Donovan Reese Berlin (June 13, 1898 – May 17, 1982) was an American military aircraft designer and aircraft industry executive. Among the many designs with which he is associated are the

Curtiss P-36 Hawk The Curtiss P-36 Hawk, also known as the Curtiss Hawk Model 75, is an American-designed and built fighter aircraft of the 1930s and 40s. A contemporary of the Hawker Hurricane and Messerschmitt Bf 109, it was one of the first of a new generation ...

Curtiss P-40 Warhawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter-bomber that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and enabled a rapid entry ...

and

Fisher P-75 Eagle The Fisher P-75 Eagle is an American fighter aircraft designed by the Fisher Body Division of General Motors. Development started in September 1942 in response to United States Army Air Forces requirement for a fighter possessing an extremely hi ...

. His name is "synonymous with the development of military aviation". He designed aircraft that were safe, rugged and "a pilot's joy."

Early years

Berlin was born in Romona, Indiana and in his formative years, lived in

Brook, Indiana Brook is a town in Iroquois Township, Newton County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 997 at the 2010 census. History Brook was laid out in 1866. A post office has been in operation at the town since 1859. The George Ade Ho ...

.''Debris Yearbook, 1921''. Purdue University
p. 79. Hosted at e-yearbook.com. Retrieved: May 28, 2013. He attended

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

, graduating in 1921 with a bachelor's degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

."About Us, History: 1921: Donovan Berlin, BSME '21, Honorary Doctorate '53."
''Purdue University College of Engineering''. Retrieved: May 28, 2013.

Aviation career

With his introduction to aeronautics, conducting early wind tunnel tests for the

U.S. Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...

McCook Field McCook Field was an airfield and aviation experimentation station in Dayton, Ohio, United States. It was operated by the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps and its successor the United States Army Air Service from 1917 to 1927. It was named f ...

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

, Berlin subsequently worked for

Douglas Aircraft Company The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and military, defense company based in Southern California. Founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas Sr., it merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell D ...

starting in 1926 as project engineer and chief draftsman. In 1929, he left Douglas to work at

Northrop Corporation Northrop Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer from its formation in 1939 until its 1994 merger with Grumman to form Northrop Grumman. The company is known for its development of the flying wing design, most successfully the B-2 Spiri ...

where he was assigned to the

Northrop Alpha The Northrop Alpha is an American single-engine, all-metal, seven-seat, low-wing monoplane fast mail/passenger transport aircraft used in the 1930s. Design work was done at the Avion Corporation, which in 1929, became the Northrop Corporation, N ...

Gamma Gamma (; uppercase , lowercase ; ) is the third letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 3. In Ancient Greek, the letter gamma represented a voiced velar stop . In Modern Greek, this letter normally repr ...

and

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

development. In a controversial move, Berlin was released when he and founder

Jack Northrop John Knudsen Northrop (November 10, 1895 – February 18, 1981) was an American aircraft industrialist and designer who founded the Northrop Corporation in 1939. His career began in 1916 as a draftsman for Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing ...

were in disagreement over the wing design of a new fighter. Berlin was quickly hired at

Curtiss-Wright The Curtiss-Wright Corporation is an American manufacturer and services provider headquartered in Davidson, North Carolina, with factories and operations in and outside the United States. Created in 1929 from the consolidation (business), consoli ...

in 1934, beginning a long career with the company. Curtiss-Wright President Ralph Damon hired Berlin, impressed with his experience working with metal construction at Northrop, a key factor in his rapid promotion to Chief Engineer. Berlin's first assignment was as project engineer on the company's new fighter aircraft design, bearing the nomenclature 'design number 75'. After first competing and losing to the

Seversky P-35 The Seversky P-35 is an American fighter aircraft built by the Republic Aviation, Seversky Aircraft Company in the late 1930s. A contemporary of the Hawker Hurricane and Messerschmitt Bf 109, the P-35 was the first single-seat fighter in United ...

in a fighter competition, Berlin persevered and his reconfigured design, initially known as the Y1P-36, and later, P-36 Hawk, won the U.S. Army Air Corps fighter competition in 1937. Consequently, the USAAC ordered 210 P-36A aircraft to serve as a frontline fighter. In 1938 and 1939, the P-36 was one of the premier fighters of the period.

World War II

With foreign orders, P-36 Hawk production exceeded 1,000 aircraft. The Hawk was used more extensively by the

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...

, both during the

Battle of France The Battle of France (; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (), the French Campaign (, ) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembour ...

and by the

Vichy French Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the defeat against G ...

