80 Years of Aerospace Engineering Education in the Netherlands

Gillian Saunders-Smits, Joris Melkert, Michiel Schuurman 80 Years of Aerospace Engineering Education in the Netherlands

Gillian N. Saunders-Smits, Joris A. Melkert, Michiel Schuurman Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, the Netherlands

3 Colofon

Published by: TU Delft Open, Delft Every attempt has been made to ensure University of Technology, Delft, The the correct source of images and other Netherlands potentially copyrighted material was Graphic Design by: Delta3, The Hague, ascertained, and that all materials the Netherlands included in this book has been attributed and used according to its license. If you Cover Image: The building of the Faculty believe that a portion of the material of Aerospace Engineering at Delft infringes someone else’s copyright, please University of Technology when it opened the authors directly via: G.N.Saunders@ in 1965 (left) and currently (right) - CC-BY tudelft.nl. TU Delft This book is an illustrated and improved ISBN E-Pub: 978-94-6366-339-7 version of the paper with the same title ISBN Pdf: 978-94-6366-337-3 and same authors that was presented at ISBN paperback: 978-94-6366-338-0 the AIAA Scitech Forum, 6-10 January 2020, Orlando, Florida U.S.A. This work is published under Creative Commons License: CC-BY-SA 4.0 by G.N. Saunders-Smits, J.A. Melkert, and M.J. Schuurman, Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology unless specifically otherwise stated.

4 5 Preface

I am very proud to present to you We all know that the world is facing some this overview of 80 years Aerospace daunting challenges, in particular related Engineering Education in The Netherlands to sustainability and the global energy written by our three colleagues: Gillian transition, and these also affect our field Saunders-Smits, Joris Melkert and Michiel of aerospace engineering. We have Schuurman. This illustrated history paper to tackle these challenges by creating is one of a kind, as it is the first time that game-changing innovations and by the history of Aerospace Engineering preparing next generations of scientist at Delft University of Technology is and engineers, who will be able to come presented in English and embedded in a up with out-of-the-box ideas by connecting wider historical context. The paper was their knowledge to that of adjacent fields, first presented in January 2020 during while using the latest technological the AIAA forum in Orlando, USA, by developments. To me the developments of Gillian Saunders-Smits, and brought to the past do not leave any doubt that in the you now as celebratory gift for the 16th future both our research and education lustrum year of the Faculty of Aerospace will continue to have a very strong impact Engineering at TU Delft. in the field of aerospace engineering, contributing to create a better, more Looking back at the past 80 years gives sustainable world. meaningful insights in the challenges our Faculty’s staff members and students Henri Werij have faced and initiatives and solutions Dean of the Faculty of Aerospace they have presented. Ultimately, these Engineering happenings have had a great impact in Delft University of Technology many aerospace related fields all over the world.

6 7 This year, 2020, the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands celebrates its 80th birthday. This paper describes the history of the department since its founding in early 1940, just before the start of World War II in the Netherlands, until present day. The paper will highlight how its research and education developed within the socio-economic context of the Netherlands and the developments in aerospace over the past 80 years.

Introduction presence of 270 PhD students. The Engineering at Delft University of university ranks 10th in the Shanghai Technology from its creation in 1940 This year, 2020, marks the 80th ranking for Aerospace Engineering. The till the present day within the socio- anniversary of the Faculty of Aerospace aerospace curriculum is fully taught in economic context in the Netherlands Engineering at Delft University of English and the Faculty of Aerospace and in particular of the Dutch aerospace Technology, located in Delft in the Engineering employs over 150 academic industry. Furthermore, its history will be western part of the Netherlands. Since staff members. Delft University of positioned within the development of its commencement in May of 1940 until Technology, as a whole, totals over Engineering and in particular Aerospace present day the Faculty has developed 25,000 Bachelor and Master students Engineering as a branch of study over itself into one of the largest Aerospace and 2,500 academic staff. the past century. This perspective will Departments in the world, with an annual be based on a multitude of historic intake of over 400 Bachelor students In this paper the authors will tell the sources and is based in part on previous and 400 Master students as well as the history of the Faculty of Aerospace research performed by the first author,

8 Saunders-Smits [1], as well as records of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at subsequent events and publications since. Delft University of Technology.

A. Defining Aerospace Engineering 1 The Development of To avoid confusion in this paper, the Aerospace Engineering authors would first like to define what they mean with Aerospace Engineering as a University Degree as a field of science, as the term is often loosely used, especially internationally. Although Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) The authors would like to use the was one of the first engineers to record definition as listed in the Encyclopedia possible designs of flying crafts, he, of Aerospace Engineering [2] which like the first aircraft designers after him, defines aerospace engineering as: “the was predominantly an auto-didactic with primary field of engineering concerned little formal training in engineering at with the development of aircraft an academic level. To fully understand and spacecraft”. This definition was how aerospace engineering became an coined when the field of aeronautical academic degree course, it is important engineering, defined as “the primary to examine this development in the field of engineering concerned with the context of the development of engineering development of aircraft,” increasingly education at Higher Education level, and started to extend their work to include the development of aerospace as an vehicles operating in (outer) space, also established field of science. Therefore, in leading to the renaming of the National this section these developments and the Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, birth of the first aerospace departments NACA to the National Aeronautics and in the world will be discussed before Space Administration, NASA in 1953. In exploring the conception of aerospace literature, when referring to (outer) space within the Netherlands and the history of engineering, the terms astronautical

8 9 engineering or space engineering are of engineering as a science to the water Kingdom, greatly aided by the further also used, defined as “the primary cycle [4]: with first the development development of Newcomen’s Steam field of engineering concerned with the of formal sciences, followed by the Engine by James Watt in 1765, creating a development of spacecraft”. development of the empirical sciences societal need for more applied knowledge and, for now, conclude by the applied in order to prosper. B. Development of Engineering Education sciences, which includes the field of at Higher Education Level Engineering, as being closest to social Historians are in disagreement on when Engineering was one of the last fields of reality. In this analogy it makes perfect and where the first institutionalized sciences to be developed as scientific sense that engineering is not offered as a scientific training of engineers took field of study. Natural sciences were university degree nor is it researched at a place. Simon Stevin (1548-1620) was already studied by ancient civilizations university level until the late 18th century asked by the Dutch prince Maurits of and considerably developed as an and the first half of the 19th century. This Orange (1567-1625) to found a military independent field of science in the 16th of course also coincides with the start of engineering school at the University of and 17th century with the emerging of the Industrial Revolution in the United Leiden (in the Netherlands) in 1600. scholars such as Copernicus (1473- 1543), Galilei (1564-1642), and Newton (1642-1727) and the founding of the Royal Society (of London for Improving Natural Knowledge) in 1660. The logical explanation for this is discussed by Saunders-Smits [1] and Lintsen et al. [3], who tell of the Dutch science philosopher Van Peursen who likens the development

Fig. 1: Anthony Fokker in his aircraft the “Spin” (spider) Public Domain: “Collectie Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie”

