YOUR CAREER AS AN AERONAUTICAL ENGINEER

[Music] how do you do I'm Dwight Robinson let's take about the simplest of all mathematical problems 2+2 we all recognize the figure-four as the answer now let's look at this model we all recognize it as something public but if we were aeronautical engineers we'd recognize this plane the whole machine as the final solution of an immense mathematical problem it's an answer just as the figure-four is the answer to the problem on the board so it appears that an aeronautical engineer like this one makes his living working out solutions to some extremely interesting problems many boys and girls in high school would give their eyeteeth to reach that engineers position to have the opportunity to work projects such as the design of this airplane now there's only one way for them to do it and that's to pick out a path that leads from where they are to where he is he followed this path others are following it right now it's the aeronautical engineers career it begins right where these young people are back in high school of the thousand and more boys and girls who attend this school only a few know for sure what career they intend to follow at their age individual personality aptitudes likes and dislikes are often just as important as any definite plans they may have formed day by day if you just take shape from the things they read and think and do for instance inside the school in the cafeteria we notice a couple of boys too busy arguing to eat their lunches now they could be debating about hot rods basketball or who to take to a dance but it so happens they are having a difference of opinion about algebra one boy insists the books on his side the other one thinks it's on his to prove his point he gives up arguing in English and begins to write down his thinking and mathematical expressions in the language used by scientists and engineers when they want to arrive at the truth these boys away past such problems as two plus two equals four and yet they've still got a long way to go before they'll be able to figure out jet airliners yet whether they know it or not their natural bent for mathematics may already be carrying them along the first steps of the aeronautical engineers career those first steps take on point and direction as we sit in on a talk with a high school counselor the counselor knows that mathematical talent bodes well for career and engineering he encourages us to build our high school course around the entrance requirements of a college of engineering no need to decide on it today but it's wise to keep the door open yes why is to keep the door open that's sound advice this counselor is a good man to meet right about here on any career now let's look in on one of the courses he recommended in physics class we use mathematics everyday on all sorts of problems this one has to do with the tube with a narrow space in the middle it's called a venturi tube we're told if we blow a stream of air through it the pressure at Point a will be lower than it is at point B how much lower well this boy has the formula and he works it out on paper gets the answer and he's through with the problem but the problem isn't through with him he's asking himself and how about this is this the answer I'd get if I really blew some air through that thing so we find him after school setting up equipment with the instructors help he's decided that pressure gauges at points a and B on a real venturi tube will give readings accurate enough for his purpose as he goes ahead with this setup we're watching a boy who believes that he cannot be sure of his own conclusions until a demonstration proves they actually work that's the scientific viewpoint indispensable to an aeronautical engineer each day when school lets out the students scatter heading for home for work or wherever they interest carrying them these three boys gather round a model airplane motor one a shark chemistry is making up samples of different fuel mixtures for a series of test runs the second nose motors and he's filling the tank getting ready to start a test run the third can make mathematics sit up and talk he times each run notes the thrust developed and when the test is over reduces the performance to a single number and plots it on a graph against the other samples all they're thinking about is winning a model airplane meet drawn together by their technical interests helping each other toward a common goal this spirit of cooperation will be invaluable to any one of them who might eventually become an aeronautical engineer let's take stock of ourselves before making the decision final to follow this career have we got our college requirements three years of English three years of math two years of foreign language how about our history science and particularly physics we needn't be too discouraged if our grades are only about average many so so high school students blossom out in college but do we really like math do we really feel at home in science courses do we want to set our sights high aim for a place in the professions for a type of position that only one out of ten high school graduates achieve if we do we arrive at the end of high school well prepared to take the big step into a college of engineering in college we're rubbing shoulders with many of the best science and mathematics students from hundreds of high schools we're a little older a little more serious about working and the fog is clearing on the road ahead very quickly we find that the path of an engineering student has a main line that dominates and unifies all our courses we begin to hear about it in this class the instructor is showing us how we can get the answers to engineering problems with the simple mathematics we learn in high school for instance we can get the area under this