Michael John Wendl (born June 6, 1934) is an engineer who worked at the McDonnell-Douglas Corporation, mainly in the area of aerospace control. He is noted primarily as one of the early developers of terrain following technologyKrachmalnick, F.M., Vetsch, G.J., and Wendl, M.J. (1968
''Automatic flight control system for automatic terrain-following''

Journal of Aircraft
5(2), 168-175. and a proponent of incorporating energy management theory into the design of fighter aircraft. He won the

Wright Brothers Medal The Wright Brothers Medal was conceived of in 1924 by the Dayton Section of the Society of Automotive Engineers, and the SAE established it in 1927 to recognize individuals who have made notable contributions in the engineering, design, developme ...

in 1974 with Ralph Pruitt, Gordon G. Grose, and J. L. Porter for a paper discussing future aircraft designs that integrate fly-by-wire controls with engine inlets/nozzles and advanced pilot displays.Wendl, M.J., Grose, G.G., Porter, J.L., and Pruitt, V.R. (1974
''Flight/Propulsion Control Integration Aspects of Energy Management''

Society of Automotive Engineers SAE International is a global professional association and standards organization based in Warrendale, Pennsylvania, United States. Formerly the Society of Automotive Engineers, the organization adopted its current name in 2006 to reflect bot ...

paper number 740480.

Biography

Wendl attended

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853 by a group of civic leaders and named for George Washington, the university spans 355 acres across its Danforth ...

, graduating with BS in

Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

(EE) from the School of Engineering and Applied Science in 1958. He did his graduate work at the same institution under John Zaborszky, working as an instructor for physics and EE courses and completing a thesis on the control of servos for heated gases in 1961.Gregory, J. (1980) ''Who's Who in Engineering'', 4th ed., American Association of Engineering Societies. Wendl joined

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 ...

working in guidance and flight control systems, which at this time were topics experiencing rapid advancements. The company had expanded its efforts into a vigorous research and development program to support its aircraft and missile programs and Wendl's efforts focused on propulsion/control coupling,

energy management Energy management includes planning and operation of energy production and energy consumption units as well as energy distribution and storage. Energy management is performed via Energy Management Systems (EMS), which are designed with hardware ...

, fly-by-wire controls, terrain following, and control augmentation. In 1968, he co-authored a paper documenting the development of vertical terrain-following capability based on the

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

666A actuator system as applied to fighter-bomber aircraft, in particular the F-4. In the late 1960s, McDonnell was engaged in the fierce

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

F-X program competition for an aircraft that would counter the Soviet

Mig-25 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 (; NATO reporting name: Foxbat) is a supersonic interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft that is among the fastest military aircraft to enter service. Designed by the Soviet Union's Mikoyan-Gurevich bureau, it is a ...

. It was awarded the contract for what would become the

F-15 Eagle The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is an American twin-engine, all-weather fighter aircraft designed by McDonnell Douglas (now part of Boeing). Following reviews of proposals, the United States Air Force (USAF) selected McDonnell Douglas's des ...

in 1969. Wendl directed the fuel system design and development program and later contributed to various engineering refinements to subsequent models of the Eagle. Wendl is of ethnic German heritage, a cultural leader within the German-American community, and is the father of

Michael Christopher Wendl Michael Christopher Wendl is a mathematician and biomedical engineer who has worked on DNA sequencing theory, covering and matching problems in probability, theoretical fluid mechanics, and co-wrote Phred. He was a scientist on the Human Genome P ...

.P Hummel and N Fuhry: "Sackelhausen im Banat" Volume 3, published by Heimatsortsgemeinschaft Sackelhausen, Reutlingen FRG, 2007, pages 2236-2237.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wendl, Michael J American aerospace engineers Living people 1934 births American people of German descent 20th-century engineers McKelvey School of Engineering alumni