10 However, this school taught in Dutch as Education Institute named “Technische opposed to Latin, which was the primary Hogeschool” in 1905, modelled after the language used at universities at the time. French model of “Écoles Polytechniques”. As a result, the school struggled to gain It is this school that laid the foundation for real recognition for more than a century the present Delft University of Technology as an academic institution and was or “Technische Universiteit Delft” in Dutch, eventually abandoned [5]. It is therefore commonly referred to as “TU Delft.” [5]. In not seen as an academic institution by England it took until 1840 for the first chair historians. in engineering to be set up in London. In Glasgow, Scotland an engineering chair Gregory [6] suggests that the “École was set up in the same year, followed by Polytechnique” – Polytechnic School, was Dublin in Ireland in 1842 and Belfast in the first school to be founded in France Northern Ireland in 1849. in 1795, but other historians, such as Emmerson [7] and Armytage [8] mention Which college was the first engineering an earlier school in France: the “École des college in the United States of America, Ponts et Chaussées” – School of Bridges is still a topic of an ongoing debate. The and Roads, founded in 1747. After these, consensus, however, is that the following other European countries followed in rapid four schools [9] can be considered the succession with the Freiburg School of first engineering colleges: Mines in Germany in 1765 and a military • The United States Military Academy engineering academy being founded in at WestPoint, New York (first Delft by King William I in 1814, which engineering graduate in 1817), would become the Royal Academy for • Norwich University, Northfield, Civilian Engineers by 1842 by order of Vermont (first Civil Engineering his son King William II. This school was degree awarded in 1834) renamed to “Polytechnische Hogeschool” in 1864 and became a formalized Higher

10 11 • Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, London, England taught its first course after the outbreak of World War II. With Troy, New York (first graduate in Civil in aeronautics in 1909. They also report the start of the space program most engineering 1835) that the first chair in Aeronautics at aeronautical universities also started to • Union College, Schenectady, New Imperial College was founded in 1920. In include space in their curricula, which York (degree course in Engineering addition, Queen Mary’s College London, from 1958 onwards led to many institutes offered from 1845) England proudly lists on its website, changing the name of their departments that they are the oldest aeronautical from aeronautical to aerospace C. Development of Aerospace engineering department in the United engineering. Engineering Education Kingdom, founded in 1909 and already The development of the field of teaching courses in aeronautics from aerospace initially focused on 1907. The first institution reported to 2 Developments in Dutch aeronautics. The push to teach subjects be established to award a degree in Aviation until 1940 related to aeronautics and create aeronautical engineering was the “L’École academic degree programs was greatly Polytechnique de L’Aéronautique” in aided by the first recorded sustained 1909 in Toulouse in France. This school The Netherlands has its own strong flight of an aircraft by the Wright Brothers still exists today under the name “ISAE tradition in aerospace engineering. The in 1903 and the rapid rise of other SUPAERO”. In the United States of most famous of Dutch designers, Anthony aircraft designers who followed soon America, the first degree and 4-year Fokker (Fig. 1), flew his first design the after. However, as to who taught the first program in aeronautical engineering “Spin” (Spider) on its maiden flight in courses in aeronautical engineering, was founded in 1916 at the University of 1911[12]. He had a fierce competitor is still an ongoing debate in literature. Michigan combined with founding of a named Frits Koolhoven whose aircraft McCormick [10] states that Professor department in aeronautical engineering. the “Heidevogel” (Moor bird (Fig. 2)) also Lucien Marchis of the University of Paris, In 1926 the Massachusetts Institute took to the skies in 1911 [13]. Fokker left France was the first to teach formal of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, for Germany due to a lack of customers courses in aerodynamics at university Massachusetts. founded its aeronautical in the Netherlands, where he became level in 1910. These claims are disputed engineering department. From the 1930s a successful aircraft designer during by other sources. Ransom and Self [11] onwards more schools were founded the First World War with his Fokker list the claim that Imperial College in all over the world and this accelerated DR-I gaining notoriety among the Allied

12 Forces. For similar reasons Koolhoven left (Fig. 3) in 1919 and soon started regular for England where he was a designer for flights to the Dutch East Indies (present British Deperdussin, Armstrong Whitworth day Indonesia) from the first Dutch Civil and British Aerial Transport. Both returned Airport, Schiphol. Schiphol initially was a to the Netherlands after the First World military airport but became a civil airport in War to start their own factories. They 1920 and is now a major hub airport. were however, not the only Dutch aircraft designers at the time. Spyker, initially The Dutch armed forces, similarly to the built Farman aircraft in license and later Fig. 2: Frits Koohoven’s aircraft the British armed forces, started a Flying started to produce his own aircraft the “Heidevogel” Source: Public Domain: Corps, (in Dutch: “Luchtvaartafdeling”) “Spyker V1, V2 and V3”. Then there were “Collectie Nederlands Instituut voor upon the urging of General Snijders in Militaire Historie” the Pander factories which produced 1913. During the First World War, the the “Pander D” and the “Pander E” as fleet of this unit was greatly extended by well as the “S.4 Postjager.” The latter over a 100 foreign aircraft, which were took part in the 1924 London-Melbourne confiscated from both sides of the conflict race. Pander’s designers continued in who sought refuge in Dutch neutral 1934 at the Schelde factories building territory. Of these recovered aircraft 69 the S.12 and the S.20 [12]. Finally, were restored to flying condition and there was Hugo Lambach, a graduate in added to the Dutch military fleet. During Mechanical Engineering of TU Delft who the interbellum the air unit continued to built two aircraft, the “Lambach HL I” and grow to become an independent branch of the “Lambach HL II” [14]. None of these the Dutch Armed Forces, now known as companies ever reached the same size the “Royal Netherlands Air Force” [15]. of Fokker and Koolhoven who employed over 1,200 people each.

On the operations side, KLM Royal Dutch Fig. 3: Albert Plesman. CC0 Nationaal Archief Airlines was founded by Albert Plesman

12 13 Also, to support the ongoing anniversary in 1990 [16]. Professor of the Dutch Universities of Science and developments in the field of aviation, the Burgers taught the basic principles of Technology. This is not be confused with Dutch National Study Department for Aerodynamics and Professor Biezeno the abbreviation “ing.” which indicates Aeronautics (in Dutch: “Rijksstudiedienst taught the principles of Aircraft Structural a bachelor of engineering degree from voor de Luchtvaart”) opened its doors Analysis. Early industry collaboration one of the Dutch Universities of Applied in 1919. This organization still exists was started, asking ir. J. Roosenschoon Sciences. and is now known as the “Royal Dutch from the Fokker Aircraft Company to Aerospace Center” (NLR). also teach aeronautics part-time. The A. The Founding of the Faculty and As a result of all these developments, abbreviation “ir.” is for the Dutch word the Outbreak of World War II in the there was a great need for highly trained “ingenieur” meaning engineer and is a Netherlands and skilled aeronautical engineers. protected title under Dutch law that can However, the formal starting date of only be used by holders of a Master of Aerospace Engineering at TU Delft is 3 History of Aerospace Science in Engineering degree from one seen as May 6, 1940, when the first Full Engineering at Delft Professor in Aeronautical Engineering, Professor Van der Maas is appointed by University of Technology the Dutch Crown within the Department of Mechanical Engineering (Fig. 4). To address this need, from the 1930s This appointment was later than initially onwards, the first courses in aeronautical intended, as the first candidate for the engineering were being taught at TU job, ir. A.G. Von Baumhauer, a helicopter Delft within the department of Mechanical designer and flight mechanics expert Engineering and Shipbuilding, according was killed during a 1939 test flight to the history book of the Faculty of Boeing Stratoliner in the United published on the occasion of its 50th States of America. This was not the only bad fortune to hit the start of the Faculty. Just four days later on May 10, Fig. 4: Professor Van der Maas. CC0 Nationaal Archief 1940, Germany declared war on the Netherlands and invaded. The Dutch

