| Authorised form of name | Young; Alec David (1913 - 2005) |
| Dates | 1913 - 2005 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | London, England |
| Date of birth | 15/08/1913 |
| Date of death | 27/01/2005 |
| Occupation | Aeronautical engineer |
| Activity | Education:
Caius College, Cambridge, Wrangler in Mathematical Tripos in 1935
Career:
Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough (1936-1946), during WW2 worked on solution to stalling problem in Hampden bomber, developed boundary layer theories in connection with flight of aircraft, worked on safe landing of troop carrying gliders for D Day, sent to Germany after the war to salvage work from aeronautucal research centres there; appointed Senior Lecturer and Deputy Head of Department of Aerodynamics, College of Aeronautics, Cranfield (1946); appointed Professor of Aerodynamics, Cranfield (1950); elected Fellow of Royal Aeronautical Society (1951); Professor of Aeronautical Engineering, Queen Mary College, London (1954-1978); worked on accident investigations of two de Havilland Comet crashes of 1954 and on Munich air crash of 6 February 1958 in which 23 passengers died, 8 of whom were members of Manchester United football team returning from a match in Belgrade, vindicated pilot Captain James Thain; Dean of Faculty of Engineering, London University (1962-1966); Vice Principal, Queen Mary College, London (1966-1978); Chairman, Aeronautical Research Council (1968-1971); Chairman of Board of Von Karman Institute, Brussels based European aeronautical school (1964-1993); continued to teach at Queen Mary College until 1994.
Honours:
OBE 1964 |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 15/03/1973 |
| Age at election | 59 |
| Relationships | Son of Russian Jewish immigrants who had fled the pogroms; married (1936) Doran Caplan (died 1970); married (1971) Rena Waldmann |
| Source | Obituaries:
Biographical Memoirs 2007, Volume 53, pp 401-418
Obituary in The Times (3 February 2005) |
| Code | NA4118 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| EC/1973/32 | Young, Alec David: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| IM/GA/GRS/6472 | Young, Alec David | nd |