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Brigadier General
Daniel H. Daley
Permanent Professor 1967–1984
B.S., Purdue University
M.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dan Daley, the Academy’s 23rd Permanent Professor, was born in Elmira, New York, in 1920. Following his graduation from Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, in 1942 with a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, he was assigned as an Engineering Project Officer in the Power Plant Laboratory at Wright Field, OH. He entered pilot training in 1943 at Brooks Field, TX. After earning his pilot wings, Dan saw duty as a Flight Instructor from 1943 until 1945 at Ellington Field and Randolph Field in TX. He attended Test Pilot School and served as a Test Pilot at Wright Field, OH, in 1945. Later in 1945 Dan began graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, and earned his Master’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1946. The flight test methods and data reduction procedures developed in his thesis research form the basis of the static longitudinal stability test techniques used today in airplane flight testing. Dan was next assigned to the Army Air Forces Institute of Technology at Wright Field as an Assistant Professor, Department of Aerodynamics. He was a member of the nucleus of men who started the Institute in 1946 and developed and taught several of the first courses offered in aeronautical engineering at what is now the Air Force Institute of Technology. He was appointed Acting Head, Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1949, a position he held until 1955. During this time, the department was accredited by the Engineers’ Council for Professional Development (now ABET). While at AFIT, he authored several texts for use in various courses. In 1955 Dan was assigned as a Pilot with the 4930th Support Group, Eniwetok Atoll, in the Pacific Ocean and in 1956 as Pilot and Wing Flying Safety Officer, 483rd Troop Carrier Wing in Japan. From 1958 to 1961 he served as Chief of the Aerodynamics Section in the B-70 Weapons System Project Office, Wright-Patterson AFB. He became a member of the Department of Aeronautics at the Academy in 1961 as an Associate Professor. Dan was active in strengthening the courses offered by the department during his tenure as Associate Professor, Course Director, Chairman of two major departmental curriculum committees, and finally as Professor and Head of the department. One committee’s work led to a curriculum proposal for an Aeronautical Engineering major with options in Aerospace Propulsion, Aerospace Structures, Flight Mechanics, and Aerodynamics. The Aeronautical Engineering major was approved for the Class of 1966. In 1965 Dan was selected by the Pakistan Air Force to assist them in establishing a College of Aeronautical Engineering at Karangi Creek, PAF Station, Karachi, Pakistan. He led the development of the laboratories, curricula, and staff of this first college in Pakistan to teach aeronautical engineers and served as the first Head of the current Department of Aerospace Engineering. Dan was appointed a Permanent Professor in 1967 and returned to lead the Department of Aeronautics. From 1972 to 1974 he served as the Chief Scientist, European Office of Research and Development, Air Force Systems Command, London, England. Dan returned to lead the Aeronautics Department until he was promoted to brigadier general and retired from the USAF in 1984.
Dan co-authored the book Aircraft Engine Design with William H. Heiser and Jack D. Mattingly, which was published in 1987 by the American Institute of Aeronautical and Astronautics, Inc. Dan also has contributed to several other books published by AIAA. Dan was honored as a Distinguished Alumnus of AFIT in 2002. He died in 2018 and is buried in the Air Force Academy Cemetery.