I want your opinion....(an informal poll)

[SaxMan]

Don't forget Ed Heinemann from Douglas. He designed some of the finest aircraft to take wing, among them:

SBD Dauntless
A-20 Havoc
A-26 Invader
AD-1 Skyraider
A-4 Skyhawk

When you look at that list, three of the planes (AD-1, A-26, A-4) led service lives that lasted far longer than anyone would have predicted.

IIRC one of Heinemann's favorite designs was the A3D Skywarrior. They designed a plane that weighed 68,000 pounds when officials thought the plane would weigh over 100,000 pounds to accomodate their specifications.

[Jack Cook]

Don't forget Ed Wells the chief designer for Boeing and all those great bombers.

[Tigercat]

In the listing of great aircraft designers, I would definitely include North American Aviation's fantastic engineer, Edgar Schmued--------designer of the P-51 Mustang.

[hairy]

How about some pioneer designers like Harry Hawker? Or some modern day wiz kids like Burt Rutan? After all there are several great designers, not just one...


Neil Medcalf

Please don't take this as me being petulent, but this is why I asked for your personal opinion of who was/is the greatest over all periods.

[Jiggersfromsphilly]

It would have to be the Wright Brothers. They were the first sucessful ones and they spurred all the others on. Give a nod to Glenn Curtiss and Otto Lilenthall and Dr Samuel Langley.

The combination of greatest and all times is impossible to quantify.

[tgarrison]

He didn't have anything to do with military aircraft, but I have to throw the late Curtis Pitts' name into the mix. His designs changed aerobatics forever, and also did a lot of good things for sport aviation.

thomas

[Neil Medcalf]

Forgive my braindead forgetfullness of Sir Sidney Camm. It was he whom I intended to mention.

One of the greatest designers must be Igor Sikorsky. For not only did he design the first four engined aircraft and learned to fly alone he also designed and then learned to fly the helicopter! Credit also to the other helicopter pioneers such as Arthur Young, Hiller, Kaman, Piasecki and Juan de la Cierva among many others.

As far as best designer overall don't forget most aircraft were the result of design teams, not usualy just one man.. Ie RJ Mitchell had Joseph Smith.

Neil Medcalf

[hairy]

It would have to be the Wright Brothers. They were the first sucessful ones and they spurred all the others on.

Can-of-worms time ,
Richard Pearce from Waitoihi, South Canterbury, New Zealand. He 'flew' before the Wrights, but he did not belive he acheived the criteria for the first contolled powered flight, then again he also felt the Wrights first flight did not qualify either.

BUT...............
His design has been proven over the years with his layout being the one chosen as most successful versus the Wright design. I.E a tractor monoplane with aeilerons and a tricycle undercarriage(with wheels!) VS. a pusher bi-plane with wing-warping and a skid undercarriage.

I am not trying to reignite the whole "who flew first" debate, but put forward an oft forgotten pioneer.

Last edited by hairy on Wed Jun 29, 2005 6:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Scott Rose]

Don't forget Ed Heinemann from Douglas. He designed some of the finest aircraft to take wing, among them:

SBD Dauntless
A-20 Havoc
A-26 Invader
AD-1 Skyraider
A-4 Skyhawk

When you look at that list, three of the planes (AD-1, A-26, A-4) led service lives that lasted far longer than anyone would have predicted.

IIRC one of Heinemann's favorite designs was the A3D Skywarrior. They designed a plane that weighed 68,000 pounds when officials thought the plane would weigh over 100,000 pounds to accomodate their specifications.

Gotta agree, Mr. Heinemann is tops on my list.