Richard T. Whitcomb
Richard Travis Whitcomb (born February 21, 1921 in Evanston , Illinois , † October 13, 2009 in Newport News , Virginia ) was an American aircraft engineer.
Whitcomb grew up in Worcester and studied at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute . He was an engineer at the Langley Research Center of NASA and its predecessor organization NACA. In 1991 he retired.
He is best known for the area rule of the shape of aircraft during and in the vicinity of supersonic flight. However, it had already been found by at least two engineers (including Otto Frenzl in Germany). Whitcomb came up with this after studying the high air resistance caused by the shock waves generated near the sound limit in wind tunnels and after a lecture by Adolf Busemann about the different behavior of air near the sound limit.
In the 1960s he developed supercritical wing profiles to reduce drag in transonic flight and in the 1970s he introduced winglets in the modern sense.
He received the National Medal of Science in 1973, the NAS Award in Aeronautical Engineering in 2000 and the Howard N. Potts Medal in 1979 . In 1956 he received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal , in 1954 the Collier Trophy and in 1955 the USAF Exceptional Service Medal . In 2003 he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame . He was a member of the National Academy of Engineering (1976).
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Whitcomb, Richard T. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Whitcomb, Richard Travis |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American engineer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 21, 1921 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Evanston , Illinois |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 13, 2009 |
| Place of death | Newport News , Virginia |