August Raspet (24 August 1913 – 27 April 1960) was an American aerodynamicist and researcher. He was one of the most influential contributors to the science of aeronautics, dealing primarily with efficiency in flight,

aerodynamics Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dy ...

and wing design structures. His contributions to the field of flight science are many, having published over forty scholarly articles on subjects ranging from human muscle-powered flight to

sailplane A glider or sailplane is a type of glider aircraft used in the leisure activity and sport of gliding (also called soaring). This unpowered aircraft can use naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to gain altitude. Sailpla ...

performance analysis as it relates to airplanes. An avid bird watcher, Raspet developed his dedication to the idea of flight from a young age and would use ideas generated from observing avian flight in his experiments and research throughout his career.

Biography

Raspet was born in Irwin, Pennsylvania on 24 August 1913. He received a BS degree in

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its 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 which r ...

in 1935 and began working in the Civil Service as a junior physicist. In 1938 he began graduate studies at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

while still working in the Civil Service. He received an MS degree in Physics in 1940 and PhD in 1942. His PhD dissertation covered instruments for measuring Earth's magnetic fields. In 1942 he began as a research physicist for the Gould Aeronautical Division of Pratt Read and Co. in Deep River, Connecticut. In 1943 he became a research physicist at Specialties, Inc. in Syosset, New York. While at Specialties, Inc. he became the Director of Research of the

Soaring Society of America The Soaring Society of America (SSA) was founded at the instigation of Warren E. Eaton to promote the sport of soaring in the USA and internationally. The first meeting was held in New York City in the McGraw–Hill Building on February 20, 193 ...

(The August 1960 edition of its monthly magazine is entirely dedicated to Raspet) for the glider phase of Project Thunderstorm. In 1947 Raspet became President and Director of Research at the Aerophysic Institute, Inc. for their study of airflow over an extended ridge, funded by the US Office of Naval Research. In 1949 Raspet became the Sailplane Projects Leader for the Engineering Station at Mississippi State College. From 1953 until his untimely death in 1960, he served as Head of the Aerophysics Department at Mississippi State College (now Mississippi State University). The Flight Research Laboratory at MSU is named for him. On 27 April 1960, Raspet was involved in a plane crash during a demonstration of a

Piper Cub The Piper J-3 Cub is an American light aircraft that was built between 1938 and 1947 by Piper Aircraft. The aircraft has a simple, lightweight design which gives it good low-speed handling properties and short-field performance. The Cub is P ...

with boundary layer modifications at Starkville, Mississippi's George M. Bryan Airport. He died at the scene and was survived by his wife and three children.

Contributions

Raspet's most extensive work in aeronautics was in boundary layer control. Through several experiments involving laminar friction curve and high-lift boundaries, he made several breakthroughs regarding sailplanes that would later be incorporated in light aircraft.