; and was used against French forces in the

Franco-Thai War The Franco-Thai War (October 1940 – 28 January 1941, ; ) was fought between Thailand and Vichy France over certain areas of French Indochina. Negotiations shortly before World War II had shown that the French government was willing to alter th ...

(October 1940–May 9, 1941). It was also used by the

British Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the British Commonwealth or simply the Commonwealth, is an international association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire The B ...

(where it was known as the "Mohawk"), and by Chinese air units. Several dozen also fought in the

Finnish Air Force The Finnish Air Force (FAF or FiAF; ; ) is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. Its peacetime tasks are airspace surveillance, identification flights, and production of readiness formations for wartime conditions. The Finnish Air ...

against the

Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces (, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Sovie ...

s.Johnson, Wayne G. and Don R. Berlin
"Don Berlin and the P-40."
''Chennault Foundation''. Retrieved: June 1, 2013. Berlin continued to develop the P-36, mating it with a more powerful water-cooled Allison V-12 engine, moving the cockpit aft, changing the location of the airscoop and making other modifications. The revised design evolved into the experimental models: XP-37/YP-37 and XP-42, before ultimately, the XP-40. The XP-40 won the fighter competition in 1939 held by the U.S. Army Air Corps. Produced as the P-40 Warhawk, over 13,000 were eventually built, in a wide-ranging series of P-40 variants. In similar fashion to the success of the earlier P-36, the P-40 was adopted by many foreign air arms, including the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

where early models were known as the "Tomahawk", and later series, "Kittyhawk". One hundred and forty-five pilots became

ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or a club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ...

s in the P-40. Two years of research data gathered by Berlin in developing his XP-46 advanced fighter design including wind tunnel, cooling and performance tests, were sold with his permission to

North American Aviation North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer that designed and built several notable aircraft and spacecraft. Its products included the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F- ...

which used the data in the development of its

P-51 Mustang The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter aircraft, fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in 1940 by a team headed ...

fighter. By the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Berlin was Chief Engineer and the head of design at Curtiss-Wright. A number of experimental programs were begun during this period, including the revolutionary

Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender The Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender (company designation CW-24) is a 1940s United States prototype fighter aircraft built by Curtiss-Wright. Along with the Vultee XP-54 and Northrop XP-56, it resulted from United States Army Air Corps proposal ...

that never achieved production status, as well as the

Curtiss SO3C Seamew The Curtiss SO3C Seamew was developed by the Curtiss-Wright Corporation as a replacement for the SOC Seagull as the United States Navy's standard floatplane scout. Curtiss named the SO3C the ''Seamew'' but in 1941 the US Navy began calling it b ...

, a floatplane that was adopted by the U.S. Navy, but had a troubled operational history. Although designed by George A. Page Jr., Berlin oversaw the design of the

Curtiss C-46 Commando The Curtiss C-46 Commando is a low-wing, twin-engine aircraft derived from the Curtiss CW-20 pressurized high-altitude airliner design. Early press reports used the name "Condor III" but the Commando name was in use by early 1942 in company p ...

, the company's foray into civil and military transport markets. He also supervised the development of the

Curtiss SB2C Helldiver The Curtiss SB2C Helldiver was a dive bomber developed by Curtiss-Wright during World War II. As a carrier-based bomber with the United States Navy (USN), in Pacific theaters, it supplemented and replaced the Douglas SBD Dauntless. A few su ...

, designed by Raymond C. Blaylock, the company's last major production aircraft series.Guttman, Robert
"Curtiss SB2C Helldiver: The Last Dive Bomber," p. 3.
''Aviation History'' via''historynet.com'', July 2000. Retrieved: May 29, 2013. Frustrated with a lack of official backing for a new development of the P-40, Berlin left Curtiss-Wright in December 1941, and, at the request of the federal government, in 1942, he became Director of the Aircraft Development Section of the

Fisher Body Fisher Body was an automobile coachbuilder founded as the Fisher Body Company by Frederic and Charles Fisher in 1908 in Detroit, Michigan when they absorbed a fledgling autobody maker. By 1916 the concern had grown into one of the world's large ...

Division of the

General Motors Corporation General Motors Company (GM) is an American multinational automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing four automobile brands: Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, ...

in Detroit. While at G.M., he designed the unsuccessful

, first as an

interceptor Interceptor may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Interceptor'', a British drama series on BBC One * Interceptor (game show), ''Interceptor'' (game show), a British television game show that ran during 1989 * Interc ...

, later

escort fighter The escort fighter was a concept for a fighter aircraft designed to escort bombers to and from their targets. An escort fighter needed range long enough to reach the target, loiter over it for the duration of the raid to defend the bombers, a ...

