A Titan in Cold War Aeronautics
By Benjamin A. Lindley
Fighter Jets (LT-6Gs) Photographed Over Korea, Circa 1952, National Museum of the United States Air Force.
John Rasey, Purdue University, 1951 Debris Yearbook, Purdue University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections.
A chart highlighting the complexities of forward air control communications as described in the paragraph above. National Museum of the United States Air Force.
A Titan II Missile Launched with an Attached Thermonuclear Bomb, National Museum of the United States Air Force.
John Rasey, Lake Jackson, Wyoming, Circa 1971, Ancestry, courtesy of Julian Kardas.
John Allen Rasey
March 17, 1929 - August 9, 2007
John A Rasey was born in Fostoria, Ohio, on March 17, 1929, to parents Corrine and Hilles Rasey.[1] John lived his childhood under the looming presence of the Great Depression and World War Two. John’s hometown of Fostoria, Ohio was hit hard by the economic hardships of the Great Depression. Historian Louis Galambos explains that “if you lived in Ohio in 1931, you had plenty to worry about. The prosperity of the 1920s had given way to a depression that was grinding down the working people in small towns like Fostoria.”[2] John would have most likely experienced financial instability and tension within his home as a small child while his parents tried to make ends meet. In his adolescence, John attended Fostoria High School, during which time World War Two raged on in the background. John missed serving in World War Two by a brief moment, as he graduated in the spring of 1947, two years after the war concluded.[3] Despite the global environment’s volatility during World War Two, John excelled in high school and his hard work landed him in a prestigious university program.
After World War Two ended and he graduated from high school, John went to Purdue University in nearby Indiana to study aeronautical engineering.[4] As defined by the US Air Force, aeronautical engineering is the study of “aerodynamics, propulsion, flight mechanics, stability and control, aircraft structures, materials and experimental methods.”[5] The fascinating part of John’s decision to pursue aeronautical engineering in 1947 was the fact that aeronautics as an academic discipline only first appeared in the 1930’s in select universities, and only in 1945 at Purdue![6] One must wonder if the legendary and infamously brutal air warfare of World War Two inspired John to pursue aeronautical engineering at Purdue. At Purdue, John participated in the University Orchestra, Aero-Modelers Club, and the Cary Club, a student organization in charge of the Purdue Cary Residence Hall.[7] Before his senior year at Purdue, John Rasey would marry fellow student Joan Lindsey in August of 1951.[8] Later in life, the couple would go on to have two sons, Steve and Phil, and four grandsons.[9]
With the introduction of jet-powered fighter aircraft near the end of World War Two, the Korean War was destined to be the first war fought with jet-powered fighters. The need for jet engine expertise and aeronautical engineering experience was in high demand for the US Air Force, as the jet-fighter arms race had just begun. Luckily for John, he had nearly finished his aeronautical engineering degree when the demand for his type of education was highest. John received his B.A. in aeronautical engineering in the spring of 1952, and immediately following graduation, the US Air Force commissioned John to serve as an Airborne Communications Officer in Korea.[10]
In the later stages of the Korean War, US air superiority over the skies of the Korean Peninsula was one of the most important objectives in the fight against communism. Initially, the communist-backed North Korean military had air superiority over the US, however, the United States quickly took over the skies and maintained control through the end of the war.[11] Later in the war, US air superiority would be challenged by relatively advanced Soviet MiG-15 jet fighters flown by Chinese and Soviet pilots. In the end, however, US air superiority prevailed.[12]
During the campaign for air superiority over the communists in Korea, John had many important responsibilities as an Airborne Communications Officer in the Air Force. Although the jet fighters in the 1950s had been a product of rapid engineering developments during World War Two, the air-to-ground radio communications between US Air Force pilots and ground infantry of the US Army had not caught up and were therefore not compatible.[13] This incompatibility between air-to-ground radios allowed John to fill a much-needed position in Air Force leadership. To solve the incompatible radio system, Airborne Communications Officers would spearhead the forward air control communications by using a complex system of walkie-talkies, close air support parties, and air-to-air communication for bombing directions.[14] These Airborne Communications Officers were known as "Mosquitoes" because they flew alongside contemporary USAF bombers and fighters in older British Mosquito Bombers produced during World War II. John and officers like himself were daring pilots who became a vital part of the overall war effort in Korea.[15]
Following his time as a Communications Officer in Korea, John went on to start a long and prosperous aeronautical engineering career in the private sector. He was initially hired by Ryan Aeronautical Company of San Diego, California, as an engineering consultant. John stayed with the company in San Diego for six years. However, where John would ultimately find his aeronautical home would be in Colorado, as an engineering team member of Lockheed Martin (formerly Lockheed Corporation).[16]
Lockheed Martin has the legacy of being the most predominant private military contracting company in modern US history.[17] Lockheed Martin has been the gold standard for employment among hopeful aerospace and aeronautical engineers for decades. The most famous military aircraft, electronics, space tech, and missiles have been produced by the Lockheed Martin engineering team since the beginning of the twentieth century.[18] In his new prestigious role at Lockheed, John would apply his experience in the Korean air war to develop new ways to keep competing globally in the military arms race. John spent 32 years at Lockheed where he focused on engineering new ways for the US to gain military air superiority with advancements in technology and made new-era intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) that would evoke fear in the skies for decades.[19] These new ICBMs, called Titans, would be used as a new way for the military to test heavy payload missiles and nuclear warheads in low orbit. Additionally, the Titan ICBMs would go on to serve NASA space exploration in the form of stationing satellites in low Earth orbit.[20]
The Korean war was the first war fought by the US that relied on jet engines as opposed to piston engines for planes, and John was a leader in spearheading this change in aeronautics.[21] During John’s time at Purdue and eventually the Korean battlefield, he would have seen a massive moment in aviation history unfold when the jet engine became truly viable for military operations. By the time of John Rasey’s death in August of 2007, he would have seen the world transform from a sky sprinkled with rudimentary biplanes to a world filled with hypersonic fighter jets flying at over 2000 miles an hour.[22] John A. Rasey was not just a veteran, but a family man, student, engineer, and titan who used his aeronautical knowledge to help launch some of the most advanced technology of his day.
