NO SUCH THING AS GOOD ENOUGH
By Kaitlin Wright
On October 22, 1998, Orbital Sciences Corporation launched the Pegasus rocket into orbit. With it, NASA’s Pegasus Hypersonic Experimental Project (PHYSX), a specially contoured “glove” attached to the Pegasus wing, measured laminar and turbulent flow at speeds reaching Mach 8.
While the rocket blasted off the coast of Cape Canaveral in Florida, researchers on the opposite side of the country at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base in California waited to hear of its success. Little do most people know that one such researcher began her NASA career by flying and designing model aircraft.
Early NASA work and obsession with precision
In the years leading up to the Pegasus launch, Lesli Monforton and a team of technicians worked on the predecessor to the final glove. Searching for ways to solve a problem where airflow tripped over the surface and produced inaccurate temperature, airflow, and pressure data, Lesli and a fellow technician spent hours polishing a nickel-plated steel surface to a finish of 35 microinches.
Gerald Budd, PHYSX project manager, remembers peering over the smooth metal surface with Lesli and one of NASA Langley Research Center’s chief scientists, Dennis Bushnell. In a moment of captivated silence, Gerald noticed both the text on the insulation of the 40-foot ceiling and Bushnell’s atypical smile of satisfaction. Lesli’s designs and craftsmanship often elicited awed reactions. Gerald later remarked, “Lesli was obsessive ... there was no such thing as good enough.”
From model airplanes to a lifelong passion
Getting her start in aviation by toying with model airplanes, Lesli turned a hobby into a lifelong pursuit. Her father worked for Hughes Aviation Company in Glendale, California, and she started flying model airplanes as a teenager. That fixation on flight motivated much of her life.
After high school, Lesli—who at the time was known as Ronald Gilman—joined the Navy. In 1967, while stationed at Naval Air Station Lemoore in California, she went through electronic systems training for the A-7s. The Navy didn’t plan for her to fly, but that was all she wanted to do. After her training officer, Ron Scaggs, saw Lesli flying model airplanes around the base, efforts to transfer her from Aviation Technician (AT) to Aircrewman (AW) went into full effect.
While stationed at Lemoore, Lesli and her training officer Ron frequented a local coffee shop and introduced the owner’s son to RC racing. Modeling offered the two service members a creative outlet in an otherwise regimented world, and they loved teaching others about their passions.
Rusty Van Baren, designer of the Miss Ashley II seen at competitions today, said Lesli took him through the steps of building his first RC airplane. “We learned a lot together. She taught me skills that a lot of people don’t realize ... she taught me to design airplanes of my own.” Rusty added, “She thought outside the box, in another paradigm, so to speak. Her craftsmanship and skills were second to none.”
Competitive success and craftsmanship
After serving aboard an aircraft carrier and then ending her enlistment working with the P-3s in Hawaii, Lesli completed a bachelor’s degree in accounting at California State University, Fresno. Accounting did not hold her like aviation did. She began working at California Model Supply in Van Nuys and built airplanes for competitive pylon-racing contestants. Her work eventually led to a position as president of one of the region’s well-known hobby shops. Bill Bennett of Circus Circus Hobbies hired Lesli to handle import and export of model supplies, and she designed and piloted airplanes for Circus Hobbies’ competitive RC racing team.
Lesli told Bill that to be successful the team needed Rusty to call for them during races. As the first fully sponsored team in model racing, Circus Hobbies competed across the country. Lesli designed a pink, white, and blue DeNight Special and flew it under the memorable Circus Hobbies clown insignia from 1978 through 1981.
Lesli’s racing career had many high points. In one race she broke the world record for Formula 1 racing by seven seconds, lapping two previous national champions. The dramatic improvement led competitors to wonder if she had missed one of her 10 laps. Further investigation revealed the precise design of Lesli’s hand-carved propellers as the secret to her success. “She was very meticulous and built planes that were better, straighter, and faster,” commented Jim Kimbro, who competed against Lesli into the late 1980s.
Lesli’s craftsmanship caught the attention of many well-known model aviation figures, including Joe Bridi of Bridi Airplane Kits. Joe had known Lesli for 20 years and said she built some of his prototypes, including the Dirty Birdy. “As far as building airplanes, there was nobody better than her. The work was first class all the way around.”
