In my aerospace career I worked on a variety of projects in subsonic,
supersonic, and hypersonic aerodynamics. I developed a number of powerful
computer programs that are still in use in the industry today. I have used some
of them in my studies of sail aerodynamics and in supporting America’s Cup
designs since 1974. In the 1995 photo shown here I was making some measurements
of the F-16XL research aircraft in support of a NASA experiment.
I worked at Douglas Aircraft Company (later McDonnell Douglas) from 1958 to
1977. At Douglas I developed the Hypersonic Arbitrary Body
Program, HABP. The first version of HABP (Mark I) was written in 1965. My
last version at Douglas was the Mark IV version (1973). The program has been
under continued development by various contractors for the US Air Force and NASA
for many years. HABP had become the industry standard hypersonic aerodynamic
preliminary design tool. HABP was used in the preliminary design of the NASA
Space Shuttle. A Web search shows that it is currently being used on NASA’s
Hyper-X program and to study vehicles for manned Mars exploration (that’s 40
years after the first version of HABP was written!). I developed the Transition
Analysis Program System (TAPS) used by the Navy to predict
laminar to turbulent flow transition for underwater vehicles. Much of my other
work in the aircraft industry was on classified government projects.
I moved to Seattle in 1977 to work as a lead engineer in the Aerodynamics
Research Group at Boeing. My group was responsible for creating new transonic
computer programs for use in the design and analysis of commercial aircraft. I
was directly responsible for the development of a new advanced surface geometry
computer program (the Aero Grid and Paneling System,
AGPS). The first version of AGPS was developed in 1980 and the program is still
a key part of the aerodynamic design process throughout the Boeing company (now
on Version 20).
I was supervisor of the Aerodynamic Computing Group until 1986. I then worked
for three years for Boeing Computer Services on a new CAD/CAM system and on Navy
contracts. I returned to the Aerodynamics Research Department in late 1989 to
work on computational fluid dynamics methods (CFD) for the High-Speed Civil
Transport (HSCT). I was named an Associate Technical Fellow of the Boeing
Company in December 1990.
I retired from Boeing in 1995. I live with my wife, Pat, in Bellevue,
Washington, and am active in sailing and related aerodynamics research. From
1994 to 2002 I published the Ranger 23 Owners and Class Association Newsletter.
Over the years my sailing and aerodynamic background got me involved in a number
of America’s Cup projects. My writings on sail theory are referenced in many
sailing articles and books. See the Sailing Background link below.
Technical
Background