14 Armed Forces felt compelled to surrender a quick start once the war was over. after only 5 days to avoid further mass Among them was one of the future deans bombardments of large cities. This after of Aerospace Engineering, Professor Rotterdam, the largest harbor city of the Wittenberg. Netherlands, some 5 miles South of Delft, was almost completely destroyed by B. 1945 – 1975: The After Bellum German aerial bombardments. After the end of World War II, the degree program in aeronautical engineering Although the university at first continues started to take off. The first twenty years to operate and Professor Van der Maas can really be characterized as foundation held his inaugural lecture entitled: “the years and investment in the future. A Start” and in 1943 he even instigated second full professor, Professor Van der the degree program in aeronautical Neut, in the field of aircraft structures was engineering [16], teaching was suspended appointed in 1945 and by 1965 a total 16 in 1943. In 1944 Professor Van der Maas full professors in aeronautical engineering was forced into hiding with his wife and had been appointed of which three were 11 children as he was warned he was to also working in industry. At the start of its be taken hostage by the occupying forces degree program, aeronautical engineering [16]. Therefore, the degree program did was not an independent department. It not formally start until September 1945. was part of a larger department including As Professor Van der Maas was a very mechanical engineering and shipbuilding. religious, Calvinistic Protestant, he was a firm believer that idle hands are the devil’s In 1953 this department was split into playground: he used his time in hiding to two: The Department of Mechanical write the lecture notes for the aeronautical Engineering and the Department curriculum and taught students who had of Aeronautical Engineering and not signed the Loyalty Statement to the Shipbuilding. At the same time heavy Third Reich [17] to allow them to make investments were made to develop

14 15 research facilities (more on that later) and The Fokker Aircraft Company resurged shape. From the restart of the degree in in 1965 the Department of Aeronautical from World War II with the launch of the 1945, aircraft design was the focal point Engineering moved into its own building turboprop aircraft Fokker F27 Friendship of the degree with students initially being (Cover photo), which is still in use as the in 1955 and the jet-powered Fokker F28 required to create two preliminary designs Faculty of Aerospace Engineering today. Fellowship in 1962. It also built many U.S. of aircraft (one glider and one engine military aircraft under license, such as the powered aircraft) with supporting courses The students also started to organize Gloster Meteor and the Lockheed F-104 in aerodynamics, flight mechanics, themselves. In 1945 the “Aerospace Starfighter. As a consequence, there stability and control and structures [16]. Study Association, Leonardo da Vinci” was a growing need for aeronautical Very early on, in 1947, it was recognized was founded to support students in their engineers in the Netherlands. that in order to achieve the deemed studies and personal development as necessary, in-depth knowledge of a well as provide entertainment (Fig. 5 and Educationally, the 5-year integrated topic, students should differentiate and Fig. 6). master degree program quickly took specialize in the last two years of their degree. The initial specializations were aerodynamics and flight mechanics, industry & production engineering, structures, and finally, elastomechanics. This in-depth two-year specialization still exists in the current 2-year Master program and is what sets a TU Delft MSc in Aerospace Engineering, content- wise, apart from most other aerospace engineering degrees in the world. The education program was continually monitored and updated to include the Fig. 5: Extraordinary General Assembly VSV ‘Leonardo da Vinci’, 1980 – © VSV “Leonardo da latest developments. The first courses Vinci, Published with Permission on spacecraft were taught from 1961 by Professor Kooy as an external professor

16 from the Dutch Royal Military Academy could only survive if there was continued European Space Agency, resulting in the in the 4th year of the degree. As many (financial) support from the government. permanent establishment of the European students could not wait until then Professor When this support was finally stopped, the Science and Technology Centre (ESTEC) Wittenberg, a keen space enthusiast demise of the Fokker Aircraft Factory in in Noordwijk, the Netherlands after a himself, taught extra-curricular classes in 1996 became inevitable. short period in Delft [16]. Internationally, space engineering in the evenings [16][18]. he ensured international collaboration by Professor Van der Maas can also be becoming one of the founding fathers for Next to being the leading figure in credited for his promotion of space both the Advisory Group for Aeronautical the aeronautical engineering degree, research contributing to the founding of Research and Development (AGARD) professor Van der Maas also ensured SRON, the Netherlands Institute for Space in 1952 and the International Council for that sufficient aeronautical facilities in the Research and the effective lobbying at the Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS) in 1957. Netherlands were provided. He played a leading role in the founding of the Fig. 6: Multiple Day Excursion VSV ‘Leonardo da Vinci’, OHB Bremen, 2018 – © VSV “Leonardo Dutch Institute for Aircraft and Spacecraft da Vinci, Published with Permission development, known as “NIVR” and served as its first chairman until 1970. He also became chairman of the earlier mentioned Royal Dutch Aerospace Center (NLR) in 1950 and held this position until his retirement in 1971. He used his leading role in all three organizations to promote the Dutch aviation industry and aeronautical research. Some say this is why the Netherlands played such a strong role in aerospace, however, one historian [19] feels that this powerbase also led to maintaining an unsustainably large aviation industry in the Netherlands, which

16 17 Employer AE Alumni University of Technology) [5]. The formal name now became “Faculty of Aerospace Fokker Aircraft Company 18.1% Engineering”, a name still in use today. The Faculty continued to grow and by NLR 13.8% 1975 had 18 full professors. The year TU Delft 10.1% 1976 saw the first professor in Space KLM 2.7% Engineering being appointed, Professor Rijksluchtvaartdienst 2.7% Bloemendaal. Student numbers were (Dutch Airworthiness Authorities) also steadily rising (See Fig. 11) and Philips Electronics 2.0% employment was good. Research by the “Aerospace Student Association Oil Companies 2.0% Leonardo da Vinci” showed that in 1980, Other Aircraft Manufacturers 1.7% 18% of its alumni worked for the Fokker TNO 1.7% Aircraft Company (See Table 1) [20]. Ministry of Defense 1.7% Changes in the Dutch Education system Table 1: List of employers of aerospace graduates in 1980 based on an alumni survey saw the formal introduction of the PhD (N=298) [20] trajectory at Aerospace Engineering in 1982. Although TU Delft has had C. 1975 -1997: on, the department was known as PhD awarding rights since 1906, only An Independent Faculty and Growth “Aerospace Engineering.” occasional PhD degrees had been In 1975 the Department of Aeronautical awarded before this time. There was Engineering and Shipbuilding was split The term department was dropped in no formal system of appointment and into two independent departments. The 1986 in favor of the term faculty, when training of PhDs until then. By 1990 term “aeronautical” was replaced with Delft was given formal university status formal PhD student numbers had grown “aerospace,” reflecting the developments and renamed to “Technische Universiteit to 30 [16]. The year 1982 was also the within the field of space, and from then Delft” often shortened to “TU Delft” (Delft year in which the 2000th student of the

18 integrated Master program in Aerospace programs in the United States of America, rooms. In 1995 the degree program was Engineering from TU Delft graduated. even when followed by a 2-year Master given the prestigious ABET substantial program. In 1995 however, after serious equivalency status, making it easier for The Netherlands as a country continued government lobbying, the 5-year degree graduates to have their degree recognized its investment in Space, with the Fokker program was reinstated. The degree in North America. Aircraft Company setting up a Space became very popular, as can be seen in department named Fokker Space (Now Fig. 11. The number of students had to By the early nineties there were 13 part of Airbus Defense and Space) in be capped at 305 in the early nineties in research groups and well over 20 full Leiden and sent up its first astronaut, order to have sufficient staff and class professors. There were excellent industry Wubbo Ockels (1946-2014), on the STS- 61A Challenger mission in 1985 (Fig. 7). In 1992 Ockels was appointed as a part-time professor in Manned Space Flight at Aerospace Engineering and later on as tenured Professor in Aerospace for Sustainable Engineering and Technology.

