Bi-directional Flying Wing
The supersonic bi-directional flying wing (SBiDir-FW) design comprises a long-span low speed wing and a short-span high speed wing joined in the form of an uneven cross.
The proposed craft would take off and land with the low-speed wing across the airflow, then rotate a quarter-turn so that the high speed wing faces the airflow for supersonic travel. NASA have funded the continued study of the proposal.
The design is claimed to feature low wave drag, high subsonic efficiency and little or no sonic boom.
The low-speed wing would have a thick, rounded airfoil able to contain the payload and a wide span for high efficiency, while the high-speed wing would have a thin sharp-edged airfoil and a shorter span for low drag at supersonic speed.
Read more about this topic: Flying Wing
Famous quotes containing the words flying and/or wing:
“Next week Reagan will probably announce that American scientists have discovered that the entire U.S. agricultural surplus can be compacted into a giant tomato one thousand miles across, which will be suspended above the Kremlin from a cluster of U.S. satellites flying in geosynchronous orbit. At the first sign of trouble the satellites will drop the tomato on the Kremlin, drowning the fractious Muscovites in ketchup.”
—Alexander Cockburn (b. 1941)
“Thou art a beaten dog beneath the hail,
A swollen magpie in a fitful sun,
Half black half white
Nor knowst’ou wing from tail
Pull down thy vanity
How mean thy hates”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)