curved line by dividing it into strips and calculating the area of each and adding them up it looks like a lot of work to get an answer to what he calls a simple easy problem what are we going to do when hard problems come along well here's a preview of what we can do with the mathematics we learn in college we'll learn how to set up a single equation that describes the whole area and by solving this one equation we save endless time and labor calculating the answer by stopping to think with symbols we reduce the arithmetic to a few seconds word this is mathematics the main line of engineering studies we are beginning to realize that ninety percent of our engineering studies are a matter of learning to think in the mathematical manner in general engineering classes we find that engineers use labor-saving tools to cut down the time spent on arithmetic we've heard that the slide rule replaces the dog as engineering man's best friend and we're out to make friends with these slide rules we probably spent 500 school hours multiplying things by pie now we simply set it on the slide rule set the indicator on the other number on the scale follow the line to this scale and read the answer 702 forget the rest of it no use trying to be more accurate than the figures we started with there are many hours of study in practice ahead but we're determined to master this most useful engineering tool while learning the slide rule we're also running to use engineering handbooks for no one memory can hold the facts that engineers constantly use we acquire and use complete mathematical tables squares and square roots logs functions anything and everything that will cut down time spent in erith medical computations with our brand-new drafting instruments around us we begin to learn the mysteries of engineering drawing many of us don't even know how to sharpen the lead and the compass but we learn we keep on learning until we can draw any object from any angle using the conventions that make drawing the language used by engineers to convey their ideas to mechanics and builders we learn to write words and letters that people can read and to compose themes in English that people can understand we learn the engineers technique of cutting out the things that don't matter making a clear statement of what a problem really is and what answers are required we pick out a mathematical method of finding the answers and put it down in a form other engineers can follow and verify our completed work is clear correct neat a finished package with work like this we proved during our year of general engineering but we have the talent to move on to one of the specialized courses of engineering study remember what our high school counselor said about keeping the door open well after our first chair of general engineering it's still open we are perfectly free to choose any one of all of these professions the ones with stars are all in great demand in the aircraft industry they participate in aircraft design and production on equal footing with aeronautical engineers civil engineer chemical electrical aeronautical and industrial engineer mathematician mechanical engineer metallurgist mining engineer and finally physicists the students we're traveling with make their final choice right here so we become students of aeronautical engineering in the school of aero engineering we again meet our old friend of high school days the venturi tube the familiar principle begins to take on new and unfamiliar forms it's still a venturi but it looks too wide to work what's he getting had now he's adding a straight line this is beginning to remind us of something a cross-section of an airplane wing the pressure along the bottom is greater than that along the top and the result is a wing that lifts well that's all very interesting but now we get the news for aeronautical engineers general ideas won't do we will learn to describe the likenesses and differences of venturi tubes and air foils in terms of mathematics and we'll keep at it until we can calculate the forces at work in all cases we're moving air and solid surfaces come together understood alright then let's make the numbers fly we meet the equation called Avenue ye principle its application accounts for seventy percent of the lift in a normal aircraft wing which spells the difference between a powered box kite and a modern airplane yet anyone can demonstrate Bernoulli's principle with the simplest equipment our instructor says we can do this at home with a thread spool a piece of paper and a pen first we stick this ordinary pin through the paper nothing tricky about that no hooks on the pin no glue on the paper we satisfy ourselves that no mechanical connection exists between the tube and the paper now we're supposed to blow through the tube just blow the paper away from the end of it now that just doesn't appear to make sense is he blowing in or out well he's blowing out in fact the harder he blows the tighter the paper halls to the end of the tube air moving rapidly between the flange and the paper exerts less pressure than the still air underneath causing this paper to defy the law of gravity this equation shows how a mathematician describes what we have just seen happen and so through physical and mathematical principles we begin to understand how and why objects that are heavier than air can be made to fly along with our aeronautical engineering we're taking courses and other branches we go to the machine shop with the mechanical engineers with civil engineers we learn welding methods and the strengths and uses of the different kinds of wells along with electrical engineering students we learn the behavior of electrons and the strikingly beautiful patterns they trace as they follow mathematical laws in these courses we begin to see how