Designer, engineer

An aerodynamicist and aeronautical engineer who spent most of his career at Lockheed's fabled "Skunk Works,” Boland was a major influence on many winning Unlimited racers in the modern era (1964-present). Brooklyn-born Boland earned a Master’s degree in Engineering from USC. Lockheed was his dream job. “I specifically wanted to get into Lockheed because of their air racing background,” he said. Soon Boland and fellow engineer Pete Law were helping turn Lockheed test pilot and 1997 inductee Darryl Greenamyer’s “Conquest I” Bearcat into a piston-aircraft world speed record breaker (1969) and six-time National Air Races champion. Boland and Law then made Ed Browning’s “Red Baron” P-51 the dominant Unlimited, winning multiple races, two national titles and setting a new speed record. His most famous effort was the Unlimited "Tsunami," which he designed from the ground up with Law, Ray Poe and owner John Sandberg. Sandberg’s penchant for frequent and untested changes limited its success in the competition to a single Unlimited Gold victory, but it is considered a landmark design.