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((Short description|American aircraft manufacturer based in Midland, Texas))
((Multiple issues|
((primary sources|date=October 2011))
((original research|date=October 2011))
((lead too short|date=October 2011))
((essay-like|date=October 2011))
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))

'''Windecker Industries''' was an American aircraft manufacturer founded in [[1962 in aviation|1962]] as '''Windecker Research''' in [[Midland, Texas]], by Leo Windecker, a [[Dentistry|dentist]] from [[Lake Jackson, Texas]]. In 1969, Windecker won [[Federal Aviation Administration]] (FAA) certification for the first-ever all-composite (fiberglass epoxy resin) airplane, the single-engine Windecker Eagle.<ref>((Cite web|title = Dr. Leo Windecker: Brilliant research scientist who graced Midland and aviation with his innovative sway|url = http://www.mrt.com/news/opinion/columns/ed_todd/article_d997b8d0-bb7e-5dd1-ad85-1be58e6a76b3.html|website = MRT.com|accessdate = 2015-10-23))</ref><ref>((Cite web|title = Windecker Eagle I ((!)) National Air and Space Museum|url = http://airandspace.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?object=nasm_A19850619000|website = airandspace.si.edu|accessdate = 2015-10-23))</ref>

==Early flight testing==
Initial tests of composite wings on conventional airplane bodies began in 1958. Full FAA-supervised structural and flight testing began in 1961. In 1965, the company delivered a pair of composite wings to Cessna Aircraft Company, where they were subjected to structural and flight testing on a Cessna 182.<ref>Dr. Leo Windecker, personal recollection</ref> Results proved promising,<ref>However, the relatively thin fiberglass skins on those wings (designed as direct replacement for the all-aluminum wings of the Cessna 182 testbed) showed greater deformation under load than the aluminum skins</ref> so the company built an experimental prototype of all-composite aircraft, the [[Windecker Eagle|Windecker ACX-7 Eagle]]. Designed by Dr. Leo Windecker and his wife, Dr. Fairfax Windecker (also a dentist), the aircraft was molded from a unidirectional fiberglass called [[Fibaloy]]. The [[fuselage]] was made in two halves in full-size female molds and joined on the centerline, much as a model kit might be assembled; the wings were full-core foam around a tubular fiberglass fuel tank, with wing skins formed in full-size female molds. The first [[prototype]], constructed in the Midland research center, flew in October 1967.

==Eagle prototype==
The certification Eagle prototype, incorporating [[Landing gear|retractable landing gear]], crashed during [[Spin (flight)|spin testing]] for [[Type certificate|certification]] by the [[Federal Aviation Administration]]. After a redesign of the [[empennage]], the [[Windecker Eagle|Eagle AC-7]] became the first composite airplane to receive FAA certification, in December 1969. (A number of composite sailplane designs had been certified by the FAA as early as 1967).<ref>e.g., FAA Type Certificate G12EU, Glasflugel H-301 Libelle, 31 May 1967</ref> Windecker went on to produce six civilian Eagles in the early 1970s.

The Eagle was faster than the high-performance airplanes it was designed to compete against. With the same gross weight (3,400&nbsp;lbs), wing area (176 sq ft) and engine (285&nbsp;hp Continental IO-520) as its competitors, the Eagle prototype was emblazoned with silhouettes of a [[Beechcraft Bonanza|Beech Bonanza]], [[Cessna 210]], and [[Bellanca 17-30|Bellanca Viking]], testimony to outrunning those airplanes in side-by-side tests.<ref>Flying Magazine, May 1970</ref> Windecker results of back-to-back flight tests showed the Eagle to be 10&nbsp;mph (16&nbsp;km/h) faster than the Beech V35 Bonanza, even though it was almost 11&nbsp;inches wider and over ((convert|2|ft|m|abbr=on)) longer. This speed advantage was due primarily to the optimum [[Aerodynamics|aerodynamic]] contours of the molded composite airframe. Additionally, the rigid sandwich-construction of its composite material skins prevented wrinkling and buckling under loads (a common occurrence with the thin [[Aluminium|aluminum]] skins of metal aircraft) which causes additional [[parasitic drag]]. The Eagle's low [[aspect ratio]] (of 5.82) rectangular wing, chosen for docile low-speed handling, probably reduced the Eagle's top speed.  In 1970, a tapered, higher aspect ratio wing was under development that was calculated to add 10 miles per hour to the Eagle's maximum speed.<ref name="ReferenceA">Ted Windecker, personal recollection</ref>

Because of its unfamiliarity with composites, the Federal Aviation Agency required the Eagle be 20% stronger than airplanes made with aluminum. This resulted in the Eagle being ((convert|100|lb|abbr=on)) heavier than its non-composite competitors. The retractable-gear Eagle is no heavier than current production fixed-gear composite airplanes, such as the [[Cirrus SR22]] and Cessna (formerly Columbia) [[Cessna 350|350]], both certified in 1998.

