Aeronautics History

Choice Reviews Online, 2013

… education during the first century of …, 2004

The University of Minnesota fLrst offered courses in aeronautical engineering to undergraduate' in mechanical engineering in 1926. This was 13 years after the first aeronautical engineering program in the U.S. was established at MIT. In early 1928. Ora M. Leland, Dean of the College of Engineering and Architecture, proposed to the Minnesota Board of Regents tbat an independent department of aeronautical engineering be established. He believed that "Minnesota is favorably located to become a center for this field of engineering for the Northwest." Leland recommended that the new curriculum continue much as it had from witbin the mechanical engineering department. A special lectureship was given to John D. Akelman, who not only taught during the 1928-1929 school year, but also helped design the final form of the department. In the fall of 1929, the Department of Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Minnesota officially opened its doors to students. Jolm Akerman, then an associate professor, served as its first department head, a position he would hold for nearly three decades. Consistent with Akerman's background. the department's curriculum reflected the interests of industry. Born in Latvia, Akerman began his aeronautical studies at the Imperial Technical Institute in Moscow under the pioneer aerodynamicist Nickolai Joukowski. Akerman was also acquainted with Igor Sikorsky and maintained contact with Sikorsky after both immigrated to the USA. When World War I started, Akerman served as a pilot for the Russian Imperial Air Service. After the Bolshevik take over in 1917, he fled to France and served as a pilot in the French air force. He moved to the United States after the war in 1918. Akerman's aeronautical interests led him to the University of Michigan. where he earned a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering in 1925. Akerman stayed at Michigan until 1927,

2007

Today we will talk with Gavin Jenney who is currently the President of Dynamic Controls Incorporated. A company that for many years was the "in-house" contractor at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base directing research in the areas of flight control systems, including among many "fly-by-wire." This interview is being conducted in the studios of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Wright State University as part of the Cold War Aerospace Technology History Project. The interviewer is Gino Pasi and as I said our interviewee today is Mr. Gavin Jenney. Mr.Jenney, thank you for taking some time to be with us this afternoon. 00:00:52 Gavin Jenney: You're quite welcome. 00:00:55 Pasi: If we could start, could you provide us with a brief synopsis of just some biographical information: where and when you were born; then maybe transition to your university education, and what might have prompted you to choose that particular path. 00:01:13 Jenney: Alright, I'd be glad to. Born in 1937, April 29 th. The education: Lafayette College, a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering; University of Rochester, a Masters in Mechanical Engineering; Ohio State University, a Ph.D. in Engineering with an emphasis in control systems. And then finally because I was at that time running a company, decided I'd better get an M.B.A. So I have an M.B.A from Wright State University which I got after the Doctorate, which gives a different perspective. It says there is a reason for engineering if you can sell it to somebody. As far as why I got into doing aerospace, I started out right out of college working for General Dynamics Electronics up in Rochester, New York. I was interested in HiFi, but they didn't have a job opening. They had a job opening in military products. I worked on several things at that point in time: a listening system for listening to-really-Russian radio transmissions, a wide

2012

Technology and Culture, 1972

Revised and adapted as Chapter 2 of my book Imagining Flight: Aviation and Popular Culture (2003)

Breathless announcements of the Next Big Thing, and glittering promises about how it will Change Your Life are part of everyday life in the late 20th century. Yet—if you take the long view—that state of affairs is unusual. The idea that you can forecast technological change only makes sense if you think of it as a constant, ongoing part of life. The idea that you’d want to only makes sense if technology changes fast enough for your audience to see the future you’re describing. Broadly speaking, that makes technological forecasting a pastime of the industrialized world in the 20th century. Powered flight became possible at just about the time citizens of the industrialized world began to find technological forecasts interesting. Not surprisingly, a great deal of ink was expended imagining the future of flight. Between 1900 and 1915 alone, the subject inspired novels, short stories, poetry, paintings, and scores of magazine articles—the latter not just in specialized titles, but in the likes of Harper’s Weekly and The North American Review. These forecasts—like most technological forecasts from years past—are interesting not for being right or wrong but for being revealing. They are windows into the early workings of the aviation business, into the minds of the writers who produced them, and into the workings of the societies (for my purposes, Britain and America) that produced them, fa"

2018

The Wind and Beyond A Documentary Journey into the History of Aerodynamics in America Volume II: Reinventing the Airplane The Wind and Beyond Vol. II

One of America's principal pioneers of manned flight, John J. Montgomery's place in aviation history has often been misunderstood or ignored entirely. However, our research indicates that as early as 1883, Montgomery initiated a series of investigations to understand the physical basis of lift and its generation by surfaces moving through the air. Trained in physics, he explored the principles of flight theory through experimental devices and demonstrated those theories through applied engineering with both scale models, flying machines. This paper reviews Montgomery's independent understanding of circulation of lift prior to Lanchester and Prandtl, placing Montgomery as one of the first scientists to develop a basis for aerodynamics as a science.

CHOICE magazine, June 2013

History of Aviation Regulation, includes current practice and issues.

49th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition, 2011

Aviation education and training began early in the 20th century just after the first successful powered flight of the Wright brothers. In the present paper, the types of aviation education and training around the world are reviewed. Its developments were distinct in many different countries, and in some cases evolved from the military needs while in others from the dedication of a few enthusiasts. In the 21st century aeronautical and aerospace engineering is taught at the most advanced engineering schools in the world providing skills and competences that integrate advanced disciplines.

Revista da UNIFA, 2015

Evolution of paradigms in aeronautical occurrences' investigations La evolución de paradigmas en las investigaciones de ocurrencias aeronáuticas A evolução de paradigmas nas investigações de ocorrências aeronáuticas