Michael J. Wendl

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Michael John Wendl (born June 6, 1934) is an engineer who worked at the McDonnell-Douglas Corporation, mainly in the area of aerospace control. He is noted primarily as one of the early developers of terrain following technology [1] and a proponent of incorporating energy management theory into the design of fighter aircraft. He won the Wright Brothers Medal in 1974 with Ralph Pruitt, Gordon G. Grose, and J. L. Porter for a paper discussing future aircraft designs that integrate fly-by-wire controls with engine inlets/nozzles and advanced pilot displays. [2]

McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own merger with Boeing in 1997, it produced a number of well-known commercial and military aircraft such as the DC-10 airliner and F-15 Eagle air-superiority fighter.

Control engineering engineering discipline that applies control theory to design systems

Control engineering or control systems engineering is an engineering discipline that applies automatic control theory to design systems with desired behaviors in control environments. The discipline of controls overlaps and is usually taught along with electrical engineering at many institutions around the world.

Terrain-following radar (TFR) is an aerospace technology that allows a very-low-flying aircraft to automatically maintain a relatively constant altitude above ground level. It is sometimes referred-to as ground hugging or terrain hugging flight. The term nap-of-the-earth flight may also apply but is more commonly used in relation to low-flying military helicopters, which typically do not use terrain-following radar. The technology was originally developed by Ferranti for use with the TSR-2 aircraft.

Biography

Wendl attended Washington University in St. Louis, graduating with BS in Electrical Engineering (EE) from the School of Engineering and Applied Science in 1958. He did his graduate work at the same institution under John Zaborszky, working as an instructor for physics and EE courses and completing a thesis on the control of servos for heated gases in 1961. [3]

Washington University in St. Louis university in St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named after George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all 50 U.S. states and more than 120 countries. As of 2017, 24 Nobel laureates in economics, physiology and medicine, chemistry, and physics have been affiliated with Washington University, nine having done the major part of their pioneering research at the university.

Bachelors degree Undergraduate academic degree

A bachelor's degree or baccalaureate is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to seven years. In some institutions and educational systems, some bachelor's degrees can only be taken as graduate or postgraduate degrees after a first degree has been completed. In countries with qualifications frameworks, bachelor's degrees are normally one of the major levels in the framework, although some qualifications titled bachelor's degrees may be at other levels and some qualifications with non-bachelor's titles may be classified as bachelor's degrees.

Wendl joined McDonnell Aircraft working in guidance and flight control systems, which at this time were topics experiencing rapid advancements. The company had expanded its efforts into a vigorous research and development program to support its aircraft and missile programs and Wendl's efforts focused on propulsion/control coupling, energy management, fly-by-wire controls, terrain following, and control augmentation. In 1968, he co-authored a paper documenting the development of vertical terrain-following capability based on the General Electric 666A actuator system as applied to fighter-bomber aircraft, in particular the F-4. [1]

General Electric American industrial company

General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate incorporated in New York City and headquartered in Boston. As of 2018, the company operates through the following segments: aviation, healthcare, power, renewable energy, digital industry, additive manufacturing, venture capital and finance, lighting, and oil and gas.

In the late 1960s, McDonnell was engaged in the fierce USAF F-X program competition for an aircraft that would counter the Soviet Mig-25. It was awarded the contract for what would become the F-15 Eagle in 1969. Wendl directed the fuel system design and development program and later contributed to various engineering refinements to subsequent models of the Eagle. [3]

United States Air Force Air and space warfare branch of the United States Armed Forces

The United States Air Force (USAF) is the aerial and space warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the five branches of the United States Armed Forces, and one of the seven American uniformed services. Initially formed as a part of the United States Army on 1 August 1907, the USAF was established as a separate branch of the U.S. Armed Forces on 18 September 1947 with the passing of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the youngest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, and the fourth in order of precedence. The USAF is the largest and most technologically advanced air force in the world. The Air Force articulates its core missions as air and space superiority, global integrated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control.

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 family of interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 is a supersonic interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft that was among the fastest military aircraft to enter service. It was designed by the Soviet Union's Mikoyan-Gurevich bureau and is one of the few combat aircraft built primarily using stainless steel. It was the last plane designed by Mikhail Gurevich before his retirement.

Wendl is of ethnic German heritage [4] and is the father of Michael Christopher Wendl. [5]

Michael Christopher Wendl is a mathematician and biomedical engineer who has worked on DNA sequencing theory, covering and matching problems in probability, theoretical fluid mechanics, and co-wrote Phred. He was a scientist on the Human Genome Project and has done bioinformatics and biostatistics work in cancer. Wendl is of ethnic German heritage and is the son of the aerospace engineer Michael J. Wendl.

