Calabasas man receives Weems Award

Contributes to advancement of flight navigation


FLYING HIGH—Charles Bruner of Calabasas receives the Captain P.V.H. Weems Award for his contributions to the art and science of navigation. The award is given in memory of the co-founder of the Institute of Navigation.

FLYING HIGH—Charles Bruner of Calabasas receives the Captain P.V.H. Weems Award for his contributions to the art and science of navigation. The award is given in memory of the co-founder of the Institute of Navigation.

The Virginia-based Institute of Navigation recently awarded its 2017 Captain P.V.H. Weems Award to Charles Bruner of Calabasas.

The award is granted for contributions to the art and science of navigation, and is given in memory of Capt. Philip Van Horn Weems, U.S. Navy, a principal co-founder of the institute.

Bruner was recognized for nearly five decades of contributions to the advancement of navigation.

As a summer intern in 1968, Bruner was assigned to the Inertial Lab at McDonnell Douglas. When he returned to school he was assigned to a second shift so that he could continue working while going to school full time.

During this period, he helped perfect navigation systems for the F-4 Phantom jet.

In 1971, McDonnell Douglas sent him to Edwards AFB to support flight-testing of the F-15.

Since the 1990s, Bruner has worked on the use of GPS in military systems. His work included the development of the first generation of embedded GPS inertial systems at Litton and an enhanced GPS tracking technique for which he was subsequently awarded a patent.

Bruner and his wife, Glenda, have lived in Calabasas Park for 29 years.

Weems was a navigator and inventor whose inventions had an influence on the U.S. Air Force and Navy. Weems is attributed with having patented the first method of performing navigation in space.


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