An experimental investigation of the effect of thickness on the subsonic longitudinal stability characteristics of delta wings of 70 deg sweep-back

Abstract

Measurements of lift, drag and pitching moment have been made on five delta wing models to investigate the effects of thickness on the subsonic longitudinal characteristics of the 70 deg delta planform. For four of the wings the form of the thickness distribution was the same with the maximum thickness/ chord ratios equal to 4, 8, 12 and 16 per cent respectively, but for the fifth wing a change in the type of thickness distribution was made whilst retaining the overall maximum thickness/chord ratio at 4 per cent. The results showed that increase of thickness gave rise to losses in lift, reductions in lift-dependent drag and improvements in longitudinal stability.