Jon Swanberg

Mount Vernon High School

Class of 1959

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Jon Swanberg - Class of 1959 - Mount Vernon High School

First Name	Jon
Last Name	Swanberg
Graduation Year	Class of 1959
Gender	Male
City	N/A
State/Province	CA
Country	United States
Occupation	engineer
Married	Yes
Favorite School Memory	MVHS Football Bonfire Rally
About Me	Graduated: MVHS, June 1959. Attended: University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado ,1959 thru 1963, obtained BSc Electrical Engineering. Attended: University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, 1968 thru 1969, obtained MSc Physics. Interviewed for overseas position in high-powered radars with Hughes Aircraft, Fullerton, California. Worked aboard several US Navy cruisers at the Long Beach Naval shipyard and then was sent to South Korea for 2 years, 1964-1966. Worked 3 days on, 3 days off, at Pyongtek, on a 5000 foot mountain overlooking the Yellow Sea toward China. Returned to USA, trained on very early versions of 16 bit computers, promoted to system engineer on large Air Defense systems used to track enemy aircraft for NATO missile defense of Europe during the Cold War. Installed Air Defense systems in Denmark, Greece, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Turkey and Holland from 1966 to 1969. Took a leave-of-absence from Hughes from 1969 to 1970. Attended University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, obtained MSc Physics equivalent. On the way, traveled to East Africa, Kenya and Tanzania, took the old steam train from Nairobi to Mombassa, rented an old VW bus from Mombassa to Arusha, Nongorogoro Crater, this is 1969, very few tourists, gave a ride to several Masi warriors on the Serengeti plain, 6 foot 8 inch, with spears and several wives. Stayed in tents, no “luxury accommodations” then !! Traveled through Nepal, India, Bangladesh, viewed Mt Everest at dawn and the Taj Mahal at dusk. Saw the islands of Pago Pago and Rarotonga, took old American PT boat (remember Kennedy) on Blue Lagoon cruise. Returned to USA, via Tahiti (remember, this was 1970), very few tourists, very French, beautiful females. Returned to Hughes Aircraft in 1970, trained on new Air Defense computers with dual processors (1970 !!), helped develop frequency scan, flat plane, side looking radars. Went on installation team to Europe for new NATO intercept systems, including Milano, Anzio (Rome), and Otranto (Brindizi), Italy. Then to Finnsness (Northern Norway, above Pt Barrow, Alaska, in latitude) and Tonsberg, Norway. Nearly got kidnapped and shot in Turkey in 1972, the terrorists got the Englishman instead, held him for ransom and shot him. I was very lucky, very scared. Decided to become a Biomedical Engineer in late 1972. Hired into the Children’s Asthma Institute and Hospital (now National Jewish Hospital) in Denver, Colorado. Created a Department of Biomedical Engineering, hired 4 engineers, build whole body plethysmographs and computerized several laboratories using Data General 1200 minicomputers and 8085 based microprocessors. Developed pulmonary function software for children with Dr Gerry Cropp. Did environmental contract work for EPA on performance monitoring involving breathing small PPM amounts of carbon monoxide during exercise, bad stuff, that CO. Went to University of Alberta Hospital, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in 1980, as a manager of 14 Biomedical Techs for the new 1200 bed Alberta teaching hospital, including bedside computerization. Developed a handheld airways resistance measuring device, got a US Patent. Canada was just too cold, so I went back to Hughes Aircraft, Fullerton, in 1984, hired to perform in a site survey in Egypt from 1985 through 1987. Traveled down the Nile to Dendura, Eurdo, Aswan, Abu Simbu. I became very interested in old Egyptian culture and visited the valley of Kings at Luxor multiple times. Took a week to see the Sinai Desert and snorkeled in the Red Sea. Returned to California in 1988, worked at MCTSSA, Camp Pendleton, for the Marines on a new SCUD missile radar (remember Iraq had SCUDs). Became expert in data acquisition for new radars, and applied to Hughes to go to Saudi Arabia from 1994 through 1997 on the Peace Shield program. Very difficult to work in Saudi due to perception as my (and all westerners) being infidel. Traveled Saudi Arabia (imagine, they have 11,000 foot mountains in Saudi !!!) Every 4 months, my new wife, Georgia and I were given a ticket anywhere in the world, plus 2 weeks vacation, while I was stationed in Taif, Saudi Arabia which is very near Mecca. Traveled to Australia and New Zealand, then a romantic Italian lakes district trip, and finally, to Singapore and the jungles of Taman Negera in Malaysia. Returned to USA, via Thailand and Laos, traveled on the Mekong River. My final employment was with Honeywell International in Phoenix, working on the cockpit flat panel displays of Boeing 777, 737, Embraer 170/190, Cessna Sovereign aircraft, and Italian Agusta helicopters. I worked closely with 40 India engineers as a team lead and went to Bangalore, India for a month to facilitate the testing of fail safe software for the engines and synoptic instrumentation on board commercial aircraft. Visited Mysore, Madras, and hill country religious retreats throughout India. Made many Indian friends and visited Indian homes and attended an Indian wedding. Type of work you did/do: Electrical Engineering for high powered radar transmitters, complex RF receivers, and multiprocessor 64 bit tracking computers in overseas positions for 18 years. Biomedical Engineer / Manager for Children’s Asthma Research Institute and Hospital, National Jewish, University of Alberta hospitals on Heart and Lung research measurement devices to obtain data on Asthma, COPD, and Tuberculosis diseases for 9 years. Software testing to fail-safe condition for Boeing and Embraer commercial aircraft flat panel computers found on the pilots instrument panels on 7 new aircraft and one helicopter using overseas engineers from Bangalore, India and Moscow, Russia. Have you retired? Yes Married? Yes Spouse’s Name: Georgia Cross Swanberg Number of children: 0 Number of grandchildren: 0 Where they are located: None Hobbies/Favorite pastimes: Throughout my life, I have always loved to fly light aircraft and have owned a Navion, a Cessna 180 bush plane, and have rebuilt a WW II glider previously used as a trainer for the WWII Normandy invasion. This glider now hangs in the Duxford Spitfire Museum south of London. I am currently a Commercial/Instrument/Glider Pilot with 2200 hours flying time. Recently I have begun to write Screenplay, taking courses at UCLA on story development, beat sheets, and character capture. I have three themes in mind, with the titles, Otranto, Pyongtek, an...(read more)