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40-650: Soon the design became too different from the Skyray to be considered just a variation of it, and the aircraft was assigned a new designation as the F5D Skylancer. Almost every part of the airframe was modified, though the basic form remained the same as did the wing shape, though it became much thinner. The wing skinning was reinforced, correcting a problem found in the F4D. The fuselage was 8 ft (2.4 m) longer and area ruled to reduce transonic drag, being thinner in

80-454: A 51-aircraft production order to follow. Production aircraft were to be powered by the more powerful J57-P-14 engine, while there was a rejected proposal to use the even more powerful General Electric J79 and variable-geometry inlets in a Mach 2 version. The first flight was made by F5D-1 (Bu. No. 139208) on 21 April 1956 and was supersonic; the aircraft proved easy to handle and performed well. After four aircraft had been constructed, however,

120-749: A dive and remain controllable. Modern jet airliners with swept wings, such as Airbus and Boeing aircraft, cruise at airspeeds faster than their critical Mach numbers but have maximum operating Mach numbers slower than Mach 1.0. Supersonic aircraft, such as Concorde , Tu-144 , the English Electric Lightning , Lockheed F-104 , Dassault Mirage III , and MiG 21 , are intended to exceed Mach 1.0 in level flight, and are therefore designed with very thin wings. Their critical Mach numbers are higher than those of subsonic and transonic aircraft, but are still less than Mach 1.0. The actual critical Mach number varies from wing to wing. In general,

160-633: A pioneer of supersonic flight, developed the transonic area rule in publications beginning in 1947 with his Ph.D. thesis at the California Institute of Technology . Richard T. Whitcomb , after whom the rule is named, independently discovered this rule in 1952, while working at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). While using the new Eight-Foot High-Speed Tunnel, a wind tunnel with performance up to Mach 0.95 at NACA's Langley Research Center , he

200-512: A thicker wing will have a lower critical Mach number, because a thicker wing deflects the airflow passing around it more than a thinner wing does, and thus accelerates the airflow to a faster speed. For instance, the fairly-thick wing on the P-38 Lightning has a critical Mach number of about .69. The aircraft could occasionally reach this speed in dives, leading to a number of crashes. The Supermarine Spitfire 's much thinner wing gave it

240-455: Is improved by reductions in transonic drag. At high-subsonic flight speeds, the local speed of the airflow can reach the speed of sound where the flow accelerates around the aircraft body and wings . The speed at which this development occurs varies from aircraft to aircraft and is known as the critical Mach number . The resulting shock waves formed at these zones of sonic flow cause a sudden increase in drag , called wave drag . To reduce

280-629: Is the Sears–Haack body , the shape of which allows minimum wave drag for a given length and a given volume. However, the Sears–Haack body shape is derived starting with the Prandtl–Glauert equation which approximately governs small-disturbance subsonic flows, as well as Ackeret Theory, which closely describes supersonic flow. Both methods lose validity for transonic flows where the area rule applies, due to assumptions made in their derivations. So although

320-535: The Bell X-1 (also with an unswept wing, but a much thinner one), reaching Mach 1.06 and beyond, and the sound barrier was finally broken. Early transonic military aircraft, such as the Hawker Hunter and F-86 Sabre , were designed to fly satisfactorily even at speeds greater than their critical Mach number. They did not possess sufficient engine thrust to reach Mach 1.0 in level flight, but could do so in

360-551: The Bombardier Global Express . The rule also requires careful positioning of parts, like the boosters and cargo bay on rockets and the shape and location of the canopy on the F-22 Raptor . The supersonic area rule was applied, at Mach 2, to the prototype Concorde . The rear fuselage was extended by 3.73m on the production aircraft and reduced wave drag by 1.8%. Critical Mach In aerodynamics ,

