SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (AP) – Sam Iacobellis, the Rockwell International engineer who met President Ronald Reagan’s challenge to deliver 100 B-1 bombers as fast as possible in the early 1980s to challenge the Soviet Union, has died.
His son, Sam Iacobellis Jr., said his father died Sept. 3 at a hospital in San Luis Obispo from complications of a stroke. He was 87.
The Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/2bTH2dr ) called Iacobellis’ mandate one of the toughest manufacturing assignments of the Cold War. Under his supervision, in just six years Rockwell delivered all 100 of the bombers below budget and on schedule, playing a key role in Reagan’s plan to bankrupt the Soviets with a military buildup they could not match.
“Sam was an icon of the aerospace industry,” said Donald Beall, former Rockwell chairman.
Russians were in awe of the B-1, designed to fly a few hundred feet off the ground near the speed of sound, and were unable to duplicate its capabilities, said Robert Cattoi, former chief engineer at Rockwell.