Comments on: Capt. Rickenbacker’s Airplane of the Future http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/03/28/capt-rickenbackers-airplane-of-the-future/ Yesterday's tomorrow, today. Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:26:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Stannous http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/03/28/capt-rickenbackers-airplane-of-the-future/#comment-1050997 Stannous Sun, 30 Mar 2008 00:43:07 +0000 http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/03/28/capt-rickenbackers-airplane-of-the-future/#comment-1050997 I hope you all check out the link to NitroPlanes= electric RC planes with 72"+ wing spans! I hope you all check out the link to NitroPlanes=
electric RC planes with 72″+ wing spans!

]]> By: Robert Inkol http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/03/28/capt-rickenbackers-airplane-of-the-future/#comment-1050965 Robert Inkol Sat, 29 Mar 2008 15:50:04 +0000 http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/03/28/capt-rickenbackers-airplane-of-the-future/#comment-1050965 The flying wing concept was in vogue during the 1920s and the following two decades. It is intuitively a good idea to eliminate the aerodynamic drag of a conventional fuselage. However, a large thick wing has disadvantages of its own. Modern passenger aircraft use flaps and other high lift devices. In combination with the good thrust to wight ratio achievable with turbofan engines, a relatively small wing can provide acceptable take-off performance and low drag under high speed cruise at altitude. At about the time the article was written, Junkers in Germany came out with the G38 a large all metal monoplane powered by four engines ( http://www.junkers.de/medienbibliothek/junkers/video/g38_probeflug.mov ). The wings were thick enough to provide some passenger accommodation. However, the G38 was underpowered and had an unexceptional performance. Other ideas along similar lines were advanced by Burnelli ( http://www.aircrash.org/burnelli/chrono1.htm ) the Horten Brothers, Northrop and others. One successful commercial aircraft, the Lockheed Constellation had a generally conventional layout with a fuselage that was shaped with an aerofoil profile. Robert The flying wing concept was in vogue during the 1920s and the following two decades. It is intuitively a good idea to eliminate the aerodynamic drag of a conventional fuselage. However, a large thick wing has disadvantages of its own. Modern passenger aircraft use flaps and other high lift devices. In combination with the good thrust to wight ratio achievable with turbofan engines, a relatively small wing can provide acceptable take-off performance and low drag under high speed cruise at altitude.

At about the time the article was written, Junkers in Germany came out with the G38 a large all metal monoplane powered by four engines ( http://www.junkers.de/medienbi.....beflug.mov ). The wings were thick enough to provide some passenger accommodation. However, the G38 was underpowered and had an unexceptional performance. Other ideas along similar lines were advanced by Burnelli ( http://www.aircrash.org/burnelli/chrono1.htm ) the Horten Brothers, Northrop and others. One successful commercial aircraft, the Lockheed Constellation had a generally conventional layout with a fuselage that was shaped with an aerofoil profile.

Robert

]]> By: jayessell http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/03/28/capt-rickenbackers-airplane-of-the-future/#comment-1050957 jayessell Sat, 29 Mar 2008 12:57:01 +0000 http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2008/03/28/capt-rickenbackers-airplane-of-the-future/#comment-1050957 I thought it was Jack Northrop who first proposed the flying wing. (Wiki Flying Wing.) The 1953 'The War of the Worlds' had a nice Flying Wing sequence. A mockup passenger FW is in the Popular Science DVD from CinemaShorts. A test flight video is downloadable at: http://www.archive.org/details/1946-06-27_Monster_Flying_Wing I thought it was Jack Northrop who first proposed the flying wing.
(Wiki Flying Wing.)
The 1953 ‘The War of the Worlds’ had a nice Flying Wing sequence.
A mockup passenger FW is in the Popular Science DVD from CinemaShorts.
A test flight video is downloadable at:

http://www.archive.org/details.....lying_Wing

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