George S. Schairer (May 19, 1913 – October 28, 2004) was an aerodynamicist at Consolidated Aircraft and Boeing whose design innovations became standard on virtually all types of military and passenger jet planes.
[6] In this position, he helped develop and test the Boeing 307 Stratoliner, the first pressurized airliner to enter service, including the redesign of the vertical tail in response to the March 18, 1939, crash of the prototype.
Working with the head of the company's Research Division, test pilot Edmund T. "Eddie" Allen, he also helped defend the use of a much higher wing loading (69 lbs/sq foot) on the B-29 than had been used on previous designs.
[8] In Germany after World War II, Schairer was part of a team that collected documents, designs and wind tunnel data on swept-wings up to Mach 1.2.
Impressed by the research, he informed Boeing to halt work on the XB-47 Stratojet and to modify it with a 35° sweep: it won the medium bomber competition and over 2,000 were built.
[10] On May 10, he wrote a seven-page letter to Boeing colleague Bob Withington that included a drawing of the swept wing and, in cramped handwriting, presented the key mathematical formulas.
[11] To avoid delay, Schairer wrote "Censored" on the envelope and mailed it, he led the effort to overhaul the B47 design upon returning from Germany.
After a Saturday morning trip to a local hobby shop for balsa wood, glue, carving tools and silver paint, Schairer set to work building a model.
[12] In October 1949, one year after the creation of the B-52 concept, Schairer and Ed Wells were in Dayton Ohio examining wind tunnel data of an improved wing for the B-52 with Boeing aerodynamicist John Alexander.
[14][15] As Assistant Chief Engineer, Schairer led Boeing's design efforts for what was then called "Weapon System 110A", a supersonic bomber for the US Air Force.