John Roncz

John Gregory Roncz (25 May 1948 – 27 September 2023) was an American aerodynamicist involved in the development of over 50 different aircraft, ranging from ultralights, round-the world record breakers and military transports, to yachts and a racing car.

He was described by Burt Rutan, the prolific aircraft creator, as "the genius of airfoil design"[1] His most famous projects are the Rutan Voyager and the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, which both flew around the world, non-stop and unrefuelled, and are now displayed at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's buildings in Washington, D.C. and Chantilly, Virginia.

[3] Known as P. John Roncz, his father was a co-founder of Maron Products Inc, an engineering company specialising in metal stampings, mainly for the automotive industry.

As a student at Notre Dame, he studied particle physics and Egyptian hieroglyphics while reading for his honours degree in government and international affairs.

After nine months of this, he began working for his father's company, engineering special metal parts and discovering, unsurprisingly, that he had a talent for it.

Roncz's knowledge and understanding grew, and so did his circle of helpful contacts, and his theories were put to the test in his computer programs, which were being worked so hard that he upgraded his Heathkit in an attempt to keep up.

[5] Working with Gregorek at Ohio State University he noticed that their metal wind tunnel models were poorly made, and proposed a better way of making them.

With his metal stamping experience, he designed and built a computerised milling machine and the software to control it, and Gemini Technologies went on to make models for the university and several other customers, including NASA.

He was looking for someone to evaluate the low Reynolds number airfoils that he had designed for his latest project, the Solitaire self-launching (motorised) glider.

[5] In 1985 Beech bought Scaled Composites in the unsuccessful effort to build the Starship,[17] and agreed a five year contract with Roncz for his services.

Despite a good prospect of a jury awarding up to $10 million in punitive damages, Roncz said that he felt it would be morally wrong to be vindictive.

[52] He also wrote a book about it, entitled An Engineer's Guide to the Spirit World: My Journey from Skeptic to Psychic Medium, published in 2012[L] and still widely available in 2024.

[2] John Roncz died of cancer[52] on 27 September 2023 in Lakeville, Indiana,[69] in the South Bend area which had been his main residence throughout his life.