Roger Munk died on Sunday (21st) of a heart attack.
I don't think he was rich off the profits of his airship work. It would appear that what blimp industry there is owes quite a lot to him - his designs are flying out there right now.
I am amazed at the scorn people pour on any attempt at doing something different. It's so incredibly unintelligent and yet the people on this forum cannot be stupid.
Designing aircraft is not a job for idiots who can't work out the average wind speed in Afghanistan. What they do is risky because you start out not knowing everything and the job is to learn (that's what design really is). So it's risky to do anything new but people do anyhow and despite the odds they win sometimes and we are riding around in the refined results of those successful ventures of the 1940s, 1960 etc.
What are *we* doing now, about the things people will be relying on in the 2020s, other than sitting back and feeling smug?
People who take risks and fail and try again have my respect.