Ron Bowerman

Mr. Bowerman graduated from The Ohio State University with a B.S. in Biology, Natural History, and post graduate work at The Ohio State University, BGSU, MSU and U of Findlay in science education and environmental sciences. 

Mr. Bowerman was a science teacher at junior high/middle school from 1970 to 1999.  He taught high school science as a post retirement position at St. Wendelin from 1999-2004 and was a university adjunct from 1994-2003 as Director of The Black Swamp Raptor Rehab Center where he worked with U of F pre-vet students at the center.  He has also worked professionally as a park naturalist and in the limestone and biofuels industry.  Presently he is teaching physics at St. Wendelin and is the volunteer Director of Special Projects at the Wright Brothers Aeroplane Co. He is also serves as a trustee for the First to Fly Foundation of Dayton Ohio

Under Mr. Bowerman’s direction, students will use aviation knowledge to learn problem-solving skills to assist them in the future. In answer to a previous student inquiry, students will find out what it really takes to create scientific tools by helping to build a replica of the first airplane flight across the U.S. circa 1911.

The students will be involved with rib building for The Vin Fiz just as other St. Wendelin students were previously when they built other Wright replicas. To start the project, a student built a mock up of the rib they plan to use on The Vin Fiz replica.

After finding a rib circa 1919 that was tested at MIT, they attained the coordinates to draw the rib with help from MIT professor Mark Drela. Mr. Bowerman then used Vernier software to draw the airfoil.

The class will also conduct an electronic Vernier probe test of biomediacal and physics data. For the proposed 1911 reenactment flight, the Chase plane, dubbed as "The ArchAngel", will serve as a test bed and will be uploaded for student and teacher use next summer.

Mike Schroeter is going to add this plane to the 2004 Century of Flight simulator software he created. Using the flight simulator, students will be able to “fly” The Challenger II. Mike is a graduate of St. Wendelin High School. Thank you Mike for your contributions to this project.

Follow the progress using the link below:

http://www.toyotatapestry.com

Force Plate Used to Test Wing Spar

Ron Bowerman at St Wendelin High School, Fostoria, Ohio, knows how to motivate students: competition. In his physics class, students compete for a high stakes simulated contract with an airline. Physics and engineering skills are put to the test as students work in engineering teams that try to design the lightest and strongest wing spar for an airplane.

Bowerman's students use a Vernier Force Plate to stress test each spar. The real-time graphs help build the competition's tension in the room as each group's test results are displayed for everyone, while more and more stress is applied until each spar breaks.

Mr. Bowerman explains Boeing aircraft wings must hold five times the weight of the airplane. For the assignment, students assume their model airplane weighs one kilogram, so spars that hold the equivalent of five kilograms or more receive an "A."

(Boeing's target for the 777 was that the wing should be able to withstand up to 150% greater force than realistically would ever be exerted on it and, to put this into start perspective, this entails an astounding wing deflection of over 24 feet.)

Several of his students were quoted in a school newspaper story about the project, saying things like "Physics is a lot easier to understand if you visualize the concepts" and "It's better than learning out of a book."

Link to online ARTICLE