all branches of engineering are interwoven in the design and production of modern aircraft meanwhile we're buckling down on subjects that apply directly to our career we find that the famous sound barrier is treated analytically in a subject called aeroelasticity we begin to see how problems of supersonic flight are tackled first by the engineer next by skillful builders and last by daring pilots and the dominant theme of mathematics begins to color all our courses all our thinking all our studies in class we spend most of our time learning how to attack engineering problems problems raised by aircraft engines not only the engines we have today but those that will be required for aircraft to the future we also learn about structures how airframes are designed to withstand the stress of flight and we learn how the strange shapes of modern aircraft are really engineering answers to new problems that arise as men constantly seek to fly higher father and faster moving wing systems raise problems so baffling and far-reaching they carry us into the realm of wind tunnel experimentation our instructor begins to lay out wind tunnel problems first explaining how the tunnel works he tells us how to prepare for wind tunnel testing and he gives us a standard wing and tail model to work with by means of mathematics we are expected to account for all differences between moving air in the wind tunnel and free air in which airplanes actually fly we will compensate for the tiny size of the model as compared to a plane from the size and contour of the model will predict its behavior in the tunnel will calculate the conditions that will make this test a fair test of our predictions as to this wing and tail would behave on a full-sized airplane only when all this engineering is done do we take the model to the wind tunnel for actual testing qualified engineers supervise all wind tunnel experiments under their experienced eyes we carefully attach the fuselage connecting the whole model to the force measuring system and final adjustments are made with the tunnel running a member of the testing team controls airspeed with his left hand angle of attack with his right the pointer moves as he tilts the model this is the test tube of aeronautical science with a homemade wind tunnel the Wright brothers designed the first successful aircraft from wind tunnels have come all the famous fighters bombers and jet airliners in wind tunnels tomorrow's planes are taking shape today later we may work with wind tunnels many times this size test experimental models at supersonic air speeds here we learn the feel of the operation become aware of the problems begin to sense the critical points of the test each response of the instruments tells us some change in the forces acting on the model the results of days of careful planning are revealed in a few minutes testing watchful students observe the slightest details make notes that cover each point of performance systematic complete accurate good notes of the hallmark of a good experimenter our instructors help us make best use of this precious experience the long job of figuring answers from the observed data lies ahead after that more experiments more mathematics more physics more causes until the day we graduate from college with the earning of this degree Bachelor of Science and aeronautical engineering we are ready for the next step on our career we can go many ways perhaps into advanced college work for a masters or doctor's degree or we may look to the beckoning aircraft industry with its wide choice of opportunity we can get an idea of what's open by leafing through such magazines as the Scientific American of course aeronautical engineers have their own technical journals but this magazine can be picked up at any newsstand we have probably been offered jobs while still in school but we have a choice whether to continue in school working for an advanced degree or go to work for an aircraft company suppose we decide to go to work now the next steps on our career lead into the engineering department of some member of the giant new aircraft industry will be starting under the supervision of an experienced engineer he's glad to have us on the job but in all likelihood he feels we are not yet quite ready to design the airplane of the future so we begin work on a simple design problem getting the feel of working with a large organization we begin to grasp the enormity of the job of engineering and modern aircraft and after a while we find ourselves teamed up with mechanical electrical and civil engineers beginning to work on specific problems as we gain experience we move on toward different branches of the profession for instance if we go into flight tests we may be planning tests and briefing your crews on their part in our plans from now on our advancement depends on our ability to work cooperatively and to meet increasingly complex challenges to our ability in mathematics and physics as years go by we may be assigned to lead a group to plan supervise the work of other end news today's engineer is no lone wolf of science he works cooperatively taking knowledge from others using it as the basis of his own word and passing on the enriched knowledge to others who will in turn make their contributions as the mature engineers studies the planes he helped design he sees things that the him are milestones in his career some subtle curve compounded of imagination slide rule work and midnight oil some new improvement so blended with the work of other engineers that only he can pick it out this is the aeronautical engineer and this is his reward the satisfaction of work well done of having a hand in the solution of a gigantic problem a solution is marvelously wrought as anything ever shaped by the hands and minds of mortal men [Music]