Sherman Fairchild

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Sherman Mills Fairchild (b. April 7, 1896 in Oneonta, New York-d. March 28, 1971) was an inventor (with 30 patents) and serial entrepreneur who founded such companies as Fairchild Aviation, Fairchild-Strato, Fairchild-Hiller, Fairchild Recording, Fairchild Industries and Fairchild Camera and Instrument. His Fairchild Semiconductor company played a defining role in the development of Silicon Valley and its business culture. He was also a co-founder of Pan American Airlines and American Airlines and the original developer of Republic Airport.

1 Family
2 Fairchild Firsts
3 Fairchild Aerial Surveys
4 Traitorous Eight
5 Hogan's Heroes
6 Personal Life
7 Estate
8 Buriel
9 Books
10 See also
11 References
12 External links

[edit] Family

His father, one of nine children, was George Winthrop Fairchild, a Congressman and co-founder of IBM and its first Chairman. His mother was Josephine Mills Sherman, daughter of William Sherman, of Davenport, Iowa. Up until her marriage she had lived most of her life with her uncle, Dr. Gilchrist, a wealthy physician. She died January 24, 1924. He was a direct descendant of Thomas Fairchild, who settled in Stratford, Connecticut, in 1632. On the maternal side of his father he was a great-great-grandson of Thomas Morenus, a soldier of the Revolution, and great-grandson of Jeremiah Morenus, a soldier of the War of 1812. Both these ancestors are buried in hallowed ground in Oneonta. As an only child he inherited his father's multi-million dollar estate when his father died on December 31, 1925. He would also inherited his father's IBM stock, became a Director of IBM in 1925 and remained IBM's largest individual stockholder and a director until his death in 1971.

Sherman Fairchild matriculated at Harvard University in 1915 where, in his freshman year, he invented the flash camera. He also contracted tuberculosis. Under the advice of his physician, he moved to Arizona to recover in the drier climate and transferred his enrollment to the University of Arizona. There he learned about aerial photography. He would later transfer to Columbia University. To assist the military in World War I, he developed a new shutter mechanism for aerial cameras, although the war ended before he was finished. He successfully sold two high speed cameras in 1919 to the military. He lost $30,000 on the deal, but, undaunted by this setback, he left Columbia University to further develop the shutter technology and won sufficient military contracts to establish Fairchild Aerial Camera Corporation, the predecessor of Fairchild Camera and Instrument, on February 11, 1920.

[edit] Fairchild Firsts

First large, high speed, between-the-lens shutter for aerial cameras. This 1920 Fairchild invention made accurate aerial mappingpossible for the first time.
First aerial mapping of all five boroughs of the City of New York. This aerial survey was undertaken in 1924.
First commercially successful cabin monoplane built in the United States. Between 1927 and 1930, the Fairchild Aviation Corporation delivered more than 300 of its FC-2 series and became the nation's largest manufacturer of commercial aircraft of the period.
First aircraft specifically designed to airline specifications. The model 100-A Pilgrim was built in 1931 for American Airways (now American

Airlines).

First all-metal, semi-monocoque transport aircraft. Initially tested in 1932, the Model 150 also was the first transport capable of exceeding 200 mph.
First air-cooled in-line engine with pressure cooling. Development of the 6- and 12-cylinder Ranger series engines started in the early 1930s.
First successful aircraft radio compasses. The Kreusi radio compass was introduced in 1935 and more than 10,000 had been delivered by the time production ended in 1947.
First U. S. Army aircraft specifically designed to carry military cargo. The only one of its kind, the XC-31 was delivered to the Army in 1936.
Pioneered application of composite structures to airframe design and production. The adhesive bonding processes and techniques developed during the mid-1930s are still followed in the manufacture of composite structures today.
First nine-lens mapping camera. It was built for the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1936.
First practical low-wing primary military trainer. The Fairchild PT-19 won an Air Corps competition over 17 aircraft in 1939. More than 8,000 PT-19s were built for the military services of U. S. and allied nations during World War II.
First lead computing gunsight for aircraft. It was developed in 1941 for installation on B-24 bombers.
First photographic, multiple-exposure flight analyzer for accurate recording and measurement of aircraft flight paths. Development of this complex and widely used camera started in the 1930s and was finally completed in the late 1940s.
First successful military transport specifically designed to accommodate the post-World War II concept of an all-air Army. The Fairchild C-82 and C-119 series pioneered the large-scale aerial delivery of military equipment and supplies.
First integrated, pod-mounted photo reconnaissance system. It was developed for the B-58 bomber.
First U. S.-produced turbine-powered airliner to enter commercial service. Fairchild started production of the F-27 in 1957 and delivered 206 of the F-27, FH-227 series to U. S. airlines.

