Colonel Melville W. Beardsley
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Melville Whitnel Beardsley (10 October 1913 in Kansas City, Missouri – 26 November 1998 in Carmel, California) was the American inventor and aeronautical engineer whose pioneering efforts may have contributed to the invention of the Hovercraft.

Biography

Melville Beardsley was born in Kansas City, Missouri on 10 October 1913, to George and Ella Whitnel Beardsley. His father and grandfather Beardsley were attorneys. He was the third generation of his family to graduate from the University of Illinois, where he took a degree in mechanical engineering. From childhood he was fascinated with flight, and soon after college he joined the United States Army Air Corps as a pilot. By the time World War II broke out, he was one of the Army's few experienced pilots and spent the war years as a flight instructor at Hondo Field, Texas. The United States Army (and later United States Air Force which was created out of the Army's Air Corps) sponsored post-graduate education in aeronautics and management at Georgia Tech and the University of Chicago. He was USAF project officer for aircraft development projects, including Northrop's noted "flying wing."

He retired in 1980 and moved to Carmel, California. In his retirement he invented, tested, and patented the Beachbuilder system of beach erosion prevention. Beardsley died 26 November 1998.

References

• "Jet-Age Boat Tested on Bay" from The Evening Star (Washington, DC), 4 August 1961
• "Amphibian Vehicle Riding on Air Cushion is Shown" in Baltimore Sun 3 August 1961.
• "Craft is Designed for Cushion-Air (sic) Trip to World's Fair" from the New York Times, 15 June 1962.
• "'The Little Skimmer' from Fairwinds: Unique Amphibious Vehicle Rides on Cushion of Air, Goes About 20 MPH" from The Maryland Gazette 10 December 1964.