Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology
Encyclopedia
Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology is a college within Saint Louis University
Saint Louis University
Saint Louis University is a private, co-educational Jesuit university located in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1818 by the Most Reverend Louis Guillaume Valentin Dubourg SLU is the oldest university west of the Mississippi River. It is one of 28 member institutions of the...

.

History

Parks Air College was founded by Oliver Parks
Oliver Parks
Oliver L. “Lafe” Parks was a pioneer in the fields of pilot training and aviation studies in the early decades of the aviation industry’s existence...

 in 1927. Parks was American's first federally certified school of aviation, holding the FAA Air Agency Certificate no. 1.

Parks College was once a division of the Detroit Aircraft Corporation
Detroit Aircraft Corporation
The Detroit Aircraft Corporation was incorporated in Detroit, Michigan on July 10, 1922, as the Aircraft Development Corporation. The name was changed in 1929...

. The college students manufactured their own biplane aircraft, the Parks P2A, which became the "hero" of books by author Richard Bach
Richard Bach
Richard David Bach is an American writer. He is widely known as the author of the hugely popular 1970s best-sellers Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, and others. His books espouse his philosophy that our apparent physical limits and mortality are merely...

. The college quickly got out of the manufacturing business, selling the P2A rights to Ryan as the Ryan Speedster, and later the Hammond 100.

In the 1930s those enrolled as aeronautical engineers, had to design, construct and test fly their own aircraft. By 1936 the enrollment reached 200 students, with a training fleet that consisted of 13 aircraft including the Kinner Sportster
Kinner Sportster
-External links:*-See also:...

, and Lambert Monocoach twin.

In 1938 Oliver Parks, (representing Parks Air College,) Curtis-Wright Technical Institute, and Boeing School of Aeronautics were requested by Gen Arnold
Henry H. Arnold
Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold was an American general officer holding the grades of General of the Army and later General of the Air Force. Arnold was an aviation pioneer, Chief of the Air Corps , Commanding General of the U.S...

 to establish, at their own risk, a Civilian Pilot Training Program
Civilian Pilot Training Program
The Civilian Pilot Training Program was a flight training program sponsored by the United States government with the stated purpose of increasing the number of civilian pilots, though having a clear impact on military preparedness....

 including barracks and aircraft to provide basic training for thousands of pilots. As enrollment swelled, Parks further expanded his facilities to include operations at Cape Girardeau and Sikeston, Missouri, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Jackson, Mississippi. Parks College trained thousands of aviators and aircraft mechanics during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. By the end of the war, more than 37,000 cadets (more than 10% of the Air Corps) had received their primary flight instruction at a Parks institution. A variety of training aircraft were used including the locally built PT-15
St. Louis YPT-15
|- See also :-Bibliography:* Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft, Aerospace Publishing/Orbis Publishing* *...

 trainers. External link to Civilian Pilot Training Program

In 1944 Parks started a training curriculum to train female pilots. The students flew in ERCO Ercoupes with two-control flight systems.

Having concluded that future aviation leaders would need a broader, more academic education, Parks donated the college to Saint Louis University in 1946, remembering the Jesuit help he received after a 1928 air crash.

Parks College operated a student run airline flying Cessna T-50 Bamboo Bombers.

Wernher von Braun
Wernher von Braun
Wernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun was a German rocket scientist, aerospace engineer, space architect, and one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany during World War II and in the United States after that.A former member of the Nazi party,...

 donated a V-2 rocket engine from the White Sands Missile Range
White Sands Missile Range
White Sands Missile Range is a rocket range of almost in parts of five counties in southern New Mexico. The largest military installation in the United States, WSMR includes the and the WSMR Otera Mesa bombing range...

 to the college after a visit in the 1950s.

In 1996 Saint Louis University closed the historic Cahokia, Illinois
Cahokia, Illinois
Cahokia is a village in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village had a population of 16,391. The name is a reference to one of the clans of the historic Illini confederacy, who were encountered by early French explorers to the region.Early European settlers also...

 campus and later sold it to the village. Classes are now held in the new McDonnell-Douglas Hall building on the Frost Campus in mid-town St Louis. Flight training remained at St. Louis Downtown Airport
St. Louis Downtown Airport
St. Louis Downtown Airport is a public-use airport located in the St. Louis Metropolitan Area, one mile east of the central business district of Cahokia, in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. It is owned by the Bi-State Development Agency. The airport is located less than 3 miles from...

. The move to the Frost campus allowed the curriculum to be expanded and Masters programs to be added. The college also provides the science classes for the main campus.

Now known as Parks College of Engineering, Aviation, and Technology, it is a modern, growing, active part of the university.

Departments

  • Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering
  • Aviation
    Aviation
    Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...

     Science
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Electrical & Computer Engineering
  • Civil Engineering
  • Interdisciplinary Engineering

Undergraduate programs

Bachelor of Science:
  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering (dual degree)
  • Aviation Management
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Civil Engineering
  • Computer Engineering
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Electrical Engineering—Bioelectronics (engineering or pre-med emphasis)
  • Engineering Physics
  • Flight Science/Professional Piloting
  • Interdisciplinary Engineering
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Civil Engineering
  • Physics

Graduate programs

  • Master of Science Degree in Biomedical Engineering
  • Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Biomedical Engineering

Alumni

  • Francis Gabreski - WWII Ace that received primary training at Parks.
  • Harrison Thyng
    Harrison Thyng
    Brigadier General Harrison Reed Thyng was a fighter pilot and an officer in the United States Air Force with the rank of general. He is notable as one of only six USAF fighter pilots to be recognized as an ace in two wars...

     - Multiple WWII and Korean War Ace.
  • Gene Kranz
    Gene Kranz
    Kranz's book, titled Failure Is Not an Option, published five years after the movie, stated, "...a creed that we all lived by: "Failure is not an option."" . The book has three index references for the phrase, but none of those give any indication of the phrase being apocryphal...

     - NASA Mission Commander.
  • Gerald P. Carr
    Gerald P. Carr
    Gerald Paul Carr is an engineer, retired United States Marine Corps colonel and former NASA astronaut. He was commander of Skylab 4, the third and final manned visit to the Skylab Orbital Workshop, from November 16, 1973 to February 8, 1974.-Biography:Carr was born in Denver, Colorado on August...

    - NASA Skylab 4 Commander.
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