Frederick S. Billig

In 2006, Billig's business partner, Lance Jacobsen, formed a new company, GoHypersonic, in Dayton, Ohio, to continue the hypersonic research conducted by Pyrodyne. GoHypersonic inherited Billig's technical library.

Billig died on June 1, 2006. He was preceded in death by Peggy Billig, his wife of 50 years. He was survived by his four children: Linda Baumler and husband Robert, Donna Bartley and husband Dave, Fred Billig and wife Trish, and Jimmy Billig and wife Stephanie. He was also survived by ten grandchildren and two brothers.

Billig was inducted into the Innovation Hall of Fame in May 1997, for "pioneering work and outstanding contributions in the area of supersonic and hypersonic combustion."

Billig retired as Associate Head and Chief Scientist of the Aeronautics Department at the JHU/APL in 1996 and became President of Pyrodyne, Inc. Pyrodyne was a research company established by Billig, Lance S. Jacobsen, then a student at Virginia Tech, and Linda A. Baumler, Billig's daughter. Pyrodyne was based in Glenwood, Maryland, Billig's home. In 2005, the company had four employees, including an office in Dayton, Ohio.

The NASP program became the Hypersonic Systems Technology Program (HySTP) in late 1994. HySTP was designed to transfer the accomplishments made in hypersonic technologies by the National Aero-Space Plane (NASP) program into a technology development program. On January 27, 1995, the Air Force terminated participation in (HySTP).

As a consultant, Billig supported the Air Force HyTech technology program. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) initiated the Hypersonic Technology (HyTech) program in 1995 to maintain an aggressive technology development program in hypersonics after the National Aero-Space Plane's development was terminated. In 1996, Pratt & Whitney was awarded a $48-million contract for demonstration of a hydrocarbon-fueled scramjet engine. The near term application of this technology is a long range hypersonic cruise missile to defeat time-sensitive targets. In the far term, the scramjet technology enables a Mach 8-10 strike/reconnaissance aircraft and affordable, on-demand access to space with aircraft like operations. The HyTech scramjet will power the X-51 hypersonic test vehicle.

In 1995, Billig was elected to the National Academy of Engineering "for analytical and experimental contributions to supersonic/hypersonic combustion and ramjet engine technologies."

Billig later returned to the Aeronautics Department, where he was appointed chief scientist in 1987.

President Ronald Reagan described NASP in his 1986 State of the Union address as "...a new Orient Express that could, by the end of the next decade, take off from Dulles Airport and accelerate up to twenty-five times the speed of sound, attaining low earth orbit or flying to Tokyo within two hours..."

The scramjet described in the 1981 patent offered reliable low-cost production, a movable internal body as a combustion chamber, a fuel tank, and a computer-controlled turbine for internal power.

In the 1970s, Billig accepted an assignment in the Submarine Security Program at the Applied Physics Laboratory.

During his lifetime, Billig was honored with numerous awards. These included the Maryland Academy of Science's Distinguished Young Scientist Award (1966), the Combustion Institute's Silver Medal (1968), the NASP Pioneer Award (1989), and the JHU/APL lifetime achievement award (1991). In 1991 Billig, a Fellow, past Vice President, and Director of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), also received AIAA's Dryden Research Lectureship for his lifetime of research. In 1992, he was awarded the M.M. Bondaruck Award “as a pioneer of scramjet research” by the Soviet Academy of Sciences and USSR Aviation Sport Federation. He received the Meritorious Civilian Service Award from the Department of the Air Force in 1992.

While working at Applied Physics Laboratory, Billig spent 25 years as an adjunct professor in Maryland's Aerospace Engineering Department from 1964 to 1989. He also taught at Virginia Tech, where he served on Ph.D. committees up until the time of his death.

In 1964, Billig and Dr. Gordon L. Dugger submitted a patent application for a supersonic combustion ramjet based on Billig's Ph.D. thesis. This patent was issued in 1981 following the removal of an order of secrecy.

In 1963, Billig was promoted to the position of senior engineer and supervisor of hypersonic ramjets.

Billig received his undergraduate education at Johns Hopkins University, graduating in 1955 with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in mechanical engineering.

Following graduation, Billig began his career in the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in 1955. He entered the University of Maryland’s Department of Mechanical Engineering as a part-time student earning his M.S. degree in 1958 and Ph.D. in 1964.

Frederick Stucky Billig (February 28, 1933 – June 1, 2006) was a pioneer in the development of scramjet propulsion.

He was born on February 28, 1933, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He grew up in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. As a boy, Billig was an avid sports fan and participated in many contests on basketball statistics.