400-569: The F-102 Delta Dagger and the Northrop F-5 ) looked odd when they first appeared and were sometimes dubbed "flying Coke bottles ", but this became an expected part of the appearance of some transonic aircraft. Visually-apparent indications that the area rule has defined the shape of an aircraft are fuselage "waisting" and tip-tank shaping as on the Northrop F-5 , and rear fuselage thinning on business jets with rear engines such as

440-540: The Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer . A different area rule, known as the supersonic area rule, developed by NACA aerodynamicist Robert Jones in "Theory of wing-body drag at supersonic speeds", is applicable at speeds beyond transonic, and in this case, the cross-sectional area requirement is established with relation to the angle of the Mach cone for the design speed. For example, consider that at Mach 1.3

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480-665: The compressibility of air. Compressibility led to a number of accidents involving high-speed military and experimental aircraft in the 1930s and 1940s. The challenge of designing an aircraft to remain controllable approaching and reaching the speed of sound was the origin of the concept known as the sound barrier . 1940s-era military subsonic aircraft , such as the Supermarine Spitfire , Bf 109 , P-51 Mustang , Gloster Meteor , He 162 , and P-80 , have relatively thick, unswept wings, and are incapable of reaching Mach 1.0 in controlled flight. In 1947, Chuck Yeager flew

520-468: The critical Mach number ( Mcr or M* ) of an aircraft is the lowest Mach number at which the airflow over some point of the aircraft reaches the speed of sound , but does not exceed it. At the lower critical Mach number , airflow around the entire aircraft is subsonic. Supersonic aircraft such as the Concorde and combat aircraft also have an upper critical Mach number at which the airflow around

560-498: The transonic area rule , is a design procedure used to reduce an aircraft 's drag at transonic speeds which occur between about Mach 0.75 and 1.2. For supersonic speeds a different procedure called the supersonic area rule , developed by NACA aerodynamicist Robert Jones , is used. Transonic is one of the most important speed ranges for commercial and military fixed-wing aircraft today, with transonic acceleration an important performance requirement for combat aircraft and which

600-403: The "pipes" of air were interfering with each other in three dimensions. One does not simply consider the air flowing over a 2D cross-section of the aircraft as others could in the past; now they also had to consider the air to the "sides" of the aircraft which would also interact with these streampipes. Whitcomb realized that the shaping had to apply to the aircraft as a whole , rather than just to

640-543: The Navy cancelled its order. The stated reason was that the aircraft was too similar to the already-ordered Vought F8U Crusader , but it is believed by some historians that politics played as big a part; Douglas was already building a very large proportion of the Navy's planes, and giving them the F5D contract would have made it even closer to monopoly. The project test pilot was Lt. Cmdr Alan B. Shepard Jr. whose report stated that it

680-483: The Sears–Haack body shape, being smooth, will have favorable wave drag properties according to the area rule, it is not theoretically optimum. The area rule was discovered by Otto Frenzl  [ de ] when comparing a swept wing with a w-wing with extreme high wave drag while working on a transonic wind tunnel at Junkers works in Germany between 1943 and 1945. He wrote a description on 17 December 1943, with

720-745: The X-20, because it had a very similar shape and handling characteristics. Following the DynaSoar cancellation, it was used as a chase plane and for various other programs until it was retired in 1970. Data from Naval Fighters#35 : Douglas F5D-1 Skylancer, McDonnell Douglas aircraft since 1920 : Volume I, The American Fighter General characteristics Performance Armament Avionics Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists Area rule The Whitcomb area rule , named after NACA engineer Richard Whitcomb and also called

760-406: The aircraft. In aircraft not designed to fly at or above the critical Mach number, the shock waves that form in the airflow over the wing and tailplane cause Mach tuck and may be sufficient to stall the wing, render the control surfaces ineffective, or lead to loss of control of the aircraft. These problematic phenomena appearing at or above the critical Mach number were eventually attributed to

