engineering

Henry Combs

Henry Combs is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Henry Combs rather than just read about it. In short: Henry Combs (December 4, 1916 – May 28, 2016) was a structural engineer at Clarence Johnson's famed Skunk Works division of Lockheed Corporation. He was Deputy Project Manager on the Lockheed U-2 program, Head Structural Engineer on the SR-71 Blackbird, and later, Technical Director of the Skunk Works.

Key takeaways

Henry Combs belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Henry Combs to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Henry Combs from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Henry Combs (December 4, 1916 – May 28, 2016) was a structural engineer at Clarence Johnson's famed Skunk Works division of Lockheed Corporation. He was Deputy Project Manager on the Lockheed U-2 program, Head Structural Engineer on the SR-71 Blackbird, and later, Technical Director of the Skunk Works. While he is most known for his integral work on the U-2, the SR-71 and the F-117 Nighthawk, he also worked on the F-104, Lockheed Constellation, C-130 Hercules, XP-58 Chain Lightning, and Lockheed JetStar. Combs is revered as the father of the titanium A-12 structure. According to Ben Rich in "Skunk Works", Combs was the "dean" of the eight man structures group and an "irascible genius". Combs spoke on the U-2's development at the CIA's "The CIA and the U-2 Program" conference on 17 September 1998.

An accomplished sailplane (glider) pilot, Combs became famous within the soaring community for his weekly cross-country distance flights. Owing to the notable success of these flights, he became the leader of a fiercely loyal group of competition and cross-country sailplane pilots known as the "Crystal Squadron", based at Crystalaire gliderport in Llano, CA. From the mid 1980s through the early 2000s, this group of pilots, under Combs' spiritual and technical leadership, flew hundreds of long-distance soaring flights from Southern California to Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. In 1998, he completed his 200th straight-out long-distance flight meeting or exceeding the FAI "Diamond Badge" distance of 311 miles (500 km). He was also well known for his extensive modifications and performance tuning work on the classic Glasflugel H-301 Libelle sailplane. Because of the numerous aerodynamic improvements made by Combs to his aircraft, it was capable of achieving performance levels on a par with more modern aircraft flown by the other members of the group. The net effect of these expert aircraft modifications, combined with his excellent piloting skills, was that (to their amazement and chagrin) Combs was often able to fly farther and faster than the other members of the Crystal Squadron, many of whom had spent three or four times the money on far newer "state of the art" sailplanes. This served only to further perpetuate the "irascible genius" legend, long after his Skunk Works days had passed. His soaring legacy is honored by the Soaring Society of America's "Henry Combs Perpetual Trophy". Combs died on May 28, 2016, at the age of 99.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Henry Combs

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Henry Combs claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Henry Combs before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Henry Combs ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Henry Combs

In research: Henry Combs appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Henry Combs in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Henry Combs is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1916 births, 2016 deaths, Lockheed people, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Henry Combs outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Henry Combs in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Henry Combs means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Henry Combs out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Henry Combs in simple terms?

Why does Henry Combs matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Henry Combs?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Henry Combs.