Scaled Composites names President and Executive Vice President/Chief Technology Officer

“Ben and Cory have been at the heart of Scaled for years, and I know the company is in great hands,” said Kevin Mickey, vice president, advanced design for Northrop Grumman and most recent president of Scaled Composites. “This is a very exciting time for aerospace, and Ben and Cory are just the team to keep Scaled at the forefront of innovation.”

Since joining the Scaled team in 2003, Diachun has held key engineering design, test, and leadership roles on a variety of projects, helping take nine new aircraft types from concept to first flight. Diachun has served as project engineer, flight test engineer, chase pilot, business development manager and director of engineering. In his most recent role as vice president of engineering, Diachun oversaw flight operations, engineering, quality assurance and new business proposals. Diachun holds a master of science in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University, and a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from Purdue University. In 2014, he was named as one of Aviation Week’s 40 Under Forty.

“When I came to Scaled 12 years ago, it was my dream job, and it still is,” said Diachun. “As an industry, we have yet to fully realize the limits of what is possible in air and space travel. I am honored to continue Scaled’s legacy of innovative design, rapid prototype manufacturing, and experimental flight test to help move our knowledge of flight forward.”

Diachun succeeds Kevin Mickey, who has taken a new role within Northrop Grumman. Bird has been promoted to executive vice president and chief technology officer. With over 30 years at Scaled Composites, Bird has held several positions, starting as a composite technician on the Scarab Model 324 high-performance reconnaissance unmanned aircraft in 1985.

Over the course of his career, Bird has held increasing roles directly supporting the design, development and execution of over 37 prototype vehicles, ranging from space to air to sea, including SpaceShipOne, SpaceShipTwo, WhiteKnight, WhiteKnightTwo, Stratolaunch, Proteus, Triumph and many others. Bird has also designed, manufactured, and flight tested his own experimental N241ST Symmetry aircraft.

Bird's commitment to designing solutions that offer the most efficient structural arrangements, manufacturing methods and overhead for specific program requirements has been instrumental to the success of Scaled Composites’ leadership in rapid prototyping and innovation.

Scaled Composites, LLC, founded by Burt Rutan in 1982, is an aerospace and specialty composite development company based in Mojave, CA. Acquired by Northrop Grumman Corporation in 2007, Scaled Composites operates as a separate company, designing, building and testing some of the industry’s most advanced and innovative aircraft concepts.