Kenneth Gene Wernicke (October 12, 1932 – September 1, 2022) was an American

aerospace 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 ...

. He had a leading role in the development of the tilt rotor aircraft

Bell XV-3 The Bell XV-3 (Bell 200) is an American tiltrotor aircraft developed by Bell Helicopter for a joint research program between the United States Air Force and the United States Army in order to explore convertiplane technologies. The XV-3 featured ...

, Bell XV-15 and V-22 Osprey.

Life and career

Ken Wernicke had a BS and MS in Aerospace Engineering from the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

."Hydrofoil Presentations"
''International Hydrofoil Society'', 16 May 2011. Accessed: 17 March 2012. From 1955 to 1990 he was an engineer at

Bell Helicopter Bell Textron Inc. is an American aerospace manufacturer headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. A subsidiary of Textron, Bell manufactures military rotorcraft at facilities in Fort Worth, and Amarillo, Texas, as well as commercial helicopters in M ...

, and worked as a leading engineer with Bob Lichten from 1964 on the tilt rotor technology.Maisel, Martin D., Demo J. Giulianetti and Daniel C. Dugan
NASA SP-2000-4517, "The History of the XV-15 Tilt Rotor Research Aircraft: From Concept to Flight" (PDF)
''

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

'', 2000. Accessed: 17 March 2012. Along with his twin brother Rod, (who was also a Bell engineer) his son Keith and Rod's sons Tim and Kent, he was developing a

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, an ...

tracked

amphibious vehicle An amphibious vehicle (or simply amphibian), is a vehicle that is a means of transport viable on land as well as on or under water. Amphibious vehicles include amphibious Amphibious cycle, bicycles, Amphibious ATV, ATVs, Amphibious automobile, ca ...

after the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

requested concepts for a scout vehicle that could travel on water at high speed and proceed with all terrain capability for

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...

on land. He holds patents related to flying and tracks."List of patents by Kenneth Wernicke"
''

United States Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alex ...

''. Accessed: 17 March 2012. Wernicke was an advisory

board member A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

of rotorcraft company

Carter Aviation Technologies Carter Aviation Technologies (also known as CarterCopters) is a privately held aviation research and development company based in Wichita Falls, Texas, United States. The main focus of the company is developing new technology and then licensing it ...

. Wernicke died in

Bedford, Texas Bedford is a city located in northeast Tarrant County, Texas, in the " Mid-Cities" area between Dallas and Fort Worth. It is a suburb of Dallas and Fort Worth. The population was 46,979 at the 2010 census. Bedford is part of the Hurst-Euless-Be ...

, on September 1, 2022, at the age of 89.

Awards

Wernicke has received the Paul E. Haueter Memorial Award ( American Helicopter Society) in 1978,Paul E. Haueter Award
, '' American Helicopter Society'' and the Aircraft Design Award (

AIAA The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of t ...

) in 1983.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wernicke, Kenneth 1932 births 2022 deaths American aerospace engineers American aviators Aviation pioneers Engineers from Missouri University of Kansas alumni