NACA usually published the results of this work, but “the scattered nature of the data and the limited objectives of the reports have prevented adequate analysis and interpretation of the results,” wrote three NACA engineers in 1945. Two decades of airfoil research essentially ended with WW-II. Still standing at NASA Langley, it’s now a national historic landmark. In operation between 1922 and the 1940s, the VDT is the source of most NACA airfoil data. To conduct this research, Monk built a variable density tunnel (VDT), which added altitude to the testing environment. Monk, a German with doctorates in physics and math, who was recruited for the job after WW-I.īest known for his thin airfoil theory, in 1922 Monk separated an airfoil’s shape at the mean camber line to more easily model its behavior at varying thicknesses, a leading design technique until the development of laminar flow airfoils in the 1930s. It was created by the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) and its chief of aerodynamics, Max M. It had a NACA/M-6 airfoil, a thin low-drag design favored by racers like the Granville brothers. That he would one day build an airplane was a given, Riblett said, and his Starduster Too won an award at the 1973 Valley Forge fly-in. You can tell a creative mind by its doodles-and Riblett thought much about aircraft design. “I went to Hercules, an S&P 500 chemical company in Wilmington, and worked on until my retirement.” “They gave it up in 1966 and I got laid off,” Riblett said. During the day, he worked for the All American Engineering Company, which was developing a land-based catapult and arresting gear system for the Marine Corps called SATS, which stands for short airfield tactical support. There are also six grandchildren.Īfter working for several months as an accountant, Riblett enrolled in night classes at Philadelphia’s Drexel University and earned his degree in mechanical engineering. His oldest son, Allen, born in 1954, is a civil engineer in Virginia Gail, born in 1957, is a lawyer and Mark, born in 1962, is a mechanical engineer. Once out of the Navy in 1955, he got married, built a house and started a family. Then he joined the Navy and spent three years in the Mediterranean, directing fighters from the combat information center aboard the USS Des Moines, a heavy cruiser that was the flagship of the Sixth Fleet. In addition to earning his commercial pilot certificate at 17, he worked on planes and the cars at his dad’s dealership.įor reasons he can’t explain, Riblett earned a degree in business administration from the University of Delaware. Called Superior Skyways, the school had two Cessna 120s, two 140s, a 170A, a PT-19, and a PT-17. opened a Kaiser-Frazer automobile dealership and a GI-Bill flight school in Wilmington, Delaware. Still close, many of the family members built houses on their father’s 16 acres. Their parents, Anna and Harry, Sr., shortly thereafter moved the family to Beaver Falls, northwest of Pittsburgh, where the twins grew up with their brother, Richard, now a corporate pilot, and sister, Francis, a physical therapist. Riblett and his twin, Dave, were born in 1929 east of Los Angeles in the small town of Monterey Park. Sharp corners in his avuncular tone hint at what motivated his quest for knowledge: “My twin brother’s Piper PA-20 Pacer would beat me off the ground every time.” “It did OK on the top end, cruising at 130 mph on a 150-horse Lycoming, but I was disappointed with the takeoff and rate of climb,” he said. But he wasn’t happy with the biplane’s performance. Until he scratch-built a Starduster Too in the 1970s, his knowledge of, and interest in, the shapes that generate lift didn’t extend beyond ground school. A mechanical engineer, he spent more than a decade optimizing 98 NACA profiles for use by general aviation aircraft and cataloged the results in six editions of GA Airfoils. The outlines and lists of numbers that fill the pages of his book convey nothing of the man behind them, so allow me to tell you about him.īy inclination and training, engineers are curious people and incurable, tenacious problem solvers-especially when the object of their obsession is personal. Riblett passed away on December 23, 2012, at age 83.
He talked with anyone who telephoned for advice or visited his Delaware home, as I did in August, 2012. Making flight safer is why Riblett pursued his autodidactic efforts, and to share what he’d learned with others with similar interests, he compiled his work in six editions of GA Airfoils, published by EAA.
#AIRFOIL CAMBER SERIES#
Riblett actually preferred the term “optimizer,” because he didn’t design the NACA airfoil series he just made 98 of these profiles better. He will always be associated with the design of airfoils, those shapes that give our wings lift.
Among homebuilders, especially those who create and craft their own designs, the name Harry Calvin Riblett, Jr.
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