Wallace Rupert Turnbull
Birthdate: October 16, 1870
Birth Place: St. John, New Brunswick
Year Inducted: 1976
Death Date: November 24, 1954
"The patient application of his aeronautical theses to a number of problems unique to flight, and more especially his invention of the successful variable pitch propeller, have been of outstanding benefit to Canadian aviation."
Wallace Turnbull graduated in mechanical engineering from Cornwall University in 1893 and undertook post graduate work in physics at the Universities of Berlin and Heidelberg, Germany. In 1902 he built the first wind tunnel in Canada. During the next decade he continued researching the stability of aircraft and investigated many forms of airfoils. During WWI Turnbull was employed by Frederick and Company aircraft builders in England where he designed a number of propellers, the most successful being the variable pitch propeller. His interests extended into many fields, such as hydroplanes, torpedo screens, bomb sights and consolidated and tidal power, but his systematic approach to aeronautical engineering remains his greatest contribution.
Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame
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