Roy Edward Marquardt (24 December 1917 - 20 October 1982) was an aerospace engineer who rose to prominence in the design and production of ramjets. He created Marquardt Aircraft (later named Marquardt Corporation) and branched out into other aerospace designs and products.
Early years
Roy was born in Burlington, Iowa, on Christmas Eve in 1917.
As a young boy, Roy was fascinated with flight and designed and flew model airplanes powered by rubber bands. At the age of 12, he was teaching model building at the Burlington YMCA. Before he was 14 years old, he had designed an airplane that won the St. Lous Model Airplane Meet by flying for over 30 miles. In high school, he designed a wind tunnel at the Burlington High School, and taught a course in aeronautics. He also designed and built two gliders during his high school years. One of those he crashed flying it himself.
After completing high school, Roy attended the Burlington Junior College and taught an aeronautics course while he continued to run a model airplane business to raise money to pay for school. At the age of 20 he dominated the Mississippi Valley model contest, winning the event with an 8-hour 50-mile flight.
Roy moved to California in 1938 to further his education. After arrival there, he won the California State model contest in 1939.
Education
Roy enrolled in the California Institute of Technology in 1938, initially as Liberal Arts major, but within a year changed his major to Aeronautical Engineering, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1940. He continued his studies at Cal Tech, receiving a master's degree in 1942. Roy also taught aeronautics at the University of Southern California during his graduate school work.
In 1960, he was awarded an honorary PhD in Science by Iowa Wesleyan University.
Honors
Roy Marquardt was named a fellow of The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1952. He was named a fellow of The American Rocket Society in 1957.
In 1959 he was the very first person ever named "Engineer of the Year" by The Engineers' Council in California. The Council noted that he was "one of the most respected engineers in the San Fernando Valley. His accomplishments and technical innovations became a benchmark to measure all future candidates for this most prestigious honor."
In 1964, Weldon Worth, Chief Scientist of the U. S. Air Force Aero Propulsion Laboratory noted "I've always felt that the Air Force got it's [sic] dollars worth from Marquardt. There's a company which had a low overhead and an ingenious and resourceful test group. There was [a] lack of friction there, and certainly no loss of communications between the company and the Air Force. Roy Marquardt had that enlightened viewpoint - a kind of over-optimistic air about him. But he usually came through with what he promised because he was a natural engineer."
Ramjet development
After graduation in 1942, Roy was employed by Northrop Corporation as engineer in charge of Navy research. The United States had a secret project to design and build a bomber that could reach Europe from the U.S. and return, as there was concern that England might fall and bombing missions would have to originate in North America. This became the Northrop YB-35 "Flying Wing" design.
In order to reduce drag and increase lift, the engines were mounted in the trailing edge of the wing, and the craft used "pusher" propellers. Doing so created a problem of removing heat from the engines in flight. Roy and his team solved the cooling problem, and in the process he discovered that the waste heat could be used to provide additional propulsion. Northrop didn't want to pursue that effort, so Roy went back to USC, where he became Director of Aeronautical Research while still in his mid-20s.