When we’re in Portland, we always try to make time to visit with Tom Schroeder, who had a long career as a meteorologist at the University of Hawaii, and is an Emeritus Professor in SOEST, the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology. He retired to Portland, but has remained a frequent visitor to Hawaii.

He had an interesting tale to tell in an email received this morning.

Thanks for the history lesson, Tom!

This past Tuesday PBS American Experience featured Mister Tornado, the late Tetsuya “Ted” Fujita of University of Chicago. He was remarkable. I knew him and had dinner with him a few times over the years. His contributions ranged from tornado structure, the modern intensity (F) scale and solution of the microburst wind shear which causes airline crashes.

~ 25 minutes into the show a black and white group photo appears . It was a regional tornado researcher meeting at University of Chicago ( ~ 1971). It was a regional tornado researcher meeting at University of Chicago ( ~ 1971).

In the back row , second from left, is a very young me.

(Click on the photo to see a larger version)

Here is a bit of irony.
August 9, 1945. Ted is a young engineering faculty member in Japan. It is a cloudy day. A B-29 is heard overhead. The plane makes several passes. Clouds obscure the ground. Unable to find the target the plane diverts to it’s alternate: Nagasaki.

Fujita is tasked with analyzing the blast. He identifies blast pattern, etc.

30 years later Eastern Airlines flight 66 crashes on landing approach to JFK. There were thunderstorms in the area.
Ted examines flight recorders on flight 66 and other planes on the same landing approach. Some had diverted, others landed with no problem.

He found an intense small-scale downdraft which he named “microburst “ which resembled his Nagasaki analysis.
Fortunately we have developed sensors and protocols such that we haven’t lost an aircraft to shear for many years.