Walter J. Schob Jr. was born on May 28th, 1934, in Philadelphia, PA. He was a retired United States Air Force Officer, an experimental test pilot, and an aviation safety instructor who had broad experience in flight testing, aircraft accident investigation, aviation safety education and in the management of aerospace projects.
Mr. Schob received a Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey in 1963 and a Bachelor of Aeronautical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York in 1956.
He was a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, International Society of Air Safety Investigators, Military Officers Association of America and the Daedalians.
Mr. Schob was director of his own company in Morro Bay, CA, Sun Safety, an organization dedicated to furthering the interests of aviation safety. He instructed the art and science of investigating an aircraft accident to find and suggest ways to correct the cause or causes of the accident. If done correctly, these findings and suggestions would prevent an accident with a similar cause from happening again.
He instructed aviation safety and security at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA for 31 years. He taught accident investigation and safety courses in Singapore, Indonesia, Jordan, Portugal, South Africa, the US Air Force Flight Safety Agency, Kirkland AFB, Albuquerque, NM, the School of Aviation Medicine, Brooks AFB, San Antonio, TX (where he was an adjunct faculty member), the National Test Pilot School, Mojave, CA and at Federal Aviation Agency sponsored Flight Instructor Refresher Clinics.
Mr. Schob was a member of the Gamma Tau Chapter of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. He was initiated in 1953 at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York. He was the Vice President of his Chapter in 1955 and graduated from Rensselaer in 1956.
Mr. Schob graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York with a bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1956. While attending Rensselaer, he was a member of the US Air Force Reserve Officer’s Training Corps and received his commission as a Second Lieutenant upon graduation.
He received a Master of Science degree in 1963 from Princeton University, Princeton, NJ. His father was also a Princeton graduate in 1926.
Mr. Schob was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force in June 1956, when he graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York. He received his commission after completing the US Air Force Reserve Officer’s Training Corps program at Rensselaer. He was called to active duty in the US Air Force in December 1957 and retired twenty one years later at Edwards Air Force Base, California as a Lieutenant Colonel.
During his Air Force career he completed pilot training; flew as an air interceptor fighter pilot; published an Air Force base newspaper; graduated from the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School (later renamed the USAF Test Pilot School); was an academic and flight instructor at the Research Pilot School; flight tested a night surveillance and bombing combat system called Tropic Moon in Viet Nam in 1967, amassing over 150 flight hours in the B-57 fighter bomber during his combat tour; flight tested military weapon systems (guns, rockets, and bombs); served as an Air Force Attaché in London, England; was a USAF team member in the procurement, flight testing and operational evaluation of the F-15 fighter designed by MacDonnell Douglas Company, St. Louis, Missouri and commanded a test squadron of test pilots at Edwards AFB, California.
Before retiring from the Air Force in 1978, he served as director of joint test forces at Edwards Air Force Base, California, responsible for the flight testing of such aircraft as the F-15, F-16, A-10, B-1 and the Cruise Missile.
He was a pilot with over 6000 hours in fighters, transports, bombers, helicopters, general aviation aircraft and experimental craft. He held Federal Aviation Agency airplane and helicopter air transport pilot licenses and flight instructor ratings in airplanes, helicopters, gliders and instrument flying.
Mr. Schob had flown many types of airplanes, helicopters and gliders including the US Air Force F-86, F-102, F-106, F-104, F-105, F-5, F-15, T-33, T-38, B-47, B-57, B-52, U-2, H-13, UH-1N and several civilian models of Beech, Cessna, Citabria, Mooney, Piper planes and Blanik and Schweitzer gliders.
Mr. Schob was an avid Scuba diver. He learned to dive and received his license in 1967. He used regular scuba equipment, dry suits and surface supplied air. He was an underwater photographer, underwater aircraft accident investigator and served on underwater recovery teams. He had dived throughout the Pacific in Australia, Hawaii, Indonesia, Kosrae, Malaysia, Ponape, Singapore, Truk, Viet Nam, Yap, and in European and African locations including Egypt, England, France, Germany, Israel, Madeira, Mozambique, Portugal, Scotland, Seychelles Islands, South Africa, and Wales.
Mr. Schob was a volunteer supervisor and crew member at the hyperbaric decompression chamber on Catalina Island in Southern California. Chambers are used to treat underwater diving accidents like the bends and air embolisms. He first started as a crew member in 1985.
He is survived by his wife, Leona, residing in Fort Mill, SC and his children; Don and his wife Angela, residing in Rock Hill, SC, Tod and his wife Stacey, residing in Eastover, NC and George Atanasoff who is the husband of his daughter Liza Atanasoff who has passed and his wife Jackie residing in Fayetteville NC. He was grandfather to ten, Christopher, Rebecca, Elizabeth, Saralyn, Luke, Trinton, Nichole De La Riva, Cody Kelly, Kristen Nicholas and Bryan Derusso.
He was Great Grandfather to seven, Jeremiah, Aaron, Madisyn, Aubree, Ava, Jackson and Reagan Claire.
He was a former member of The El Morro Church of the Nazarene, Los Osos, CA and a former member of St. Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church, Morro Bay, CA.
In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests donations to be made to Morro Bay Senior Citizens Inc. at 1001 Kennedy Way, Morro Bay, CA 93442, 805-772-4421 or mbactivesrs@gmail.com
Condolences may be made at www.greenefueralhome.net