Thomas Victor Jones

Thomas Victor Jones was the Chairman and CEO of Northrop Corporation.

He graduated magna cum laude in engineering from Stanford University. He went to work at Douglas Aircraft Company in 1942. He worked for the Brazilian Air Ministry to create the Aeronautical Institute of Technology from 1947 to 1951. Around 1953 he went to work for the RAND Corporation where he published a study on transport planes for the U.S. Air Force. That same year he joined Northrop as assistant to the chief engineer, rose to be the president in 1959, chief executive officer in 1960 and chairman of the board in 1963.

Jones retired as chief executive of Northrop in 1989 after being reprimanded by the board of directors for his role in a bribery scandal surrounding the marketing the F-20 fighter to South Korea. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE6DA173FF93AA35756C0A96F948260&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fJ%2fJones%2c%20Thomas%20V%2e| New York Times, March 8, 1989] ]

Honors

*National Aviation Hall of Fame (1999)
*Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy of the National Aeronautic Association (1989)
*Reed Aeronautics Award (1985)

References

*Time (magazine); October 27, 1961; A Place in Space