In his later years, Fairchild became increasingly involved in the emerging semi-conductor field. Although not directly related to aerospace applications semi-conductors helped to revolutionize both airborne and spaceborne electronics. The use of semi-conductors not only permitted a high degree of miniaturization -in aerospace systems but also significantly increased the reliability of those systems. Notable achievements in this field included:

Development of the Planar process for the manufacture of semi-conductors. Following its introduction in 1959, the process immediately became the industry standard.
First monolithic integrated circuit. This was developed in 1961.
First semi-conductor memory for high speed computer applications. Following development in 1970, the memory was incorporated in the ILLIACIIII at NASA Ames Research Center.

It is an understatement to describe Fairchild's range of interests as incredibly varied. In addition to photography, aviation and electronics, he was also a successful entrepreneur in photoengraving and sound recording. An inventor who held more than 30 patents, he also was one of the nation's leading industrialists. Yet he never lost his zest for invention or his interest in technology. It was his nature to take a problem and develop a product to solve it. It was this characteristic which led to the start of his first business venture. He had been taking engineering courses at Columbia University when, during World War I, he volunteered his services to the Signal Corps as a civilian expert in photography. It was then that he first encountered an aerial cameraand the problem of image distortion in aerial photography.

He spent the better part of the next two years devising a solution to the problem. The result was the world's first successful aerial camera shutter. The between-the-lens shutter exposed the film frame all at once as the camera mounted in the airplane moved through the air, thus eliminating the image distortion which had previously prevented accurate aerial mapping. On February 9, 1920, at the age of 24 he founded the Fairchild Aerial Camera Corporation. Fairchild's cameras soon became the world's standard. Since, they have been employed by commercial firms, the military services and government agencies to map all of the United States, South America, millions of square miles of other continents and, via the Apollo 15, 16 and 17 missions, more than 50 per cent of the surface of the moon. In 1925, Fairchild formed the Fairchild Aviation Corporation to manufacture airplanes. He considered the freezing cold, open cockpit biplanes of the time unsatisfactory aerial mapping platforms. Characteristically, he believed there should be a better way. With typical practicality, he produced the FC-1, a high wing, enclosed cabin monoplane. The FC-1 was not only an excellent camera platform, it incorporated such technological innovations as folding wings as well as slots and ailerons used as flaps for greater stability. It has been termed the first airplane with predictable flying characteristics.

Among those early Fairchild-built planes which gained fame was "The City of New York," a Model FC-2W which in 1928 circumnavigated the globe in a record-breaking 23 days and 15 hours. Another highly publicized FC-2W was the "Flying Telephone Booth," delivered in 1928 to the Bell Telephone Laboratories. In a little more than two years, it made 1,613 flights carrying practically all of the well-known aviation figures of the day for demonstrations of the new two-way radio that soon made possible regularly scheduled air transportation. Still another was the '--stars and Stripes," the photo reconnaissance plane for Admiral Byrd's 1928-29 Antarctic Expedition, which made the first flight from the Antarctic continent.

In 1936, the Fairchild Airplane Corporation was reorganized into two major and distinct corporations. One has become Fairchild Industries, today a diversified aerospace and communications company. It includes in its corporate structure a complex of famous aviation names and companies which have manufactured and delivered nearly 40,000 aircraft of all types to military and civilian users throughout the world The other has become Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation. It too is known worldwide and today produces photographic and electro-optical imaging systems, electronic timing and control systems, RF systems including electronic countermeasures and frequency management, electronic data systems and secure communications systems. ^[1]

[edit] Fairchild Aerial Surveys

In 1927 Sherman established Fairchild Aerial Surveys, Inc. With the cameras he developed for aerial photography with his Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation he used he creative genius and started out to survey the world from the sky and he did. The result is the "Fairchild Aerial Photography Collection at Wittier College. "The Fairchild Aerial Photography Collection at Whittier College is one of the largest libraries of aerial photographs in North America. The Collection is estimated to consist of at least 500,000 items, including prints, negatives, photoindices, and photomosaics. All of the photographs in the Collection were produced by Fairchild Aerial Surveys, Inc., or its subsidiaries and contractors during the period of 1927-1965, and are mostly black-and-white, vertical images." "The company remained in business until 1965 when Fairchild sold it to Aero Services, Inc., which decided to keep most of the more recent photographs taken by Fairchild and dispose of the older materials. Upon learning of this plan, a former Fairchild employee contacted three Southern California professors who frequently used the Fairchild materials. We have former professor Beach Leighton to thank for making sure Whittier College picked up the largest share of materials, and probably the most valuable -- black-and-white vertical aerial photographic images." "UCLA and California State University at Northridge also acquired portions of the materials. The prints that Aero Services retained were later acquired by Teledyne Corp., who donated them to the University of California at Santa Barbara. Whittier College later obtained many of UCLA's vertical Fairchild photos in 1984."

