Charles Horton Zimmerman (1908 – May 5, 1996), was an

aeronautical engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...

, whose work on novel airfoil configurations led to several notable experimental aircraft programs.

Early work

Construction of 5 Foot Vertical Wind Tunnel

Zimmerman worked at

Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory Langley may refer to: People * Langley (surname), a common English surname, including a list of notable people with the name * Dawn Langley Simmons (1922–2000), English author and biographer * Elizabeth Langley (born 1933), Canadian perform ...

in the 1930s on a variety of research topics, including loads,M. J. Bamber and C. H. Zimmerman (1933
''Effect of stabilizer location upon pitching and yawing moments in spins as shown by tests with the spinning balance''
,

NACA The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its assets ...

TN-474.M. J. Bamber and C. H. Zimmerman (1935
''The aerodynamic forces and moments on a spinning model of the F4B-2 airplane as measured by the spinning balance''
,

TN-517.M. J. Bamber and C. H. Zimmerman (1936
''Spinning characteristics of wings I : rectangular Clark Y monoplane wing''
,

TN-519. airfoils,C. H. Zimmerman (1933
''Characteristics of Clark Y airfoils of small aspect ratios''

TN-431.C. H. Zimmerman (1935
''Aerodynamic characteristics of several airfoils of low aspect ratio''

TN-539. and aircraft stability and design.C. H. Zimmerman (1936
''An analysis of longitudinal stability in power-off flight with charts for use in design''

TN-521.C. H. Zimmerman (1936
''Effect of changes in tail arrangement upon the spinning of a low-wing monoplane model''

TN-570. During this time, he was also thinking about much more novel aspects of flight, especially how stability might be maintained. He theorized that the natural balancing reflexes of a person could be adequate to control very small flight vehicles, a concept he called "kinesthetic control". He was also interested in aspects that could lead to

Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing A vertical and/or short take-off and landing (V/STOL) aircraft is an airplane able to take-off or land vertically or on short runways. Vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft are a subset of V/STOL craft that do not require runways at al ...

aircraft.

Novel Flight Vehicles

Zimmerman's research posited aircraft having flat circular bodies, sans wings, as their lifting surface. In the 1940s, Zimmerman and the Navy began researching this idea, which led to the

Vought XF5U The Vought XF5U "Flying Flapjack" was an experimental U.S. Navy fighter aircraft designed by Charles H. Zimmerman for Vought during World War II. This unorthodox design consisted of a flat, somewhat disc-shaped body (hence its name) serving as ...

, nicknamed the "flying pancake". In 1953,

Hiller Aircraft Hiller Aircraft Company was founded in 1942 as Hiller Industries by Stanley Hiller to develop helicopters. History Stanley Hiller, then seventeen, established the first helicopter factory on the West Coast of the United States, located in Berkel ...

contracted with the

Office of Naval Research The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an organization within the United States Department of the Navy responsible for the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Established by Congress in 1946, its mission is to plan ...

to combine several research ideas, including Zimmerman's "kinesthetic" theory, to produce an airworthy "flying platform". The project was classified and conducted at Hiller's Advanced Research Division. In 1954, the prototype model 1031 was delivered. A 1956 Army contract produced the larger

VZ-1 Pawnee The Hiller VZ-1 Pawnee (U.S. Army designation; earlier Army designation: HO-1) was a unique direct-lift rotor aircraft, using contra-rotating ducted fans for lift inside a platform upon which the single pilot shifted body weight for directional c ...

Awards

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, developmen ...

in 1956C. H. Zimmerman (1957
''Some general considerations concerning VTOL aircraft''

Society of Automotive Engineers SAE International, formerly named the Society of Automotive Engineers, is a United States-based, globally active professional association and standards developing organization for engineering professionals in various industries. SAE Internatio ...

paper number 570018.
Dr. Alexander Klemin Award
in 1956 from the

American Helicopter Society American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

References

External links

Flying Platform at Hillier Aviation Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmerman, Charles H. American aerospace engineers 1908 births 1996 deaths University of Kansas alumni University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni 20th-century American engineers