Otto C. Koppen (1901 – 1991) was an American aircraft engineer.

Early life

Otto Koppen graduated with a Bachelor of Science from MIT in 1924.

MIT

Koppen was the professor emeritus of aeronautical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1929 Koppen returned to teach stability and control at MIT, where he remained until his retirement in 1965. As part of the course, Koppen took students up in a

Fairchild 24 The Fairchild Model 24, also called the Fairchild Model 24 Argus and UC-61 Forwarder, is a four-seat, single-engine monoplane light transport aircraft designed by the Fairchild Aviation Corporation in the 1930s. It was adopted by the United Sta ...

to demonstrate stability principles. In 1936, Koppen published a paper called "SMART AIRPLANES FOR DUMB PILOTS". In 1939, a student brought a model of the new Curtiss XSB2C-1 to the MIT wind tunnel. Koppen was quoted as saying, "if they build more than one of these, they are crazy". He was referencing controlability issues with the small vertical tail. The eventual production aircraft did have issues, and needed over 880 modifications before entering combat in WWII.

Project Whirlwind

In 1944 America recognized a need for a universal flight trainer more advanced than the analog Link Trainer. What started as the development of the Aircraft Stability and Control Analyzer (ASCA) for the Navy became "Project Whirlwind". Headed by Captain Luis deFlorez, Otto Koppen, John R. Markham, and Joseph Bicknell put together the requirements for a simulator that factored in winds and aerodynamic forces. The byproduct that was developed to compute the data was one of America's first high-speed, prototypical, digital computer. Koppen took a two-year break from teaching after the loss of his daughter in a flight accident involving loss of control in low visibility conditions. Koppen promised his wife never to fly again afterward, but restarted after her death. Koppen flew a Grumman Yankee and experimented with wing-leveling and other controls. Koppen acquired his FAA instrument rating at the age of eighty. At one point Koppen was the oldest instrument rated pilot in America. Koppen is regarded as providing the basis for most stability and control research since the 1930s.

Designer

After a fire at the

Stout Metal Airplane Division of the Ford Motor Company Stout Metal Airplane Division of the Ford Motor Company was an American aircraft manufacturer founded by William Bushnell Stout as the Stout Metal Airplane Co. in 1922. The company was purchased by Ford Motor Company in 1924 and later produced th ...

, which destroyed the Ford 3-AT Trimotor prototype, Tom Towle hired MIT graduate Otto Koppen, John Lee, and James Smith McDonnell (co-founder of what is now McDonnell Douglas). Koppen, along with Harold Hicks and Tom Towle, are credited with refining the

Stout Stout is a dark, top-fermented beer with a number of variations, including dry stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout, and imperial stout. The first known use of the word ''stout'' for beer, in a document dated 1677 found in the Egerton Manuscript ...

-designed Ford 3-AT into the well known

Ford Trimotor The Ford Trimotor (also called the "Tri-Motor", and nicknamed the "Tin Goose") is an American three-engined transport aircraft. Production started in 1925 by the companies of Henry Ford and ended on June 7, 1933, after 199 had been made. It w ...

. In 1926, Koppen designed the Ford Flivver. As the first criterion for the design was that it had to fit in an office, his first task was measuring the dimensions of Ford’s office. Koppen designed the Fairchild FT-1 in 1929. The aircraft was the model for the Fairchild Model 21, a two-seat low-wing aircraft that bore a similarity to the Ford Flivver. Production was halted during the depression. In 1943 Koppen was brought on as an engineer to help design larger cargo aircraft for the Franklin Institute for 20,000 dollars a year. He was a designer for

General Aircraft Corporation The General Aircraft Company was an American aircraft design and manufacturing company that was formed in the late 1930s and ceased involvement with aircraft in 1976. History The company was established at Lowell, Massachusetts to build an aircr ...

. Koppen designed an early two-control aircraft, the

General Skyfarer The General Aircraft G1-80 Skyfarer was a 1940s American two-seat cabin monoplane aircraft built by the General Aircraft Corporation of Lowell, Massachusetts. Development The General Aircraft Corporation was established to build an aircraft des ...

. Using just ailerons and elevators for directional control. 17 were built. The aircraft was later licensed as the Mars M1-80 Skycoupe, but did not go into production. In 1949, Koppen, and Lynn Bollinger formed the Helio Corporation of Massachusetts. They developed a "helioplane" prototype for a cost of 6000 dollars that was built based on a modified

Piper Vagabond The Piper PA-15 Vagabond and PA-17 Vagabond are both two-seat, high-wing, conventional gear light aircraft that were designed for personal use and for flight training and built by Piper Aircraft starting in 1948.Montgomery, MR and Gerald Foster,: ...

with a short wing, with leading edge slats, with high lift and

STOL A short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft is a conventional fixed-wing aircraft that has short runway requirements for takeoff and landing. Many STOL-designed aircraft also feature various arrangements for use on airstrips with harsh conditio ...

capabilities. Greater Boston Metropolitan Airport fixed-base operator, E.W. Wiggins Airways converted the Piper PA-17 Vagabond with volunteer assistance to make the 2-place Helio No.1. Koppen also served as test pilot. This aircraft was the basis for the

Helio Courier The Helio Courier is a cantilever high-wing light STOL utility aircraft designed in 1949. Around 500 of these aircraft were manufactured in Pittsburg, Kansas, from 1954 until 1974 by the Helio Aircraft Company. The design featured four lead ...

series of aircraft. The Helio Aircraft Corporation was formed in 1950 after merging with Midwest Aircraft Corporation, the company produced a variety of types for the Navy. The prototype aircraft "Helio-1" has been donated the

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, it opened its main building on the Nat ...

in 1963. Following the death of his daughter in an airplane crash in November 1950, Koppen took a two year break in teaching. Koppen developed a simplified autopilot that could be affordable enough to be used by general aviation aircraft. The bang-bang, or discontinuous, control device featured an innovative use of a tilted gyroscope that sensed roll and yaw, to provide input to the autopilot. After his formal NACA report was published, his ability to file for a patent was nullified. In 1991 EAA Chapter 159 from Midland, Michigan, donated a replica Ford Flivver to the EAA Airventure Museum. The replica was built from careful inspection of the original prototype and advice from Otto C. Koppen. He lived in Osterville, Massachusetts. He won the 1957

Godfrey L. Cabot Award Godfrey may refer to: People * Godfrey (name), a given name and surname * Godfrey (comedian), American comedian, actor Places In the United States * Godfrey, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Godfrey, Illinois, a village * Godfrey, Kansas, an ...

. Otto Koppen died at the age of 90.

Gallery

Image:JAARS Helio Courier in Hangar.jpg, Helio Courier Image:EAA Ford Trimotor.jpg, Ford Trimotor Image:Ford Flivver Replica.jpg, Ford Flivver

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Koppen, Otto C. American aerospace engineers MIT School of Engineering faculty 1901 births 1991 deaths People from Osterville, Massachusetts 20th-century American engineers