Biography leo windecker

The Eagle AC-7 was FAA certified in 1969, becoming the first composite powered aircraft to do so. He did manage to find part time work with a local industrial designer but it was without pay and done to gain experience. Dick Hatch, a designer that was hired by Ornas in ’67 and eventually ran the department, interviewed Ornas in 2008 and those interviews were the last given before his death in March of 2009 at age 91.

In a new factory in Midland, Texas, the wings were molded as integral units—electrical wiring, fuel lines, and plastic fuel tanks included—while the fuselage popped out in halves, to be glued together like a model plane. I don't know if there is a way to add anything of a personal nature to the book from my grandfather’s own words (the Howard Pletcher interview) but if there is room or an appropriate place for it, I had this quote in mind.

The USAF discounted the idea until they tested one of the planes at Holloman AFB NM.
- Some 49 patents issued in Windecker’s name covered all aspects of composite structure and manufacturing. In one note she concluded with something that provides a good ending to this short but sweet missive on Ted Ornas:

“I was just thinking the other day, if my grandfather was still alive, what would be the one thing he might want to say in the book.

The Army Aviation Museumreceived Eagle serial number 5, N4196G, to replace the lost stealth prototype. An Eagle, modified to reduce radar, infrared, acoustic and visual observables, was tested by the U.S. Army at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland in 1972 under the code name CADDO. Ted defrayed some of the costs by getting what was called a “working scholarship,” whereby he worked as a school janitor in exchange for half the $300/semester tuition.

Ted struggled through school, the first year especially, because he had virtually no art experience.

But prototype two failed to recover during a spin trial, and after its test pilot bailed out, it plunged 8,000 feet to the ground. In 1947, they were within a week of shutting down when the universe suddenly smiled on them.

Their venture got a new lease on life when International Harvester called about designing a new line of medium and heavy duty trucks.

Windecker never got back to dentistry.

In 1959 Leo installed his first full-scale plastic wing on a 1930s Monocoupe racing plane.

A second prototype was submitted for certification by the Federal Aviation Administration. As a safety measure, he specified metal for an assortment of small, nonstructural components. He did not originate the idea but his persistence at pushing it forward, even as executive interest waned, is the reason the Scout got going at the timely moment it did.

On a professional level, and even beyond International Harvester, there was so much more to Ted Ornas than the Scout.

“Engineers are confident in their designs, manufacturers now believe they can make money selling composite planes, and the public is comfortable with them. The concept, created during a brainstorming session on generating military contracts to help the undercapitalized company, was based on the fact that RF waves pass through the primary structure rather than bouncing off (all nav-comm antennae were buried inside the Eagle).

Flight tests delivered a significantly higher cruise speed and lower stall speed than the Monocoupe’s original wood-and-fabric wing.

In a warehouse in tiny Hondo, Texas, plastic planes became a Windecker family affair.