Hunsaker, Jerome C. (Jerome Clarke), 1886-1984

Jerome Clarke Hunsaker, 1886-1984, BS 1908, United States Naval Academy; SM in naval architecture, 1912, ScD 1916, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was an officer in the Construction Corps of the US Navy, 1909-1926. In 1914, after a year studying aerodynamics and wind tunnel testing in Europe, he taught the first course in aeronautical engineering and aviation design at MIT, and in 1916 developed the first modern wind tunnel in the United States. During World War I he was in charge of all naval aircraft design, construction, and procurement. From 1926 to 1933 he worked in private industry, first at Bell Telephone Laboratories, where he developed a communications system for aircraft, and then at the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation, of which he was vice president. He returned to MIT in 1933 as head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, in charge of the course in aeronautical engineering, and became head of the Department of Aeronautical Engineering when it was founded in 1939. He received the (US) Presidential Medal for Merit for his many contributions during World War II, including service on the President's Council of the Office of Scientific Research and Development. His work focused on flight theory and aircraft design. He designed the flying boat NC-4, the first aircraft to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, and supervised the design of the dirigible Shenandoah, the first American rigid airship.

From the guide to the Jerome C. Hunsaker papers, 1898-1969, (Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute Archives and Special Collections)

Aviation engineer.

From the description of Reminiscences of Jerome Clarke Hunsaker : oral history, 1960. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 122527648