Richard Lewis Long

May 15, 1918 - Aug 31, 1987

Richard L. Long, a retired Army colonel and a former director at the NASA Langley Research Center, died Monday in St. Mary's Hospital in Richmond.

A native of South Bend, Ind., he had been a Williamsburg resident for six years. Col. Long retired from NASA in 1984 after serving for four years as director of the Army Structures Laboratory, where he headed basic research and exploratory developments for Army aviation.

A graduate of Purdue University with a degree in mechanical engineering, Col. Long received master's degrees in aeronautical engineering from Princeton University and in international affairs from the George Washington University.

He entered the Army in 1942 and served as observation pilot for Gen. George S. Patton Jr.' s armored division in World War II. He left the Army in 1965 and became assistant chief of advanced research for Sikorsky Aircraft. He later was senior project engineer before rejoining the Army in 1972 as a civilian. He served until 1980 as deputy director of research and development and engineering at the Army Aviation Systems Command.

Col. Long was a member of the American Helicopter Society and past president of the Army Aviation Association of America and an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

He is survived by his wife, Jane Long; a daughter, Leone Shewmaker of St. Louis; and three sons, Richard Long of Dallas, John Long and Scott Long, both of St. Louis.

A funeral will be held Thursday at 11 a.m. at Bucktrout Funeral Home in Williamsburg. Burial with military honors will be at Cedar Grove Cemetery.

Sources: Ancestry.com and FindAGrave.com

01/07/2026 EJS

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/84422436/richard-lewis-long