Robert L. TRIMPI

GLOUCESTER POINT - Robert L. Trimpi, 87, died June 27, 2010, at his home.
Robert Littell Trimpi was an internationally recognized expert in the areas of fluid dynamics and the design and performance of aerodynamic research facilities. His 60 year career spanned the transformation of the former aerodynamically-oriented NACA into the current aerospace-oriented NASA. He was a Distinguished Research Associate at NASA at the time of his death.
Bob graduated at the head of his class and received "letters" in seven sports at Chatham High School in New Jersey. After six months at Stanford University, WW II changed his plans. He returned to New Jersey and spent six months as Chief Field Survey Engineer during the expedited construction of Camp Kilmer, a major staging area encompassing 1200 buildings and 30 miles of roads. During his three years in the military during World War II he served with the 8th Air Force in England as a tail-gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress and earned the Air Medal as well as other combat medals. After the war, he returned to Cornell University where he graduated at the top of his class with numerous honors, completing both a Bachelors of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters Degree in Aeronautical Engineering in just three years. He also captained the Cornell soccer team for two years, played on the annual North-South Collegiate all star soccer team both years and was invited to join the US Olympic soccer squad.
In 1949, he married and moved to Virginia to begin his career at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the predecessor to NASA. He served as Head of the Supersonic Aerodynamic Section, Head of the Reentry Physics Branch, Assistant Chief of the Hypersonic Vehicles Division and Associate Chief of the High Speed Aeronautics Division. He retired from NASA in 1980 as a Charter Member of the Senior Executive Service.
Mr. Trimpi was an internationally recognized expert in the areas of fluid dynamics, including real gas effects, as well as in the conception, design, and performance of aerodynamic and space research facilities. As both a theorist and experimentalist, he published numerous papers on these topics as well as several others. His theoretical work included: the first closed-form solution for the shock wave system attached to a wing at arbitrary angles of attack, sweep and dihedral in any supersonic gas flow; the first solution for unsteady moving shockwaves which was based on the mass flow parameter across the shock waves; and the solution to the viscous boundary layer within a growing expansion wave.
His inventions included the Expansion Tube/Tunnel which was the only facility capable of the 25,000 mile per hour flow speeds and ambient atmospheric air conditions encountered by re-entry space craft. He was co-inventor of the focusing Schlurin system used in wind tunnels. He was a co-holder of a patent for a combustion detector for use in coal mines.
Mr. Trimpi contributed to the Mercury, Viking, Apollo and Space Shuttle programs. He was a special consultant to the Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, CIA, Atomic Energy Commission, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Department of Energy and National Research Council. He also lectured or consulted in Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland and Russia.
Mr. Trimpi received several NASA awards as well as the National Ground Testing Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics for "Pioneering Work in the Conception, Development, and Application of Novel Facilities, Instrumentation, and Test Techniques for Experimental Aerodynamic Studies." He has been honored with the title of President Emeritus of the Supersonic Tunnel Association, a unique international co-operative organization involving over a dozen foreign countries. This award has only been given four times in the past 50 years.
After retiring from NASA in 1980, he continued as a special consultant and Distinguished Research Associate for NASA. He was President of Glarus Associates, Ltd., a consulting company that he founded. He spent a dozen years on the staff of George Washington University. He served on the Board of Trustees of Rappahannock Community College for one year. He was active in the community and supported the construction of the new facility for the Gloucester- Mathews Humane Society.
Survivors include his wife of 61 years, Pauline Trimpi; and his daughter, Kathryn Trimpi, DVM.
Funeral services officiated by the Rev. Geoffrey Price will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at Abingdon Episcopal Church. Interment will follow in the church cemetery. The family will receive friends Wednesday from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Hogg Funeral Home, Gloucester Point.
Memorial donations in memory of Robert L. Trimpi may be made to Gloucester - Mathews Humane Society, P.O. Box 385, Gloucester, VA 23061. View and post condolences on our online guestbook at dailypress.com/guestbooks.