Hubert Entrop helped make airplanes safe and boats fast

As a boy, Hubert Entrop was always taking things apart and putting them back together — mechanical toys, engines, model airplanes.

He would continue to tinker with plane and boat designs for the rest of his life, his brother Rodney Entrop of Puyallup said yesterday.

As a self-taught engineer, Mr. Entrop's work contributed to a range of engineering advances — ensuring the safety of commercial airplanes, propelling boats to go record speeds, building telescopes for clearer views of the universe.

Mr. Entrop died Oct. 25 of pneumonia. He was 80 years old.

He was born Aug. 7, 1923, in Seattle and grew up in South Park.

As a child and then as a teenager attending Highline High School in Burien, he built model airplanes and even a small steam engine.

Mr. Entrop had no desire to go to college, choosing instead to become a self-taught engineer.

After serving in Australia with the U.S. Army during World War II, he moved to Ballard and went to work for Boeing, where he used wind tunnels to test commercial aircraft for design vulnerabilities.

In the 1950s, Mr. Entrop took up boat racing.

"Everything he touched he became a perfectionist; he did everything right," said Jack Leek, who first competed against and then formed a hydroplane racing team with Mr. Entrop.

In the mid-1950s, Mr. Entrop designed a 12-foot outboard motorboat with a tail end that came out of the water, thereby reducing water friction, Leek said.

His engineering advances would push the hydroplane speed record from 72 mph to 109 mph, Leek said.

Mr. Entrop quit speed racing soon thereafter.

"Winning the races was secondary to proving various ideas he had," Leek said.

He again took up model airplanes, this time building the world's largest free-flight model with a wingspan of 29 feet, his brother said.

"He quit racing boats and took up model airplanes again, and he beat the pants off everybody," Leek said.

Mr. Entrop, who lived in Ballard after his stint in the Army, never married and had no children.

He preferred the introspective practice of his crafts, his brother said.

After he stopped racing boats, he developed a new passion for photography. Soon, he took up optics and began building telescopes.

Although raised a Catholic, Mr. Entrop became a Jehovah's Witness about 20 years ago, Rodney Entrop said. He said his brother, a private man, never explained what brought him to his new faith.

Leek said he also knew little about Mr. Entrop's conversion, only that it was important to him, and he spent much of his time in the final years of his life working on behalf of his faith, and especially with children.

A brother, Leon Entrop, preceded Mr. Entrop in death.

A memorial service has been held. Donations can be made to the Jehovah's Witnesses Ballard Congregation, 9240 Sixth Ave. N.W., Seattle, WA 98117.

J. Patrick Coolican: 206-464-3315 or jcoolican@seattletimes.com