In 1990, competing with an F-86 Sabre jet model, Lesli won Top Gun as well as the award for Best Color and Marking at the contest in Mesa, Arizona. She perfectly replicated the patriotic Skyblazers colors on her model down to painting the pilot’s name on the canopy skirt. Details like this demonstrated Lesli’s commitment to design and helped later secure her NASA job.
Transition to NASA and broader impact
NASA project manager Gerald Budd brought one of Lesli's model airplanes to work and set it on the NASA center director's desk. The model's extremely smooth finish and impeccable design were the evidence the director needed; Lesli was hired within the month.
Lesli had the special gratification of doing what she loved and essentially never working a day in her life. Transforming a hobby into an influential career, she once said, “Growing up, I started flying models and I said, ‘well geez, we ought to be able to put these to work.’ Models are cheaper and they add a level of safety that you can't get using manned vehicles.”
She promoted her work through organizations such as the Muroc Model Masters RC club, affiliated with the Academy of Model Aeronautics. Because of its location on Edwards AFB, many young airmen showed interest in the club. Ron, Lesli’s former training instructor, the club's former president, and a current instructor, said, “These kids are our most valuable resource ... an important resource for the United States.”
Lesli also believed in cultivating young people's interest in aviation. One of her favorite activities was working with Dryden's chapter of NASA’s INSPIRE program (Interdisciplinary National Science Project Incorporating Research and Education Experience), which allows high school students to flight-test an aircraft from design to flight. “These gifted students ... will have a great future,” she said.
Unmanned systems, SIERRA, and DROID
Lesli applied modeling skills to larger-scale aircraft such as the Sensor Integrated Environmental Remote Research Aircraft (SIERRA). As a principal designer and chief pilot on the medium-class unmanned aircraft, Lesli—under the Naval Research Lab and NASA Ames Research Center—piloted the airplane to the Arctic, Antarctic, and other remote regions.
Her breadth of knowledge—both piloting and design—was unusual in a field of high specialization. Mark Sumich, another chief pilot on SIERRA, noted that Lesli held her own in technical discussions and also produced beautiful composite work. “It looked like a work of art by the time she was done,” he said.
SIERRA contributed to Earth science research by providing high-resolution images, taking measurements, and performing atmospheric gas sampling. Lesli’s work on SIERRA’s unmanned missions demonstrated the value of remotely piloted aircraft for long-duration flights and operations in remote or harsh conditions that would risk pilots and expensive manned aircraft.
One of the last projects she worked on for NASA was the Dryden Remotely Operated Integrated Drone (DROID), an ordinary RC model aircraft transformed into a high-tech research instrument. Researchers fitted the DROID with Automatic Collision Avoidance Technology (ACAT), specifically the Ground-Collision Avoidance System (GCAS), to demonstrate the software's lifesaving and aircraft-saving capabilities.
Acting as the safety pilot during testing, Lesli was stationed at a lookout point to rescue the airplane should the system fail. As the DROID hurtled toward the ground and local hills, Lesli watched as the Auto-GCAS system successfully took over flight control moments before a collision seemed imminent.
Equipped with a world terrain database, the Auto-GCAS software can be integrated into large-scale UAVs and has been developed into a smartphone app for general aviation pilots. The capabilities of this software will save pilots' lives.
Towed Glider Air-Launch Concept and legacy
Lesli also helped develop a novel rocket-launching technique that NASA calls the Towed Glider Air-Launch Concept, which uses a glider towed by a remotely operated drone. Sending satellites into orbit is costly and inefficient; this new launch concept aims to improve those factors.
The proof-of-concept model, displayed at the 2013 AMA Expo in Ontario, California, showed a glider with a 24-foot wingspan and twin fuselage. The model, constructed in the NASA Dryden model shop, showcased Lesli's design talent, including her invention of a mechanism that connects the twin gliders.
A combination of Lesli’s modeling experience and drive for perfection propelled her from model airplane enthusiast to leading-edge NASA researcher. Securing a legacy of flight through a hobby many enjoy, Lesli proved the power of following one's passions.
Even after being diagnosed with stage-four pancreatic cancer, Lesli stayed involved in her work at NASA because she didn't want to spend her last days doing anything else. She passed away before she could see the Towed Glider Air-Launch Concept reach fruition, but in honor of the woman who demanded perfection, the twin-fuselage glider will be named after her.
Lesli stretched the boundaries of model aviation, and her design contributions will live on as the Towed Glider one day launches satellites into orbit.
— Kaitlin Wright
Sources
- NASA (www.nasa.gov)
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