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Avionics electronic systems used on aircraft, artificial satellites, and spacecraft

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McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle Air superiority fighter family

The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is an American twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter aircraft designed by McDonnell Douglas to gain and maintain air supremacy in all aspects of aerial combat. Following reviews of proposals, the United States Air Force selected McDonnell Douglas's design in 1967 to meet the service's need for a dedicated air-superiority fighter. The Eagle first flew in July 1972, and entered service in 1976. It is among the most successful modern fighters, with over 100 victories and no losses in aerial combat, with the majority of the kills by the Israeli Air Force.

Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor American fifth-generation air superiority fighter

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McDonnell F-101 Voodoo fighter aircraft family

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Fourth-generation jet fighter classification of fighter aircraft | designed - without airframe modification - to perform different roles in combat, typically blending the fighter, strike and ground-attack roles | c.1970-2000

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Autopilot system to maintain vehicle trajectory in lieu of direct operator command

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Thrust vectoring

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Boeing X-53 Active Aeroelastic Wing research aircraft by McDonnell Douglas, later Boeing

The X-53 Active Aeroelastic Wing (AAW) development program is a completed American research project that was undertaken jointly by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Boeing Phantom Works and NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, where the technology was flight tested on a modified McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. Active Aeroelastic Wing Technology is a technology that integrates wing aerodynamics, controls, and structure to harness and control wing aeroelastic twist at high speeds and dynamic pressures. By using multiple leading and trailing edge controls like "aerodynamic tabs", subtle amounts of aeroelastic twist can be controlled to provide large amounts of wing control power, while minimizing maneuver air loads at high wing strain conditions or aerodynamic drag at low wing strain conditions. The flight program which first proved the use of AAW technology in full scale was the X-53 Active Aeroelastic Wing program.

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Wright Brothers Medal

The Wright Brothers Medal was conceived of in 1924 by the Dayton Section of the Society of Automotive Engineers, and the SAE established it in 1927 to recognize individuals who have made notable contributions in the engineering, design, development, or operation of air and space vehicles. The award is based on contributed research papers.

Gordon G. Grose was an engineer at the McDonnell-Douglas Corporation. He won the Wright Brothers Medal in 1974 with Michael J. Wendl, J. L. Porter, and Ralph Pruitt for a paper discussing future aircraft designs that integrate fly-by-wire controls with engine inlets/nozzles and advanced pilot displays.

V. Ralph Pruitt was an engineer at McDonnell Douglas who won the Wright Brothers Medal in 1974 with Michael J. Wendl, Gordon G. Grose, and J. L. Porter for a paper discussing future aircraft designs that integrate fly-by-wire controls with engine inlets/nozzles and advanced pilot displays.

The Westinghouse Aviation Gas Turbine Division (AGT) was established by Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1945 to continue the development and production of its turbo-jet gas turbine engines for aircraft propulsion under contract to the US Navy Bureau of Aeronautics. The AGT Division was headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, where it remained in operation until 1960 when Westinghouse decided to focus on industrial and electric utility gas turbines.

Jet fighters generations are categories created to separate major technology leaps in the historical development of jet fighters. The term generation first appeared in the 1990s, according to the Royal Australian Air Force's Air Power Development Centre Bulletin: "to make sense of the leap-frogging improvements in performance to jet fighter aircraft brought about through major advances in aircraft design, avionics, and weapon systems". and proposes that a "generational shift in jet fighter aircraft occurs when a technological innovation cannot be incorporated into an existing aircraft through upgrades" and retrofits.

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References

  1. 1 2 Krachmalnick, F.M., Vetsch, G.J., and Wendl, M.J. (1968) Automatic flight control system for automatic terrain-following Archived 2009-02-26 at the Wayback Machine ., Journal of Aircraft Archived 2008-06-22 at the Wayback Machine .5(2), 168-175.
  2. ↑ Wendl, M.J., Grose, G.G., Porter, J.L., and Pruitt, V.R. (1974) Flight/Propulsion Control Integration Aspects of Energy Management, Society of Automotive Engineers paper number 740480.
  3. 1 2 Gregory, J. (1980) Who's Who in Engineering, 4th ed., American Association of Engineering Societies.
  4. ↑ Bridgewater, Lauren (25 April 2008). "Millstadt Sister Cities hears tales of Germany, Strassenfest". St. Louis Post-Dispatch . Retrieved 27 October 2016.
  5. ↑ P Hummel and N Fuhry: "Sackelhausen im Banat" Volume 3, published by Heimatsortsgemeinschaft Sackelhausen, Reutlingen FRG, 2007, pages 2236-2237.
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