Project Sign Progress Report, 1948

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THE AEROPLAtlE
18S
I
FEBRUARY 13, 194&
#
The Biolo!
of the Flying Saf cer- I
The Story of Low Aspect Ratio Aircraft
By A. R. Weyl, A.F.R.Ae.S.
other hand. the U.S. Air Force considered the matter seriQU\
S
EVERAL MONTHS AGO people on both side.. of the
enough to warrant inve..tigations into the incidenis which had
Atlantic rushed into print wnh claims of having ob~erved
queer saucer-shaped aircraft which new very fast. Some main­
been reported.
tained, indeed. that they had seen ,quadron\ of , uch mysterious
In the meantime. the occurrence of Flying Saucer\ ha.. ceased
ob{"ccts; others described vividly how these celestial saucers v.ere
to be new\. Presumably. the~ have all landed. [A new crop
ab e 10 descend vertically. All agreed on the \aucer-hl.e , hapc.
wa<; reported in Tur AER0PLANF for January 16 la~t under the
heading •• Tuppence Coloured."-Eo.]
Sceptics considered that, for non-aeronautical people ltv1ng
far from the former playarounds of V. I. V.2, and all the rest
Aerooaudc-al Aotlquities and lniquititt
of Hitler's "civilizatory • practices. flying saucer<; might indeed
As a matter of fact. saucer-\haped aeroplane.. are not quite
constitute phenomena of threatening aspect, from their experi­
Quite
ence of domestic disagreements. Doctors, however. hastened to
as new as some people have tried to mal.e out. (Fig. I.)
assure the World that saucer-shaped or lenticular objects could
a number of a1rernft have been constructed and nown with
well be nothing more than specks in the lenses of the eyes of the
wi11gs of the ring or disc type which could well have been mis­
observers- the so-called m11sae 1·0/ames associated with high
ta ken for saucers. hat-brims. ~pades, doughnut~. diamonds.
blood pressure. Teetotallers blamed the sorry consequence.. of
Greek letter,. pancal.e\, nat fhh. geometrical symbols. dinner
imbibing intoxicating liquors for the observations.
On the
plates, and other entirely non-aeronautical commodities.
Moreover. it is quite true. .and not even a minor secret, that,
at present. aeronautical engineers are paying increased attention
to s uch queer wing shapes: disc wings. for instance. permit
ceriain disadvantages of conventional wing\ to be overcome. It
1s even thought that such shares have been neglected too long
1 he blame for rheir neglect can be ascribed to the doctrine
of the induced drng.
When the Lanche..ter-Pranc.ltJ aerofoil
theory became recoi,1nized nearly 30 }ears ago, and \\hen the
!>a1lplane movement proved that slender wings were a necessity
for soaring. designer, began striving after .. good .. aspect ratios.
The theory blinded their eye~ agains, the poss1bili11es of other
than convenrional wings. Thi~. hO\\Cver. was not the fault C"f
the theory.,\\ Prandtl soon sho\\ ed its restrictions.
We have now come 10 reconsider the matter of wing shape
in an objective way. as it is quite possible that aircraft design
is approaching a cul-de-sac ~o long as it retains it~ bias in
--6----~
Apttro.l
1L- I._
' _°'
, -r.:--i,
I
c 6)
- _____,_ _'°' _1 ______, ==~ (b
OCl5S• stCTIO!'I
\
,pa"
C chor4
t
\
)(•-,lod a,u
Fig. 1.-" Turbine flying machine" (project) of the Munich
engineer Gustave Koch, 189311894.
Tailless monoplane of
SquHC'
low aspect ratio. propelled by a ducted fan.
A SO h.p.
...~ ,
steim engine wu deemed sufficient for this flying motor
car. The design of the duct shows intelligent anticipation.
L
...._______.
AR • 0-1
I- b ,__j
l t t
Fig. 2 (Right).- Definitlon of the aspect ratio of an aerofoil.
The arrows signify the direction of the air flow against the
t t t
wing. The terms pteroid (feather-like) and apterold have
been introduced by F. W . Lanchester.
NND 927545