800-449: The angle of the Mach cone generated by the nose of the aircraft will be at an angle μ = arcsin(1/M) = 50.3° (where μ is the angle of the Mach cone, also known as Mach angle , and M is the Mach number ). In this case the "perfect shape" is biased rearward; therefore, aircraft designed for lower wave drag at supersonic speed usually have wings towards the rear. A superficially related concept

840-407: The body of the aircraft, at high speeds it simply did not have time to "get out of the way", and instead started to flow as if it were rigid pipes of flow, a concept Busemann referred to as "streampipes", as opposed to streamlines , and jokingly suggested that engineers had to consider themselves "pipefitters". Several days later Whitcomb had a " Eureka " moment. The reason for the high drag was that

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880-535: The discovery, evident in slim mid-fuselage of aircraft including the Messerschmitt P.1112 , P.1106 and Focke-Wulf 1000x1000x1000 type A long-range bomber, but also apparent in delta wing designs including the Henschel Hs 135 . Several other researchers came close to developing a similar theory, notably Dietrich Küchemann who designed a tapered fighter that was dubbed the "Küchemann Coke Bottle" when it

920-585: The early 1960s, NASA 212 was used as a testbed for the American supersonic transport program, fitted with an ogival wing platform (the type eventually used on Concorde ; data from the program was shared with the European designers), as well as being used as a vision field test platform for the X-20 Dyna-Soar . This aircraft was retired in 1968. NASA 802 was used for simulation of abort procedures for

960-555: The end of the war or even remained in the planning stage. When the area rule was re-discovered by Whitcomb, it was made available to the U.S. aircraft industry on a secret basis for military programs from 1952 and it was reported in 1957 for civilian programs. Convair and Grumman, with Whitcomb's help, used it concurrently to design the Grumman F-11 Tiger and to redesign the Convair F-102 . The Grumman F-11 Tiger

1000-411: The entire aircraft is supersonic. For an aircraft in flight, the speed of the airflow around the aircraft differs considerably in places from the airspeed of the aircraft; this is due to the airflow having to speed up and slow down as it travels around the aircraft's structure. When the aircraft's airspeed reaches the critical Mach number, the speed of the airflow in some areas near the airframe reaches

1040-422: The external shape of the aircraft has to be carefully arranged so that the cross-sectional area changes as smoothly as possible going from nose to tail. At the location of the wing, the fuselage is narrowed or "waisted". Fuselage cross-sectional area may need to be reduced by flattening the sides of the fuselage below a bubble canopy and at the tail surfaces to compensate for their presence, both of which were done on

1080-471: The fuselage. That meant that the extra cross-sectional area of the wings and tail had to be accounted for in the overall shaping, and that the fuselage should actually be narrowed where they meet to more closely match the ideal. The first aircraft where the area rule was consequently implemented was the German bomber testbed Junkers Ju-287 (1944). Other corresponding German designs were not completed due to

1120-428: The number and strength of these shock waves, an aerodynamic shape should change in cross sectional area as smoothly as possible from front to rear. The area rule says that two airplanes with the same longitudinal cross-sectional area distribution have the same wave drag, independent of how the area is distributed laterally (i.e. in the fuselage or in the wing). Furthermore, to avoid the formation of strong shock waves

1160-405: The region of the wing roots. Everything was shaped to reduce drag and increase stability at high speed. Although the four 20 mm (.79 in) cannon in the wing roots were retained, primary armament was to be missiles or rockets; four AIM-9 Sidewinders or two AIM-7 Sparrows , and/or a battery of spin-stabilized unguided 2 in (51 mm) rockets. Nine test airframes were ordered, with

1200-424: The speed of sound, even though the aircraft itself has an airspeed lower than Mach 1.0. This creates a weak shock wave . As the aircraft exceeds the critical Mach number, its drag coefficient increases suddenly, causing dramatically increased drag , and, in an aircraft not designed for transonic or supersonic speeds, changes to the airflow over the flight control surfaces lead to deterioration in control of

