped Boeing hold many patents, and had managed the preliminary design of cabins in aircraft such as the 747.

His wife rarely worried about his test-flying. Although he was daring, he also was a thoughtful, cautious pilot, she said:

"His mother told me, `Honey, I'd fly on a barn door, if Jack were the pilot.' "

His son, Erik Funk of Arlington, Va., called his father a perfectionist who was calm under pressure and had a wry wit.

"We had one in-flight emergency when we were flying in north-central Florida," said his son.

"He acted calmly and got the plane down" despite oil coating the windshield, smoke filling the cabin, and gas spewing from the overflow ports as the plane set down on its belly in a palmetto hammock.

"We're bouncing along from wing tip to wing tip, Mom and I panicking in the back seat, unfastening our seat belts and getting the doors open," said his son.

"And Dad says, `Look out for snakes.' "

Other survivors include his brother, Jim Funk, Scottsburg, Ind.; his sister, Becky Heitlauf, Okeechobee, Fla.; and two grandchildren.

Services were held. Remembrances may go to the Museum of Flight, 9404 E. Marginal Way S., Seattle, WA, 98108, or to any charity.