Melville Whitnel Beardsley (10 October 1913 in Kansas City, Missouri – 26 November 1998 in Carmel, California) was the American inventor and aeronautical engineer whose pioneering efforts may have contributed to the invention of the hovercraft.
After completing another 7 years of military service, Beardsley founded National Research Associates, Inc. (NRA) in College Park and Laurel, Maryland to build practical air-cushion vehicles.
Ultimately Cockerell paid a settlement of $85,000 to Beardsley for his patent rights, equivalent to $875,000 in 2023 dollars, which made practical the famous Channel hovercraft.
Rather than add an extra engine and fan facing the rear, as in his earlier Aqua-GEM model, Beardsley conceived a single-engine, single-fan design which was a forerunner of all modern sports hovercraft.
Mel Beardsley worked from 1965 to 1976 with the Naval Ship Research and Development Center (NSRDC) near Annapolis, Maryland.