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Aviation History
1946
1946 - 1911.PDF
SEPTEMBER 26TH, 1946 FLIGHT 2 327 TOWED AILLESS Experimental Qeneral Aircraft Qlider for Flight Research Programme IT will probably come to many as something of a surpriseto learn that, almost exactly three years ago—in June,1943—when we were extended almost to our limit in striving for victory, a decision could be taken to initiate a programme of research into tailless aircraft. It must have been realized at the time that there was no real likelihood that advances could be made in this field such as to enable military aircraft of tailless type to play an active part in the war, and it must therefore be presumed that the pro- gramme came into the "long-term" category. Investigations into the tailless realm of aerodyne practice had, in this country, virtually come to a standstill after the production of the Westland-Hill Pterodactyl V in 1935, and although various experimental projects of tailless and all-wing type were evolved between 1935 and 1939, no officially sponsored line of enquiry was laid down until the advent of the M.A.P. research programme in 1943. It was realized quite early that, in this particular field of aeronautics, the normal wind tunnel data were likely to be less consistent with factual conditions, and thus less reliable in indications, than those pertaining to conven- tional aircraft types. As a consequence, full-scale flight tests of an aerodynamically experimental character were a necessity, and this in turn demanded diversity in the types of aircraft used. Experimental Versatility * General Aircraft, Limited, were given the task of pro- ducing some of the experimental machines, and decided to design a series of different wings all having common attachment points for anchorage to a standard nacelle. This policy was considered to afford the most convenient solution to the problem of producing quickly the diverse types required without interference with war-time com- mitments. For similar reasons it was decided "that the test aircraft should be gliders, since they would serve the Flight " photon in ph. ^\ Three-quarter front view showing thick-section wing and spanwise taper, yaw-meter on port wing-tip, and raked-back cantilever undercarriage legs.
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