Albert Philip McCabe
A Memoir by Aimee Louise McCabe-Walker
Also see Aimee's memoirs of her mother
and grandparents as well as a memoir
of Albert P. McCabe by grandson Erin S. Cleary.
Albert
Philip McCabe was born
in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, November 20, 1910. He passed away June 27, 1987. Son
of Homer and Blanche Minerd-McCabe.
Husband of Elizabeth Irene Bryan. Father of Aimee Louise McCabe, John Philip McCabe, Linda Lucille McCabe and Michael Mawrey McCabe.
Al McCabe began his career as a Communications Officer in 1939. He worked for the War Department Message Center, Army Radio Station in Washington, D.C. He had a Radio Telegraph Operator License, Number T-21-2 issued March 11, 1935.
His engineering experience dates back prior to World II when he was engaged in early warning radars at the Naval Research Laboratory. He held important positions in the guided missile field for the Boeing Airplane Company, Northrop Aircraft Corporation and Raytheon Manufacturing Corporation. He also worked for TRW Systems. His particular specialization was in the field of guidance and control of spacecraft and missiles. He was a physicist and a mathematician. He had a great mind.
Al
McCabe was a well-known engineer. He was the sole inventor of the missile error
scorer, now known as the Global Positioning System. He presented it as a patent
in 1955. It is not known what became of the patent nor the outcome of the
patent. I have an original draft of the patent in which he had red penciled in a
co-inventor's name. Hugo E. Stark. It is believed he sold the patent rights
because he did not have the money to pursue the project.
He was also the Chief Engineer for the Apollo Spacecraft program in 1965. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas, sent him a letter of appreciation (seen here) signed by all Astronauts involved with program. The letter is dated March 17, 1965. (Click to see a larger copy of the letter.)
He was a Lifetime, senior member of IEEE, Geoscience Electronics Group, Quantum Electronics, and the Information Theory Group. He was also a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
He passed away June 27, 1987 in Redondo Beach, California. He is dearly missed and we will always love him.
Copyright © 1997 Aimee L. Walker-McCabe. Republished with permission.