Fleming & Associates company was established in 1974 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA by August Elof Fleming, known widely as Gus. He was born on 2 March 1923 in Kansas City, Kansas to the late Kenneth and Minnie Josephina (Olson) Fleming. In childhood his father, a machinist, taught him how to use a lathe, while his mother taught him music. Gus was a natural born engineer, and an accomplished musician, playing the glocken-spiel since the age of three, and learning to read music as his first language, thanks to his mother. He also played the piano, violin, cello, cornet and, his favorite, the marimba. At the age of fourteen, Gus was struck with polio. As those who knew him can attest, he did not let this condition encumber him, ever using his engineers mind to create solutions to any mobility issues he faced. Gus graduated as a University of Kansas Jayhawk in 1948, going on to work for the next 30 years for General Motors and Detroit-Diesel Allison (Rolls Royce Indianapolis). In 1958 he did the standard venturi meter in series with the nozzle. The break through “Wheatstone bridge” used in calibrating thermocouples. In early 1961 or 62 Gus was asked to develop a T56 thermo-couple calibration rig. The build experience of the T56 venturi rig taught him where the measurement problems were given 1963 technology. To calibrate the air cooled thermocouples stationed at combustion chamber exhaust, Gus used a Wheatstone bridge for the thermocouples and a pneumatic version of a Wheatstone bridge for the thermocouple cooling air.
His entry into the field of Aerodynamic measurement came in the late 1950’s when an unexpected problem arose that could not be solved by conventional means. It was found that a gas turbine nozzle warped so badly during engine testing that the traditional mechanical testing tools used to measure and adjust the nozzle would no longer fit onto the part. Such testing and adjustment is aerodynamic area of the nozzle, and other such gas turbine components. Such testing and adjustment is critical to insure proper engine performance, and until his time all measurement was done mechanically. So Gus Fleming developed a new, dynamic airflow process to determine the aerodynamic area of the nozzles, and such gas turbine components. The improvement in the Accuracy and Efficiency (speed of testing) obtained by using Gus Fleming’s dynamic process was so great that test procedures on gas turbine components were changed to take full advantage of this methodology and led to the development of the AF-16 Test Bed and AF-36 Airflow Measurement System, as well as various Adaptors to allow a variety of gas turbine components to be tested on the Systems. Two of these machines designed in 1965 continue to be the fastest Airflow Measurement Systems in the world. Three of August Elof Fleming’s inventions continue to be used by Rolls Royce, more than 50 years after their inception.
Gus was a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Civil Liberties Union and Universalist Unitarian Church also he was a founding member of Circle Unitarian Universal Fellowship Indianapolis. He enjoyed classical music, discussions about democra-cy, aviation, and wind-energy, was a private pilot and was true to his Swedish roots. After his retirement in 1992, Gus’s son Ronald J. Fleming took over the company and continues the family business with Fleming & Associates Calibration, Inc. The company has continued to refine and sell its products all over the world. The main product of the company is the AF-36 Airflow Measurement System. It has been continually refined since the time of its design and is today the state of the art in Aerodynamic measurement of gas turbine components. The aerodynamic methodology for test procedures, accuracy of measuring and reliability of Fleming Airflow Measurement System provides safe and high quality gas turbine components for engine aircraft.
Fleming & Associates Calibration, Inc. now has AF-36 Airflow Measurement Systems in over 120 facilities worldwide. Its customer base includes almost every entry into the gas turbine field. Approximately 80% of all small turbine engines throughout the world have components measured on Fleming designed Airflow Measurement testing Systems.
Efficiency of aerodynamic methodology for test procedures measurement process
Accuracy of measurement by using Fleming Airflow Systems and Adaptors
Reliability of Fleming Airflow Measurement Systems
Easy to operate Fleming Airflow Equipment
Repeatability a high standard set by Gus’s via gus’s innovation
These basic principles have guided, Fleming & Associates since the date of its creation and continue to be true today.