The degree program in Aerospace Engineering was now an established name, delivering an integrated Master’s Program, initially spanning 5 years, but under government budget cuts reduced to a nominal 4 years. In view of the stipulated workload of 1640 hours per year by the Dutch government, the 4-year integrated Master degree, in terms of work Fig. 7: Wubbo Ockels (second from right) and his fellow crew members – NASA Public Domain load, outperformed most 4-year Bachelor

18 19 relations within the Netherlands, but van Ingen as an international expert Dynamics, his methods used by NASA also within Europe and with NASA in boundary flow [18]. In the area of to develop programs to read out Flight in the United States of America. design, Professor Torenbeek (Fig. 8) Data Recorders. He also succeeded The Faculty’s research was gaining wrote his famous textbook “Synthesis of professor Van der Maas at the NLR and worldwide recognition: In the fields of Subsonic Airplane Design” and together as AGARD representative [18]. Within aerodynamics ir. Boermans rose to fame with professor Van Tooren designed the the area of aircraft materials, Professor by designing many high-performance EXTRA 400. Professor Gerlach was a Vogelesang, Professor Vlot (1962-2002) wing profiles for gliders and Professor renowned expert in the area of Flight and others invented the fiber metal laminates GLARE (Fig. 9) and ARALL [20] and Professor Schijve was a leading expert on fatigue [22] . At the same time, in the Structures section, leading research into buckling and imperfections was carried out for NASA under the leadership of Professor Arbocz, whilst in the area of Space, Professor Wakker became an international expert on orbital mechanics and was appointed as director of SRON in 2003. To celebrate his work, NASA decided to name an asteroid after him in 2010 [18].

Students would perform their Fig. 8: Prof. Torenbeek and his Textbook “Synthesis of Subsonic thesis research in one of these Airplane Design”. © Delta TU Delft (left) and Springer (right) groups, either in-house or in industry – Published with Permission under university supervision. By

20 the end of their second year, students optimism they felt they would only need intention to keep building and designing would opt to specialize in either Space one year to build it and would have it fly continued and work was started on the or Aeronautics and all students were in 1990, however, it would take five more design of a small composite 2-seater expected to complete a mandatory years before she flew during our 55th aircraft, known as “Impuls”. However, this industry internship as part of their degree, anniversary in 1995 [14]. The Lambach project was abandoned a few years ago with the Dutch Aerospace Center and the HL II replica (Fig. 10) is currently not due to lack of progress and interest. Fokker Aircraft Company offering many flying and on display in the Early Birds positions. The reputation of the quality (“Vroege Vogels”) Museum in Lelystad in In 1983, the Fokker Aircraft Company of our students was also spreading. the Netherlands with an intent to restore launched the successors of the Fokker From the late nineties, aerospace her back to flying condition. The students’ F27 Friendship and the F28 Fellowship, students, among them third author, ir. Michiel Schuurman, were welcome to Fig. 9: Fiber Metal Laminate GLARE. do an internship at the U.S. National – CC-BY TU Delft. Transportation and Safety Board in Washington D.C., which were highly coveted placements.

The aerospace students were also becoming increasingly interested in practicing engineering already during their degree. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of aerospace engineering and the 45th anniversary of their study association, students decided to build a replica of the earlier mentioned Lambach HL II, the only copy of which was destroyed in the 1940 bombardment of Ypenburg airfield near The Hague by the Germans. In their

20 21 the bankruptcy, the Faculty itself had a budget deficit, the building of a new simulator was also facing setbacks and to make things even worse, in what was intended to be a small maintenance activity to update the air-conditioning system of the aerospace building, serious amounts of asbestos were found. As a consequence, the aerospace building had to be temporarily abandoned and the structure had to be stripped down to its bare steel frame. It would take 2.5 years before the building could be used again. During these years staff and students Fig. 10: Student-Built Replica of the Lambach HL II. © Lambach Aircraft were relocated over a series of locations – Published with Permission on campus, putting a great strain on staff and students. On top of that, as a result of the Fokker bankruptcy, the the Fokker 50 and the Fokker 100, the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering. popularity of the degree also plummeted: respectively (However, the latter was Several part-time professors who were the number of enrollments of freshmen in certified as an F28 Mark 0100 to save paid by the Fokker Aircraft Company 1996 dropping to its lowest point in over cost). Although initially very successful lost their job, ongoing collaborations a decade with only 146 new enrolments in the market, the unfavorable US dollar were halted and questions were being (See Fig. 11). – Dutch Guilder exchange rate provided asked whether in the Netherlands increasing problems for Fokker and in a university degree in Aerospace D. 1997 – Now: Surviving the Fokker 1996 the Fokker Aircraft Company was Engineering could continue to exist, Aircraft Company Bankruptcy declared bankrupt. now that the Netherlands no longer had Action had to be taken and a an independent aircraft manufacturer reorganization was deemed necessary. This bankruptcy also severely affected within its borders. Partly as a result of This reorganization started in 1997 and

22 led to an involuntary reduction in staff Just after the Faculty of Aerospace concluded that the overhead this created of approximately 30%. A new faculty Engineering had recovered from the had become too extensive. Therefore structure was invented which saw two aforementioned set-backs, a university- a “clustering” operation was started to research sections banded as “horizontal” wide reorganization was initiated. This reduce the number of faculties which design groups in Aircraft and Spacecraft reorganization was deemed necessary eventually resulted in only 8 faculties Systems Design, respectively, across because at the time TU Delft consisted remaining. Thankfully, the Faculty of the “vertically” more in-depth oriented of many (more than 14) relatively small Aerospace Engineering managed to other research groups, to better mimic faculties with only a limited number of escape this clustering operation and the synthesis and systems approach in students. The board of the university remained the independent faculty it had aerospace design. been since 1975.

500 450

n 400 e m

h 350 s e r F

300 c S 250 B o f

r 200 e

m b 150 u 1996: Fokker Bankruptcy N 100 50 0 1946 1950 1954 1958 1962 1964 1970 1974 1946 1978 1986 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2015 2017 Academic Year Fig. 11: Development of the number of freshmen in the integrated Master (until 2005) and Bachelor students (2005 onwards) over the years. (Data sources: [16] and TU Delft)

22 23 Dedicated action was taken after the drop transformed to being taught in English. 3000th student graduated with a MSc in to 146 students to attract more students. The fraction of students in the English Aerospace Engineering. Education was made more attractive by language stream was also increased introducing project and problem-based gradually, from one-third to one half The Dutch aerospace industry also learning, including a 10-week capstone to two-third of the students interested recovered from the Fokker bankruptcy. design project in teams, known as the in being taught in English increasingly The maintenance part and the aircraft Design Synthesis Exercise [23] with their outstripping Dutch. Today, the possibility parts manufacturing plant of Fokker own dedicated project spaces to meet the to follow the course program in Dutch Aircraft were sold to Stork N.V, and are new ABET 2000 accreditation standards. has disappeared completely, both on still in existence today, now part of GKN This resulted in a rapid rise in student Master and Bachelor level. In 2002 the Aerospace. Their profitability was greatly numbers entering the program. By 1999 the number of students was back at the levels it had in the early 1990s (See Fig. 11) and the Faculty retained its coveted ABET substantial equivalency status in 2001. In June 1999, the Faculty decided to introduce an English language curriculum. This started in the first year of the integrated Master’s program where one third of the students were given the opportunity to follow the program in English. This involved a great transition in terms of translating teaching resources and communication outings and five dedicated staff members were hired, among them Gillian Saunders-Smits, the first author of this paper. In the five years Fig. 12: Main hall faculty of Aerospace Engineering Delft. CC-BY TU Delft that followed the whole curriculum slowly

