Quote:
Originally Posted by aerohead
......Half-bodies of revolution are similar to wing sections when viewed from the side,however,in no way resemble a wing in plan view (looking from the top down).There's no 'span.'
|
My understanding of lift from body shape partly comes from an early childhood fascination with the so-called NASA Lifting Body aircraft of the mid-1960's thru mid-1970's.
Lifting body
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifting_body
Quote:
|
A lifting body is a fixed-wing aircraft or spacecraft configuration in which the body itself produces lift. In contrast to a flying wing, which is a wing with minimal or no conventional fuselage, a lifting body can be thought of as a fuselage with little or no conventional wing. Whereas a flying wing seeks to maximize cruise efficiency at subsonic speeds by eliminating non-lifting surfaces, lifting bodies generally minimize the drag and structure of a wing for subsonic, supersonic and hypersonic flight, or spacecraft re-entry. All of these flight regimes pose challenges for proper flight safety.
|
These "aircraft" were falling rocks (gliders) at a high angle of attack using air-ground compression to land. However the later X-24B flew at powered level flight.
technology of lifting bodies
Quote:
|
The X-24B is seen on the lakebed at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Centre in Edwards, California. This was the last aircraft to fly in Dryden's Lifting Body program. The final flight took place on September 2, 1975.
|
I'm taking Aerohead at his word, but I need time to integrate his information with other things that I'm familiar with. Being familiar may not be the same as understanding, but I'm always trying to improve.