how everyone looks up to her,” Smith said. “It makes me want to try harder and earn that respect. I owe a great deal to women like her, who came in first. That took a lot of courage.” For Lee, it was more about curiosity than boldness that guided her career. She grew up on a 317-acre (130-hectare) farm. Her father was a mechanical engineer who always repaired everything himself. She developed that same sort of creativity and intuitiveness. Without ever stepping onto an airplane, Lee decided she would pursue the aviation world in college September 2015 55 Trailbla zers Where Eagles dare Nelda Lee never thought of herself as a trailblazer—just someone who did her job as well as she could by da n ral ey As Boeing approaches the start of its second century in July 2016, Frontiers visits with some of the men and women who helped make Boeing a global leader in aerospace. This series highlights the innovation, skill and courage needed when daring to do the impossible. On a misty day in St. Louis on April 29, 1980, an F-15 Eagle took off with Nelda Lee on board. Women had ridden in the jet fighter before, but only as passengers. None had done what Lee, a flight-test engineer for Boeing heritage company McDonnell Douglas, was about to accomplish. Traveling with pilot Gary Jennings on a circuitous route through southern Missouri for maneuvers and into Illinois and back, Lee, a licensed private pilot, became the first female to take the stick and, with Jennings supervising, log flight time on the F-15. “The engine was more powerful than anything I’ve ever flown,” said Lee, who retired from Boeing in 2014. “You have to engage yourself with the airplane. You have to think ahead. If you think, Turn left, it turns left. It’s sensitive. You just become part of it—it was awesome.” As Boeing prepares to celebrate its centennial, Lee is among the many men and women who have made milestone contributions to the company. In her case, the Alabama native has been an aviation trendsetter on multiple levels. She was the only woman in her aerospace classes at Auburn University. She was among the first women design engineers for McDonnell Douglas. She was its first woman flight-test engineer. And, of course, she had her moment in that F-15. Lee has left a deep imprint on those who have followed her into the F-15 and EA-18 assembly and delivery center in St. Louis, influencing different generations of women who now work on the military jets. “She was truly a groundbreaker for us in test flight,” said Joan Desmond, a flight-test engineer and Boeing employee for 29 years. “The impression she left on us was that there was always a way to get it done.” Lexi Smith graduated from Georgia Tech University last December before joining Boeing as a flight-test engineer. It didn’t take her long to learn about Lee and her company legacy. “It’s very inspiring to see her and Photos: (Left) Nelda Lee, with an Advanced F-15, not only helped build and test earlier versions of this jet fighter—she got to fly one. bob ferguson | boeing (Below) Lee learned how to fly while attending Auburn University. courtesy of nelda lee
Frontiers September 2015 Issue
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