24 aided by the selection of the GLARE their staff members among which second material for parts of the Airbus A380 in author, ir. Joris Melkert who acted as a 2001, which also gave an enormous boost flight test engineer, were responsible to the research and development output for the certification of the aircraft and its at the faculty with more than 30 people components [24]. The aircraft was JAR-23 working towards the implementation and certified in July 2001, but shortly after the certification of GLARE [21]. In that same company got into financial difficulties as period the Royal Netherlands Air Force a result of the downturn in the aviation heavily invested in new helicopters from industry after 9-11 and went under. The the United States of America. As part of sole Eaglet protoype is now owned by the the economic offset program, internships Faculty of Aerospace Engineering and can were offered at McDonell-Douglas, now be seen suspended from the ceiling in the Boeing and when the Netherlands joined main hall of the aerospace building. the Joint Strike Fighter Program in 2002 as a Level 2 partner, a similar intern Fokker’s Space division became an program was started with Lockheed independent company renamed in 2002 to Martin, which is still running today, to Dutch Space. This company was acquired great satisfaction of both parties involved. by EADS in 2006 and is now part of Airbus Defense and Space, being the largest Shortly after the 1996 bankruptcy supplier of solar arrays in Europe and one in an attempt to still retain end- of the leading developers of structures line manufacturing of aircraft in the for the European launchers Ariane 5 and Netherlands, an investor founded the Vega. With the growth of student numbers company Euro-ENAER in Den Helder with and the recovery of the aerospace the aim to further develop and produce industry, the Faculty itself also grew to the Chilean ENAER 2-seater aircraft 135 academic staff in 2010. The number named the Eaglet (Fig. 12). The Faculty of research groups changed rapidly in this of Aerospace Engineering and several of period. University wide restructuring saw

24 25 As a result of this growth the capacity of the aerospace building was reached, which led to its expansion connecting the Delft Aerospace Structures and Materials Laboratory (DASML) to the main building in 2002 and a dedicated new building for teaching, named “the Fellowship” (Fig. 17) being built in 2008. More on the development of our research facilities later.

In 2007 the faculty took its first steps towards more sustainable aviation, with the multi-disciplinary CleanERA project in which a team of young PhD students under the leadership of experienced Fig. 13: Lecture room A, Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, TU Delft. – CC-BY TU Delft industry and academic staff would design a 125- seater environmentally friendly airplane [26]. The prototype was shown groups in Remote Sensing, Engineering Fundamental Aerospace Materials group, at the World Exhibition in Shanghai, Mechanics, Wind Energy, Aerospace for now using the name Novel Aerospace China in 2010 and can currently be seen Sustainable Engineering and Technology, Materials remained. In 2011 the concept standing in front of the Science Centre of and Fundamental Aerospace Materials of horizontal banded research chairs was TU Delft. being added, some of which were later abandoned and their design activities and either assimilated into other groups, staff redistributed. The Space department At the same time under the leadership or moved to another faculty within the expanded greatly as did their research of Professor Ockels, new sustainable university in the case of remote sensing. activities, which saw them launching energy harvesting methods were Only the Wind Energy group, the Aircraft their first small satellite, the Delphi C-3 in developed. He is seen by many as one Noise and Climate Effects group and the 2008, which is still in operation today [25]. of the founding fathers of Airborne Wind

26 Energy. The group also researched 3-year Bachelor programs are more than Fig. 14: Chemical Lab of the Delft Aerospace sustainable transport solutions, comparable to the 4-year US bachelor Structures and Materials Laboratory (DASML). prototyping the idea of electric vehicles programs, in view of the earlier mentioned CC-BY TU Delft carrying many people at the same time requirement by Dutch law to have a yearly using dedicated traffic lanes. As a proof study load of 1640 hours. Initially, this split of concept, the so-called “Superbus” (Fig. into two separate degrees was conceived 18) carrying 23 people was built and road- as rather artificial by both students and tested [27]. staff, but by now it is an established format.

Employment opportunities for aerospace Employer AE Alumni engineering graduates remained high (see Table 2) and although there is a Stork Fokker* 6.9% noticeable shift in where graduates KLM 4.8% worked in 2005 compared to 1980 (See Table 1), many (40%) still worked in TU Delft 4.5% aerospace [1]. NLR 4.0% TNO 2.8% In the early 2000s as part of the Dutch Space/EADS-ST* 2.2% implementation of the European Higher Airbus 2.0% Education System known as the “Bologna Process” the integrated five-year Master Own Enterprise 1.9% of Science curriculum was split into a Shell 1.9% three-year Bachelor and a two-year Ministry of Defense 1.7% Master program. This also ended our Philips Electronics 1.7% ability to be accredited by ABET as they judge bachelor degrees by years and Table 2: List of employers of aerospace graduates in 2005 based on an alumni survey (N=692) not by hours of workload. In term of with employers marked with * indicating the surviving companies from the Fokker Aircraft hours of workload required, the TU Delft Company [1]

26 27 400 All these changes meant that it was time to rethink our education program and create dedicated Bachelor and Master 350 programs. As a result, a new Bachelor program was launched in 2009 [28], 300 followed by a new Master program in 2010. In this new Master program students, upon entering, specialized in 250 one of the 5 tracks available to them. u x f l Until then almost all students starting and n I r finishing the Bachelor curriculum in Delft e

t 200

a s carried on in our Master program and the M influx of international master students 150 was very low, but after the curriculum renewal that started changing. More and more students decided to stop their 100 studies after the Bachelor, and move to another program within TU Delft or 50 even move to another university for their Master program. Our current retention rate of Bachelor students into our Master 0 program is 82%. At the same since 2014, 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Academic Year there has been a steady compensating influx of Master students both from other n From AE Bachelor TU Delft n External Dutch universities and abroad (See Fig. 15). As a consequence, the number of non-Dutch nationals in the student body Fig. 15: Overview of influx into the Master program (Data source: TU Delft) has increased. At the moment the influx

28 600

500

400 x u l

f Fig. 17: Project group working in the building n I

l 300 “the Fellowship”. CC-BY TU Delft a t o T of non-Dutch nationals is approaching the 50%-mark as can been in (See Fig. 16). 200 As students’ interest in the Bachelor degree was growing, the Faculty had to reinstate a cap on the number of Bachelor 100 students in 2012 (See Fig. 11). Where the cap in the early nineties was set at 305, the new cap was set at 440. Since the 0 introduction of the new cap, the number 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 of students applying to be admitted to our Academic Year Bachelor program has gone up to over n Dutch nationals n Non-Dutch nationals (EEA) 1,500. As a consequence, there is now a n Non-Dutch nationals (Non EEA) strict selection before admission which is also resulting in an increase in the quality Fig. 16: Increasing number of non-Dutch Students - EEA stands for European Economic of the Bachelor freshman students. Area (Data source: TU Delft) 28 29 Our students have also increasingly made an impact themselves. Aerospace Engineering students have been at the forefront in taking part in inspiring student challenges around the world. It all started with the World’s Solar Challenge in Australia in which the TU Delft Nuna Solar car won for the first time in 2001 and has won multiple times since then. The breaking of altitude records by the rocket engineers of DARE, Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering and our student Hyperloop team which won the Fig. 18: Superbus: Photo by Guus Schoonewille, © TU Delft overall prize in Elon Musk’s Hyperloop challenge in 2017 with its student members have gone on to found their In 2013, under the leadership of the first to Aeronautical Engineering” on the own Hyperloop company called Hardt author, Dr. ir. Gillian Saunders-Smits, the edX platform with a MOOC in “Forensic are other examples of our students’ Faculty started to offer online courses Engineering” being launched by the achievements. Another recent feat was in Aerospace Engineering, as part of third author, ir. Michiel Schuurman, in team Silverwing which participated in the university’s initiative to develop 2017 and a third MOOC “Introduction to Boeing’s GoFly Challenge. In early 2018 online learning for all, starting with paid Aerospace Structures and Materials” in a small group of aerospace engineering online Master courses in the field of 2018, taught amongst others by Dr. ir. students from the TU Delft submitted their Structures and Materials. Today, more Gillian Saunders-Smits. In total these concept for an electric flying motorcycle. than 15 paid online aerospace courses MOOCs have attracted well over 140,000 The concept was among ten winners for professionals are available. In 2014 learners to date, with TU Delft ranking selected out of nearly 200 submissions. Professor Hoekstra and his colleagues number 1 on the MOOCLabs World They quickly put their concept to the test, created the first MOOC in “Introduction University Rankings. individually testing key components of

