Background
Thurston was born in Mineola, New New York
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David Thurston
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Georgia Institute of Technology.
Career
He also wrote three books about light airplane design: Design for Flying, Design for Safety, and Homebuilt Aircraft. In June 1940 he received a degree in Aeronautical Engineering from New York UniversityNYU. His first employment was with Brewster Aeronautical Corporation where he was a design engineer from May 1940. In May 1942 he joined Grumman Aircraft.
After World World War II, Thurston was involved in the development of three personal type aircraft directly under the Grumman president, Leroy Grumman.
The aircraft included the G-65 Tadpole amphibian, the G-63 and the G-72 Kitten three seat sport airplanes. None of these aircraft entered production, when the post-war personal aircraft market did not boom as predicted.
Thurston became design group leader for the G-79 naval jet fighter, designated F9F Panther by United States Navy. From December 1947 to June 1953 Thurston was in charge of Grumman Rigel guided missile development program followed by the F11F Tiger naval jet fighter.
Thurston died at South Portland, Maine on 10 December 2013.
Membership
At his resignation from Grumman in January 1955, Thurston was in charge of the design and development of propeller driven aircraft at Grumman, being a senior member of a staff responsible for the operation of a 1500 man engineering department.
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Born
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Died
December 10, 2013 (aged 95) -
Nationality
American