Low-speed wind-tunnel tests on some slender airbus configurations

Abstract

An experimental investigation has been made of the subsonic lift, drag and longitudinal stability characteristics of models representing some alternative slender airbus configurations. For the same wing planform of aspect ratio 1.4 the lift, drag and pitching moment have been measured for two wings of maximum thickness/chord ratio 4 and 9 per cent respectively, both without and with various body arrangements. Trailing-edge controls were cut on the 4 per cent wing and the results have been used to compare trimmed lift and drag coefficients for several alternative aircraft layouts. Included are the results of some tests with a foreplane which showed that considerable gains in usable lift coefficient and lift-drag ratio could be obtained with a high-foreplane low-wing configuration.