30 the aircraft as well as flying smaller scale models. In March of 2019, the result of Fig. 20: Silverwing. © Silverwing - Published with Permission this work placed them among five winners globally.

To assist and stimulate students to do these types of activities, in 1999 a special foundation was created to house and provide teams with facilities on campus. This has become known as the birth of the Delft DREAM Teams (Figs. 19, 20, and 21), housed in their own dedicated D:DREAM hall, with D:DREAM standing for “Delft: Dream Realization of Extremely Advanced Machines” [29]. Although almost every team consists of students

from all the different faculties of TU Delft, and present, and how they continue to our aerospace students continue to contribute to our research and education. participate in these teams in large numbers. A. Wind Tunnels 4 Laboratory Facilities The university already had a laboratory for aero- and hydrodynamics since Education and research in Aerospace 1918, which was part of the Mechanical Engineering would not be possible Engineering Department. Initially, most of Fig. 19: Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering. without laboratory facilities. In this section the experiments were carried out there. © DARE - Published with Permission we discuss the wide variety of laboratory However, plans for a separate dedicated facilities at Aerospace Engineering, past low speed wind tunnel laboratory were

30 31 Laboratory was opened across the road from the main aerospace building, which is still in use today, housing a transonic/ supersonic wind tunnel operating Mach numbers between 0.5 and 4.2, 2 more supersonic wind tunnels and since 2001 one hypersonic wind tunnel that goes up to Mach 11. In 2009 this laboratory was extended by a subsonic open jet facility with an outlet diameter of almost 3 meter allowing for testing of larger models.

All wind tunnels are used extensively in Fig. 21: D:DREAM Teams in DREAM Hall. CC-BY TU Delft both research and education.

drawn up in the late 1940s and in 1953 strips which were stuck on the legs and the Low Speed Wind tunnel Laboratory head of speed skaters which reduced was completed (Fig. 22). This laboratory drag by 5% [30]. As a result, the Dutch has been extended and renovated speed skaters were highly successful over the years and is still in existence during the Winter Olympic Games in today and contains a closed-circuit low Nagano, Japan in 1998 and many world turbulence tunnel, several open circuit records were broken as a result. tunnels and a vertical wind tunnel for aeroacoustics research, all of which In 1959 the first high speed wind tunnel are still actively used in education and was opened in the basement of one of Fig. 22: Low Speed Wind Tunnel. CC-BY research. A worthy example of the the buildings, and by 1969 a separate TU Delft research is the development of the speed dedicated High Speed Wind Tunnel

32 Fig. 23: Our current research aircraft, the PH-LAB Cessna Citation II on the left and our SIMONA Flight Simulator on the right - CC-BY TU Delft

B. Flying Labs used extensively for research and student department continues to operate this In 1948 the Faculty was given use of flight tests. In 1958 the faculty was able aircraft, modified to serve as an airborne its first laboratory aircraft, a Koolhoven to purchase its own laboratory aircraft, research and education platform, which is FK-43 with registration PH-NAU, renting a De Havilland Canada ‘Beaver’ with owned and operated jointly with the Royal it from a flying school at nearby Ypenburg registration PH-VTH. To aid research, it Dutch Aerospace Center. Two faculty Airport in the Hague, which at that time was fitted with a fully digital autopilot. This members are also trained research pilots. was still in existence. This aircraft was aircraft would be used for both research The faculty does own one other aircraft, used both for research and for student lab and education until the early nineties which is not yet registered, a Vans Aircraft work. When it was retired from service it when it was replaced by a Cessna RV-12, which is currently being built by was replaced by an Auster Autocar J5.B, Citation II with registration PH-LAB (See consecutive groups of Master students as with registration PH-NEH, which was Fig. 23). The Control and Simulation part of the Aircraft Manufacturing Course

32 33 run by the second author, Joris Melkert, 1969 a 3 degrees of freedom simulator using the various areas of expertise who received a TU Delft Educational was built in-house and fitted with the present within the different faculties within Fellowship for initiating this project1. cockpit of a Fokker F27 Friendship. By TU Delft (See Fig. 23). The SIMONA the early 1990s there was an increasing simulator is housed in a separate building C. Flight Simulators and Human need in for research and education for connected to our main building and her Interaction Laboratory the Faculty to have its own motion-based first flight was in 1998. She is being Already in the 1960s the first rudimentary 6 degrees of freedom flight simulator operated by the Department of Control flight simulator was created by Professor as developments in automation and the and Operations. SIMONA is both used Gerlach [31]. New flight simulators were desire to stay ahead in the field warranted for education and research in the fields of developed in-house over time and the such a simulator. Instead of buying off- flight simulation technology and human- need to move away from just fixed-base the-shelf, it was decided to design and machine interaction and can realistically simulators became more apparent. By build the SIMONA simulator in-house simulate all types of aircraft, helicopters and even cars. With the help of our in- 1 see: https://www.tudelft.nl/en/ae/organisation/departments/dasml/aircraft-manufacturing- house calibration laboratory the inertia laboratory/ to follow their progress. sensors used in the Cessna Citation and the SIMONA simulator can be calibrated. Closely associated with the simulator is the Human-Machine Interaction Laboratory which consists of a fixed base simulator for either cars or aircraft next to other fixed base simulators. This facility can be used to research control tasks or visual perception. These facilities are used by staff for research and throughout the education program, be it in courses Fig. 24: The Aircraft Structures and Materials Laboratory at the Leeghwaterstraat in 1961 (left) or by MSc and PhD students for their and the current Aerospace Structures and Materials Laboratory at the Kluyverweg (right) CC- graduate research. BY TU Delft

