James D. Raisbeck

James David Raisbeck (September 29, 1936 – August 31, 2021) was an American aeronautical engineer, known for his entrepreneurship in developing products which enhance the performance of production aircraft.

Raisbeck grew up in Whitefish Bay, a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

To help cover the costs of tuition and living expenses, he signed up for active reserve duty with the 434th Troop Carrier Wing at Bakalar AFB, Columbus, Indiana, as a flight engineer on Fairchild C-119s.

After high school, he entered Purdue University (1954), with the goal of studying mechanical engineering.

However, he lasted only one semester before flunking out.

Having to find a way to support a wife and daughter, he joined the US Air Force as an E-1.

He served as a flight engineer on Convair B-36 bombers.

After his four-year enlistment in the USAF, Raisbeck returned in 1958 to Purdue University.

He graduated in 1961 with a degree in aeronautical engineering, science and mathematics.

Raisbeck moved to Seattle, Washington and joined Boeing as a research aerodynamicist in 1961.

His first boss was Louis "Bernie" Gratzer, head of Boeing's aerodynamics research group.

(Gratzer would, after retirement, join forces with Joe Clark at Aviation Partners Inc., developing their blended winglets.) While at Boeing, Raisbeck and a team of engineers and flight crew designed and flight-tested an internally blown trailing edge flap system on the prototype 707, 367-80, known as the Dash 80.

The Dash 80 first flew in December 1963, and soon demonstrated flight at speeds as slow as 60 knots, at gross weights exceeding 150,000 lbs.

Raisbeck's later assignments at Boeing included liaison with the aeronautical laboratories at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and as a designer and program manager in preliminary design at Boeing.

Raisbeck had not used any of his allowed vacation time while working at Boeing.

He eventually was forced by the payroll department to use his accumulated vacation time.

While on vacation, he went to work for Robertson Aircraft, a Seattle-based small business that specialized in developing and certifying STOL kits for single- and twin-engine Cessna and Piper aircraft.

In 1969 Raisbeck left Boeing to work full-time at Robertson Aircraft, where he soon became chairman, CEO, president and chief engineer.

At Robertson, Raisbeck participated in the development and construction of the University of Kansas Redhawk, a modified Cessna 177 Cardinal and the Advanced Technology Light Twin, a modified Piper PA-34 Seneca, both under contract to NASA.

The Redhawk wing featured movable leading edge devices, Fowler flaps and spoilers for roll control.

In 1970 he negotiated with Pierre Clostermann to have Reims Aviation install Robertson STOL kits onto production Reims F337 Skymasters.

In 1973 the expanded Robertson Aircraft Company was sold to an investment company, and Raisbeck left.

He worked for one year for Allen E. Paulson at American Jet Industries in Los Angeles as vice president of technology.

Deciding he wanted to start his own company, he founded Raisbeck Engineering in 1973, on his dining room table, with $500.

His first project was the task of redesigning the wings of the Learjet for Gates Learjet.

Clay Lacy had introduced Raisbeck to Dee Howard, founder of Howard Aero and The Dee Howard Company.

Having problems with the wing redesign, Raisbeck became partners with Howard in February 1975, to enable him to complete the development of the Mark II system.

The modification was intended to reduce the approach and takeoff speeds of the Learjet family.

With Howard's help, he finished the program and Gates Learjet adopted the Mark II wing's principles in 1976.

The system's enhancement of the low-speed Learjet flight characteristics and short runway performance led Gates Learjet to adopt the highly successful technology on new production aircraft, beginning in 1976.

In 1976 Rockwell contracted Raisbeck to redesign the wing of its Sabreliner series.

All production Sabreliner 65 aircraft would be equipped with supercritical wings to be developed by Raisbeck, and Sabreliner models 60 and 80 would be retrofitted.

The resulting Mark V wing was the first supercritical wing in service in the United States.

Raisbeck built all 75 wing sets for the Sabre 65 in Seattle, and shipped them to Rockwell in El Segundo, California.

His company now had 750 employees, most working on the supercritical wing program.

Although the program was a technical success, by 1979, Raisbeck's company was in financial distress.

Raisbeck declared bankruptcy in 1979.

On his own, in 1979 he developed the Mark IV Wing System for the Learjet 35/36 family of aircraft.

This system reduced the aircraft's approach speeds, increased the level of operating safety.

Raisbeck regrouped and reformed his company in 1981, with five employees.