On 5 November 1956, the government-sponsored supersonic transport aircraft committee held its first meeting, at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, in Farnborough, Hampshire. The aim of the STAC was to explore the development of commercial flight beyond the sound barrier. Thirteen years later, Concorde made its first flight and, while it proved to be a commercial disaster, is still hailed as a triumphant application of Anglo-French science. One vital element in the success of the Concorde was provided by two émigré German scientists working at the RAE Johanna Weber, a mathematician, who has died aged 104, and Dietrich Küchemann, a fluid dynamicist.
What they came up with, in collaboration with Eric Maskell, an RAE dynamicist, was, in the words of the RAEs deputy director of the time, Morien Morgan, a heresy. It was a slender delta, arrow-shaped wing concept which, for the era of supersonic flight, utilised a separated airflow, challenging what had been seen as basic principles of aircraft design. The thinking, set out in a 1956 paper, became reality with Concorde. Weber, Küchemann and co provided the shape and the sums, others carried their ideas through.
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