His interests in aerial photography led in 1927 to the development of airplanes and the establishment of Fairchild Aviation, which sold thousands of airplanes. The first model featured two innovations: folding wings and an enclosed heated cabin. Fairchild airplanes would play major roles in the military, ferrying, freighting, and surveying industries prior to World War II, and an even bigger role during World War II [1] when over 8000 of the Fairchild PT-19 trainers were used by Air Force pilots. Other Fairchild planes included the AT-21 Gunner, the C-82 Packet, the C-119 Flying Boxcar used in the Korean War, and the C-123 Provider.

[edit] Traitorous Eight

In 1957, eight men, Gordon Moore, Sheldon Roberts, Eugene Kleiner, Robert Noyce, Victor Grinich, Julius Blank, Jean Hoerni, and Jay Last, working for William Shockley at his seminal semiconductor company approached Fairchild Camera and Instrument to continue their research in solid-state transistors. This group, later branded by Shockley as the "Traitorous Eight", wanted to leave Shockley because of his poor management style. Sherman Fairchild agreed to back them financially, and thus Fairchild Semiconductor went on to become a leading force in Silicon Valley and an incubator which would spawn many of today's leading technology companies, such as Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, and National Semiconductor, which themselves would spawn other companies that spawned yet more other companies.

[edit] Hogan's Heroes

In 1968, eight men left Motorola led by Lester Hogan and including Jerry Sanders joined Fairchild Camera and Instrument. They became known as "Hogan's Heroes". Motorola sued. The case is best described in "Seven Deadly IP Sin'.

Similarly, in Motorola, Inc. v. Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corp., 366 F. Supp. 1173 (D. Ariz. 1973), Motorola accused its officer and director Dr. Lester Hogan of enticing seven other senior Motorola officers and managers to join him at Fairchild Semiconductor. However, the District Court held that Fairchild's hiring of Hogan and the others was perfectly okay:

"The evidence does not lead the Court to believe or find that there was any conspiracy by Fairchild Camera, Sherman Fairchild, Walter Burke and Dr. Hogan, or any of them, to injure Motorola by enticing away its employees. Each of the seven other employee defendants (Dwork, Blanchette, Scalise, Procassini, Lehner, Hinkelman and Corrigan) resigned from Motorola for his own individual reason; each independently applied for employment at Fairchild and negotiated his own financial deal. Some went because of friendship with Dr. Hogan and a desire to continue to work with him personally, some for the challenge of a new job. There is no evidence of any conspiracy involving these seven men or collusion for the purpose of injuring Motorola. Each knew that there was a competent and adequate replacement for his position at Motorola, and the subsequent performance of their replacements adequately bears them out." 5

[edit] Personal Life

Sherman Mills Fairchild, Shelly to his friends, grew up in the college town of Oneonta. Hartwich College and the State University of N.Y. College provided a steady stream of girlfriends for the only son of the richest man in town, In later life his black book of girlfriends was legendary among New York social circles. In 1960 he gave an interview to TIME magazine, appeared on the cover, and talked about his personal life.

"A big part of Fairchild Camera's magic lies in the man who lent it—and several other companies—his name: Sherman Mills Fairchild, 64. Fairchild talks about his present and future products with all the excitement of a 20-year-old with his first sports car. He is the epitome of the new scientist-businessman-inventor who is the driving force behind the success of the growth and glamour stocks. Cut from the same Yankee tinkerer mold as Ben Franklin, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, he never got an engineering degree—yet has more than two dozen patents in his name. He flatly says, "I have no urge to make money"—yet has piled up a fortune of more than $80 million.

His interests range far beyond science and business. His love for popular music led him to found the Fairchild Recording Equipment Corp., a high-quality manufacturer of sound reproduction products. His enthusiasms include architecture (he helped design his own house), cooking (he studied at Paris' Cordon Bleu cooking school), jazz (he plays a competent hot piano), dancing, philosophy, tennis and—since he is one of Manhattan's most eligible bachelors—beautiful women. Almost anything can touch off a new interest: irritated one day at the way his matches blew out in the wind while he tried to light a cigarette, he designed a match that could not be blown out (by cutting a slot below the matchhead for air currents to pass through).

