wire coat hanger. The first production Rocket Launcher, M1 "Bazooka" were issued in time for Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa, in October 1942. During development of the M8 rocket in the fall of 1941, Skinner produced the first prototypes which he tested at Aberdeen; he had improvised the rocket casings from old fire extinguisher tanks which were across, thereby fixing the diameter of the developed weapon. In 1943, Skinner was posted to the United Kingdom to liaise with his British counterparts. While in England, he helped to identify the first photographic reconnaissance images of the German V-2 ballistic missiles. On his return, he was posted to the California Institute of Technology to establish an ordnance sub-office, effectively ending his research activities. Later career and retirement In July 1945, Skinner was sent to the Pacific Theater to organize ordnance supply, before retiring from the army in 1948 to take up a post at the Aerojet Engineering Corporation in Rancho Cordova, California. With the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, Skinner was recalled and given a commission in the Air Force, where he established a weapons test facility at Eglin Air Force Base. Retiring from the military for a second time two years later, he became a consultant for the weapons manufacturing Oerlikon Group. In 1970, he moved to Belleair Bluffs, Florida and took up sculpture. Leslie Skinner died on November 2, 1978. He and his wife Margaret had two children. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. References 1900 births 1978 deaths People from San Francisco Boston Latin School alumni Harvard University alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni United States Military Academy alumni California Institute of Technology people Rocket scientists United States Army Air Forces officers Military personnel from California Burials at Arlington National Cemetery