Kermit Van Every (March 5, 1915 – November 20, 1998) was a noted 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 sim ...

best known for his work in the area of very high speed flight. He was a fellow of the

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 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 ...

and had the unusual distinction of receiving the

Wright Brothers Medal The Wright Brothers Medal was conceived of in 1924 by the Dayton Section of the Society of Automotive Engineers, and the SAE established it in 1927 to recognize individuals who have made notable contributions in the engineering, design, developmen ...

twice, in 1948 and 1958. Van Every was a native of

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

. In 1937 he transferred from

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...

to Stanford University, where he earned his undergraduate and aeronautical engineering degrees in 1938 and 1939 respectively, and was elected to the honorary science fraternity

Sigma Xi Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is a highly prestigious, non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a small group of graduate students in 1886 ...

. Van Every worked for Douglas Aircraft Company for 25 years, ultimately serving as Chief Aeronautical Engineer, in which role he won widespread respect for leading design of high-speed aircraft that set a number of speed and altitude records, including the

Douglas Skyrocket The Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket (or D-558-II) is a rocket and jet-powered research supersonic aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company for the United States Navy. On 20 November 1953, shortly before the (17 December) 50th anniversary of p ...

Hunley, J.D. ''et al.'' (1999
''Toward Mach 2: The Douglas D-558 Program (The NASA History Series)''

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 ...

SP-4222. with

Ed Heinemann Edward Henry Heinemann (March 14, 1908 – November 26, 1991) was a military aircraft designer for the Douglas Aircraft Company. Biography Heinemann was born in Saginaw, Michigan. He moved to California as a boy and was raised in Los Angeles. A ...

. After leaving Douglas, he became responsible for aircraft design at Northrop and General Dynamics Aircraft Co., and eventually headed up his own aeronautical consulting company in San Diego located near

Point Loma Point Loma (Spanish: ''Punta de la Loma'', meaning "Hill Point"; Kumeyaay: ''Amat Kunyily'', meaning "Black Earth") is a seaside community within the city of San Diego, California. Geographically it is a hilly peninsula that is bordered on the w ...

. He died November 20, 1998, in

Menlo Park, California Menlo Park is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County within the San Francisco Bay Area of California in the United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the south ...

Selected writings

* Ed Heinemann, Rosario Rausa, and Kermit Van Every, ''Aircraft Design'', Nautical and Aviation Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1985.

References

Obituary
Palo Alto Online, December 16, 1998.

Stanford Alumni Magazine, March/April 1999. American aerospace engineers 1915 births 1998 deaths 20th-century American engineers {{US-mechanical-engineer-stub