Earl Schuyler (Sky) Kleinhans (February 3, 1905 – September 21, 1996) was an airplane and

flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

aeronautical engineering pioneer with primary experience at

Sikorsky Sikorsky or Sikorski may refer to: * Sikorsky (comics), a Marvel Comics character * Sikorsky (crater), a lunar crater * Sikorsky Aircraft, an American aircraft manufacturer People with the surname * Brian Sikorski (born 1974), Major League Basebal ...

and

Douglas Aircraft The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer based in Southern California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas; it then operated as ...

where he advanced over a 36-year career to become chief engineer and retired as the chairman of the scientific advisory board in 1969 for

McDonnell Douglas McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own merger with Boeing in 1997, it produ ...

Early life

Some of the engineering talent of Sky Kleinhans was inherited. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of a designer of large rolling mill machinery for steel mills. One day when Sky was about 3½ years old he was traveling with his father (Frank Brasil Kleinhans) when their buggy was sandwiched between two streetcars his father was killed and young Sky was ejected from the accident. Sky started at the Pittsburgh Academy in the fifth grade, then in 1916 his family moved to California, where he graduated from Hollywood High in 1922. Then he continued his education at the University of Southern California Branch (now

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

) then transferred to

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...

where he majored in chemistry. He joined the

Alpha Kappa Lambda Alpha Kappa Lambda (), commonly known as AKL or Alpha Kapp, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1914. Today, it operates approximately 30 active chapters and has approximately 28,000 li ...

fraternity there. In 1924 he attended

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, switching to math, physics and anything to do with

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...

boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on inl ...

s, where he earned a BS in mathematics in 1927.

Aviation career

After graduation in the summer 1927, he started work at

Keystone Aircraft Keystone Aircraft Corporation was an early American airplane manufacturer. History Headquartered in Bristol, Pennsylvania, the company was formed as "Ogdensburg Aeroway Corp" in 1920 by Thomas Huff and Elliot Daland, but its name was quickly ...

in Bristol Pennsylvania to develop

Felixstowe F5L The twin-engine F5L was one of the Felixstowe F series of flying boats developed by John Cyril Porte at the Seaplane Experimental Station, Felixstowe, England, during the First World War for production in America. A civilian version of the airc ...

flying boats, an aircraft designed by

John Cyril Porte Lieutenant Colonel John Cyril Porte, (26 February 1884 – 22 October 1919) was a British flying boat pioneer associated with the First World War Seaplane Experimental Station at Felixstowe. Early life and career Porte was born on 26 February ...

at the

Seaplane Experimental Station The Seaplane Experimental Station, formerly RNAS Felixstowe, was a British aircraft design unit during the early part of the 20th century. Creation During June 1912, surveys began for a suitable site for a base for Naval hydro-aeroplanes, with ...

in England. Then there was a series of aircraft design jobs with fledgling airplane firms including

Metal Aircraft Corporation Flamingo The Metal Aircraft Flamingo was a monoplane produced in Cincinnati, Ohio by the Metal Aircraft Corporation in the 1930s. Design and development The Metal Aircraft Corporation purchased the design from the Halpin Development Co. and unveiled it a ...

of Cincinnati Ohio, where Sky was assistant chief engineer during the summer 1929 – December 1929. He worked on the Flamingo made famous as the airplane that flew

Jimmie Angel James "Jimmie" Crawford Angel (August 1, 1899December 8, 1956) was an American aviator after whom Angel Falls in Venezuela, the tallest waterfall in the world, is named. Early life James Crawford Angel was born August 1, 1899, near Cedar Valley, ...

to discover with worlds highest waterfall Angel Falls. Sometimes in those early years an aircraft can be designed, built and test flown in four to five months. At Sikorsky Aviation Corporation, Stratford Connecticut, Sky was in charge of the XP3S1 aircraft development, the

Sikorsky S-38 The Sikorsky S-38 was an American twin-engined ten-seat sesquiplane amphibious aircraft. It was Sikorsky's first widely produced amphibious flying boat, serving successfully for Pan American Airways and the United States military. Design and de ...

and the Navy's XSS-1 and XSS-2, an experimental scout-observation flying-boats. Often he helped with the design of the

Sikorsky S-40 The Sikorsky S-40 was an American amphibious flying boat built by Sikorsky in the early 1930s for Pan American Airways. Design and development Sikorsky designed the S-40 in response to a request from Juan Trippe, president of Pan American Airw ...