Notable articles

*"More Audio Watts from a Single Type 10: An Audio System Adapted Modulater Use" – ''QST'', March 1935 (co-author) *"Prone Pilots" – ''Air Progress'', 1940 *"Dynamic Balancing of Small Rotors by Means of the Cathode-ray Oscillograph" – ''Dumont Oscillographer'', April–May 1941. (prize paper, co-author) *"Slope Soaring" – ''Soaring'' – July–August 1943 *"Comments on Richard C. DuPont's Paper" – ''Soaring'', July–August 1943 *"Glider-Tug Performance Studies" – ''Soaring'', November–December 1944 *"The Angle of Attack Indicator" – ''Soaring'', May–June 1946 *"Determination of the Flight Path of Airplanes, 1946" – ''Proceedings of Flight Path Conference'', US Navy, 1946 *"Sailplane Performance Evaluation" – ''Soaring'' May–June 1947 *"The Ultimate Performance Sailplane" – ''Institute of Aeronautical Sciences'', July 1948 *"The Sailplane as a Meteorological Probe" – ''Transactions: American Geophysics Union'', October 1948 *"The Air Flow Over an Extended Ridge" – ''OSTIV, Pub. 1'', 1948 *"Measurements of the Drag Coefficient of Soaring Bird" – ''Aeronautical Engineering Review'', December 1950 *"Flight Characteristics of the Flat Top TG-4A" – ''Soaring'', January–February 1950 *"Die Segelflugprojeckte des Miss. State College" – ''Thermik'', March 1950 *"To Paul Tuntland (In Memoriam)" – ''Soaring'', September–October 1950 *"Aerodynamics of the Sailplane Tiny Mite" – ''Soaring'', November–December 1950 *"Performance Measurements of a Soaring Bird" – ''Aeronautical Engineering Review, Vol. 9, No. 12'', December 1950 *"Problems of Cosmical Aerodynamics, a Review of Proceedings for CADA" – ''Aeronautical Engineering Review'', 1951 *"The Sailplane in Aerodynamic Research" – ''Research Reviews'', February 1952 *"Peravia Barograph" – ''Soaring'', March–April 1951 (co-author) *"Unsolved – The Problem of Leonardo da Vinci, Human Muscle-Powered Flight" – ''Journal of the Miss. Academy of Science, Vol. V'', 1951–1953, as well as ''Soaring'', May–June 1952 *"The Role of the Sailplane in Aerodynamic Research" – ''Soaring'', May–June 1951 *"Boundary Layer Studies on a Sailplane" – ''Aeronautical Engineering Review, Vol. II, No. 6'', June 1052 *"Systematic Improvement of the Drag Polar of the Sailplane RJ-5" – ''Soaring'', September–October 1951 *"The Sailplane in Research, Training and Sport Flying" – ''Soaring'', January–February 1953 *"Leisteungssteigerung von Segelflugzeugen durch die Berucksichtigung der Grenzschichtforschung (Increase in Performance of Sailplanes by Use of Boundary Layer Research), Translated by Nils Hirth and Edited by Wolf Hirth" – ''Handbook Des Segelfliegens'', 1953 *"More Power or Less Drag" – ''Flight'', April 1953 *"Bathtub Aerodynamics" – ''Soaring'', May 1953 & March–April 1954 (co-author) *"Control of the Boundary Layer on Sailplanes" – ''OSTIV, Pub. II'' *"Flight Measurements of Trailing-Edge Suction on a Sailplane" – ''Aeronautical Engineering Review, Vol. 13, No. 1'', January 1954 *"Private and Utility Airplane of the Future" – ''Aviation Age'', January 1954 *"Flight Research on a Personal Type Airplane" – ''Research Reviews'', April 1954 *"Application of Sailplane Performance Analysis to Airplanes" – ''Aeronautical Engineering Review'', August 1954 *"Low Drag Sailplane, Tiny Mite, Modifications, 1954" – ''Journal of Aeronautical Society of India, Vol. 7, No. 3'' & ''Soaring'', November–December 1954 (co-author) *"Sailplane as a Tool for Boundary Layer Research" – ''Fifty Years of Boundary Layer Research'', 1955 *"Delay of the Stall by Suction Through Distributed Perforations" – ''Aeronautical Engineering Review'', August 1956 (co-author) *"Flight Measured Aerodynamics of Wittman's Tailwind" – ''Experimenter'', October 1956, Experimental Aircraft Association *"Basic Research and Mississippi's Industrialization" – Paper presented at the Mississippi Academy of Science Meeting, Mississippi State University, 24 April 1959 *"Some Thoughts on New Approaches to Soaring" – Presented at the Soaring Society of America technical Symposium, Los Angeles, California on 12 September 1959; published in ''Soaring'' November 1959

The Dr. August Raspet Memorial Award

Because of Raspet's contribution to aeronautical science, a prestigious award has been named in his memory. The

Experimental Aircraft Association The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) is an international organization of aviation enthusiasts based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, United States. Since its inception, it has grown internationally with over 200,000 members and nearly 1,000 chapt ...

(EAA), beginning in 1960, has awarded yearly the Dr. August Raspet Memorial Award to a person or group who has made significant advancements in the field of light aircraft design. "The first recipient of the award was John Thorp, Lockheed engineer on the

Little Dipper Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

and

Big Dipper The Big Dipper ( US, Canada) or the Plough ( UK, Ireland) is a large asterism consisting of seven bright stars of the constellation Ursa Major; six of them are of second magnitude and one, Megrez (δ), of third magnitude. Four define a "bowl" ...

, and designer of the Thorp Aviation Sky Skooter. Since then the list of people honored reads like a Who's Who of aircraft design."

List of Recipients

*1960 –

John Thorp John Willard Thorp (June 20, 1912 – April 18, 1992) was an American aeronautical engineer who made significant contributions to aircraft design throughout his life. Born in French Camp, California, John Thorp grew up from age four in the ...

*1961 –

Steve Wittman Sylvester Joseph "Steve" Wittman (April 5, 1904 – April 27, 1995) was an American air-racer and aircraft engineer. An illness in Wittman's infancy claimed most of his vision in one eye, which convinced him from an early age that his dre ...

*1962 –

Ray Stits Raymond M. Stits (20 June 1921 - 8 June 2015) was an American inventor, homebuilt aircraft designer, aircraft mechanic and pilot. He designed the Stits SA-2A Sky Baby, which was the world's smallest aircraft in 1952, developed the Poly-Fiber ...

