Sorry Ed, I have just seen that book, but I mean where in the Web can I find a
complete biography. I saw one in the Wikipedia, that refers to the book you
mentioned, but the birth date was not there. See below:
Thanks !!
Fred Weick
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Portrait of Fred E. Weick, 1936
Fred Ernest Weick (1899—July 8, 1993) was one of the United States' earliest
aviation pioneers, working as an airmail pilot, research engineer, and aircraft
designer. A contemporary of aviation legends Charles Lindbergh and Amelia
Earhart, he did not receive the same attention as his more glamorous colleagues
yet the contributions he brought to the country's struggling aircraft industry
arguably outstripped any of his peers.
A 1922 graduate of the University of Illinois, he was one of the first
university graduates to apply his degree to a career in aeronautics. Weick was
also one of the first engineers hired by the original U.S. Air Mail Service.
His efforts in the early 1920s to establish emergency fields for night-flying
mail pilots were a major challenge.
Weick helped design the first wind tunnel devoted to full-scale propeller
research and wrote a textbook on propeller design that became a classic. During
that period, Weick worked for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
(NACA) at its Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, in Hampton, Virginia.
It was also at Langley that Weick headed the development of streamlined,
low-drag engine cowling technology that was to advance aircraft performance
dramatically. The NACA cowling first revolutionized civil air transport by
making aircraft faster and more profitable. It also found application on the
bombers and fighters of World War II. For this engineering breakthrough, he won
the prestigious Collier Trophy for NACA in 1929.
The experimental airplane he built in the early 1930s demonstrated Weick's
passion for safety. His goal was to make flying as easy and safe as driving the
family auto. In addition to the integrated controls for ease of flying, he
incorporated the tricycle landing gear that later became standard on most of
the world's aircraft.
Later in the 1930s, he improved on that design with the Ercoupe, the two-seat,
all-metal, low-wing aircraft that was so easy and safe to fly that many
students mastered it in five hours or less. Half of the 6,000 Ercoupes built
were still flying at the time of Weick's death. In February 1946, he received
the Fawcett Aviation Award for the greatest contribution to the scientific
advancement of private flying.
Weick joined Texas A&M University in 1948. There, he worked on the design and
development of the Ag-1 crop duster, and designed the Ag-3, predecessor to the
Piper PA-25 Pawnee series. He joined Piper in 1957 as director and chief
engineer of their development center, remaining there until his retirement at
age 70. In addition to the Pawnee, Weick co-designed Piper's Cherokee line of
personal and business lightplanes.
Weick died on Thursday, July 8, 1993, in Vero Beach, Florida.
[edit] References
* Weick, Fred E. and Hansen, James R. (1988). From the Ground Up.
Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN 0-87474-950-
________________________________
From: Ed Burkhead <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Fri, May 14, 2010 9:29:33 PM
Subject: RE: [ercoupe-tech] Mr. Fred Ernest Weick biography
Daniel,
This is the right place. It’s certainly on-topic concerning Ercoupes.
The best biography is Fred’s autobiography: From the Ground up:
TheAutobiography of an Aeronautical Engineer
· Hardcover: 556 pages
· Publisher: Smithsonian (March 17, 1988)
· Language: English
· ISBN-10: 0874749506
· ISBN-13: 978-0874749502
Unfortunately, you’ll need to search the used book network. Find a good used
bookstore that’s hooked into the national/internatio nal network and they
should be able to find a copy at a reasonable price. The only copy offered on
Amazon.com is listed at $458.18.
It’s possible a denizen of this forum might be willing to sell his/her copy or
you could advertise for a copy in Coupe Capers or look on ebay.
Good luck.
Ed
________________________________
From:ercoupe-tech@ yahoogroups. com [mailto:ercoupe- t...@yahoogroups .com] On
Behalf Of Daniel Arditi
Sent: Friday, May 14, 2010 6:57 PM
To: ercoupe-tech@ yahoogroups. com
Subject: [ercoupe-tech] Mr. Fred Ernest Weick biography
Hi group,
Does anybody know where I can find a complete biography of Mr.
Fred Ernest Weick, especially, with the exact birth date ?
Sorry this is not a tech issue, but I think this is the correct place to make
this question
Thanks in advance !
Daniel Arditi
Grupo Ercoupe Argentina
