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Frank W. Fink

Frank Wolfe Fink earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado in 1928 and began his long career in the aerospace industry with the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. He joined Consolidated Aircraft in 1935 and was the project engineer on the famed PBY flying boat. During World War II he became known as "the Father of the B-24 Liberator Bomber" as a result of his leadership in its development and high rate of production.

Postwar, as Chief Engineer of Convair/General Dynamics, he developed the Convair 240-series transport and such advance aircraft as the XFY-1 VTOL Pogo Stick, the XF2Y-1 Sea Dart water based fighter, and the early Convair missile and electronics programs.

Fink joined the Ryan Aeronautical Company in 1955 as Vice President of Research Engineering where he pioneered new approaches to vertical takeoff aircraft. In 1966, he formed his own firm, San Diego Aircraft Engineering Company, performing engineering and consulting for the aerospace industry and the government.

Invested 1968 in the International Aerospace Hall of Fame

From "These We Honor," The International Hall of Fame; The San Diego Aerospace Museum, San Diego, CA. 1984

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Updated: March 12, 2004