, made up of components from a number of production aircraft. Although the concept was intriguing, in merging engineering and production elements, one of the main considerations was that "Berlin's reputation was such that any proposal from him had to be given serious consideration." In 1945, Berlin was named director of G.M.'s installation engineering section in

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

Postwar

Berlin left General Motors in 1947 to join the

McDonnell Aircraft The McDonnell Aircraft Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer based in St. Louis, Missouri. The company was founded on July 6, 1939, by James Smith McDonnell, and was best known for its military fighters, including the F-4 Phantom II ...

Company in St. Louis as executive vice president, directing the design of several McDonnell jet fighters and the

ramjet A ramjet is a form of airbreathing jet engine that requires forward motion of the engine to provide air for combustion. Ramjets work most efficiently at supersonic speeds around and can operate up to . Ramjets can be particularly appropriat ...

engines for helicopter rotors. During his tenure, he oversaw a number of significant projects, including the

McDonnell F3H Demon The McDonnell F3H Demon is a subsonic swept-wing carrier-based jet fighter aircraft designed and produced by the American manufacturer McDonnell Aircraft Corporation. It was the first swept wing jet fighter and the only single-engined carrier- ...

for the U.S. Navy, along with the XF-85 Goblin "parasite" fighter and

XF-88 Voodoo The McDonnell XF-88 Voodoo was a long-range, twinjet fighter aircraft designed for the United States Air Force. Although it never entered production, its design was adapted for the subsequent supersonic McDonnell F-101 Voodoo, F-101 Voodoo. Des ...

"penetration" fighter for the U.S. Air Force. McDonnell XH-20 in flight

In 1953, Berlin was named president and director of

Piasecki Helicopter The Piasecki Helicopter Corporation was an American designer and manufacturer of helicopters in Philadelphia and nearby Morton, Pennsylvania, in the late 1940s and the 1950s. Its founder, Frank Piasecki, was ousted in 1956 and started a new ...

Morton, Pennsylvania Morton is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,778 at the 2020 census. Geography Morton is located in eastern Delaware County at (39.910612, -75.327273). It is bordered to the north, east, and west ...

.Miller, Steve
"Frank Piasecki, 88, Vertical Flight Pioneer."
''The New York Sun'', February 14, 2008. Retrieved: June 2, 2013. His time at the company was contentious, as he removed the founder and chairman of the board

Frank Piasecki Frank Nicolas Piasecki ( ; ; October 24, 1919 – February 11, 2008) was an American engineer and helicopter aviation pioneer. Piasecki pioneered tandem rotor helicopter designs and created the compound helicopter concept of vectored thrust using ...

during a period ending in May 1956 that some called the "Berlin Hairlift". Berlin's takeover involved "cleaning house" in what industry observers characterized as a "family dispute". Berlin had the backing of the majority owners of Piasecki, including

Laurance Rockefeller Laurance Spelman Rockefeller (May 26, 1910 – July 11, 2004) was an American businessman, financier, philanthropist, and conservationist. Rockefeller was the third son and fourth child of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. ...

who felt that Frank Piasecki was lacking in business acumen. Piasecki Helicopter was renamed Vertol Helicopter in early 1956. During his time at Vertol, Berlin's involvement with engineering led to the rescue of a floundering program, the Piasecki H-21 (U.S. Army CH-21 Shawnee), that eventually allowed the company to prosper. His continuing support of new rotorcraft designs for commercial and military markets was validated when the Vertol Model 107 won a U.S. Army design competition in September 1958. The Model 107, later named the

Boeing CH-47 Chinook The Boeing CH-47 Chinook is a tandem-rotor helicopter originally developed by American rotorcraft company Piasecki Helicopter, Vertol and now manufactured by Boeing Defense, Space & Security. The Chinook is a Military transport helicopter, heav ...

, became the Army's standard medium assault transport helicopter. By the end of the 1950s, Vertol was the largest independent manufacturer of helicopters in the United States. Berlin became vice-chairman and general manager of Boeing-Vertol when it became a division of the

Boeing Company The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

in 1960.Trimble 1982, pp. 257–258. Berlin returned to Curtiss-Wright in 1963 as a vice-president of the corporate staff in

Wood-Ridge, New Jersey Wood-Ridge is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 10,137, an increase of 2,511 (+32.9%) from the 2010 census count of 7,626, which in turn reflected a ...

, before joining W. Pat Crow Forgings as vice-president and general manager in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

. He ended his aviation career at E. F. Felt Company, an aviation components manufacturing company in

San Leandro, California San Leandro (Spanish language, Spanish for "Leander of Seville, St. Leander") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area; between Oakland, California, Oakland to the northwe ...

