Robert T. Jones
Encyclopedia
Robert T. Jones, (May 28, 1910 – August 11, 1999), was an aerodynamicist and aeronautical engineer for NACA
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics was a U.S. federal agency founded on March 3, 1915 to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958 the agency was dissolved, and its assets and personnel transferred to the newly created National Aeronautics and...
and later NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
. He was known at NASA as "one of the premier aeronautical engineers of the twentieth century",.
Designer
One of Jones first jobs was with the Nicholas-Beazley Airplane CompanyNicholas-Beazley Airplane Company
Nicholas-Beazley Airplane Company was an American aircraft manufacturer of the 1920s and 1930s-Company history:In 1921, the Nicholas-Beazley Airplane Company was founded by Russell B. Nicholas and Howard Beazley. Nicholas started Central Aviation Company reselling surplus propellers, and in 1924...
. Jones developed the Pobjoy Special air racer prior to the company shutting down in the depression.
Research
Jones was a researcher at NACA's Langley Research CenterLangley Research Center
Langley Research Center is the oldest of NASA's field centers, located in Hampton, Virginia, United States. It directly borders Poquoson, Virginia and Langley Air Force Base...
in Hampton, Virginia
Hampton, Virginia
Hampton is an independent city that is not part of any county in Southeast Virginia. Its population is 137,436. As one of the seven major cities that compose the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, it is on the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula. Located on the Hampton Roads Beltway, it hosts...
. As a self-trained aerodynamicist and mathematician, he had built up a national, if not international, reputation through his perceptive and original work at Langley. For this work he was given the IAS Sylvanus Albert Reed Award in 1946. Jones spent much of his time at Langley working in the Stability Research Division, which pioneered many concepts that were incorporated into U.S. aircraft.
In August 1946, Jones transferred to Ames
NASA Ames Research Center
The Ames Research Center , is one of the United States of America's National Aeronautics and Space Administration 10 major field centers.The centre is located in Moffett Field in California's Silicon Valley, near the high-tech companies, entrepreneurial ventures, universities, and other...
. The genius of Bob Jones seemed, in part, to lie in his remarkable ability to extract the essence of a problem and express it in understandable and useful terms. His approach to problems was always of a fundamental character and often yielded results of broad significance. In addition, Jones' wife Doris, an accomplished mathematician, also joined the Ames staff.
Later, still at Ames, Jones promoted the idea of an oblique wing
Oblique wing
An oblique wing is a variable geometry wing concept. On an aircraft so equipped, the wing is designed to rotate on center pivot, so that one tip is swept forward while the opposite tip is swept aft...
. (The first known oblique wing design was Blohm & Voss P202, proposed by Richard Vogt in 1942.) His wind tunnel studies indicated that such a wing design on a supersonic transport might achieve twice the fuel economy of an aircraft with conventional wings. The concept was flight tested successfully on the NASA AD-1
NASA AD-1
-References:CitationsBibliography* AD-1 Construction Completed, Dryden X-Press, Feb. 23, 1979, p. 2.* Robert E. Curry and Alex G. Sim, In-Flight Total Forces, Moments, and Static Aeroelastic Characteristics of an Oblique-Wing Research Airplane * Robert E. Curry and Alexander G...
. This unique plane had a wing which pivoted about the fuselage, remaining perpendicular to it during slow flight and rotating to angles of up to 60 degrees as aircraft speed increased. Analytical and wind tunnel studies that Jones conducted at Ames indicated that a transport-sized oblique-wing aircraft flying at speeds of up to Mach
Mach number
Mach number is the speed of an object moving through air, or any other fluid substance, divided by the speed of sound as it is in that substance for its particular physical conditions, including those of temperature and pressure...
1.4 (1.4 times the speed of sound) would have substantially better aerodynamic performance than aircraft with conventional wings. A current DARPA project that has been awarded to Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American global aerospace and defense technology company formed by the 1994 purchase of Grumman by Northrop. The company was the fourth-largest defense contractor in the world as of 2010, and the largest builder of naval vessels. Northrop Grumman employs over...
, called the Switchblade
Switchblade (aircraft)
-See also:* Unmanned combat air vehicle* History of unmanned aerial vehicles* Oblique wing* Robert T. Jones* Flying wing* Northrop Switchblade-References:...
is being developed to provide a more efficient UAV
Unmanned aerial vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle , also known as a unmanned aircraft system , remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aircraft, is a machine which functions either by the remote control of a navigator or pilot or autonomously, that is, as a self-directing entity...
for the Air Force.
Awards
- 1946 Sylvanus Albert Reed Award (Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences)
- 1955 Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and AstronauticsAmerican Institute of Aeronautics and AstronauticsThe American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics is the professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA was founded in 1963 from the merger of two earlier societies: the American Rocket Society , founded in 1930 as the American Interplanetary Society , and the Institute...
- 1971 Honorary Ph.D.-Science, University of ColoradoUniversity of Colorado at BoulderThe University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado...
- 1973 Fellow, American Academy of Arts and SciencesAmerican Academy of Arts and SciencesThe American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
- 1973 Member, National Academy of EngineeringNational Academy of EngineeringThe National Academy of Engineering is a government-created non-profit institution in the United States, that was founded in 1964 under the same congressional act that led to the founding of the National Academy of Sciences...
- 1975 W. Rupert TurnbullWallace Rupert TurnbullWallace Rupert Turnbull was a New Brunswick engineer and inventor, born on October 16, 1870 in Saint John, NB. The Saint John Airport was briefly named after him. He died November 24, 1954...
Lecture, Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute - 1978 Prandtl Ring Award, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Luft- und RaumfahrtGerman Aerospace CenterThe German Aerospace Center is the national centre for aerospace, energy and transportation research of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has multiple locations throughout Germany. Its headquarters are located in Cologne. It is engaged in a wide range of research and development projects in...
- 1979 Honorary Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and AstronauticsAmerican Institute of Aeronautics and AstronauticsThe American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics is the professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA was founded in 1963 from the merger of two earlier societies: the American Rocket Society , founded in 1930 as the American Interplanetary Society , and the Institute...
- 1981 Langley Award, Smithsonian InstitutionSmithsonian InstitutionThe Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
- 1990 NAS Award in Aeronautical EngineeringNAS Award in Aeronautical EngineeringThe NAS Award in Aeronautical Engineering is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "for excellence in the field of aeronautical engineering." Established by Jerome C. Hunsaker and his wife, it was first awarded in 1968....
from the National Academy of SciencesUnited States National Academy of SciencesThe National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and... - 1998 NASA Superstars of Modern Aeronautics