Flying Wing Design workshop

[mat Redsell]

For those interested Marske Flying Wings is holding a Flying Wing Design
Workshop Saturday and Sunday July 17-18, 2004 at the Marske Shop in Marion
OH. For more details see our web site.

http://www.continuo.com/marske

[BernadetteTS]

In article >,
"mat Redsell" > wrote:

> For those interested Marske Flying Wings is holding a Flying Wing Design
> Workshop Saturday and Sunday July 17-18, 2004 at the Marske Shop in Marion
> OH. For more details see our web site.
>
> http://www.continuo.com/marske

What's the difference between a tailess airplane and a flying wing? Does
the ME-163 or F-106 count as a flying wing?

Bernadette

[Kevin 'Hognose' O'Brien]

In article >,
BernadetteTS > wrote:

> What's the difference between a tailess airplane and a flying wing? Does
> the ME-163 or F-106 count as a flying wing?

Of these, I am most familiar with the history and background of the
Me-163.

"Flying wing" is to some degree a term of art and those that use it need
to define it. Some would argue that the only "true" flying wings are
aircraft with no tails at all, such as the Horten designs, the earliest
Northrops and the B-2 Spirit. In these machines stability in yaw and
roll is designed into the wings (in the B-2 it is provided by active
computer control also). Some would also argue that the provision of a
tubular or pod fuselage also prevents a machine from being called
"flying wing." The purest form of flying wing bears all loads, provides
all stability and control, and carries all components of the aircraft
inside the wing. The above short list also meets these criteria.

Flying wing pioneer Dr Alexander Lippisch called his Me163 design
"Nurfluegel" which is German for "Flying Wing" and I tend to defer to
his expertise. The 163, like the Marske Pioneer, has a vertical tail to
provide stability and control in the yaw axis. (The 163 was essentially
a powered glider, much of the research being done at the German
Institute for Sailplane Flight (DFS) -- it just happened to be capable
of 600 mph/1000 kph speeds).

While the F-106 and similar planforms (B-58, Mirage III) have no
horizontal tail, they are considered "delta winged" airplanes due to
that triangular planform and are not generally called "Flying wings." In
the 1950s delta wings were popolar among designers because they combined
high speed performance with acceptable low-speed handling. As
aerodynamics (and variable-lift-device design) grew more sophisticated,
trends proceeded through tailed deltas (A-4, MiG-21, Su-9) and ogival
double-delta planforms (Tu-144, Concorde) until now most transports have
swept wings and most warplanes stubby trapezoidal or less-dramatically
swept wings, all with more-or-less conventional tail surfaces.

A pioneer of the swept-wing design, and aerodynamic father of the F-102,
F-106 and B-58, was... Dr. Alexander Lippisch, who emigrated to the USA
after the war and became a citizen while working for Convair. He later
worked for Collins Radio doing applied and theoretical research. His
papers are archived at the U. of Iowa.

cheers

-=K=-