Dr. Paul Bevilaqua: The Brilliant Mind Behind the F-35B Lightning Ⅱ

摘要

The skies will clap with thunder for the next 50 years from the dominance of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning Ⅱ. It's incredible to imagine in the late 2060s when the F-35 program is scheduled to retire, the idea that sparked its initial design will be 80 years old. For comparison, it was nearly 80 years from the Wright brother's first powered flight to when Dr. Paul Bevilaqua first thought up the innovative vertical lift system that drives F-35B. Just as Orville and Wilbur Wright were inspired to change flight engineering forever, so was Paul Bevilaqua, only his inspiration was to reach much higher than skies overhead. Paul may be one of the foremost authorities on designing short and vertical take-off aircraft, but his original aspiration was to send men to the moon. Adversity and opportunity lead him to where he is today and gave us the F-35 in its current form. Like the engineer who pioneered its innovative lift system, the F-35 has fought its way through adversity in the design and manufacturing process to reach its dominant form we see flying overhead. Building a more comprehensive understanding of the F-35 and the design issues its encountered can help us design more efficient systems in the future by optimizing the design and manufacturing processes. Also, by learning about and following how engineers such as Dr. Bevilaqua found their inspiration and their paths in designing advanced aircraft, is how we too can learn how to forge our own paths and shape the future of aviation and engineering.