About Joseph F. Ware, Jr.

Joseph Ware Jr. and his wife Jenna take flight in a T-28 in the early 1990's

Joseph Ware Jr. (left) and co-worker Hermon Salmon (seated in cockpit) running through a test program for a new mission.

Joesph Ware Jr. and his wife Jenna flying their Cardinal airplane and doing some Ware Lab P.R.!

Joseph F. Ware, Jr. was born and raised in Blacksburg, Virginia. He graduated from Virginia Tech in 1937 with a degree in Mechanical/Aeronautical Engineering and obtained his Masters Degree in the same area from Cal Tech. Through his career, he worked primarily at Lockeed as a Fight Test Engineer . While at the “Skunk Works”, he was the Department Manager of Engineering Flight Test on the world’s fastest and highest flying airplanes.

In 1998, the College of Engineering was offered a facility with over 10,000 square feet of space for undergraduate design projects, but could not afford to fully refurbish the building to suit the needs of the student design teams. Upon hearing about the opportunity, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Ware made a significant contribution to the college for the purpose of creating a first-class undergraduate project facility. The first projects moved into the Ware Lab in June of 1998 and the facility has continued to grow ever since.

While working at the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works with engineering legend Kelly Johnson, Joseph Ware, Jr. was involved in the design of multitude of innovative aircraft!