University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The Grainger College of Engineering

Fred E. Weick

[title]
To Fred E. Weick, engineer and teacher, for a lifetime of contributions to the safety and efficiency of aircraft, including improvements in propellers, airfoils, and flaps, the development of the NACA low-drag engin cowl, the tricycle landing gear with steerable and castering nose wheel, nonspinning aircraft, and agricultural aircraft.

Retired; consultant to several aerospace engineering groups

  • BS, Mechanical Engineering, 1922

Mr. Weick began his long and successful career in aircraft design with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Langley Laboratory as an aeronautical engineer. He later held positions at Engineering and Research Corporation, Texas A&M University, and Piper Aircraft Corporation from which he retired in 1969.

Results of Mr. Weick’s research have markedly influenced airplane design over a period of half a century. He suggested the need for full-scale propeller tests and carried on the first full-scale wind tunnel propeller research at NACA in 1925. He was instrumental in the development of low-drag cowling for radial air-cooled engines for which NACA received the Collier Trophy in 1930. He was responsible for the design of Ercoupe, the first commercial plane with tricycle gear and the first plane licensed by CAA as “characteristically incapable of spinning.” At Piper, Mr. Weick guided the design of the initial Cherokee and Pawnee series. He has written a book, some 60 technical reports, numerous papers and articles, and has many patents to his credit. He is the recipient of the Sylvanus Albert Reed Award, 1944; Fawcette Award, 1946, for “the greatest contribution to the scientific advancement of aviation during the year;” Puffer Award, National Agricultural Aviation Association, 1972; and the Laura Barber Air Safety Award, Flight Safety Foundation, 1975. He went on to win the Daniel Guggenheim award in 1989.

Current as of 1989.