Light, Edward C., 1917-1992

Edward C. Light was an aeronautical engineer at the Hughes Aircraft Company (HAC) where he was responsible for supervising the design of aircraft control systems between 1942 and 1946. During this period, he worked on the Hughes H-4 Hercules, also known as the "flying boat" or the "Spruce Goose." As of March 2017, the plane has the longest wingspan of any flight-capable aircraft. Later in his career, he returned to HAC in 1954-1955 as a research physicist working on the Falcon Guidance System.

In addition to working at HAC, Light worked as an engineer at the Glenn L. Martin Company (1938-1942), as an engineer (1946-1953) and as vice president (1955-1958) at the Summers Gyroscope Company, and as a research associate for the General Motors Research Space Group (1958-1960). He held several positions at Nortronics and the Northrop Space Laboratories between 1960 and 1977, including as an associate director of the Apollo tasks and as a director of research and development for tactical avionics. Light’s area of expertise included aircraft instruments, stability and control of systems, instrument landing systems, autopilot design, radio and inertial navigation, electro-optical sensing systems, and guidance and control of missiles.

Light was born in 1917 in Liberal, Kansas, and graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1940 with a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering. He was married four times and had seven children: Joanne, Edward, Susan, Greg, Todd, Michelle, and Brian. Light moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1975, and lived there until his death in 1992