National Air and Space Museum Archives

Fred Weick Papers

Summary

Collection ID:
NASM.2016.0016
Creators:
Weick, Fred E., 1899-1993
Dates:
bulk 1940s-1990s
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
49 Cubic feet
(47 boxes)
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
This collection consists of over 45 cubic feet of material created or collected by Fred Weick, which chronicle his distinguished aeronautical engineering career from the 1920s to the 1990s. The collection consists of the following types of material: log books, patents, proceedings and lectures, lawsuits, brochures and publications, photographs, correspondence, memorandums, scrapbooks, technical reports and engineering data sheets. Most of this material relates to Weick's engineering designs with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and with the following aircraft models: Weick W-1; Piper PA-25 Pawnee; Piper-28 Cherokee; Piper-32 Cherokee; ERCO Ercoupe models; and Texas A&M College AG-1 and AG-3.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Fred E. Weick (1899-1993) was an aeronautical engineer who had a profound effect on light aircraft development. While working for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) he developed the NACA low-drag cowling for radial engines (1928) and built a low landing speed aircraft as an independent project sparked by a series of light aircraft design seminars at NACA's Langley Research Center (1931). At the same time he coined the concept of "50 foot obstacle clearance" as a measure of aircraft takeoff performance, which has remained a standard measure ever since. In 1936 he joined Henry Berliner at the Engineering and Research Corporation (ERCO) to develop and market a commercial version of Weick's aircraft. Although the resulting Ercoupe faded in the general aviation slump following World War II, Weick moved to Texas A&M (1948-56) where he developed a series of agricultural aircraft which evolved into the Piper Pawnee series. He remained at Piper until he retired (1956-c.1970) and developed the Piper Cherokee with John Thorpe and Karl Bergey. After retirement, Weick remained active in aeronautics, assisting in design studies for Beech Aircraft as well as private projects in aircraft trim and control.

Administration

Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donald V. Weick, Gift, 2016

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access.
Preferred Citation
Fred Weick Papers, Accession 2016-0016, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Conditions Governing Use
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Piper PA-25 Pawnee Family Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Aeronautical engineers Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Aeronautics Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Weick W-1 Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Piper PA-28 Cherokee Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Piper PA-32 Cherokee Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Logbooks Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Correspondence Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Publications Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Technical reports Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Erco (Engineering and Research Corporation) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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