Harry L. Evans

Harry Lee Evans (22 November 1919 – 18 July 2008) was a major general in the United States Air Force (USAF). He enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps in 1940, and flew air raids on Japan during World War II. He served with the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project and the Ballistic Missile Division as program director of the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System. As vice director of the Samos Project Office, he was responsible for the early Air Force satellite systems and for the Air Force portion of the early Pioneer and Explorer space programs, and oversaw, in a management capacity, over fifty space and satellite launches. He was also assistant deputy commander and vice director of the Manned Orbiting Laboratory program.

Early life Harry Lee Evans was born in Bedford, Iowa, on 22 November 1919, the son of the Harry Evans and Clara Fowler Evans. He graduated from Joplin High School in Joplin, Missouri, in 1936, and from Northeastern Oklahoma Junior College, in Miami, Oklahoma, where he studied geophysical engineering, in 1938.

World War II In 1940, Evans enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps. He completed primary, basic and advanced pilot training at Randolph Field, Texas, and then the instructor and engineering officer courses there. He married Dixie Sandmire from Miami, Oklahoma, on 1 January 1941; they had no children. Evans graduated from the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1944. He then underwent B-17 transition training at Roswell Army Air Field in New Mexico, and was assigned to the Boeing B-29 Superfortress program. As such, he was responsible for the early Air Force satellite systems and for the Air Force portion of the early Pioneer and Explorer space programs, and oversaw, in a management capacity, over fifty space and satellite launches.