Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame
Enshrined 1996
William Rees Sears was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Pilot, engineer, educator, indeed, a giant in the field of aerodynamics and aircraft design, he perhaps is best known as a principal designer of the Northrop “Flying Wing,” precursor of the USAF B-2 “Stealth” bomber. He pioneered the early development of “inherently unstable” aircraft. Today’s advanced high-performance aircraft embodies this design concept and achieve controlled flight only with the aid of an integrated system of sophisticated on-board computers. He studied aeronautical engineering under the legendary Theodore von Karmen at the California Technical Institute, earning his degree in 1937.