Research
When the problem was being studied, wave drag came to be split into two categories – wave drag caused by the wing as a part of generating lift, and that caused by other portions of the plane. In 1947, studies into both problems led to the development of perfect shapes to reduce wave drag as much as theoretically possible. For a fuselage the resulting shape was the Sears–Haack body, which suggested a perfect cross-sectional shape for any given internal volume. The von Kármán ogive was a similar shape for bodies with a blunt end, like a missile. Both were based on long narrow shapes with pointed ends, the main difference being that the ogive was pointed on only one end.
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