Dietrich Küchemann
CBE FRS FRAeS
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 Aeronautics, aeronautical society in the world. Memb ...
(11 September 1911 – 23 February 1976) was a German
aerodynamicist who made several important contributions to the advancement of
high-speed flight. He spent most of his career in the UK, where he is best known for his work on
Concorde
Concorde () is a retired Anglo-French supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC).
Studies started in 1954, and France and the United Kingdom signed a treaty establishin ...
.
Biography
Küchemann was born in
Göttingen
Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...
where he studied at its
University of Göttingen
The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...
, home of the largest German institute of
aerodynamics
Aerodynamics () is the study of the motion of atmosphere of Earth, air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dynamics and its subfield of gas dynamics, and is an ...
. He was originally going to move on to pure
physics
Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
research under
Max Born
Max Born (; 11 December 1882 – 5 January 1970) was a German-British theoretical physicist who was instrumental in the development of quantum mechanics. He also made contributions to solid-state physics and optics, and supervised the work of a ...
, a friend of his father's, but lost this chance when Born and several other
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
members of the University staff were expelled from the country by the
Nazi
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
regime. Instead Küchemann went on to join
Ludwig Prandtl in aerodynamics research. He published his
doctoral thesis
A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...
in 1936.
With the war looming, Küchemann volunteered for service in 1938, and as expected was given a non-combatant role in Signals. He held the rank of Unteroffizier from 1942 to 1945, but he saw no active service. During this period he continued research, notably into the problems of high speed flight,
wave drag
In aeronautics, wave drag is a component of the aerodynamic drag
In fluid dynamics, drag, sometimes referred to as fluid resistance, is a force acting opposite to the direction of motion of any object moving with respect to a surrounding flu ...
,
swept wing theory and initial steps on the road to the
area rule, and he designed a fuselage shape later dubbed the "Küchemann Coke Bottle".
One year after the war Küchemann moved to England and started work at the
Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) at
Farnborough. In 1953 he and his colleague,
Johanna Weber, published the still-standard work on the topic, ''Aerodynamics of Propulsion'', based on their work at the
''Aeronautische Versuchsanstalt'' (AVA), Göttingen from 1940 to 1945.
Küchemann continued his work on high-speed flight, and was part of the team involved in the development of the
delta wing in England. He raised the design as a possible approach for supersonic transport, but indicated that he was unclear about the low speed controllability. A series of test aircraft, such as
Handley Page HP.115, were built during the 1950s to study the various problems with the design, which eventually led to the advanced
ogive shape used on Concorde. He was also a tireless promoter of the
lifting body
A lifting body is a fixed-wing aircraft or spacecraft configuration in which the body itself produces lift (force), lift. In contrast to a flying wing, which is a wing with minimal or no conventional fuselage, a lifting body can be thought of as ...
concept for aircraft (as opposed to spacecraft, as in US research), although to date no
blended wing body aircraft has entered service. Similar research was followed on the
waverider concept.
After becoming – along with Weber – a British citizen in 1953, the following year he was promoted to the Senior Principal Scientific Officer (SPSO) at the RAE, in 1957 the deputy chief scientific officer (DCSO) and head of the Supersonics Division, and finally the chief scientific officer (CSO) and head of the entire Aerodynamics Department in 1966. He retired from administrative duties in 1971, but continued work on an effort to build a very large
supersonic wind tunnel for use by various European research departments, but this was not completed in his lifetime.
With the help of colleagues at the RAE and
Imperial College London
Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...
his book ''The Aerodynamic Design of Aircraft'' was published two years after his death, and is considered by many to be the classic text on modern aerodynamics.
In 1962 he was awarded the
Royal Aeronautical Society's Silver Medal, and in 1963 he was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
.
In 1964 Küchemann was appointed a
Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. He was awarded the
Ludwig-Prandtl-Ring from the
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt (German Society for Aeronautics and Astronautics) for "outstanding contribution in the field of aerospace engineering" in 1970.
His name has entered aeronautical lore in the form of the trailing edge
anti-shock bodies used on the
Handley Page Victor
The Handley Page Victor was a British jet-powered strategic bomber developed and produced by Handley Page during the Cold War. It was the third and final ''V bomber'' to be operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF), the other two being the Vickers ...
bomber, commonly referred to as "
Küchemann carrots".
An amateur cellist, he joined the Farnborough Symphony Orchestra in 1946. He became principal cello and remained with the orchestra until 1971.
Books and publications
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*
*
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See also
*
Concorde
Concorde () is a retired Anglo-French supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC).
Studies started in 1954, and France and the United Kingdom signed a treaty establishin ...
*
Supersonic flight
*
Wave drag
In aeronautics, wave drag is a component of the aerodynamic drag
In fluid dynamics, drag, sometimes referred to as fluid resistance, is a force acting opposite to the direction of motion of any object moving with respect to a surrounding flu ...
*
Area rule
References
External links
Obituary in ''Flight International''(archived version only)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuchemann, Dietrich
1911 births
1976 deaths
Scientists from Göttingen
People from the Province of Hanover
German aviation pioneers
German aerospace engineers
Engineers from Lower Saxony
Aerodynamicists
Concorde
Handley Page
Operation Surgeon
University of Göttingen alumni
German military personnel of World War II
German emigrants to the United Kingdom
Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom
British aerospace engineers
Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society
Fellows of the Royal Society
Ludwig-Prandtl-Ring recipients
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Royal Aeronautical Society Silver Medal winners