Lofty Accomplishments An Alum’s career at Bell Aerospace contributes to air and space advancements
Next time you board a flight for a vacation or business trip, just think that it might not be possible without the work of Indiana Tech alum Clarence “Casey” Forrest. After completing his bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering in 1943, Forrest spent 43 years with Bell Aerospace working on projects that set the stage for today’s commercial air travel as well as military advancements and space exploration. As a youth in Sandusky, Ohio, Forrest knew he wanted to go to an aeronautical college. He responded to a newspaper ad for Indiana Tech, and an admissions representative visited his house to interview him. Although his family was fairly poor, hard work made it possible for him to go to college. Forrest’s father worked at American Crayon and his mother earned extra income
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baking and doing laundry to help with expenses. Casey worked while attending college year-round, allowing him to complete his degree in three years. “I didn’t have much time for extra activities because I had to work,” Forrest remembers. “I always had a part-time job. I was excellent in math, but a lot of students coming in couldn’t pass algebra…. I thought that I could offer the students some of my talents. I got a job as a tutor, and it worked out well.” Forrest’s son Gary says the tutoring income made the difference. “His math tutoring is really what made it possible for him to afford college. He was one of four kids and the only one who went to college.” Conversations with father and son show that Gary Forrest has a great deal of respect and admiration for his father’s accomplish-
ments, and rightly so. After working his way through college, Casey Forrest got a job with Bell in Buffalo, N.Y., and rose through the ranks before his retirement in 1986 as vice president for test and training for the Bell surface effects ships. He says landing that first job with Bell was simple. “I submitted an application to Bell Aircraft and to NACA (the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics at Langley Air Force Base),” Forrest says. “I felt that Bell offered more variety than Langley. It was a fortunate decision on my part. When I arrived in Buffalo, I had to take an oath on keeping secrets about all of the projects they were working on. “Bell was building the first jet airplane, and I was assigned to aerodynamics,” he explains. From there his career “just kept going up and up and up.”