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Fred E. Weick (1899-1993) was an aeronautical engineer who had a profound effect on light aircraft development. While working for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) he developed the NACA low-drag cowling for radial engines (1928) and built a low landing speed aircraft as an independent project sparked by a series of light aircraft design seminars at NACA's Langley Research Center (1931). At the same time he coined the concept of "50 foot obstacle clearance" as a measure of aircraft takeoff performance, which has remained a standard measure ever since. In 1936 he joined Henry Berliner at the Engineering and Research Corporation (ERCO) to develop and market a commercial version of Weick's aircraft. Although the resulting Ercoupe faded in the general aviation slump following World War II, Weick moved to Texas A&M (1948-56) where he developed a series of agricultural aircraft which evolved into the Piper Pawnee series. He remained at Piper until he retired (1956-c.1970) and developed the Piper Cherokee with John Thorpe and Karl Bergey. After retirement, Weick remained active in aeronautics, assisting in design studies for Beech Aircraft as well as private projects in aircraft trim and control.
NASM.2016.0016
Weick, Fred E., 1899-1993
bulk 1940s-1990s
Donald V. Weick, Gift, 2016
49 Cubic feet ((47 boxes))
National Air and Space Museum Archives
This collection consists of over 45 cubic feet of material created or collected by Fred Weick, which chronicle his distinguished aeronautical engineering career from the 1920s to the 1990s. The collection consists of the following types of material: log books, patents, proceedings and lectures, lawsuits, brochures and publications, photographs, correspondence, memorandums, scrapbooks, technical reports and engineering data sheets. Most of this material relates to Weick's engineering designs with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and with the following aircraft models: Weick W-1; Piper PA-25 Pawnee; Piper-28 Cherokee; Piper-32 Cherokee; ERCO Ercoupe models; and Texas A&M College AG-1 and AG-3.
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests
No restrictions on access.
Fred Weick Papers, Accession 2016-0016, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Piper PA-25 Pawnee Family
Aeronautical engineers
Aeronautics
Weick W-1
Piper PA-28 Cherokee
Piper PA-32 Cherokee
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Logbooks
Correspondence
Publications
Photographs
Technical reports