Wipaire Engineering “Beaverworks”

Wipaire has found great success over the years with its wide range of float models and complementary STC’s.  The basis of success for these products is Wipaire’s belief in a strong engineering department.  Wipaire has always been first and foremost an engineering company with the ability to manufacture, maintain, paint and upholster. This makes development of new products a natural process at Wipaire.

Wipaire was founded by Ben Wiplinger, an engineer without most of the formal education. Ben was a very mechanically minded fellow who could picture a mechanical concept in his mind and just as quickly create that concept with his hands. Ben was always tinkering in his shop and was developing modifications for airplanes even before Wipline (AKA Wipaire) was started. Ben did this under another company he owned, Wiplinger Aircraft, where he turned surplus military aircraft into executive aircraft before the days of the business jet.

Ben’s son, Robert ‘Wip’ Wiplinger, quickly learned that an Engineering degree would formalize Ben’s ability to create and design and would bring Wipaire to the next level. In 1968 Wip earned his Aeronautical Engineering Degree from the University of Minnesota. Wip further added engineering support to Wipaire in the form of designers/drafters that came from Bellanca Aircraft Corp. Wip also created a network of Designated Engineering Representatives (DER) who aided in certification of new products. When asked how Wip comes up with the next Wipaire product he responded “Well, I just think about what I would want in an airplane...” While Wipaire isn’t out to design the next flying car, we are out to develop practical solutions to make aviation more practical to our customers.

Today, Charlie Wiplinger, Bob’s son, has also graduated with an Aerospace Engineering Degree from the University of Minnesota and continues the strong engineering tradition at Wipaire. Charlie took the solid base that his father laid for him in engineering and built a metaphoric engineering high rise on top of it. In an effort to mimic the famed Lockheed Skunkworks, Charlie has assembled a team of professionals, 12 in all, whose experience comes from a broad spectrum and includes Aerospace Engineers, Mechanical Engineer, Tool & Die Expert, Technical Writer, DAR (Designated Airworthiness Representative), DMIR’s (Designated Manufacturing Inspections Representative), EASA Certification Expert, Structures DER, Flight Analyst DER, Acoustics DER, and a plethora of Designer/Drafter talent. He also gave this group of engineering talent leading edge technology like CAD (Computer Aided Design) & CAA (Computer Aided Analysis) tools. Combine all this with the ability to use the resources of all the other departments at Wipaire, as has always been the case and the sky’s the limit! Or is it? Charlie and various members of his team have coined their department Beaverworks. When asked "Why Beaverworks?" Charlie simply responded that Skunkworks was taken and besides, th e Beaver is natures engineer and it just so happens to smell much better than a skunk. So sit up and pay attention because you never know what Wipaire Engineering will come up with next.