Ted A. Wells

Theodore Arthur Wells (born March 12, 1907 in Corning , Iowa , † September 25, 1991 in Wichita , Kansas ) was an American aerospace engineer, co-founder of the Beech Aircraft Corporation and chief designer of the Beechcraft Model 17 . He was also an avid snipe racer and won the United States Snipe National Championship three times and the Commodore Hub E. Isaacks and O'Leary Trophies twice .

education

Wells was the first aerospace engineering graduate from Princeton University , whose engineering school had only been founded several years earlier in 1921 with courses in chemistry , geology, and mechanical engineering . The classes at that time consisted of less than a hundred students. Engineering lectures were given in a makeshift laboratory in a boiler house . Wells was determined to graduate with an aeronautical engineering degree and was able to convince the school administration to allow him to do so, although he had to set the requirements for that degree himself.

First airplane

During their sophomore year, Wells and a fellow student bought an old World War I Curtiss JN-4 for $ 600 . Since neither of them had a pilot's license , they rented the plane for excursions and flight lessons and were thus able to finance the plane and their own flight lessons, since their parents did not want to pay for their flight lessons. They found that Princeton University had a rule that allowed students whose parents had difficulty raising tuition not to pay tuition until the end of the semester. They told the school that their parents were in financial difficulties and that they used the money their parents gave them for their tuition to buy the plane.

They offered the plane for $ 25 an hour's flight. Of this, they paid $ 10 to the flight instructor and kept $ 15 to pay for the plane and their tuition fees. They found customers among the students in their higher semesters, who also let them drive them to the airport. One day during his spring break , Wells was alone at Hadley Airport, over thirty miles from college, and found no one to drive him back to school until sunset. But since he didn't want to run to campus either, he decided after only four and a half hours of flight without the consent of his flight instructor that it was time for his first solo flight . He took off the plane, flew to Princeton, and landed in a field that was regularly used by Barnstormer pilots.

According to Wells, the dean was a little nervous that second semesters shouldn't have any motorized means of transport. Fortunately, he was not suspended for the incident, but the New York Times featured the incident on its front page. Wells' father only learned from this article that Wells had bought an airplane. However, his parents did not force him to sell the plane. They believed that he should learn to fly because he would eventually work in the aircraft industry. However, they weren't thrilled with the way he learned to fly. By the end of the semester, Wells and his partner hadn't made enough money to pay their tuition and had to sell the plane for the same amount they had paid for it.

Aviation career

National Air Races Portland Derby Trophy from 1929

In 1928, Wells bought a Travel Air D4000 and took with it the 1929 air race " National Air Races Portland Derby" part. It was an overland race from Portland to Cleveland that required navigational skills as well as high speed. Wells won that race with $ 10,000 in prize money.

During the summer of his senior semester at Princeton in 1928, Wells worked part-time as a demonstration pilot for Travel Air Manufacturing Company , a subsidiary of Curtiss-Wright . After graduating in 1929, he was employed full-time in the company to replace Clyde Cessna and Lloyd Stearman . There he designed the Travel Air samples 12 and 16 together with Herb Rawdon . In 1930, Wells designed and built the racing double-decker W4B, also known as the Wells Special, in his spare time . During a test flight, it was flying at 200 mph (322 km / h) at an altitude of 500 ft (152 m) above the ground when both ailerons tore off the wings . Wells managed to jump off in time and open his parachute. When he hit the ground, he only broke his ankle .

Beech D-17S

In 1931, Wells developed the next design for Travel Air. It was the Model 17 , a four-seater double-decker with an enclosed cockpit, with the upper wings offset backwards from the lower ones to improve visibility from the cockpit .

The then managing director of Travel Air, Walter Beech , was impressed by the design drawings of the Model 17 "Staggerwing" and tried to convince the Curtiss-Wright board of directors to build this model. However, this refused the funding. Walter Beech, his wife Olive Ann Beech , KK Saul and Ted Wells then left the company and founded the Beech Aircraft Corporation to build the Model 17.

Walter Beech, Olive Ann Beech, Ted Wells, KK Shaul and CG Yankey founded Beech Aircraft in April 1932. Walter Beech became managing director and Wells vice managing director and chief designer. CG Yankey was a friend of the Beech's and the main investor. He also became vice managing director. KK Shaul, an authorized signatory and an auditor at Travel Air prior to moving to St. Louis , became finance director and Olive Ann Beech became an administrative clerk .

In his capacity as chief designer, Wells and his team developed the Model 18 , the Bonanza , the T-34 Mentor , the Beechcraft 34 Twin-Quad and the Beechcraft Model 50, among others .

sailing

Ted Wells & his partner Art Lippitt after winning the 1947 World Snipe Championship

Wells joined the Wichita Sailing Club in 1938 and started racing a Snipe . He bought his first boat that used sheets as sails for $ 100. Wells, he decided to take part in sailing races rather than air races when it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to find the time to do air races. It was quickly practiced by racing on Santa Fe Lake, a reservoir near Williams , Arizona . He also helped organize the first club regatta and drove his Snipe through the USA to take part in other regattas.

Wells won several other regattas, the US snipe championships in 1947, 1949 and 1952 and the snipe world championship "Commodore Hub E. Isaacks and O'Leary Trophies" in 1947 and 1949. He also wrote the book "Scientific Sailboat Racing" that was known among racing sailors. His winning boat "Good News III" was built by the Varalyay shipyard in California . Today it is on display in a small boat display at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut .

retirement

After Olive Ann Beech became general manager after Walter Beech's death in 1950, there was tension between her and Wells. Officially, it was said that she was dissatisfied with Wells' sailing ambitions and that he should focus more on the company. In 1953 she sent a plane to the state championships in Ardmore , Oklahoma , to bring Wells to a crisis meeting at headquarters in Wichita. During that meeting, Beech said Wells should have all the time in the world to sail and she would accept his resignation. Wells immediately signed his resignation and returned to the regatta.

After leaving Beechcraft, he worked intermittently as a consultant for Cessna . Eventually he bought the majority stake in the Union Bank of Delaware and continued to drive boat races. His last race was the Atlanta Yacht Club's National Master's Regatta, which he competed at the age of 79.

Web links

Commons : Ted A. Wells  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} James Rix: Master of Sky and Sea, the story of Ted Wells . Relentlessly Creative Books, 2018, ISBN 978-1-942790-11-2 (English).
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Edward H. Phillips: The staggerwing story: a history of the Beechcraft model 17 . Flying Books International, Eagan, Minnesota 1996, ISBN 978-0-911139-27-3 (English).
3. ↑ Alexander Smits: Aerospace Education and Research at Princeton University 1942-1975 . Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering - Princeton University, Princeton (English).
4. ^ ^{A b c} Ed Phillips: Interview with Ted A. Wells . In: Wichita State Library - Special Collections . (English).
5. ^ William H. McDaniel: The history of Beech . McCormick-Armstrong Co. Pub. Division, Wichita, Kansas 1976, ISBN 0-911978-00-3 (English).
6. ↑ Ted Wells: Scientific sailboat racing . 3. Edition. Dodd, Mead, New York 1979, ISBN 0-396-07690-4 (English).
7. ^ Dennis Farney, The Barnstormer and the Lady: Aviation Legends Walter and Olive Ann Beech . Rockhill Books, 2010, ISBN 978-1-61169-014-9 (English).