Footnotes ↓
[1] “John Rasey Obituary.” The Denver Post, May 18, 2024. https://www.denverpost.com/obituaries/john-allen-rasey-co/.
[2] Galambos, Louis. “If You Lived in Ohio in 1931, You Had Plenty to Worry About. ...” assets.cambridge.org. Accessed August 26, 2025. https://assets.cambridge.org/97811070/13179/excerpt/9781107013179_excerpt.pdf.
[3] “US, School Yearbooks, 1900-2016, Fostoria High School.” Ancestry. Accessed August 25, 2025. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1265/images/30757_048734-00042?pId=70976603.
[4] “John Rasey Obituary.”
[5] “Aeronautical Engineering.” United States Air Force Academy, July 29, 2025. https://www.usafa.edu/academic/aeronautical-engineering/#:~:text=In%20the%20aeronautical%20engineering%20major,Air%20Force%20or%20Space%20Force.
[6] “Purdue AAE History.” School of Aeronautics and Astronautics - Purdue University. Accessed August 25, 2025. https://engineering.purdue.edu/AAE/aboutus/history.
[7]“1950 Debris Purdue.” CONTENTdm. Accessed August 25, 2025. https://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/digital/collection/debris/id/27508/rec/64.
[8] “John Allen Rasey Male 17 March 1929–9 August 2007 • LKTQ-XGN.” FamilySearch.org. Accessed August 25, 2025. https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LKTQ-XGN/john-allen-rasey-1929-2007.
[9] “John Rasey Obituary.”
[10] Ibid.
[11] “Air Superiority: Controlling the Skies.” National Museum of the United States Air ForceTM. Accessed August 25, 2025. https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196089/air-superiority-controlling-the-skies/.
[12] “Mikoyan-Gurevich Mig-15bis ‘Fagot’: Planes of Fame Air Museum.” Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15bis “Fagot” | Planes of Fame Air Museum. Accessed August 25, 2025. https://planesoffame.org/aircraft/plane-MiG-15-flyer.
[13] “Forward Air Control Communications.” National Museum of the United States Air ForceTM. Accessed August 25, 2025. https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196370/forward-air-control-communications/#:~:text=Since%20Air%20Force%20and%20Army,individual%20Mosquito%20forward%20air%20controllers.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Ibid.
[16] “John Rasey Obituary.”
[17] “Lockheed Martin Corporation.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed August 25, 2025. https://www.britannica.com/money/Lockheed-Martin-Corporation.
[18] Ibid.
[19] “Remember the Titans.” Lockheed Martin. Accessed August 25, 2025. https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/news/features/history/titan.html.
[20] Titan. Accessed August 25, 2025. https://www.worldspaceflight.com/addendum/us_rockets/titan.php.
[21] Culy, Doug. “The Aircraft Engines of World War II.” Defense Media Network. Accessed August 25, 2025. https://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/aircraft-engines-world-war-ii/#:~:text=Pratt%20&%20Whitney%20R-1830%20–,formation%2C%20July%2024%2C%201940.
[22] Philipp. “The Fastest Plane in the World - SR-71 Blackbird.” MiGFlug.com Blog, November 15, 2018. https://migflug.com/jetflights/remarkable-airplanes-of-the-world-part-1-the-fastest/#:~:text=The%20engines%20that%20got%20the%20SR-71%20(,their%20ultimate%20cruising%20speed%20at%20Mach%203.2.
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