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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0042.PDF
FLIGHT JANUARY gTH, 1947 JET PROPELLED FLYING WINGS Consideration of a Large Air Liner for High-speed Operation at Altitude SOME day the flying wing will emerge as the accepted form of apassenger air liner. There are so many advantages in accommodatingthe passengers in the section of the wing and at the same time enclosing the power units to permit a clean aerodynamic structure free from protuberances, that its eventual advent seems assured. The total drag is reduced by some 33^ per cent, as compared with a normal type of aircraft, and new impetus is given to the problem by reason of the gradual perfection of the gas turbine of low weight operating either as a pure jet or driving airscrews. When the successful flying wing air liner appears, it will almost certainly be propelled by gas turbines. But the time is not yet. Many problems face the designer, not the least of which is stability and effective control in the three axes— longitudinal, lateral and directional—due to what is termed absence ol lever arm suspension and the large size necessary for successful commercial operation. When gas turbine development reached the important stage it did in 1944, new consideration was at once given to the flying wing as turbines offered such an ideal form of compact power unit of low specific weight for an aircraft structure so appealing in theory. For years designers have seriously considered the idea and a number of small examples of flying wings have been produced and flown under power or as gliders. Northrop in America is responsible for several specimens and in Britain the Handley Page Manx tailless type with two Gipsy engines, and more recently the Armstrong Whitworth AW52, first as a glider and now with twin Nene turbine-jets, will be recalled. German scientists have worked on the problem since 1910 when Junkers patented the Tragfldchen (literally carrying surface), a thick-wing aircraft with submerged engines. Since then notable designs have been advanced by Lippisch, and during the 1939 45 war by Horten (see "Gas Turbine, and Jet Propulsion for Aircraft "). •_, Efficient in Large Sizes Although highly efficient structurally, the "all wing" design must be evolved in a large size to be efficient as a passenger or load transport, because the ratio of surface to volume is large and head room liable to be restricted. Consequently the flying wing, when it arrives as a commercial proposition will be big, with an all-up weight of say 300,000 lb, as at that size the wing will accommodate a 15 per cent, stowed load, or as much as a fuselage. As a peep into the future, a suggested form of flying wing air liner propelled by four large gas turbines is the subject of the accompanying drawing. It is a companion picture to the tailless spearhead design with thin wings, proffered in Flight of November 7th, 1946. Modern tendencies have been embodied in this all-wing design of some 200ft span, with a maximum chord of 50ft. Intended as a 500 m.p.h. liner for operation at high altitudes, it has a pressure cabin and control of the boundary layer of air by the incorporation of trie suction-type or cusped aerofoil top JUNKERS BOMBER PROJECT -Jf>Pi$CH RH PROJECT ^ A.W. 5
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