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Category: Archive 2011

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1. Bill Bogart
2. WC Update
3. Westfac

Long time SCAT member Bill Bogart passed away recently. He had been in ill health for some time. Bill was well known to the global FAI free flight community through his writing, research and involvement in SCAT activities.

In his professional life Bill held a number of key engineering roles in the aerospace industry. The last assignment before retirement was on the B2 stealth bomber program.

Bill made significant contribution to the the FAI free flight community. He was one of the key contributors and long time editor of Scatter, SCAT's print newsletter. Bill also edited the NFFS Symposium as well as writing for that publication and other model airplane publications. The symposium contains many serious technical articles, some with advanced math; it is a tribute to Bill's diligence and ability that he personally checked out every formula and equation before publication.

Bill had a long time friendship with Bob White; they had a weekly lunch together for over 40 years. Bill provided Bob with the theoretical knowledge behind various innovations that Bob used in his successful Wakefield models. It is particularly interesting to note that the somewhat [at the time] strange looking airfoils that Bill designed for Bob are now the vogue as “Low Drag Airfoils”. These guys were only 30 or 40 years ahead of their time. The low drag aspect was apparent in the climbing speed of Bob's airplanes. Modern construction materials and trimming techniques make these Bogart airfoils usable by normal people.

We will all miss Bill's dry wit and keen powers of observation.

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