Dietrich Küchemann

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Dr Dietrich Küchemann CBE FRS FRAeS (1911–1976) was a German aerodynamicist who made several important contributions to the advancement of high-speed flight. He spent most of his career in England, where he is best known for his work on the Concorde.

Küchemann was born in Göttingen and studied at the University, home of the largest German institute of aerodynamics. He was originally going to move on to pure physics research under Max Born, a friend of his fathers, but lost this chance when Born and several other Jewish members of the University staff were expelled from the country by the Nazi apperatus. Instead Küchemann went on to join Ludwig Prandtl in aerodynamics research. He published his doctoral thesis in 1936.

With the war looming, Küchemann volunteered for service in 1938, and as expected was given a non-combat role in Signals. He served from 1942-45, although he saw no combat. During this period he continued research, notably into the problems of high speed flight, wave drag, swept wing theory and initial steps on the road to the area rule.

After the war Küchemann moved to England as part of Operation Surgeon, and started work at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough. Here he studied aircraft propulsion in-depth, and became the leading expert on such topics as ducted fans and jet engine installation. In 1953 he and his partner, Johanna Weber, published the still-standard work on the topic, Aerodynamics of Propulsion.

Küchemann continued his work on high-speed flight, and was instrumental in the development of the thin-wing delta in England. A series of test aircraft were built during the 1950s to study various problems with the design, which eventually led to the advanced ogive shape used on the Concorde. He was also a tireless promoter of the lifting body concept for aircraft (as opposed to spacecraft, as in US research), although to date no blended wing body aircraft has entered service. Similar research was followed on the waverider concept.

In 1954 he was promoted to the senior principal scientific officer at the RAE, in 1957 the deputy chief scientific officer and head of the supersonics division, and finally the chief scientific officer and head of the entire aeronautics department in 1966. He retired from full-time duties in 1971, but continued work on an effort to build a very large supersonic wind tunnel for use by various European research departments, but this was never completed.

The Imperial College London posthumously published a collection of his work as The Aerodynamic Design of Aircraft, considered by many to be the classic text on modern aerodynamics.

In 1962 he won Royal Aeronautical Society's Gold Medal, and in 1963 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1964 he was appointed a Commander of the British Empire.