==Stealth technology proposed==
Dr. Windecker believed that composite aircraft construction had a ready [[military]] application, because composites are [[Stealth technology|nearly invisible]] to conventional [[radar]] systems. In 1962, he and Dow Chemical Company proposed a radar-invisible airplane to the Kennedy Administration, who showed no apparent interest.<ref>Leo Windecker, personal recollection</ref> 1n 1971, he again proposed a [[Stealth technology|stealth]] airplane to his congressman, [[George H. Mahon|George Mahon]] (D-Texas). Mahon contacted the Air Force, and a test of Dr. Windecker's personal Windecker Eagle was conducted against an [[United States Air Force|Air Force]] radar system at [[Holloman Air Force Base|Holloman AFB]], New Mexico. The Air Force reported that the radar registered only the [[Piston engine|engine]] and the landing gear, not the plane's composite body. An Eagle, modified to reduce radar, infrared, acoustic and visual observables, was tested by the U.S. Army at [[Aberdeen Proving Ground]], Maryland in 1972 under the code name CADDO. The results were compelling, prompting the U.S. Air Force and [[DARPA]] to order an Eagle built from scratch to minimize radar detectability. Windecker built Eagle serial number 9, incorporating numerous modifications to reduce its radar detectability, and delivered it in February 1973 as the [[Windecker E-5|YE-5]] to the Air Force who tested it secretly for five years at [[Eglin Air Force Base|Eglin AFB]], Florida. It was then transferred to the [[United States Army|Army]], who continued testing its [[Stealth technology|stealth]] application for many years. Eventually, the Army transferred the YE-5 to the Army Aviation Museum at [[Fort Rucker]], Alabama. The YE-5 was destroyed during classified testing in the late 1980s. The [[United States Army Aviation Museum|Army Aviation Museum]] received Eagle serial number 5, N4196G, to replace the lost stealth prototype. Eagle N4196G is in storage at Fort Rucker and not on display.<ref name="ReferenceA" />

==Military contracts==
Windecker Industries continued with military contracts, designing and building the U.S. Air Force [[Lockheed Aequare|Aequare]] remotely piloted vehicle (now called [[unmanned aerial vehicle|UAV]]s) for the Lockheed Missiles and Space Company. 36 of the air-launched, 150-lb [[Laser designator|laser-target-designator]] UAV were delivered and flown at [[White Sands, New Mexico]] in 1975 and 1976.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

==Financial difficulties==
The company was grossly undercapitalized and struggled financially after running out of money and laying off its almost 300 employees in the fall of 1970. The principal owner and Board Chairman of Windecker Industries, a West Texas oilman and rancher, unwilling to accept the terms of numerous financial offers over the following six years, closed the company in 1976, stopping work on ongoing stealth and UAV projects for Lockheed and the U.S. military. A company restart attempt was made in 1977 by Gerry Dietrick, owner of Eagle N4198G, who attempted to buy the rights and tooling, but no more aircraft were constructed. Gerry Dietrick set five trans-Atlantic world speed records in his Eagle, including New York to Paris, besting the previous record holder, a Beechcraft Bonanza, by 13 miles per hour.<ref name="ReferenceA" />

==Achievements==
Leo Windecker received twenty-two U.S. [[patent]]s (and many more foreign patents) for all aspects of composite aircraft construction, most of which were assigned to the [[Dow Chemical Company]], which funded the research.  This technology was licensed to other firms such as [[Lockheed Martin]], [[Northrop Corporation|Northrop]] and the [[DeLorean Motor Company]]. In 2003, Leo Windecker was inducted into the [[Lone Star Flight Museum|Texas Aviation Hall of Fame]], and he has been nominated for the [[National Aviation Hall of Fame]].<ref>((Cite web|url = http://www.nationalaviation.org/images/nominees/2016/Windecker,%20%20Leo%20J..pdf|title = DR. LEO JAMES WINDECKER|date = 2010|accessdate = 23 October 2015|website = National Aviation Hall of Fame|publisher = |last = |first = ))</ref>

Windecker Eagle N4197G (S/N 006) was donated to the [[National Air and Space Museum]] in 1985; it waits in storage, although it is planned to be put on display in the museum's new Udvar-Hazy facility at the [[Washington Dulles International Airport|Dulles Airport]]. In October 2008 [[NASA]] officials inadvertently displayed the aircraft in the background of a number of photographs published on the web while they uncrated some of the [[Apollo Command/Service Module|Apollo]] [[Atmospheric reentry#Ablative|heat shield]]s. [http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2008/apollo_shield.html]

Leo Windecker's Eagle, N4195G (S/N 004), is on display in the Lake Jackson Historical Society Museum in Lake Jackson, Texas [http://www.lakejacksonmuseum.org/].  Dr. Windecker died on 13 February 2010, at [[Cedar Park, Texas]].<ref>Aviation Week & Space Technology, 22 February 2010, p. 44</ref>

In May 2000, the editors of [[Air & Space magazine|Air & Space Magazine]] selected the Windecker Eagle as their choice for the best aviation idea that was “ahead of its time.” <ref>((Cite web|url = http://www.nationalaviation.org/images/nominees/2016/Windecker,%20%20Leo%20J..pdf|title = DR. LEO JAMES WINDECKER|date = 2010|accessdate = 23 Oct 2015|website = National Aviation Hall of Fame|publisher = |last = |first = ))</ref>

==See also==
* [[Windecker Eagle]]
* [[Windecker E-5]]

== References ==
((Reflist))
* Windecker, Dr. Leo. Personal recollection.
* e.g., FAA Type Certificate G12EU, Glasflugel H-301 Libelle, 31 May 1967
* Windecker, Ted. Personal Recollection.
* "A Resin in the Sun." ''Flying Magazine'', May, 1970.
* Burmeier, Beverly. "Plastic Fantastic." ''The History Channel Magazine'', September/October 2005, pp.&nbsp;22–23.
* "The Eagle Returns", ''Private Pilot Magazine'', Sept. 1978.

[[Category:Midland County, Texas]]
[[Category:Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States]]
[[Category:Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1962]]
[[Category:1962 establishments in Texas]]
[[Category:Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1976]]
[[Category:1976 disestablishments in Texas]]

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