Frederick C. Durant
US author (1916-2015)
Frederick Clark Durant III (December 31, 1916- October 21, 2015) was an American author, naval test pilot, chemical engineer, and expert in rocketry and spaceflight. Durant served as a "key advisor" to U.S. military, intelligence, and space-flight programs, playing a central role in Project Orbiter, the first US satellite program.
In his later years, Durant served as assistant director of the National Air and Space Museum and an editor of Encyclopædia Britannica.
Childhood and education
Durant was a descendant of Thomas C. Durant and engineer Joseph Harrison, Jr.
Durant's father was Frederick C. Durant Jr., an engineer educated at MIT and the Colorado School of Mines, who became president of a telephone company
Fred C. Durant III graduated the Haverford preparatory school in 1934. In 1939, Durant earned a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from Lehigh University. From 1939 to 1941, Durant was employed as a chemical engineer with the E.I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co., at Pennsgrove, New Jersey.
Aviator
In May 1941, Durant enlisted as a US naval aviation cadet. Durant went on to serve as naval aviator and flight instructor. In 1946, retired from the Navy at the rank of Commander in the Naval Reserves.
The public source identifies “Frederick C. Durant” as uS author (1916-2015). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Frederick, Durant and author.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Frederick C. Durant”, the useful work is to connect “uS author (1916-2015)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q55749800. VIAF identifies the subject as 3816496. The Library of Congress control number is n82063087. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1916, 2015, 1934 and 1939.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Frederick C. Durant” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.