Fred Ernest Weick (1899–1993) was an

airmail pilot ''Airmail Pilot'' is a video game published in 1979 by Instant Software, in which the player pilots a Curtiss JN-4D "Jenny" biplane carrying mail from Columbus, Ohio to Chicago. Gameplay The game begins with an advertisement attributed to an 18 ...

research Research is "creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considerin ...

, and aircraft designer. Working at the

NACA The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its assets ...

, he won the 1929

Collier Trophy The Robert J. Collier Trophy is an annual aviation award administered by the U.S. National Aeronautic Association (NAA), presented to those who have made "the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to ...

for his design of the NACA cowling for radial air-cooled engines. Weick's aircraft designs include the Ercoupe,

Piper PA-25 Pawnee The PA-25 Pawnee is an agricultural aircraft produced by Piper Aircraft between 1959 and 1981. It remains a widely used aircraft in agricultural spraying and is also used as a tow plane, or tug, for launching gliders or for towing banners. In ...

, and

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, th ...

Life

A 1922 graduate of the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Uni ...

, he was one of the first university graduates to apply his degree to a career in aeronautics. Weick was also one of the first engineers hired by the original U.S. Air Mail Service. His efforts in the early 1920s to establish emergency fields for night-flying mail pilots addressed a major challenge. Weick worked for the

National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its assets ...

(NACA) at its Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, in

Hampton, Virginia Hampton () is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 137,148. It is the List ...

beginning in November 1925. He helped design the first

wind tunnel Wind tunnels are large tubes with air blowing through them which are used to replicate the interaction between air and an object flying through the air or moving along the ground. Researchers use wind tunnels to learn more about how an aircraft ...

devoted to full-scale

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

research and wrote a

textbook A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions. Schoolbooks are textbook ...

on propeller design that became a classic. It was also at Langley that Weick headed the development of

streamlined Streamlines, streaklines and pathlines are field lines in a fluid flow. They differ only when the flow changes with time, that is, when the flow is not steady. Considering a velocity vector field in three-dimensional space in the framework of ...

, low-drag

engine cowling A cowling is the removable covering of a vehicle's engine, most often found on automobiles, motorcycles, airplanes, and on outboard boat motors. On airplanes, cowlings are used to reduce drag and to cool the engine. On boats, cowlings are a cove ...

technology that was to advance aircraft performance dramatically. The NACA cowling first revolutionized

civil air transport Civil Air Transport (CAT) was a Nationalist Chinese airline, later owned by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), that supported United States covert operations throughout East and Southeast Asia. During the Cold War, missions consisted i ...

by making aircraft faster and more profitable. It also found application on the bombers and

fighters Fighter(s) or The Fighter(s) may refer to: Combat and warfare * Combatant, an individual legally entitled to engage in hostilities during an international armed conflict * Fighter aircraft, a warplane designed to destroy or damage enemy warplan ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. For this engineering breakthrough, he won the prestigious

for NACA in 1929. The

experimental airplane An experimental aircraft is an aircraft intended for testing new aerospace technologies and design concepts. The term ''research aircraft'' or ''testbed aircraft'', by contrast, generally denotes aircraft modified to perform scientific studies, ...

he built in the early 1930s demonstrated Weick's passion for safety. He left NACA in 1936, and joined ERCO's fledgling aircraft team as chief designer. His goal was to make flying as easy and safe as driving the family auto. In addition to the integrated controls for ease of flying, he incorporated the

tricycle landing gear Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle ...

that later became standard on most of the world's aircraft. Later in the 1930s, Weick improved on that design with the Ercoupe, the two-seat, all-metal, low-wing aircraft that was so easy and safe to fly that many students mastered it in five hours or less. Half of the 6,000 Ercoupes built were still flying at the time of Weick's death. In February 1946, he received the Fawcett Aviation Award "in recognition of his development of a spinproof, stallproof, all-safety, dual control light plane that is as easy to fly as the average automobile..." that year's greatest contribution to the scientific advancement of aviation. Weick joined

