Engineering a glider

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On August 4, 2020

Historic photo of a glider flying.

Aaron J. Miles flying a glider built by students in 1929.

Bruce Wundrack, CE’82, recently shared this photo of his grandfather, Aaron J. Miles, ME’30, MS ME’31, former S&T faculty member and first dean of the School of Engineering, flying a homemade glider in Rolla in the 1930s. The story passed down to Wundrack details a doomed flight that started when a group of students used a car to get the glider, piloted by Miles, up to speed before releasing it. The glider crashed soon after. Miles broke a few bones, but the experience gave him a story to pass down to generations of Miners, including his son, John Bruce Miles, ME’55, MS ME’57, and Wundrack’s father, William Wundrack, EE’49, and Bruce Wundrack’s son, Aaron Wundrack, MinE’14, MS MinE’16.

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On August 4, 2020. Posted in 2020, Beyond the Puck, Class Notes, Summer 2020