Dan Somers wrote:


We glider pilots are fortunate that the four individuals who, in my
opinion, are good low-speed airfoil designers practice their craft more
in pursuit of their passion than of money. Not surprisingly, all four
are glider pilots and good friends. So the next time you see Richard
Eppler, Karl-Heinz Horstmann, or Loek Boermans at the gliderport, offer
to pay for their launch--they have contributed much more than that to
the sailplane you are flying. (They will almost certainly graciously
decline, in any event.)

Or offer to buy them lunch, and get them talking. I've had the pleasure
of this with Eppler and Boermans, but not Horstmann and the fourth
fellow ... didn't quite catch his name. The last time was with Loek B.
at the Ostiv/SHA meeting at Tehachapi, California, a couple years ago.
He discussed things like why the LS8 has curved winglets and the ASW28
doesn't, the difference between the DG 800 airfoil and the ASH 26
airfoil (even though the wing planforms are almost identical), and
curiosities in the design of the "wings" (blades) on all the wind power
generators at Tehachapi as we stood next 100' long blades lying on the
ground like beached whales.

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Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA