Harry Patterson Biography
Dr. S Harry Robertson was born in Phoenix, Arizona on October 2nd 1934. He is the Founder of Robertson Fuel Systems, an engineer, the inventor of crashworthy aircraft fuel systems and a pioneer of crash investigation and aerospace safety education. Oh he is also my grandpa.
Harry built his first airplane model when he was just 4 years old. As he got older and his model airplanes got better he started entering them in competitions. By doing so he earned 5 national model aircraft flying records by age 19. When he was 9 he observed a plane crash that did not divert his interest in becoming a pilot, and his first plane ride was when he was 10. That only reinforced his desire to become a pilot. By the time he was 15 he was taking flying lessons …show more content…
Quickly after the Air Force, Navy, and Marines followed and began to convert all of their helicopters to the new fuel system. Before the use of the crashworthy fuel system the most severe helicopter crashes resulted in fires accounting for 40% of all fatalities. After the conversion of the new fuel system the post-crash fire deaths have basically been eliminated. At the end of 1974 a new challenge has been brought to his attention. Hughes and Boeing both wanted to incorporate the new fuel system into their aircrafts. But this task required him to create bigger fuel tanks that were also crashworthy so they could be used on Hughes and Boeing aircrafts. So for his new project He founded Robertson Aviation to manufacture commercial fuel tanks. Today, Robertson Aviation is working on incorporating this fuel system into military ground vehicles like tanks, Humvees and high performance race cars.
Dr. S Harry Robertson has saved countless lives because of his crashworthy fuel tanks or as they were nicknamed “Robbie Tanks”. For his work, He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2011 alongside with many other pioneers of
Harry built his first airplane model when he was just 4 years old. As he got older and his model airplanes got better he started entering them in competitions. By doing so he earned 5 national model aircraft flying records by age 19. When he was 9 he observed a plane crash that did not divert his interest in becoming a pilot, and his first plane ride was when he was 10. That only reinforced his desire to become a pilot. By the time he was 15 he was taking flying lessons …show more content…
Quickly after the Air Force, Navy, and Marines followed and began to convert all of their helicopters to the new fuel system. Before the use of the crashworthy fuel system the most severe helicopter crashes resulted in fires accounting for 40% of all fatalities. After the conversion of the new fuel system the post-crash fire deaths have basically been eliminated. At the end of 1974 a new challenge has been brought to his attention. Hughes and Boeing both wanted to incorporate the new fuel system into their aircrafts. But this task required him to create bigger fuel tanks that were also crashworthy so they could be used on Hughes and Boeing aircrafts. So for his new project He founded Robertson Aviation to manufacture commercial fuel tanks. Today, Robertson Aviation is working on incorporating this fuel system into military ground vehicles like tanks, Humvees and high performance race cars.
Dr. S Harry Robertson has saved countless lives because of his crashworthy fuel tanks or as they were nicknamed “Robbie Tanks”. For his work, He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2011 alongside with many other pioneers of