34 D. Aerospace Structures and Materials many more aircraft and aircraft parts were Laboratory & Study Collection added and by the time the laboratory With the appointment of Professor Van moved to its dedicated hangar building der Neut in 1945, research in aircraft now attached to the current Aerospace structures took off in earnest. There building in 1965, the hangar contained was a consensus that for this research more aircraft and aircraft parts as study sufficient dedicated laboratory space objects than it contained test equipment should be available. With that in mind [16][17]. Klompé in his personal history the first dedicated aerospace structures of the Structures and Materials laboratory laboratory was given its own building in [32] lists all aircraft and aircraft parts that 1957 (See Fig. 24 - left). This building at one point in time were part of the study housed, next to the aerospace structures collection among which a F104 Starfighter laboratory, two draughting rooms, two and a F-16 Falcon Fighter. Over the workshops for wood and metal work and years these objects were not just used for the large, almost unique collection of students to look at as inspiration for their aircraft and aircraft parts that were used design, they were also extensively used as study object, known as the “Study to demonstrate structural principles and Collection.” This collection was started measurement techniques by loading them in 1945 and contained many aircraft and in a 3-point bending test for instance. aircraft parts, initially from old Fokker and Koolhoven aircraft, but also from Over the years the research in structures the many leftover now surplus World and materials expanded and more and War II aircraft. As a result of this in the more test equipment and manufacturing fifties the collection housed a Boeing capability came in to the laboratory, which B17G Flying Fortress, 2 North American led to the study collection being reduced Mustangs and two Republic Thunderbolt in size and partially moved to the cellar of jets and as well as a Lightning and a de the main building. Currently there is still Havilland Mosquito [16]. Over the years a significant collection of items present

34 35 in the laboratory itself, among which NDT lab and 2 workshop areas, one (Figs. 25) was established after the a mockup of the ENVISAT satellite, a dedicated for student projects and one successful design of the DelFly flapping General Electric CF6 engine, the test for all education and research needs. wing UAV made by 3rd-year Bachelor model of the EXTRA 400 which was used The hangar also houses the CyberZoo, students as part of the capstone Design for both flight testing and load testing and which is dealt with separately. On top of Synthesis Exercise. Within the MAVLab much more (See Fig. 24 - right). the smaller labs two dedicated production fundamental technological challenges areas have been established, one of of Micro Air Vehicles are being solved in The Delft Aerospace Structures and which is used for the aforementioned order to maximize their utility and safety. Materials Laboratory (DASML) currently Aircraft Manufacturing Laboratory and The DelFly is still one of its greatest houses various fatigue, tensile and the other area houses the Scaled Flight successes. The DelFly has increasingly compression testing systems, in which Testing lab, where scale models of been miniaturized from a 50 centimeters materials can be tested under various radical, innovative aircraft concepts, wingspan and weighing 21 grams (2005) conditions to its limits. The chemical and designed for low energy consumption, to only 3.07 grams and a wingspan of 10 physical laboratories provide support in are being built. Recently the Aerospace cm [33] [34]. The newest addition to the the development of ceramics, polymers, Structures and Materials Laboratory was project is DelFly Nimble, which is tailless, self-healing materials and coatings. The added to Google Streetview2. weighs 29 grams and has a wingspan composite laboratory and production area of 33 centimeters and actually mimics is equipped with a KUKA robot as well the movement of an insect when flying. as an autoclave allowing for the testing Together with the Delft Robotics Institute of new production methods. There is a E. MAVLab & CyberZoo they make use of the CyberZoo, a dedicated laser facility in which a 1kW In the early 2000s the use of drones dedicated space available for researchers pulsed xenon monochloride (XeCl) laser for commercial use really began taking and students to perform test flights of can be used for cutting, drilling and off. This led to an upsurge in research new designs and MAV control systems. surface treatment of different materials in drones. That is why in 2005 the The CyberZoo is equipped with 12 high as well as a composite welding lab, an Micro Air Vehicle Laboratory (MAVLab) tech cameras to analyze robots both flying and ground-based. The lab can be 2 To access the virtual tour go to: set to different environments and house https://www.tudelft.nl/en/ae/organisation/departments/dasml/

36 different obstacles to allow for thorough testing in practical environments.

F. Cleanroom & Ground Station With the growth of the space department and their ambition to build their own satellite, there was a need for the Space department to have a dedicated Space grade Cleanroom facility at their disposal. In 1999 a dedicated portacabin style cleanroom was installed in the Delft Aerospace Structures and Materials Laboratory. In 2004, this cleanroom was abandoned and a new and improved cleanroom was taken into use on the 8th floor of the aerospace engineering building. This cleanroom has been used to build and test the Delfi-C3 [25] and Delfi-N3xt CubeSats (Fig. 26). These two CubeSats were subsequently launched by the Delft University of Technology and still provide scientific data which is used in research. The cleanroom is equipped with various test rigs used for testing nanosatellite systems and is currently being used to build the next Delfi-PQ Satellite. Fig. 25: Micro Air Vehicle Laboratory (MAVLab) products. CC-BY TU Delft

36 37 Fig. 26: Delfi-N3xt CubeSat. CC-BY TU Delft

To facilitate the Delfi program a multiband station is equipped with two Tracking frequency bands. The facility is a satellite ground station was established VHF/UHF antennas, one in the amateur cooperation between TU Delft, the Delft for satellite communication on top of the space frequency band and one in the Space Institute and ISIS – Innovative highest building on campus, the Faculty commercial space frequency band, an Solutions in Space, an Aerospace of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics S-band antenna, and omnidirectional Engineering spin-off company. and Computer Science. The ground VHF and UHF antennas in the amateur

38 Drees – designer of the NHI-Kolibrie 5 Impact of Aerospace helicopter, who later moved to Bell Engineering at TU Delft Helicopters in the U.S., was also a TU Delft Aerospace Engineering graduate. Now that Aerospace Engineering as an Another well-known alumnus was the established field of science within TU Delft late Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau is 80 years old, it is also time to look at (1968-2013). Our alumni are successful the impact it has had on Dutch society and unemployment under TU Delft and further afield. What is the value of Aerospace Engineers is low [1]. Many Aerospace Engineering from Delft? What of our graduates have gone on to have is its impact on the Netherlands and on successful careers within the Dutch the world? aerospace industry, as well as further afield. As a result, you will find our alumni A. Famous Alumni at strategic positions in research, industry Over the years the Faculty of Aerospace and government. Engineering has graduated many people who are now household names in the Honory doctorates in Aerospace Aerospace Engineering world. Aircraft Engineering have been bestowed on designers and textbook authors Egbert Albert Plesman, founder of KLM Royal Torenbeek and Jan Roskam (University of Dutch Airlines (1947), Kees van Meerten, Kansas) are among our alumni as well as chief designer of the Fokker F27 the author, academic, and past director of Friendship (1975), Burt Rutan, owner and the Dutch Royal Meteorological Institute, designer at Scaled Composites and The Henk Tennekes (1936) who also wrote Spaceship Company (1990), B.D. Tapley, the popular science book “The Simple senior Research Fellow at the University Science of Flight” [35]. of Texas (1998) and Deborah Hersman, former Chairman of the U.S. National Famous helicopter designer, Jan Meijer Transportation Safety Board (2014).