*1963 – Alexander Lippisch *1964 –

Richard Schreder Richard E. Schreder (25 September 1915 – 2 August 2002) was an American naval aviator and sailplane developer, responsible for design and development of the HP/RS-series kit sailplanes marketed from 1962 until about 1982. Schreder also fou ...

*1965 – (no recipient) *1966 – Edgar J. Lesher *1967 – (no recipient) *1968 – Peter M. Bowers *1969 – Curtis Pitts *1970 –

Ladislao Pazmany Ladislao Pazmany (November 25, 1923 – August 21, 2006) was an aviation pioneer, aeronautical engineer, designer, pilot, teacher, speaker, and author. Born a Hungarian, Pazmany grew up, went to school and worked in his formative years in Arg ...

*1971 –

Jim Bede James R. Bede (April 17, 1933 – July 9, 2015) was an American aircraft designer. He designed well over a dozen aircraft starting in the 1960s, but a string of business failures kept most of these designs out of widespread use. Bede Avia ...

*1972 –

Bernard Pietenpol Bernard H. Pietenpol (1901–1984) was an aircraft designer. A designer of homebuilt aircraft, Pietenpol was a self-taught mechanic who lived most of his life in the small community of Cherry Grove in southeastern Minnesota. His best-known ...

*1973 – Robert Bushby *1974 –

Paul Poberezny Paul Howard Poberezny (September 14, 1921 – August 22, 2013) was an American aviator, entrepreneur, and aircraft designer. He founded the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) in 1953, and spent the greater part of his life promoting hom ...

*1975 – M.B. "Molt" Taylor *1976 –

Burt Rutan Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan (; born June 17, 1943) is a retired American aerospace engineer and entrepreneur noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, and energy-efficient air and space craft. He designed the recor ...

*1977 – Lou Stolp *1978 – Chris Heintz *1979 –

John Monnett Sonex Aircraft, LLC is an American kit aircraft manufacturer located in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, producing kits for four all-metal homebuilt monoplanes. The company was founded in 1998 by John Monnett, who has designed the Monnett Sonerai sport ai ...

*1980 – Dick VanGrunsven *1981 – Atonio "Tony" Bingelis *1982 – Dick Wagner *1983 – Mike Smith *1984 – B.J. Schramm *1985 – Tom Hamilton *1986 – Mark D. Brown *1987 – Lance Neibauer *1988 – Homer Kolb *1989 – Jim Griswold *1990 –

John Roncz John Gregory Roncz (born 1948) is an inventor, businessman, computer expert, book author, and aerodynamicist. Roncz designed the sail for the racing yacht Stars and Stripes, which won the 1988 America’s Cup, and worked on Steve Fossett’s Vir ...

*1991 – Dan Denney *1992 – Alan and Dale Klapmeier *1993 –

CAFE Foundation The CAFE Foundation is a U.S. non-profit aviation development and flight test organization based in Windsor, California. CAFE was an acronym for"Competition in Aircraft Flight Efficiency" and became later "Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency." ...

(accepted by Brien Seeley) *1994 – Paul Fiduccia, Small Aircraft Manufacturers Association *1995 – Ivan Shaw *1996 – Stoddard-Hamilton GlaStar Design Team *1997 – Jim Rahm/Al Joniec *1998 – Dan Wilson *1999 – RotorWay International *2000 – Rotary Air Force *2001 – Harry Riblett *2002 – Randy Schlitter *2003 – Pete Buck *2004 – Phil Lockwood *2005 – Chuck Bilbe and Jim Younkin *2006 – Gordon Pratt and Ricardo Price/ Chelton Flight Systems *2007 – Greg Toman *2008 – Randall Fishman *2009 – Rodney Stiff *2010 – Ken Krueger *2011 – James Wiebe *2012 – Michael Coates,

Pipistrel Aircraft Pipistrel d.o.o Ajdovščina is a Slovenian light aircraft manufacturer established in 1989Or 1989... --> by Ivo Boscarol and based in Ajdovščina. Its facilities are located in Ajdovščina, Slovenia, and near the town of Gorizia, Italy. By M ...

*2013 – BRP Rotax Engines *2014 – Troy Woodland *2015 – John and Jeremy Monnett *2016 – Paulo H. Iscold *2017 – Craig Catto *2018 – Greg Cole 19 July 2018 – Greg Cole, EAA 1012774, has been announced as the 2018 recipient of the Dr. August Raspet Memorial Award for his outstanding contributions to the advancement of light aircraft design. Among the litany of aircraft Greg has designed are the Perlan glider and the Lancair Evolution, Legacy, and Columbia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raspet, August American aerospace engineers 1960 deaths 1913 births 20th-century American engineers Glider pilots