John Roncz

John Gregory Roncz (25 May 1948 – 27 September 2023) was an American aerodynamicist involved in the development of over 50 different aircraft, ranging from ultralights, round-the world record breakers and military transports, to yachts and a racing car. He was described by Burt Rutan, the prolific aircraft creator, as "the genius of airfoil design".

His most famous projects are the Rutan Voyager and the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, which both flew around the world, non-stop and unrefuelled, and are now displayed at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's buildings in Washington, D.C. and Chantilly, Virginia.

Early life John Roncz was born to Peter John Roncz and his wife Catherine, nee Scheibelhut, of South Bend, Indiana, who were married in June 1946. Known as P. John Roncz, his father was a co-founder of Maron Products Inc, an engineering company specialising in metal stampings, mainly for the automotive industry.

The young Roncz was a prodigy, becoming a concert violinist at the age of five, playing with a local symphony orchestra. At the age of 10, after 6 months practice, he moved to the piano, winning a state prize, and had composed a march for his class, and entered national and international piano competitions.

He attended a special school for gifted people at his local university, Notre Dame in South Bend, where he displayed a talent for languages, becoming fluent in eight modern and ancient languages, including French and Hebrew. As a student at Notre Dame, he studied particle physics and Egyptian hieroglyphics while reading for his honours degree in government and international affairs. At no time in his life did he do any engineering course. designing and making better and cheaper parts than the competition. He did not charge for designing the parts, but, by not revealing to his clients the specification of the metal he used, they were compelled to buy it from him. he had written his first program, for airfoil calculations.

In addition to the known aircraft types worked on by Roncz for Scaled Composites, there were other projects, some worked on by Roncz, done for companies and probably arms of government paying for secret work, about which nothing has been made public. and agreed a five year contract with Roncz for his services. In 1987 Beech terminated the contract with three years to run. Roncz sued and accepted a $2.2 million settlement. Despite a good prospect of a jury awarding up to $10 million in punitive damages, Roncz said that he felt it would be morally wrong to be vindictive.

Other aircraft

During his time working for Rutan, and after that period, Roncz was doing designs for many other projects. This list of the other aircraft that he worked on is not complete. It also doesn't include aircraft that used his airfoils without his direct input.

Airfoil names Roncz sometimes gave his airfoil designs fanciful names. These included: GOLA: Gobs of Lift Airfoil OSPITE: Olympic Swimming Pool in Trailing Edge POP: Peter's Other Profile SODA: Stamp Out Drag Airfoil and the suffix MS stood for the initials of Mike and Sally Melvill.

Other projects Nautical In 1988 Scaled Composites was commissioned to build the carbon-fibre wing for Stars & Stripes, a racing catamaran. Roncz was the aerodynamicist for the project. After the first wing was completed, the race's venue changed from Long Beach, California to San Diego, California, necessitating an increase in the wing's height from to . The new wing was designed and built within 8 weeks, and the catamaran went on to win the race convincingly. Roncz also designed the rudders.

Roncz redesigned the keel of the America III racing yacht which won several San Diego races.

Roncz completely redesigned the airfoils of the Airfish 2 wing-in-ground-effect (WIG or WIGE) vehicle which was developed from the RFB X-114 designed by Alexander Lippisch. He worked with the US company Flarecraft Inc.

Motor racing Roncz used his CFD skills to refine the aerodynamics of the Riley & Scott Mk III prototype World Sports Car (WSC) race car.

Lectures Roncz often featured in forums at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh during the 1980s and 90s. His sessions were always popular for his wit and wisdom. Lecture titles included "The Aerodynamics of the Flight of Dragons", "Drag Reduction for Aircraft" (as Gemini Technologies), "Can Dragons Fly?" and, with Burt Rutan, a "Tent Talk Show" and "Life, the Universe and Everything Else".

He was a Distinguished Lecturer for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a visiting lecturer at eight universities.

Patents and awards Over his aerodynamics career, Roncz gained at least eight patents, usually as part of a team of inventors, and gained several awards including:

the 1985 Stan Dzik Award for outstanding airfoil design contribution. the 1990 August Raspet Memorial Award for outstanding contributions to the advancement of the design of light aircraft, presented to him by EAA President Tom Poberezny. the 1991 Milwaukee School of Engineering and EAA Gold medal for distinguished achievement in aerospace engineering. the GAPAN Grand Master's Australian Medal for co-designing the Eagle Aircraft Eagle 150, which he received from Prince Philip at the Guildhall in London on 24 October 2000. in the South Bend area which had been his main residence throughout his life.

Footnotes