38 39 B. Spin-Off and Innovation To continue to promote spinoffs the C. Student Numbers and Societal Impact Another way to look at the impact of the faculty has instigated a Startup Voucher In its 80 years the Faculty of Aerospace Faculty of Aerospace Engineering is to program in 2016, in which BSc, MSc and Engineering has by now given out over look at our contribution to innovation PhD students can apply for a Startup 7000 “Ingenieursdiploma’s” or Master and spinoffs based on our research. voucher of 2,500 Euros and coaching. of Science degrees in Aerospace Over the past 15 years many spin offs With this program the Faculty aims to Engineering. Its student numbers over have been started and over 40 of them bridge the gap between graduation and the years have increased and are now have developed in well-established existing pre-incubation programs at TU stabilizing around the 2,600 students independent businesses that started Delft and has so far already resulted mark. Each year some 300 Bachelor, life within the walls of our departments. in the launch several companies that 300 Master and 30 PhD degrees in There are successful examples from are now part of the TU Delft incubator aerospace engineering are awarded. In each research group, but by far the program “YES!Delft”. comparison, in the whole of the United largest number of startups stem from States of America each year some 4,000 the Aerospace Structures and Materials One of the main factors in the success of Bachelor and 1,500 Master degrees in Department. Examples of successful our spinoffs is the support of a dedicated aerospace engineering are awarded startups are Airborne Composites, a high- Valorization Center within TU Delft. They according to ASEE [36]. In Fig. 27 the end composite structures manufacturer, support staff and students at the Faculty 2017 normalized diploma data per million Aircraft-End-of-Life Solutions in the area in applying for patents, paid for by TU inhabitants for the United States of of aircraft recycling, ISIS Innovative Delft to aid valorization. Also, TU Delft America, and TU Delft is shown. It is clear Solutions in Space in realizing small has a pragmatic way of allowing startups that the Netherlands, by means of TU satellite missions, KE Works in the to use these patents, by not asking for Delft, produces almost 4 times as many area of Knowledge Based Engineering money up front, but instead opting for a Aerospace Master of Science Graduates and Ampyx Power to further Airborne share in future profits, which significantly than the United States of America as Wind Power. These startups provide reduces the startup costs lowering the a whole. This shows the contribution employment to over 500 people and threshold to start one’s own company. Aerospace Engineering at TU Delft many continue to grow rapidly. On average, the Faculty is awarded 8 makes to the Dutch “Knowledge Society,” patents each year. putting the Netherlands at a strategic advantage.

40 This contribution can in part be explained accounting for another 16,000 jobs and Over the years we can see a shift in the if we look at how much aviation and contributing 4 billion euros. Space was focus of the Faculty. In the early years space contribute to the Dutch economy. A estimated to account for 7,000 jobs and the focus was much more on education. 2015 report on developments in aviation a contribution of 0.1% to our economy Over the last 20 years however, the states that aviation in the Netherlands (0.6 billion euros) [38]. In total aerospace focus shifted much more to research in accounts for 114,000 jobs and 1.5% of manufacturing and operations account for part to contribute towards the overall TU our economy, contributing 9 billion euros over 137,000 direct and indirect jobs and Delft ambition in being seen as leading [37], with the aviation related part of more than 2% of the Dutch economy. university in Science and Technology. our manufacturing industry reportedly This shift can be seen in the number of PhD defenses per year which is steadily growing (Fig. 28) as well as in the number of staff who hold a PhD degree. While in t l f the early years very few staff members e 2 D

18 19 held a PhD degree, today, the opposite

U is true and having a PhD is a minimum T requirement for acquiring a position in the academic staff of the Faculty with few A 1 S 12 5 exceptions. Also, our scientific research U output has increased: the number of refereed journal articles has risen sharply Bachelor Master PhD from 111 in 2007 to 198 in 2013 as reported in our research accreditation in Fig. 27: The number of aerospace engineers per million inhabitants in the Netherlands and the 2014 [39]. USA that graduated in 2017 (Data sources: ASEE [36], CBS.nl, and tudelft.nl)

40 41 40 A final measure of impact is the position of the Faculty in international rankings. In the only international 35 ranking that distinguishes between Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering degree programs, the 30 so-called Shanghai ranking, the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering d is the only European Aerospace d e 25 r

a Engineering department in the top w a ten, with TU Delft as a whole ranking s e

e 20 fourth in the world in the QS ranking r g for Mechanical, Manufacturing and

D d e Aeronautical Engineering, which for h

P 15 a country with a population of only 17 million people is a great achievement.

10 6 Future Outlook 5 Currently, the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering is a strong faculty with 0 a healthy student body and a good 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 growth perspective. It consists of 4 Year departments: Aerodynamics, Wind Energy and Flight Performance & Fig. 28: Development of number of PhD degrees awarded each year (Data source: Propulsion; Aerospace Structures and tudelft.nl) Materials; Control and Operations;

42 and Space Engineering. Within each Fig. 29: The model of the Flying V in our Scaled Flight Testing Lab. © Prof. dr. H.G.C. Werij department several, more specialized, (dean) - Published with Permission research groups each with their own mission are present, but all following the collaborative principle in Delft of actively involving students in our research.

The Faculty of Aerospace Engineering receives over €33 million in funding each year of which €13 million is external research (2016) and although there is a steady but slow growth, the Faculty must remain vigilant in an uncertain and ever- changing funding landscape. Scientific staff actively participate in many national and international research initiatives, have close ties to industry, and generate close to 500 refereed publications and on in which the Faculty is collaborating in creating a more sustainable future. average 8 patents per year. In the area of with industries such as Airbus and One of the primary focal points for the research, the Faculty is an active partner Fokker GKN Aerospace to collaborate next few years will be Climate Neutral in many European Union projects under in maturing automated manufacturing Aviation, as explained in more detail the Horizon 2020 umbrella for research technology. At the same time our Space in the inaugural speech of our current and innovation. Similarly, the faculty Department is working on its next dean, Professor Werij [40]. Examples cooperates in research with many Original satellite: the Delphi – PQ to be launched of the realization of these goals are the Equipment Manufacturers and airlines in the near future. Flying-V, a design collaboration with in developing and testing new concepts. KLM, to design and prototype a scaled An example of this is SAM|XL – A Smart The faculty aims to continue to make a flight test model of a V-shaped aircraft Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Hub difference in the future and play its part with the passenger cabin, cargo hold and

42 43 to fly all around Europe on one tank of hydrogen, thus contributing towards more sustainable aviation.

The Faculty of Aerospace Engineering od Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands can therefore be considered to be an active and still developing octogenarian, who will most certainly continue to be around to make it to its centennial in 2040.

Fig. 30: SAM|XL (Smart Advanced Manufacturing XL). CC-BY TU Delft

fuel tanks integrated in its wing structure Our Aerospace Study Association, (See Fig. 30 and [41]), the building of an “Leonardo da Vinci”, celebrates its 75th electrical flying test bed at International anniversary this year, and new aerospace Airport Teuge, and a range of research D:DREAM teams are on the horizon, projects aimed at sustainable aviation at such as Phoenix, a project in which Rotterdam-the Hague Airport, the new students are trying to design the world’s home of our research aircraft. first liquid hydrogen-powered aircraft, more specifically, a motor glider). This Fig. 31: © AeroDelft - Published with Our students are also actively looking unique motor glider will have a range Permission at making a continued contribution. of 2,000 kilometers allowing the pilot

44 Author and Contributor Acknowledgments Statement The authors wish to acknowledge their Conceptualisation: Gillian Saunders- colleagues in the Faculty of Aerospace Smits and Mechteld van Beijeren; Data Engineering who assisted in finding out Curation and Formal Analysis: Joris all particulars of the history of the Faculty, Melkert and Gillian Saunders-Smits; as well as the Chair of the AIAA History Investigation: Gillian Saunders-Smits, Committee, Kevin Burns, for inspiring us Michiel Schuurman and Joris Melkert; to write this paper. Supervision, Project Administration, Resources & Visualisation: Gillian Saunders-Smits, Mechteld van Beijeren and Pippa Vossen; Writing Original Draft: Gillian Saunders-Smits with contributions from Joris Melkert and Michiel Schuurman; Writing - Review & Editing: Gillian Saunders-Smits, Michiel Schuurman, Joris Melkert, Jos Sinke and Ineke Boneschansker

44 45 References

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48 49 ISBN E-Pub: 978-94-6366-339-7 ISBN Pdf: 978-94-6366-337-3 ISBN paperback: 978-94-6366-338-0