Ken Mort helped design world’s largest wind tunnel at Moffett Field
Published in the February 3-16, 2016 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Robert Airoldi
Photo by Robert Airoldi
Ken Mort in the Wings of History Air Museum in San Martin. He still consults with a company that builds vertical wind tunnels for those interested in seeing what it’s like to skydive.
Time won’t slow down for Ken Mort. At 81, the Morgan Hill resident remains an active man. He continues to consult with companies as an aerodynamicist — someone who specializes in aerodynamics — volunteers for the Wings of History Air Museum in San Martin, is working on a book with NASA about the wind tunnel at Ames Research Center, and this year served as a physics/engineering judge in the Citywide Science Fair.
“I like staying busy,” Mort said of his active schedule.
Part of that busy schedule is making sure everyone knows about the Wings of History Air Museum, a nonprofit organization dedicated to aviation history through education, preservation, restoration, and flight.
He joined shortly after moving to Morgan Hill and, for about a decade, has helped the volunteers out with the public relations for the annual open house in May. On that weekend, for a nominal fee, people can tour the hangars and check out some of the old planes, including a replica of the plane the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk. The open house is the nonprofit’s largest fundraiser.
Describing two students who built a helicopter that flew and another student who built a Tesla coil at last month’s Citywide Science Fair, Mort said he was impressed.
“The kids involved in the science fair are smart and they really understood what they are doing,” he said.
Mort began his career with NASA Ames Research Center in the late 1950s at a time when the country was still drafting young men into the military. To avoid getting drafted into the Korean War, he applied for a got a job at the government agency in charge of space exploration and aircraft research.
Ken Mort in front of an old fuselage at the Wings of History Museum in San Martin. Photo by Robert Airoldi
“I really liked it so I stayed for 37 years,” he said with a laugh. During his career he tested some odd machines, including a lot of vertical take-off machines.
One such test involved a flying saucer. In 1960, the Air Force paid a Canadian company to build a flying saucer in a top-secret operation, Mort said.
He and others put it into a wind tunnel with an armed guard watching. It got about two feet off the ground, and couldn’t fly far without pitching upward.
“It was a turkey,” Mort said. “It started as top secret. By the end of the test, it was declassified.”
Today he is writing a history of the wind tunnels in cooperation with NASA as part of the agency’s history series that is published online and free to access.
“It’s a great program and (the wind tunnel history) will be a part of it if I ever get it finished,” he said.
During his career he initially worked in the 40-foot by 80-foot wind tunnel, trying to figure out how to shape vehicles to reduce drag so they flow more smoothly and more efficiently through the air.
Later, he helped build a bigger test facility that eventually came to be a 80-foot by 120-foot tunnel.
Today, it is still the largest wind tunnel in the world. It’s located at Ames just north of the large hangar at Moffett Field.
Mort was born in San Diego and lived there until he was about 5. His father worked for the Federal Communications Commission and flew up and down the West Coast looking for illegal broadcasts.
The family, that included his mother and younger sister, stayed in motels during World War II. Just before the end of the war, the family moved to Sunnyvale. There, his father worked for General Electric and the Voice of America.
A few years later, his parents bought a lot in Menlo Park where they built the family home. Mort lived in the home while attending Stanford University. He graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1956 and a masters in 1957.
He married his wife, Irene, in 1959 and a year later the couple purchased a home in Sunnyvale, near the Ames facility. There, they raised their daughter and the family lived there until 1997, when the then empty-nesters were looking to move to somewhere less congested.
“We looked all over including Gilroy, but we really liked Morgan Hill,” Mort said. “It still has that small-town atmosphere. We didn’t know anyone in Sunnyvale, but here I know lots of people. I’ve met the mayor, council members and other community leaders.”
As a retired man Mort enjoys his volunteer work. But he also craves staying involved in the industry.
Since his retirement in 1995, he hasn’t slowed down. He continues to this day consulting for Sky Venture, a firm that makes wind tunnels for indoor skydiving.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Mort said of consulting. “They’ve built about 30 all over the world.”
In addition, Irene helped start the South Valley Fleurs Garden Club, but the couple always makes sure they sets aside Fridays for lunch.
They both read, and “watch bad movies on Netflix,” he said, laughing. They’ve traveled to China and Australia, and “we’re due for another adventure real soon,” he said.
