Carl Duckett

Carl Ernest Duckett (22 March 1923 – 1 April 1992) was the founding father and visionary leader of the Central Intelligence Agency's science and technology operations.

Carl Duckett was born and raised in Swannanoa, North Carolina, an unincorporated community a few miles east of Asheville. He attended the Buncombe County schools in Swannanoa, graduating from high school in 1940. His father was a construction laborer at the Beacon Blanket Manufacturing Company, the epicenter of the Swannanoa community, and he wanted his son to start a career at the mill. Carl’s ambition, however, was to work in radio broadcasting, and he left Swannanoa to search for work in this field.

With a good speaking voice, some musical talent, and a very persuasive nature, Duckett eventually found beginner employment at WMVA, a small station being established in Martinsville, Virginia. While there, he married Nannie Jane Law in 1941, and started a family. He also gained an elementary knowledge of radio electronics, and, to prepare for a better job, attended part-time for six months a course in this field at the nearby Danville Technical Institute.

In early 1943, Duckett was employed as a technician by Westinghouse Electric in Baltimore, Maryland. Apparently a fast learner, he was soon assigned to work on Army radars for anti-aircraft fire control. During this period, he also attended courses in radio engineering under the Government-sponsored Engineering, Science, and Management War Training (ESMWT) Program at Johns Hopkins University. In 1944, he was a member of a team sent to England to advise on the use of Westinghouse SCR-584 radar equipment for V-1 ‘buzz bomb’ defense, and stayed as a field engineer during the Normandy invasion.

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