Maynard Lyman Pennell (1910 - 1994)

Born 12 Apr 1910 in Skowhegan, Somerset, Maine, United States

Ancestors

Died 22 Nov 1994 at age 84 in Seattle, King, Washington, United States

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Biography

Maynard Pennell was a Washingtonian.

Maynard was born in 1910. He was the son of Guy Pennell and Estora Jewett. ^[1]

Graduation, 1931 • Seattle, King Co., Washington, University of Washington. bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering.

He married Harriet Ellen Rowland (1909–1998), the daughter of Dix Halsey Rowland and Georgina Clulow. They had the following children:

Donald Rowland Pennell b. 1936.

Robert Maynard Pennell b. 1938.

Mary P. Pennell b. 1943. First elected to the Maine House of Representatives in 2008.

He passed away in 1994.

Maynard Pennell obituary: Maynard Pennell, 84, Former Boeing Executive. By WOLFGANG SAXON. Published: November 26, 1994.

Maynard L. Pennell, a former executive of the Boeing Company who played a leading role in the development of nearly every type of aircraft that the company made during his career of 34 years there, died on Tuesday. He was 84 and lived in Seattle.

The cause of death was Parkinson's disease, the company said.

Mr. Pennell retired in 1974 as vice president and assistant general manager of technology in Boeing's commercial airplane division. He had helped to design the B-29 bomber, used to attack Japan in World War II, and the Boeing 707 and 727 passenger jets, among others.

One plane that he did not get to see built was an American supersonic transport. In the 1960's, Mr. Pennell managed Boeing's SST program, engaging in a Government-sponsored contest against Lockheed for the right to manufacture the airframe of the faster-than-sound plane. By mid-1966, he had unveiled a model of a 300-passenger, 330-foot-long aircraft meant to fly at 1,800 miles an hour, almost three times the speed of sound, with a range of about 4,000 miles.

Boeing won the contest against Lockheed, but the SST project ran into objections from public interest groups and lawmakers, who complained that the plane would create noise pollution, that its heavy fuel consumption would contribute to air pollution and that it would never prove cost-effective. Mr. Pennell insisted that the SST would find a market even if it was barred from flights over inhabited areas, but the plane was never built. Boeing had to watch as the supersonic Concorde, a joint venture of Britain and France, took to the air.

Mr. Pennell was born in Skowhegan, Me., and graduated from the University of Washington in 1931 with a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering. He worked for Douglas Aircraft for six years before joining Boeing in 1940 as an expert in stress engineering.

He became assistant manager for the B-29 Superfortress program in 1942 and later joined the commercial development division, where he moved steadily up through the ranks. He was involved in studies of jet propulsion for civil aviation as early as the late 1940's and was a main force in the creation of the 707 family of jetliners and the 727 trijet.

Mr. Pennell is survived by his wife, Ellen Rowland Pennell; two sons, Donald R. Pennell of Los Angeles and Robert M. Pennell of Seattle; a daughter, Mary P. Nelson of Portland, Me.; a brother, Donald F. Pennell of Yarrow Point, Wash., and seven grandchildren.

Burial: Tacoma Cemetery, Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington, USA. ^[2]

Sources

• Maine, Birth Records, 1621-1922.

• Santa Monica, California, City Directory, 1936.

• Wikipedia page for Maynard Pennell Maynard Pennell

• Maynard Lyman Pennell Memorial Page on Find A Grave. Maynard Lyman Pennell

• The Seattle Times, obituary for Maynard Pennell Maynard Pennell, 84, Guided Boeing's First Commercial Jet

• The New York Times, obituary for Maynard Pennell Maynard Pennell, 84, Former Boeing Executive

• The University of Washington 2007 Diamond Award Honorees Maynard Pennell

• The National Academies Press Maynard L. Pennell

1. ↑ Maine, Birth Records, 1621-1922.
2. ↑ Maynard Lyman Pennell Memorial Page on Find A Grave. Maynard Lyman Pennell