Hunsaker, Jerome Clarke, 1886-1984

Jerome Clarke Hunsaker was an aeronautical engineer and designer. Born in Creston, Iowa in 1886, he graduated from the United States Naval Academy and later received a Doctorate of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Hunsaker was posted as Chief, Aircraft Division, Bureau of Construction and Repair, Navy Department from 1916–1921. He became Chief of the Design Division in 1921, where he designed the USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), the first rigid airship constructed in the United States. He served as Assistant Naval Attaché—Europe from 1923–1926 before resigning his commission in November. He later worked as Assistant Vice President and Research Engineer for Bell Telephone Laboratories and then the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation, where he superintended the construction of the airships Akron (ZRS-4) and Macon (ZRS-5).

In 1933, Hunsaker became Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department at MIT. Under him, graduate students were trained as aeronautical engineers. He designed the first modern airship built in the United States as well as the C and D class Navy airships, and with Westervelt and Richardson, also designed the Curtiss NC flying boats.

From 1941 to 1956, Hunsaker was chairman of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). He also served on the board of trustees of Science Service, now known as Society for Science and the Public, from 1955-1958.

Among his published works are: Stable Biplane Arrangements; Aërodynamic Properties of the Triplane; and Aëroplane Stability. He was awarded the Edward Longstreth Medal of the Franklin Institute in 1942 and the 1955 Langley Gold Medal awarded by the Smithsonian Institution.

Hunsaker died in 1984 in Boston, Massachusetts.