Sikorsky S-41 The Sikorsky S-41 was an amphibious flying boat airliner produced in the United States in the early 1930s. Essentially a scaled-up monoplane version of the Sikorsky S-38 biplane flying boat, Pan Am operated the type on routes in the Caribbean, So ...

and

Sikorsky S-42 The Sikorsky S-42 was a commercial flying boat designed and built by Sikorsky Aircraft to meet requirements for a long-range flying boat laid out by Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) in 1931. The innovative design included wing flaps, variable- ...

. Sky started work in the summer of 1933 at the

Company hired by

James H. Kindelberger James Howard "Dutch" Kindelberger (May 8, 1895 – July 27, 1962) was an American aviation pioneer. He led North American Aviation from 1934 until 1960. An extroverted character, Kindelberger was famed for his emphasis on hard work, orderliness ...

(Dutch) and he was put in charge of all flying boats as a project engineer. In 1935 he was appointed assistant chief designer for all of Douglas Aircraft, including the B-19 and DC-4. From 1937 to 1940 he was promoted to chief designer, and when World War II started in 1941 he became assistant chief engineer, Edward F. Burton (designer of the

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

) was now chief engineer, but by 1960 Sky became chief engineer then director of research and engineering. His last position was chairman of the scientific advisory board in until his retirement in 1967.

Aircraft designs

After his seaplane and flying boat work at Douglas he became very involved in transport aircraft the entire DC-3 through DC-9 series. His airplane design philosophy was driven by a combination of function and airline requirements embodied in five key points. *First—Capacity up by 50% *Second—Operating cost reduced by 20%, this improves airline revenue *Third—Performance 20% improvement in speed and range *Fourth—Comfort, interiors had to look and feel different *Safety—Bad-weather aids, autopilots, reverse thrusters, brakes During Douglas's long transport history they had not marketing a new aeroplane that was not an improvement in the type of aircraft it was replacing in each of these five cardinal points. During his career Sky Kleinhans designed, assisted with the design, or managed a design team for the following aircraft. * Keystone PK-1, derived from the

*Sikorsky XSS-1 and XSS-2, an experimental scout-observation flying-boats with folding wings *

Douglas XB-19 The Douglas XB-19 was a four-engined, piston-driven heavy bomber produced by the Douglas Aircraft Company for the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during the early 1940s. It was the largest bomber built for the USAAF until 1946, and was or ...

Douglas DC-4E The Douglas DC-4E was an American experimental airliner that was developed before World War II. The DC-4E never entered production due to being superseded by an entirely new design, the Douglas DC-4/C-54, which proved very successful. Many of t ...

Douglas DC-4 The Douglas DC-4 is an American four-engined (piston), propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Military versions of the plane, the C-54 and R5D, served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s ...

Douglas DC-6 The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with th ...

Douglas DC-7 The Douglas DC-7 is an American transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1953 to 1958. A derivative of the DC-6, it was the last major piston engine-powered transport made by Douglas, being developed shortly after the ear ...

Douglas XB-42 Mixmaster The Douglas XB-42 Mixmaster was an experimental bomber aircraft, designed for a high top speed. The unconventional approach was to mount the two engines within the fuselage driving a pair of contra-rotating propellers mounted at the tail in a p ...

Douglas XB-43 Jetmaster The Douglas XB-43 Jetmaster is an American 1940s jet-powered prototype bomber. The XB-43 was a development of the XB-42, replacing the piston engines of the XB-42 with two General Electric J35 engines of 4,000 lbf (17.8 kN) thrust ea ...

Douglas DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 (sometimes McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is a long-range narrow-body airliner built by the American Douglas Aircraft Company. After losing the May 1954 US Air Force tanker competition to the Boeing KC-135, Douglas announced in Ju ...

McDonnell Douglas DC-9 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas. After ...

Douglas X-3 Stiletto The Douglas X-3 Stiletto was a 1950s United States experimental jet aircraft with a slender fuselage and a long tapered nose, manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Its primary mission was to investigate the design features of an aircraf ...

Family

Sky married Virginia Winterstein in Bristol Pennsylvania in 1928 and they had two daughters: Charlotte Kleinhans Wood, and Letitia Kleinhans Aaron.

Honors and legacy

* AIAA Fellow

References

External links

Brief Biography

* ttp://www.freepatentsonline.com/2629568.html Patent: Tandem Rotor Helicopter
Patent: Static Electricity Discharger

Patent: Safety Mechanism For Operating Control Surfaces
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kleinhans, Earl Schuyler 1905 births 1996 deaths People from Pittsburgh American aerospace engineers Aircraft designers Aerodynamicists Fellows of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineers from Pennsylvania 20th-century American engineers