Beauvais, Francis N.

Francis N. Beauvais was born in Orwell, Vermont in March 1918. He was educated at the University of Michigan (B.S. 1941). He was a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics. After graduation he was employed as an aeronautical engineer at Ford Motor Company's Willow Run Bomber Plant from 1941 to 1945 during World War II. In 1945, he accepted and offer from North American Aviation in Long Beach, California and worked in their Stress and Structures Unit from 1945-1946. In 1946, he accepted an offer from the Ford Motor Company as an engineer in the Engineering Laboratories in Dearborn, Michigan. In 1952, Ford Motor Company opened their new $50 million Research and Engineering Center. He worked within Ford's Engineering Staff, Applied Research Office, and Product Development offices during his career. His initial work involved developing more efficient radiator fans through developing small-scale wind tunnel fixtures. Technical reports stated that "we" (Ford) pioneered in this type of radiator testing and design. Later, Beauvais established the first activity for aerodynamic testing of Ford Motor Company automobiles. The first testing was done in 1955 using the University of Detroit wind tunnel. Later, the majority of the non-Ford wind tunnel work was done using the University of Maryland wind tunnel. Some work was done at the McDonnel- Douglas wind tunnel in St. Louis. Some was also done at NASA's Langley, Virginia research facility. Three-eights scale NASCAR ford vehicles were also tested in the wind tunnels. In 1966, he achieved an "aerodynamic first" in designing a fixture for catapulting small-scale automobile models into a wind tunnel to test the effects of crosswind gusts. To solve this problem, he enlisted the help of University of Michigan engineering professor, Harm Buning. A test fixture was developed at the university's wind tunnel on the North Campus to run experiments. The successful results were presented at the 11th FISITA conference in Munich, Germany in 1966. Beauvais did further work involving the aerodynamic research on the crosswind effects of a car pulling a travel trailer and the results were referenced in Popular Science magazine as well as several SAE technical papers. His reputation as an expert in this field were referenced by a Chrysler research engineer in the July, 1974 Ward's Automotive Report. Beauvais's later work involved testing the micro-flow of air through the HVAC system in vehicles. Beauvais was a member of the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) for 34 years (1946-1980). He authored and coauthored over 20 technical papers.

From the guide to the Francis N. Beauvais papers, 1941-1974, (Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)