John William (J.W.) Carr served a lifelong career as a research specialist and electrical engineer, including almost 28 years at Lockheed Missiles & Space Company and Boeing Corporation. Also known as ‘Bill’ Carr, he was a renowned and acknowledged master designer of antennas and RF components in the national defense industry.
A Life Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), he published over 10 papers (U.S. Air Force, Electronic Design News, Microwave Journal, PGMTT, PGI, and PGAP). Of the 20 inventions that he was permitted to disclose, 6 were patented.Bill Carr was born in the small town of Killdeer, North Dakota, on December 27, 1920. During World War II, he served as a radioman in the U.S. Navy (1939-45). After the war, he attended the University of California at Berkeley, Ohio State University, and the University of Southern California. With a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, he devoted the rest of his life to national defense by working as a research specialist for the following employers: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, 1949-51; Gilfillan Brothers, Los Angeles, California, 1951-58; Lockheed Missiles & Space Company, Inc., Sunnyvale, California, 1958-77 and 1982-87; and Boeing Corporation, Seattle, Washington, 1978-82.On September 8, 1992, Bill Carr died from cancer, and was buried at Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, California. He left his memoirs to be edited and published by his daughter, Helen Carr.
The following quotes have been taken from Bill Carr’s Salaried Work Review Statements at Lockheed Missiles & Space Company, Inc. (1984-1986) before he retired:
"This is to commend Bill Carr for his significant contributions to the successful completion of a MK5 reentry body RF test program conducted over the 1985 Thanksgiving Holiday weekend. Because of Bill’s dedication and commitment to support program crucial milestones, this testing program was successfully completed on schedule."
Additional Comments: "Mr. Carr is a recognized expert in his field and unselfishly shares his knowledge while providing guidance to his co-workers. He is a credit to his profession and this Department."
Task Description: "Invent, design, and develop a different type of missile antenna to replace the conventional slot antennas for a fusing radar."
Evaluation and Comments: "Mr. Carr has designed a small efficient antenna for the MK5 Reentry body application that by far outperforms a prior design concept."
Task Description: "Consultant to junior engineers in the department on various R-F problems."
Evaluation and Comments: "Bill is a recognized leader in his field and has unselfishly shared his expertise with our upcoming junior engineers. He has provided valuable assistance and guidance to his co-workers."
Task Description: "Invent, design, and develop two diplexers with relatively small pulse delay time so that, systemwise, we will not be required to go to a separate T/M antenna system."
Evaluation and Comments: "Again, another excellent design effort. This near state-of-the art concept in RF component design satisfies program performance requirements with a minimum of modifications to the operational system."
Comments: "His extreme effort requiring exceptionally long hours over this extended period of time is truly appreciated."
Task Description: "The design of the MK5 Reentry Radar-Telemetry Antenna System is complete and is being successfully put into production."
Evaluation and Comments: "Mr. J.W. Carr is a renowned and acknowledged master designer of antennas and RF components. His talents have recently been commended by both LMSC and the Department of the Navy, SSPO."
Task Description: "Design details of the two diplexers (transmit-transmit and transmit-receive models) have been completed and a vendor has won the production contract."
Evaluation and Comments: "Thru tried and provenddesign techniques, a simple, but with state-of-the-art performance characteristics, diplexer has been built."
Comments: "…J.W. Carr remains by any standard as being one of the very best in his field and we’re very grateful for his contributions. Thanks Bill."
"THIS IS A SPECIAL SALARY ADJUSTMENT: This special salary adjustment is in recognition of Mr. Carr’s exceptional performance while assigned the responsibility of creating a technically superior, highly efficient, but mechanically simple broadband MK5 reentry body antenna that operates across the radar and telemetry bands. He concurrently developed a state-of-the-art stripline diplexing device with previously unachievable signal separations that allows both radar transmitters and receivers to operate simultaneously with telemetry transmissions. His individual efforts and total dedication to this assignment which started in October 1984 and has ended with acceptance of his design by all affected agencies in April 1985. The MK5 reentry body program now boasts a superlative tactical antenna system with improved performance at lower cost but also one that is convertible to instrumented flight applications with minimal modification and no impact to the tactical system…This action is in recognition of exceptional performance not to be considered as a normal salary adjustment contingent upon the usual eligibility requirements on limits involving rate progression, nor does it restrict subsequent salary actions."
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