Richard Travis Whitcomb was an American aeronautical engineer who was noted for his contributions to the science of aerodynamics.
Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan is a retired American aerospace engineer and entrepreneur noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, and energy-efficient air and space craft. He designed the record-breaking Voyager, which in 1986 was the first plane to fly around the world without stopping or refueling. He also designed the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, which in 2006 set the world record for the fastest and longest nonstop non-refueled circumnavigation flight in history. In 2004, Rutan's sub-orbital spaceplane design SpaceShipOne became the first privately funded spacecraft to enter the realm of space, winning the Ansari X-Prize that year for achieving the feat twice within a two-week period.
The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a British multi-disciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community. Founded in 1866, it is the oldest aeronautical society in the world. Members, Fellows, and Companions of the society can use the post-nominal letters MRAeS, FRAeS, or CRAeS, respectively.
Donald Wills Douglas Sr. was an American aircraft industrialist and engineer.
Robert T. Jones,, was an American aerodynamicist and aeronautical engineer for NACA and later NASA. He was known at NASA as "one of the premier aeronautical engineers of the twentieth century".
Hugh Latimer Dryden was an American aeronautical scientist and civil servant. He served as NASA Deputy Administrator from August 19, 1958, until his death.
William Frederick Durand was a United States naval officer and pioneer mechanical engineer. He contributed significantly to the development of aircraft propellers. He was the first civilian chair of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the forerunner of NASA.
Jerome Clarke Hunsaker was an American naval officer and aeronautical engineer, born in Creston, Iowa, and educated at the U.S. Naval Academy and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His work with Gustav Eiffel outside Paris led to the first wind tunnel in the US at MIT. He was instrumental in developing a weather reporting and airway navigation. Hunsaker was also pivotal in establishing the theoretical and scientific study of aerodynamics in the United States. And he was primarily responsible for the design and construction of the Navy-Curtiss airplane (NC-4) that accomplished the first transatlantic flight, and the first successful shipboard fighter. Later he championed lighter-than-air flight but the loss of the Navy airship he designed, the USS Akron, led to the withdrawal of federal support. His WW2 chairmanship of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was notable for favouring the development of existing aircraft designs rather than experimenting with turbojets or missile technology.
David Sloan Lewis Jr. was an aeronautical engineer who led aerospace and defense giant General Dynamics for 14 years.
The Daniel Guggenheim Medal is an American engineering award, established by Daniel and Harry Guggenheim. The medal is considered to be one of the greatest honors that can be presented for a lifetime of work in aeronautics. Its first recipient was Orville Wright. Other recipients have included American and international individuals from aeronautical corporations, governments, and academia.
Alfred Victor Verville was an American aviation pioneer and aircraft designer who contributed to civilian and military aviation. During his forty-seven years in the aviation industry, he was responsible for the design and development of nearly twenty commercial and military airplanes. Verville is known for designing flying boats, military racing airplanes, and a series of commercial cabin airplanes. His planes were awarded with the Pulitzer Speed Classic Trophy in 1920 and 1924.
Clarence Leonard "Kelly" Johnson was an American aeronautical and systems engineer. He is recognized for his contributions to a series of important aircraft designs, most notably the Lockheed U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird. Besides the first production aircraft to exceed Mach 3, he also produced the first fighter capable of Mach 2, the United States' first operational jet fighter, as well as the first fighter to exceed 400 mph, and many other contributions to various aircraft.
August Raspet was an American aerodynamicist and researcher. He was one of the most influential contributors to the science of aeronautics, dealing primarily with efficiency in flight, aerodynamics and wing design structures. His contributions to the field of flight science are many, having published over forty scholarly articles on subjects ranging from human muscle-powered flight to sailplane performance analysis as it relates to airplanes. An avid bird watcher, Raspet developed his dedication to the idea of flight from a young age and would use ideas generated from observing avian flight in his experiments and research throughout his career.
The Stout 3-AT trimotor was the first all-metal trimotor built in America. The poorly performing tri-motor led to an updated design which became the popular Ford Tri-Motor.
George S. Schairer was an aerodynamicist at Consolidated Aircraft and Boeing whose design innovations became standard on virtually all types of military and passenger jet planes.
Homer J. Wood was an engineer at Garrett AiResearch, who did pioneering work in gas turbine engines for aircraft applications. He won the Wright Brothers Medal in 1949 with Frederick Dallenbach for a paper discussing auxiliary turbines to supply pneumatic power for aircraft based on the Garrett GTC43/44 and GTP70 units. Wood went on to design the GTC85, one of the most widely used auxiliary power units in commercial and military aviation.
Robert Hauschild Liebeck is an American aerodynamicist, professor and aerospace engineer. Until retiring from his position as senior fellow at the Boeing Company. in 2020, he oversaw their Blended Wing Body ("BWB") program. He has been a member of the National Academy of Engineering since 1992, where he is an AIAA Honorary Fellow, the organization’s highest distinction. He is best known for his contributions to aircraft design and his pioneering airfoil designs known as the "Liebeck Airfoil". Since his retirement he remains active in aviation industry associations and continues to teach at UCI.
Frank Walker Caldwell (1889–1974) was a leading American propeller engineer and designer. As the United States government's chief propeller engineer (1917–1928), he pioneered propeller engineering and propeller testing facilities and techniques. Working at Hamilton Standard Propeller Corporation, they won the 1933 Collier Trophy for his work on the controllable-pitch propeller. After 25 years of service, he retired in 1955 as director of the United Aircraft Corporation Research Division.
Henry Middlebrook Crane was an American engineer and pioneer in the automobile industry. He was the president of Crane Motor Car Company, vice president of engineering for the Simplex Automobile Company, and designed the Pontiac Six motor for General Motors.
United States