Wyoming History: The Wyoming Man Who Designed B-52 Jet Engine That Transformed Aviation | News World

His name can be found in the rarified atmosphere of aviation greats Glenn Curtiss, Orville Wright, Howard Hughes, Chuck Yeager and even the Apollo 11 crew who landed on the moon.

The engineering skills of Leonard S. Hobbs, a Carbon, Wyoming, native, opened the door to an East Coast job at Pratt & Whitney Aviation, which became part of the United Aircraft Corp. There he would go on to design one of the most important engines in the history of aviation and win the nation’s most prestigious award in aviation and aerospace technology — putting him on the list with other luminaries.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower handed him the honor in 1953.

In the twilight of his career, he led the engineering department at United Aircraft Corp. And his name is on a string of patents that helped transform the air industry.

“Hobbs was one of my P&W heroes,” said Harold Craig, a retired engineer at…more

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