Albert L. Weimorts Jr., a civilian engineer for the Air Force whose designs included a satellite-guided weapon known as the “mother of all bombs,” has died, his son said. He was 67.
Weimorts died Wednesday of brain cancer at home in Fort Walton Beach, his son Todd said Sunday.
The Air Force Research Laboratory honored Weimorts after he retired in 2003 for his role in developing two powerful bombs as chief engineer for the lab’s Munitions Directorate at Eglin Air Force Base.
One was the 5,000-pound GBU-28 “Bunker Buster,” created and deployed in a record-setting 28 days to target fortified bunkers during the first Gulf War.
The other was the 21,500-pound Massive Ordnance Air Blast, the largest satellite-guided, air-delivered weapon in history and nicknamed the “mother of all bombs.” It was developed for the second Iraq war, but never used.
“Time after time, Weimorts has put weapons in the warfighter’s hands and has made a difference in the national defense of our country,” the laboratory said in a 2004 statement.
Designer of bombs both big and small
Weimorts (pronounced WEE-morts) received the Air Force Award for Meritorious Civilian Service and a career achievement award.
“He was teasingly known here as ’the father of the mother of all bombs,”’ Todd Weimorts said.
His father raced to develop the GBU-28 within a month at the Air Force’s request, he said.
“The joke was it took one month to design, build and deploy in combat, and over one year to fill out the paperwork,” he said.
In addition to designing big bombs, Albert Weimorts developed small, hand-held munitions, such as grenades, his son said.
Weimorts also served two tours as a weapons inspector in Iraq for the United Nations in the 1990s.
Born in DeFuniak Springs, Weimorts grew up in Mobile, Ala., and received a degree in mechanical engineering from Mississippi State University. He began working for the Defense Department in 1962.
He is survived by his wife of 45 years and three sons.