Paul Bevilaqua

In 2005, Bevilaqua was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering for his theoretical contributions, practical innovations, and increased operational utility in vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.

One of the key factors in handing the $200B JSF contract to LM is said to be when the X-35B took off from 150feet of runway, went supersonic, and landed vertically in one flight on July 20, 2001 - a performance that only the X-35B had done, and only because of the LiftFan concept.

The JSF team was awarded the Collier Trophy 2001 for the working system, and Bevilaqua received the Paul E. Haueter Memorial Award (American Helicopter Society) in 2004.

Both DARPA and the Marine Corps approved of the concept, and from there, it developed through various defense programs such as CALF and JAST into the Joint Strike Fighter Program and through to the X-35B and F-35B. Bevilaqua was a key figure in persuading the Air Force in 1992 that the concept aircraft could be useful as a conventional aircraft without the LiftFan. When the US Navy also came on board, the road was paved for the JSF concept of similar aircraft with different applications, in accordance with JAST Concept Exploration findings.

Paul Bevilaqua is an aeronautics engineer at Lockheed Martin in California. In 1990, he invented the lift fan for the Joint Strike Fighter F-35B along with fellow Skunk Works engineer Paul Shumpert.

Bevilaqua is not a propulsion engineer, and got help from various Lockheed experts in propulsion, materials, and other specialized fields to verify the theories of the concept, which were then patented in 1990-93.

Bevilaqua was working for Lockheed Skunk Works in 1986, when DARPA and the similar British agency launched a program called ASTOVL and issued a 9-month contract to develop concepts for a stealthy supersonic STOVL plane, in accordance with USMC wishes, but without the usual strict technical requirements.

In the 1980s, the United States Marine Corps wanted a Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing (V/STOVL) aircraft with more speed and payload than the Harrier/AV-8B.

Paul Bevilaqua earned a Doctorate in Aeronautics and Astronautics (subject: Turbulent wakes) at Purdue University in 1973. He was also an Air Force Lieutenant at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WP-AFB), where he began professional work in 1971. He became Deputy Director of the Energy Conversion Lab at WP-AFB, managed by jet inventor Hans von Ohain. In 1975, Paul left the Air Force to be a Manager of Advanced Programs at Rockwell International's Navy Aircraft Plant. In 1985, he was appointed Chief Aeronautical Scientist at Lockheed, trying to come up with a new line of business.