Gravel for Grass. Sherman Fairchild amply meets his own definition of managers with vision. "If you can do constructive thinking along unorthodox lines in business," says IBM President Thomas Watson Jr., "you have it made. Sherman Fairchild is able to think along unorthodox lines." Fairchild's departure from orthodoxy begins right at the front door of his town house on Manhattan's East 65th Street, where he conducts all the affairs of his companies. The house is the height of a three-story house, but actually contains six levels built around an inner courtyard. Instead of staircases, long, floating ramps connect the staggered floors. In the midst of Manhattan's bustle, the soundproofed, air-conditioned house is a quiet and sunny refuge whose ten rooms are filled with evidences of Fairchild's fertile mind. These range from green courtyard gravel that looks like grass (he had stones coated with green ceramic) to a complete control booth for recording in his lavish living room, and louvered shutters fronting the street that can be opened or closed by pressing a button. Fairchild once kept an office in Rockefeller Center, but moved to his home for convenience after a major intestinal operation (a colostomy). His condition has not slowed his pace. He receives a steady flow of visitors at his dining-room table, experiments with sound in his control room^ with color in his photography room, with new components for cameras and rec ords in his basement workshop. He keeps a mechanic busy in a Long Island labora tory translating his ideas into working models.

Fairchild is a prodigious reader who subscribes to more than 200 technical and general publications, tears out articles, jots notations on them and shoots them off to officials of his companies. He dictates a steady stream of letters (about 80 over a normal weekend) into tape recorders scattered through the house, has them typed by secretaries working in two shifts in a basement office.

No Ponies, No Yachts. With all his wealth, Fairchild leads an expensively simple life: "I have no yachts, no polo ponies, no house on the Riviera." But he does have a ten-room chateau-type second home at Huntington, L.I., where he plays tennis on a $25,000 enclosed court. Fairchild is a friend of and frequent host to jazz musicians, recently threw a party for Old Friend Hoagy (Star Dust) Carmichael. At such parties, Fairchild likes to get into his control booth and record performances, mix drinks at his bar (he drinks little himself), or rustle up a quick meal for his guests. His current favorite: a recipe he picked up in Italy for dumplings made with ricotta (Italian cottage cheese) and ground spinach.

Well-meaning friends are constantly introducing him to pretty young women. Fairchild usually takes them to dinner, sometimes gets so involved in a technical or musical discussion with friends that the girl is left to stare vacantly at the wall. His maiden aunt, May, in her 80s, lives with him. "I don't know why I haven't gotten married," he says. "Perhaps it's that I've been so busy. Let's hope it isn't too late. I'm not a bachelor by conviction. I think I am very unfortunate." ^[2]

Sherman Mills Fairchild never married and fathered no known children.

[edit] Estate

According to a New York Times story on April 3, 1971 Fairchild left a 200+ Million Dollar Estate most to two charitable foundations he formed during his lifetime, the Fairchild Foundation and the Sherman Fairchild Foundation. His largest individual bequest, 19 Million or 15% of the net estate, whichever is greater--was to Walter Burke of Winding Lane, Greenwich, Conn. Mr. Burke, the executor was a long-time friend and business advisor. Other bequests included were Ann Diane Williams of Beverley Hills, California, $2-million, or 1% of the net estate, whichever is greater; Cornelia Lynn Sharp of 111 East 75th Street, $200,000, and Roswell Gilpatric of 79 East 79th Street, $100,000. Specific bequests to organizations were Roosevelt Hospital, $300,000; the Salvation Army, $200,000 and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, in memory of his late aunt, May Fairchild; $100.000. His will was offered for probate in Manhatten Surrogate's Court by the law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamiltion of New York. Mr Fairchild died at Roosevelt Hospital, NY after a long illness. He left bequests to more than 50 relatives, friends and former employees. The Sherman Fairchild Foundation assets have grown to over 500 Million in recent years and is headquartered in Chevy Chase, MD. The Walter Burke family continue to run the Sherman Fairchild Foundation. Bonnie Burke Himmelman is the current president.

[edit] Buriel

After his death on March 28, 1971 Sherman Mills Fairchild was laid to rest in Greenwood Cementery in Oneonta, Otsego County, N.Y. He is buried within walking distance of the home he grew up in, in the town where he was born and raised. He sold his childhood family home in 1929 to the Masons and it became the Oneonta Masonic Lodge. His home and the town he grew up in remain unchanged.

As a result of his achievements, he was awarded fellowships in the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences and in the Royal Aeronautical Society, as well as accolades by the Smithsonian Institution.

[edit] Books

Thomas J. Campanella-Cities from the Sky: An Aerial Portrait of America-ISBN-10:156892992, ISBN-13:15668982991, Princeton Architectural Press: 1 edition (November 26, 2001)
Wayne G. Broehl-The Sherman Fairchild Foundation, 1955-1993-(Unknown Binding) ASIN: B0006P19WA, The Foundation

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[2] 1960 TIME Interview

[edit] External links

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