Charles Joseph Fletcher
Charles J. Fletcher | |
---|---|
Born | Charles Joseph Fletcher December 21, 1922 Franklin, New Jersey, U.S. |
Died | April 20, 2011 (aged 88) Saint Clare's Hospital at Boonton Township Boonton, New Jersey, U.S. |
Citizenship | United States |
Alma mater | New York University, B.S. 1950 |
Occupation | Aeronautical Engineering |
Known for | Hovercraft |
Charles Joseph Fletcher (December 21, 1922 – April 20, 2011) was an American inventor and the owner and chief executive of an aeronautical equipment manufacturing and engineering company, Technology General Corporation, in Franklin, New Jersey. While a naval aviator he came up with the idea of the "Glidemobile", a vehicle using air for support. This was not made public until used in defence in a patent claim from British manufacturers of hovercraft, Fletcher holds over seventy patents.[1]
Biography
He was born on December 21, 1922, to Horace Fletcher and Florence Romyns. He served as a Lieutenant Commander with the United States Navy during World War II and the Korean War. Fletcher earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from New York University in 1950.[2]
He was the president of Technology General Corporation, a small ($2 million annual revenue) manufacturer of drawn metal products, spray coating systems, power mixers, and commercial ice crushing equipment. Fletcher penned his autobiography, Quest for Survival, in 2002.
A contributor to the X-15 rocket, Fletcher also worked on the test version of the Lunar Landing Module, and holds seventeen aeronautical patents on vertical lift and rocket engines.[3][4] Fletcher was inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame of New Jersey in 1992 and the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame in 1993.
A resident of Fredon Township, New Jersey, he died on April 20, 2011, at Saint Clare's Hospital at Boonton Township in Boonton, New Jersey, at 88.[2]
Publication
- Fletcher, Charles Joseph (2002). Quest For Survival.
References
- ^ Manchester, Lee. "The resurrection of Wellscroft"[permanent dead link], from Adirondack Life, September/October 2002. Accessed October 2, 2007. "The new owner was Charles Fletcher, of Franklin, N.J. The retired Navy aviator and inventor was (and continues to be) president of a corporation that manufactures aeronautical equipment."
- ^ a b "Charles Joseph Fletcher". Legacy.com. Retrieved 2012-09-21.
- ^ Fletcher, Charles (2002). Quest for Survival. Glenridge Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 0-944435-50-5.
- ^ "Charles Joseph Fletcher". New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 2007-07-13.
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- 1973 Amelia Earhart / Charles A. Lindbergh / Clyde Pangborn / Floyd Bennett / Clarence Duncan Chamberlin / Wittemann brothers
- 1974 Anthony Fokker
- 1975 Bernt Balchen / Juan Terry Trippe
- 1976 Bert Blanchard Acosta / Ivan R. Gates / Arthur Godfrey
- 1978 Kay A. Brick
- 1980 Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. / Solomon Andrews / Boland brothers / Arthur Raymond Brooks / Charles E. Rosendahl / Gill Robb Wilson
- 1981 Robert Nietzel Buck / Kenneth Russell Unger
- 1982 Leo Loudenslager / Thomas McGuire / Walter M. "Wally" Schirra
- 1983 Herbert O. Fisher
- 1984 Robert J. Collier
- 1985 Malcolm S. Forbes / Thor Solberg
- 1987 Paul E. Garber / Oliver George Simmons / Kathryn Dwyer Sullivan
- 1988 Frederick Walker Castle / William Halsey Jr. / Ruth Rowland Nichols
- 1989 Charles Joseph Fletcher / Donald J. Strait / Stanley Switlik
- 1990 Edwin Eugene Aldrin Sr.
- 1993 Jean-Pierre Blanchard
- 1994 Selma Cronan
- 1996 Vincent Justus Burnelli / T. J. O'Malley
- 1997 Anne Morrow Lindbergh / Kenneth A. Walsh / James Hart Wyld
- 1998 Richard E. Byrd
- 1999 Terry Jonathan Hart
- 2000 Bernice Falk Haydu / Herb Kelleher
- 2001 Isaac Schlossbach
- 2002 Oliver Colin LeBoutillier / Barry Schiff
- 2006 Donald A. Luscombe / Calvin J. Spann / George Augustus Vaughn Jr.
- 2010 Aline Rhonie