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Technical Note–The flying wing supersonic transport

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2016

R. T. Jones
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Extract

The flying wing supersonic transport is simply a straight wing of high aspect ratio and of sufficient size to contain passengers comfortably. Such a wing can be steered to different sweep angles and thus adapted to efficient flight over a range of Mach numbers.

The writer demonstrated such a wing by flying models at the First International Congress in the Aeronautical Sciences. The potential advantages of such a flying wing were discussed by G. H. Lee of Handley Page Aircraft at a subsequent Congress. The present paper gives recent studies of flight stability, efficiency and operational problems. It is suggested that by limiting the Mach number to twice current jet speed fuel efficiency approaching that of present day subsonic transports could be achieved. This goal would probably also require the development of variable bypass engines.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 95 , Issue 943 , March 1991 , pp. 103 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1991 

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References

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