Charles Horton Zimmerman was a man with a mission. Educated at the University of Kansas and the University of Virginia, he was an aeronautical engineer fascinated with airfoils and how they could be manipulated for different types of flight. By the 1930s, he was working for National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) at the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory and his position gave him the time and resources to study airfoils, flight loading, and aircraft stability. He was particularly fascinated with stability and thought that the natural balancing reflexes of an individual could be utilized in controlling very small flight vehicles. He called this concept "kinesthetic control." This led him into the realm of vertical/short takeoff and landing aircraft - a subject that was new to the world of aeronautics. What if he could create an airfoil that would lead to the construction of a wing that would allow something like a fighter to have VTOL performance? Given the capabilities of the time period, it was a difficult problem. Zimmerman was also intrigued with creating a stall-proof aircraft that would not enter a spin.
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