MAN-MADE TORNADOES DRIVE ODD PLANE (May, 1936)
MAN-MADE TORNADOES DRIVE ODD PLANE
Following successful ground tests of a wooden model, a Stillwater, Okla., inventor has begun construction of a full-sized airplane of radical design that he expects to show unprecedented speed. The craft’s twin propellers will blow a tornado of air through a pair of cylindrical ducts, shaped to enhance the propulsive effect obtained, so that its two 100-horse-power motors will do the work of much larger power plants in standard planes.
While blowing air into a Venturi tube will increase its velocity the increased drag will more than
reduce its resulting thrust.
But in a ducted fan engine that doesn’t occur until high speeds. The Bell X-22 http://www.aerospaceweb… used ducted fans for the higher thrust to weight ratio (and safety of aircraft carrier deck crews)
I agree with you Stannous that this guys dream of high speed with ducted fans was just that…a dream.
A technical report from the 60′s is available here http://handle.dtic.mil/…