Dr. Richard T. Whitcomb

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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Leader

Honored by:
Mr. David Whitcomb

Richard Travis Whitcomb, an internationally recognized aerodynamicist, has been responsible for three landmark ideas, all of which were radical departures from conventional aerodynamic theory and all of which forever changed aircraft flight.
After receiving a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts in 1943, Whitcomb went to work in the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory of the National Advisory Committee of Aeronautics 9NACA), which was the progenitor of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). His entire professional life has been spent at the Langley Research Center. From 1958 until his retirement in 1980, he headed the Transonic Aerodynamics Branch.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the U.S. Air Force had achieved supersonic flight. But the aircraft were little more than rockets, and they weren’t practical as airplanes. The problem of building an airplane capable of supersonic flight lay in overcoming the drag created as air flowed over the fuselage at the speed of sound. In 1952 Whitcomb solved the problem with a design to reduce drag and increase speed without the addition of power. His idea was labeled the ‘area rule’. His work made it possible for the United States to produce the first fleet of supersonic fighters.
His second aerodynamic achievement, the supercritical wing, came from wind-tunnel experiments he made in the late 1960’s. The new wing allows substantial increases in the speed, efficiency, or maneuverability of aircraft at high subsonic speeds. The wing is being incorporated into the design of most new subsonic aircraft.
Between his first and second major achievements, Whitcomb also helped design a practical commercial supersonic aircraft, the supersonic transport (SST).
His third major aerodynamic achievement was developed during the oil embargo of 1973-74, Whitcomb became concerned about the fuel consumption of aircraft. As a result, he designed winglets, upcurving wingtips that save about five percent of an airplane’s fuel costs by reducing drag.
Whitcomb has received some of aviation’s highest awards, including the Collier Award in 1954 for the year’s “greatest achievements in aviation in America”; the Exception Service Medal of the Air Force in 1955; the first Distinguished Service Medal of Science in 1973; the National Medal of Science (presented to him by President Nixon) 1973, the Aircraft Design Award from the American Institute of the Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1974; and the Wright Brother Memorial Trophy from the National Aeronautics Association in 1974. Dr. Whitcomb’s latest recognition is that of the Guggenheim Medal which he will receive in spring of 2002.
Since his retirement from NASA, Dr. Whitcomb has been a Distinguished Research Associate at Langley and a consultant to several U.S. aerospace companies.