Whitcomb was born in Evanston, Illinois. His father, who had been a balloon pilot in World War I, was a mechanical engineer who specialized in rotational dynamics. In 1932 the family moved to Worcester, Massachusetts when his father became employed at the Norton company.
As a child Whitcomb was fascinated by airplanes; he built models and flew them in competitions, always striving to improve their performance. He graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1943 with a BS in aeronautical engineering. He was employed at the Langley Research Center operated by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and its successor, NASA.
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