A. J. Smith, 1924 - 2004

The United States and the world soaring community lost a giant in the
history of competition soaring on September 5th 2004, with the passing
of Andrew James Smith. AJ passed away with heart failure at age 80 in
his home in Tecumseh, Michigan. He began soaring in the 1950's with
his close friend Dick Schreder in the Adrian, Michigan and Toledo,
Ohio area. He quickly focused on competition soaring and proceeded to
modify each of his sailplanes for enhanced performance, beginning with
the LO-150 and continuing through the Sisu 1A, ASW 12, and Glasflugel
604. He won the Open Class Nationals in each of these planes from the
early 60's to 1980. AJ represented the USA on four international
teams: England ‘65, Poland ‘68, Marfa Texas ‘70, and Yugoslavia in
‘72. In the '68 contest in Poland, AJ became only the second American
to win a World Gliding Championship, flying an Elfe S-3 in the
Standard Class. Later that year, AJ was inducted into the United
States Soaring Hall of Fame. AJ served as a director of the Soaring
Society of America for more than 15 years.

AJ was a very successful architect in the Detroit area, owning his own
major firm (Smith and Gardner) that designed many award-winning
structures from airport terminals to major office complexes across the
US. AJ's artistic flare from his architecture background, combined
with his engineering knowledge of sailplane aerodynamics, enabled him
to design an extremely efficient racing airplane in the early 80's
which rocked the racing world of the Experimental Aircraft
Association. The plane, the "AJ-2", was designed to compete in a new
efficiency race, the Oshkosh 500, sponsored by the EAA. The plane
dominated the race from its first entry in 1981 through the following
seven years. The sponsors of the race eventually changed the race
rules, rendering the plane no longer competitive. The plane is now
headed to the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum.

AJ grew up in Tecumseh, graduating from Tecumseh High School in 1942.
After high school, AJ worked for NACA (now NASA) as a model-builder at
Langley Field, Virginia. He then served in the Navy during WWII,
flying Corsairs off aircraft carriers for two years in the Atlantic.
From 1946-1951, he attended the University of Michigan, acquiring an
architectural engineering degree.

Although AJ had not been active in soaring for several years, he
always stayed abreast of the competition scene and the development of
new-generation sailplanes. His heart was - and will always be - with
the competition soaring pilot.

There will be a Pilot's Gathering in AJ's honor on Saturday October
16th, beginning at 2:00 p.m. at Meyers-Diver's Airport (3TE) in
Tecumseh, Michigan. All welcome. 517-423-8040