1240-442: The speed of sound, sometimes as low as Mach 0.70, remained a mystery. In late 1951, the lab hosted a talk by Adolf Busemann , a famous German aerodynamicist who had moved to Langley after World War II . He talked about the behavior of airflow around an airplane as its speed approached the critical Mach number, when air no longer behaved as an incompressible fluid. Whereas engineers were used to thinking of air flowing smoothly around

Douglas F5D Skylancer - Misplaced Pages Continue

1280-410: The subsonic cruise speed of transport aircraft by 50 mph. The cruise speed is limited by the sudden increase in drag which indicates the presence of local supersonic flow on top of the wing. Whitcomb's modified rule reduced the supersonic speed before the shock, which weakened it and reduced the drag associated with it. The Convair 990 had bumps called antishock bodies added to the top surface of

1320-697: The title Anordnung von Verdrängungskörpern beim Hochgeschwindigkeitsflug ("Arrangement of Displacement Bodies in High-Speed Flight"); this was used in a patent filed in 1944. The results of this research were presented to a wide circle in March 1944 by Theodor Zobel at the Deutsche Akademie der Luftfahrtforschung (German Academy of Aeronautics Research) in the lecture "Fundamentally new ways to increase performance of high speed aircraft." Subsequent German wartime aircraft design took account of

1360-543: The wing was first swept forward and then to the rear. This allowed the fuselage to be narrowed in front of the root as well as behind it, leading to a smoother fuselage that remained wider on average than one using a classic swept wing. The extension behind the flight deck on the Rockwell B-1 Lancer and Boeing 747 was added to improve the cross-sectional area distribution according to the area rule. Aircraft designed according to Whitcomb's area rule (such as

1400-444: The wing with the intent of achieving the required cruise speed. However, the area distribution in the channels formed by the nacelle/pylon/wing surfaces also caused supersonic velocities and was the source of significant drag. An area-rule technique, so-called channel area-ruling, was applied to achieve the required cruise speed. Designers at Armstrong-Whitworth took the sonic area rule a step further in their proposed M-Wing, in which

1440-418: The wings and adding more volume to the rear of the aircraft, reduced the transonic drag significantly and the Mach 1.2 design speed was reached. The reason for using the area rule on these fighter aircraft was to reduce the peak value of the drag which occurs at Mach 1 and so enable supersonic speeds with less thrust than would otherwise have been necessary. In 1957 a modified area rule was available for raising

1480-450: Was discovered by US forces in 1946. In this case Küchemann arrived at the theory by studying airflow, notably the interference, or local flow streamlines, at the junction between a fuselage and swept wing . The fuselage was contoured, or waisted, to match the flow. The shaping requirement of this "near field" approach would also result from Whitcomb's later "far field" approach to drag reduction using his Sonic area rule. Wallace D. Hayes ,

1520-428: Was not needed by the Navy. One F5D crashed during testing by the Navy. The four aircraft continued to fly in various military test programs. Two were grounded in 1961 (likely 139209 and 142349 which had been designated for spare parts in 1958), but the other two: F5D-1 (Bu. No. 139208) NASA 212, later becoming NASA 708 and F5D-1 (Bu. No. 142350) NASA 213, later becoming NASA 802 continued to fly. Transferred to NASA in

1560-400: Was surprised by the increase in drag due to shock wave formation. Whitcomb realized that, for analytical purposes, an airplane could be reduced to a streamlined body of revolution, elongated as much as possible to mitigate abrupt discontinuities and, hence, equally abrupt drag rise. The shocks could be seen using Schlieren photography , but the reason they were being created at speeds far below

1600-401: Was the first of the two aircraft to fly and had been designed using the area rule from the outset. The Convair F-102 Delta Dagger had to be redesigned as it had been unable to reach Mach 1 although its design speed was Mach 1.2. The expectation that it would reach design speed had been based on optimistic wind-tunnel drag predictions. Modifications which included indenting the fuselage beside

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