, shortly before his retirement to his home in

Glen Mills, Pennsylvania Glen Mills is an unincorporated community in Concord Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States, located approximately 27 miles west of Philadelphia. The ZIP Code for Glen Mills is 19342. History The area around Glen Mills was ...

. After a long illness, Berlin died in 1982, at age 83.Waggoner, Walter
"Don R. Berlin, 83, A Designer of Aircraft for World War II."
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', June 8, 1982. Retrieved: May 29, 2013.

Awards and honors

Berlin was awarded an honorary doctorate by Purdue University in 1953. In 1956, he was awarded the " Captain William J. Kossler, USCG Award", given for the greatest achievement in the practical application or operation of a vertical flight aircraft. On May 17, 2013, Berlin was inducted into the Niagara Frontier Aviation & Space Hall of Fame."Dr. Donovan R. Berlin."
''Niagara Frontier Aviation & Space Hall of Fame'', April 13, 2013. The

Claire Lee Chennault Claire Lee Chennault (September 6, 1893 – July 27, 1958) was an American military aviator best known for his leadership of the "Flying Tigers" and the Chinese Nationalist Air Force in World War II. Chennault was a fierce advocate of "pursui ...

Foundation of the

Flying Tigers The First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Republic of China Air Force, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was formed to help oppose the Japanese invasion of China. Operating in 1941–1942, it was composed of pilots from the United States Ar ...

made Berlin an honorary member, recognizing his contribution to the design and excellent performance of the P-40, their primary aircraft.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Angelucci, Enzo and Peter M. Bowers. ''The American Fighter''. Sparkford, Somerset, UK: Haynes Publishing Group, 1987. . * Boyne, Walter J. ''How the Helicopter Changed Modern Warfare''. Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing, 2011. . * Boyne, Walter. "P-75 Eagle: GM's Flying Frankenstein." ''Wings'', Volume 3, No. 1, February 1973. * Brindley, John F. ''French Fighters of World War Two''. London: Hylton Lacy, 1971. . * Child, H. Lloyd. "Faster than a Bullet." ''Saturday Evening Post'', September 16, 1939. * Christy, Joe. "Hawkman: An Exclusive Interview with Dr. Donovan Reese Berlin." ''Wings'', Volume 3, No. 1, February 1973. * Donald, David. ''American Warplanes of World War II.'' London: Aerospace Publishing, 1995. . * Donald, David. ''The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft''. London: Orbis Publishing Ltd., 1997. . * Ethell, L. Jeffrey. ''Aircraft of World War II''. Glasgow: HarperCollins Publishers, 1976. . * Kinzey, Bert. ''The P-40 Warhawk in detail''. Carrolton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications, 1999. . * McDowell, Earnest R. ''Curtiss P-40 in action''. Carrolton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications, 1999. . * Merriam, Ray. ''U. S. Warplanes of World War II''. Bennington, Virginia: Merriam Press, 2000. . * Norton, Bill. ''U.S. Experimental & Prototype Aircraft Projects: Fighters 1939–1945''. North Branch, Minnesota: Specialty Press, 2008. . * Pattilo, Donald M. ''Pushing the Envelope: The American Aircraft Industry''. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan, 1998. . * Serling, Robert J. ''Legend & Legacy: The Story of Boeing and its People''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. . * Smith, Peter C. ''SB2C Helldiver''. Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire, UK: The Crowood Press Ltd., 1998. . * Trimble, William F. ''High Frontier: A History of Aeronautics in Pennsylvania''. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1982. . * Winchester, Jim. "Curtiss SB2C Helldiver." ''Aircraft of World War II: The Aviation Factfile''. Kent, UK: Grange Books plc, 2004. . * Winchester, Jim. "McDonnell XF-85 Goblin". ''Concept Aircraft: Prototypes, X-Planes and Experimental Aircraft''. San Diego, California: Thunder Bay Press, 2005. .

External links

Curtiss P-40 Warhawk: One of World War II's Most Famous Fighters: A detailed overview of the history of the P-40 on TheHistoryNet.com

The Hawk's Nest: An Online Resource for the P-40 Warhawk

"Dr. Donovan R. Berlin induction" ''Niagara Frontier Aviation & Space Hall of Fame''

Donovan R. Berlin, 1921 student page, Purdue University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berlin, Donovan 1898 births 1982 deaths American aerospace engineers Businesspeople in aviation People from Indiana Purdue University College of Engineering alumni 20th-century American engineers