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M Unive ...

in 1948. There, he worked on the design and development of the Ag-1 crop duster, and designed the Ag-3, predecessor to the

series. The same basic configuration and design concepts pioneered in the Ag-1 can be seen in more modern crop dusters including the Air Tractor AT-802. In a 1979 interview about general aviation's future past the year 2000, Weick accurately envisioned the continued interest in sport aviation and the practical use of aircraft for medium-range transportation. He mentioned that he had seen gas turbines demonstrated as early as 1922, and that their future use in light aircraft would only be viable with development of cost-efficient materials that could withstand the heat. He felt future aircraft would not be radically different, but could benefit from safety improvements in controllability. He joined

Piper Aircraft Piper Aircraft, Inc. is a manufacturer of general aviation aircraft, located at the Vero Beach Regional Airport in Vero Beach, Florida, United States and owned since 2009 by the Government of Brunei. Throughout much of the mid-to-late 20th centu ...

in 1957 as director and chief engineer of its development center, remaining there until his retirement at age 70. In addition to the Pawnee, Weick co-designed Piper's

line of personal and business

light aircraft A light aircraft is an aircraft that has a maximum gross takeoff weight of or less.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 308. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. Light aircraft are used as utility aircraft co ...

. Weick remained active in

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

, regularly attending 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 ...

Oshkosh airshow for entertainment and lectures. He married Dorothy Church (1900–1991) and they had three children together. Weick died on Thursday, July 8, 1993, in

Vero Beach, Florida Vero Beach is a city in and the seat of Indian River County, Florida, United States. Vero Beach is the second most populous city in Indian River County. Abundant in beaches and wildlife, Vero Beach is located on Florida's Treasure Coast. It is thi ...

. In 2002, Fred E. Weick was honored by the Virginia Aeronautical Historical Society, when he was inducted into the Virginia Aviation Hall of Fame for his contributions to aviation and aviation safety.

Gallery

Image:Early Test Installations for Cowlings - GPN-2000-001394.jpg, NACA Cowlings File:Hoover Ames Collier Trophy.jpg, 1929 Collier Trophy President Hoover presents the

's Chairman Joseph Ames for the NACA cowling Image:Weick W-1A of 1934 - GPN-2000-001238.jpg, Weick W1A Image:First JATO assisted Flight - GPN-2000-001538.jpg, Ercoupe Image:PA-25 01.jpg, Pawnee Image:Piper PA-28 Cherokee D-EKIN 20090627 008.JPG,

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, ...

File:WeickRickenbacker.jpg,

Eddie Rickenbacker Edward Vernon Rickenbacker or Eddie Rickenbacker (October 8, 1890 – July 23, 1973) was an American fighter pilot in World War I and a Medal of Honor recipient.Max B. Harlow Max B. Harlow (1903 –1967) was an American aircraft engineer, educator, and producer. Early life Harlow was born in South Dakota in 1903. Harlow attended Stanford University, becoming an early aircraft engineering graduate. His first pos ...

* Otto C. Koppen

References

Sources

*
"Fred Weick"
''US Centennial of Flight Commission'', retrieved January 12, 2006
"FRED E. WEICK AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL TRANSCRIPTS"
''NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE ARCHIVES'', Accession XXXX-0425

''Coupe landings and landing gears'', September 1991 ''Coupe Capers'': Ed Burkhead

External links

"Flivver Plane Without Tail Almost Flies Itself" ''Popular Mechanics'', November 1935
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Weick, Frederick E. 1899 births 1993 deaths Aircraft designers American aerospace engineers Aviators from Illinois Collier Trophy recipients People from Berwyn, Illinois Texas A&M University faculty University of Illinois alumni United States airmail pilots Piper Aircraft, Inc. Engineers from Illinois 20th-century American engineers Aviation inventors 1929 in aviation American inventors Aviation history of the United States Aviation pioneers