Herbert Rawdon

Herbert "Herb" Rawdon (born December 30, 1904 in Wichita , Kansas ; † December 1975 there ) was an American aviation pioneer .

Professional career

Rawdon graduated from Tri-State College at Trine University in Angola , Indiana in 1925 with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering and began working for the Wichita- based Travel Air Manufacturing Company , where he was quickly promoted to chief engineer has been. Every spring, the company's boss, Walter Beech , visited the development department and suggested converting one of the aircraft types into a racing aircraft in order to take part in the races of that year. In 1927, Rawdon was part of the engineering team that converted two Travel Air 5000s and won the Dole Air Race to Hawaii . After the National Air Races in 1928, Rawdon and his assistant Walter E. Burnham began developing their own design, the Travel Air Type R Mysteryship. Beech accepted the proposal and had the aircraft built, which was completed just in time for the 1929 National Air Races. On September 2, 1929 Doug Davis won the Thompson Trophy with the machine in front of the fastest military machines of the time. For the first time, a civil aircraft type was the fastest. The streamlined low wing construction of this aircraft influenced the design of aircraft for the next few years.

After the sales of aircraft during the Great Depression had yielded massive, had Air Travel Insolvency Register and was designed by Curtiss-Wright bought. Rawdon then left the company.

In 1933 he got a job as a technical draftsman at Lockheed and later at Boeing . From 1935 he was an instructor at the CW Technical Institute and during this time worked as a production manager at the Spartan Aircraft Company . From 1937 to 1940 he worked as a designer for the Douglas Aircraft Company and the National Aircraft Company in San Antonio , Texas .

In 1940 Rawdon worked again for Walter Beech. Until 1960 he was chief engineer at Beechcraft .

After leaving Beechcraft, Rawdon worked as a consultant for Lockheed, Cessna and Lycoming . He supported the development department of Cessna during the 1970s. He also supported a company that offered aircraft conversions. During this time, for example, he built boxer engines into the Beech 18, which was originally equipped with radial engines .

After his death in December 1975, his family donated his collection of papers, books, calculations, and photos, which took up five feet of shelf space, to the library at Wichita State University in 1981 .

Rawdon Brothers Aircraft

After Herb and his brothers Gene and Alanson founded an aircraft construction company, they first tried to get a contract to supply trainer aircraft for the Civil Pilot Training Program. In 1938 they had completed the R-1 , a two - seater low - wing aircraft with a 75 hp (55 kW) engine . Since the chances of winning the government tender were slim, they converted the prototype into an agricultural aircraft . Then they built five more copies for customers in their area.

In 1943, RBA sold the R-1 prototype and began developing the T-1 , an improved version of the R-1 . However, the development was delayed by the Second World War and the machine did not receive its type approval until September 1947. Several copies of the model were sold.

Furthermore, the company offered the so-called "Rawdon Hatch", which was a closed cockpit canopy for aircraft with an open cockpit such as the Fairchild PT-19 , the Fairchild PT-23 or the Boeing-Stearman .

After the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, Rawdon Brothers Aircraft received several government contracts for the production of sheet metal for wings , parts for tail units and pilot seats.

Rawdon Airport

In the 1930s, Rawdon and his brothers purchased a piece of open land that was adjacent to the Beechcraft factory. There they built a workshop and a grass runway . At first it was a private airfield. However, in 1940 the Rawdon Brothers Flying Service was established to provide pilot training, ground services, and commercial flights. In 1941 the airfield was first mentioned on official aeronautical charts as Rawdon Field . Gene Rawdon was the airfield manager.

In 1949 the course had three intersecting grass runways, the longest of which was 2,550 ft (777 m) long.

In the 1950s, the management of the airfield was taken over by the businessman and aviation pioneer Ulysses Lee Gooch. He sold aircraft and offered pilot training and aircraft maintenance. Gooch became a Senator in Kansas in the 1970s and held that position until he retired in 2003 at the age of 80.

The longest runway was paved in the early 1960s, the other two closed.

In 1973 a resident dentist named Copeland bought the place and tried to rename it Copeland Field . A short time later, the field was sold to the Raytheon Aircraft Company and renamed Beech North Field .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Daryl Murphy: The Brothers Rawdon. Wings Over Kansas, July 26, 2009, accessed February 25, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Ed Phillips: Woolarc! In: AAHS Journal . Spring 1985. American Aviation Historical Society (English).
3. ^ Doug Davis- Air Racer, Barnstormer, Airline Pilot. Airport Journals, April 1, 2003, accessed on February 26, 2020 . 
4. ↑ The Day Air Racing's Golden Age Began. Airport Journals, September 1, 2014, accessed on February 26, 2020 . 
5. ^ Guide to the Herb Rawdon Papers. Wichita State University , archived from the original ; accessed on February 26, 2020 (English). 
6. ^ ^{A b} Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields - Kansas. Airfields-Freeman, archived from the original ; accessed on October 30, 2011 (English). 
7. ^ John Hanna: Legislature ends session with nod to senator. Lawrence Journal-World, May 30, 2003, accessed February 26, 2020 . 
8. ^ AOPA Directory . AOPA , 1982 (English).
9. ^ Wichita Sectional Aeronautical Chart . In: AOPA Airports USA Directory . AOPA , 1986 (English).