John Willard Thorp (June 20, 1912 – April 18, 1992) was an American

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 ...

who made significant contributions to aircraft design throughout his life. Born in

French Camp, California French Camp (from ''Campo de los Franceses'', Spanish for "Field of the Frenchmen") is an unincorporated community in San Joaquin County, California, United States. The population was 3,770 as of the 2020 census. Up from 3,376 at the 2010 census, a ...

, John Thorp grew up from age four in the historic Locke family home in

Lockeford, California Lockeford is an unincorporated community in San Joaquin County, California, United States. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined Lockeford as a census-designated place (CDP). The census definition of the area may no ...

. He was educated in the Lockeford and Lodi public schools, and the

Boeing School of Aeronautics The Boeing School of Aeronautics was started by Boeing to compete against the Wright brothers' Wright Flying School and Curtiss Flying School in San Diego, California. Founded in 1929 at Oakland Municipal Airport in Oakland, California, the school ...

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. Thorp worked on the

Boeing 247 The Boeing Model 247 is an early United States airliner, and one of the first such aircraft to incorporate advances such as all-metal (Anodizing#Anodized aluminium, anodized aluminum) semimonocoque construction, a fully Cantilever#Aircraft, cant ...

final assembly line and then returned to teach at the Boeing School. Starting flying in 1929, he received his private license in 1930 and by 1935 had flown 30 different types of aircraft in over 200 flying hours. By 1946 he had over 600 flight hours in 62 different aircraft types. Thorp started designing personal aircraft at the Boeing School. As Lockheed Assistant Preliminary Design Engineer, he was responsible for the preliminary design of the P2V "Neptune", Naval patrol bomber. In 1946 the famous P2V "Truculent Turtle" set the unrefueled distance record of . This record stood for more than ten years, until finally broken in 1962 by a

Boeing B-52H Stratofortress The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the United States Air ...

from Minot AFB, ND.

Aircraft designs

The following light aircraft were designed by John Thorp during his career:

1930s

* T-1 - 1931 Design study of a two place light plane * T-2 - 1932 Design study * T-3B - 1933 Two/Four place, all metal, retractable, built by Rudy Paulic * T-4 - 1934 Design study * T-5 - 1935 Tandem two-place trainer, built by Boeing School *T-6 - 1936 Modified T-5 with tricycle landing gear, built by Boeing School * T-7 - 1939 Design study of an all wood airplane

1940s

* T-8 - 1940 Design study * T-9 - 1941 Design study *Mod 33 1942 Lockheed Model 33 Little Dipper single place for flying infantryman *Mod 34 1943 Lockheed Model 34 Big Dipper two place single engine pusher * T-10 - 1944 Series "I" Sky Skooter - Taildragger - proposed engine Franklin 2AC-99 50 hp * T-11 - 1945 Sky Skooter,

Lycoming O-145 The Lycoming O-145 is a family of small, low-horsepower, four-cylinder, air-cooled engines. It was Lycoming Engines' first horizontally opposed aircraft engine and was produced from 1938 until the late 1940s. The family includes the reduction-ge ...

. FAR Part 23 certification * TL-1 - 1948 Design study - Liaison Airplane

1950s

* T-111 - 1953 Sky Skooter, Lycoming O-145. FAR Part 23 certification. * T-211 - 1963 Sky Skooter, Continental O-200. FAR Part 23 certification. * T-12 - 1945-50 Design study. * T-13 - 1950 FL-23, high wing observation prototype built by Fletcher Aviation. *

T-14 The T-14 Armata ( rus, Т-14 «Армата»; industrial designation russian: Объект 148, Ob'yekt 148, Object 148), is a next-generation Russian main battle tank based on the Armata Universal Combat Platform. The Russian Army initially p ...

- 1951 FD-25, "Defender" armed light plane, Continental, by Fletcher Aviation. * T-15 - 1952 FU-24, agricultural aircraft for

Aerial Topdressing Aerial topdressing is the aerial application of fertilisers over farmland using agricultural aircraft. It was developed in New Zealand in the 1940s and rapidly adopted elsewhere in the 1950s. Origins Previous aerial applications The first k ...

market, prototype built by Fletcher Aviation, large scale production in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. * T-16 - 1956-58 180 hp,

Piper Cherokee The Piper PA-28 Cherokee is a family of two-seat or four-seat light aircraft built by Piper Aircraft and designed for flight training, air taxi and personal use.Plane and Pilot: ''1978 Aircraft Directory'', pages 62–64. Werner & Werner Corp, ...

preliminary design. PA-28 first built with . * T-17 - 1958 Wing Derringer original design. Began as twin engine Skooter.

1960s

* T-18 - 1960 All metal two place, high performance homebuilt. **Don Taylor's T-18 was first homebuilt to fly around the world. **Clive Canning flew his T-18 from Australia to England and return. *

T-19 The T-19 was a Soviet light tank design of the interwar years. Conceived as the mainstay of the new Soviet tank armies, it was a development of the T-18, ultimately based on the First World War-era French Renault FT. When ready for production in ...

- 1962 Design study - Four place, twinjet aircraft using Williams Research engine.

1970s

* T-20 - 1971 Design study - Single place, open cockpit sport plane * T-21 - 1971 Design study - Utility airplane. * T-22 - 1972 Design study - Sport plane. * T-23 - 1972 Design study - Single place high performance sport plane. * SE5-F 1973 WWI replica - Prototype built. *

T-28 The T-28 was a Soviet multi-turreted medium tank. The prototype was completed in 1931, and production began in late 1932. It was an infantry support tank intended to break through fortified defences. The T-28 was designed to complement the hea ...

- 1974 Design study - Two place, twin engine airplane based on the T-18.

References

External links

Designer Spotlight: John Thorp – Kitplanes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorp, John American aerospace engineers 1912 births 1992 deaths People from French Camp, California Engineers from California 20th-century American engineers