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Simplified Propeller Design for Low-Powered Airplanes
"The object of this report is to furnish the designer and builder of small airplanes a simple system for designing the propeller and making the drawing. An empirical design method is used, based on...
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Technical Preparation of the Airplane "Spirit of St. Louis"
Given here is a brief history of the design and construction of the "Spirit of St. Lewis", the airplane that Charles Lindbergh flew solo across the Atlantic. Although the plan was to modify a standard...
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An Altitude Chamber for the Study and Calibration of Aeronautical Instruments
"The design and construction of an altitude chamber, in which both pressure and temperature can be varied independently, was carried out by the NACA at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory for...
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Micarta propellers IV : technical methods of design
A description is given of the methods used in design of Micarta propellers. The most direct method for working out the design of a Micarta propeller is to start with the diameter and blade angles of a...
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The Testing of Aviation Engines Under Approximate Altitude Conditions
Note presenting a description of the aviation testing laboratory that has been built at the Bureau of Standards in order to test aviation engines under approximate engine conditions. A description of...
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Micarta Propellers III: General Description of the Design
The design of propellers made of Micarta is discussed. The advantages of the material are noted, especially as compared with wood. The design changes necessitated by the use of Micarta are discussed...
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The Flettner Rotor Ship in the Light of the Kutta-Joukowski Theory and of...
"In this paper the fundamental principles of the Flettner rotor ship (Reference I) are discussed in the light of the Kutta-Joukowski theory and available experimental information on the subject. A...
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Tests of rotating cylinders
Tests were made in the no. 1 (5 ft. atmospheric) wind tunnel at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory to determine the air forces acting on rotating cylinders with axes perpendicular to the...
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Measuring an Airplane's True Speed in Flight Testing
Note giving an overview of five distinct methods shown for timing an airplane over a given distance and measuring the wind velocity, which provides the true speed of the airplane.
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Determination and Classification of the Aerodynamic Properties of Wing Sections
The following note, prepared for the NACA, contains several remarks on the possible improvement of the experimental determination of the aerodynamic properties of wing sections. It shows how errors of...
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Wind Tunnel Tests of Fuselages and Windshields
"The tests described herein were made in 1918, in the old four-foot wind tunnel at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at the request of the Engineering Division of the U.S. Army Air Service....
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Micarta Propellers 2: Method of Construction
The methods used in manufacturing Micarta propellers differ considerably from those employed with wood propellers on account of the hardness of the materials. The propellers must be formed accurately...
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Micarta Propellers 1: Materials
Here, values for tension, compression edgewise of laminations, and transverse flatwise of laminations are given for Micarta made with various kinds of sheet material. The corresponding values for white...
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The Effect on Performance of a Cutaway Center Section
"The assumption is made that a skeleton or cutaway center section is desirable for forward vision and to determine the effect of such mutilation upon performance the following work was done. The...
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The N.A.C.A. CYH airfoil section
The NACA CYH airfoil section is described and its aerodynamic characteristics are given as tested in the NACA variable density wind tunnel at twenty atmosphere pressure. This section has a low drag, a...
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Wind tunnel force tests in wing systems through large angles of attack
Force tests on a systematic series of wing systems over a range of angle of attack from minus forty-five degrees to plus ninety degrees are covered in this report. The investigation was made on...
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Steam Power Plants in Aircraft
"The employment of steam power plants in aircraft has been frequently proposed. Arguments pro and con have appeared in many journals. It is the purpose of this paper to make a brief analysis of the...
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Experiments With a Built-In or Fuselage Radiator
"The experiments discussed here were performed to determine whether radiators having similar cooling properties offer less resistance when incorporated into the fuselage, than when the hitherto...
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Propeller Design - A Simple Method for Determining the Strength of Propellers...
"The object of this report, the last of a series of four on propeller design, is to describe a simple method for determining whether the strength of a propeller of a standard form is sufficient for...
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The Formation of Ice Upon Exposed Parts of an Airplane in Flight
In order to experimentally study the conditions leading to ice formation on aircraft surfaces, an aircraft was equipped with small auxiliary surfaces and aerodynamic shapes similar to struts, wires,...
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Effect of the Reversal of Air Flow Upon the Discharge Coefficient of Durley...
Note presenting an experiment to obtain information regarding the relationship between the coefficients for flow in the two directions through an inlet. The results indicate that the ratio of the...
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Propeller Design - A Simple System Based on Model Propeller Test Data -III
"This report, the third of a series of four, describes a simple system for designing propellers of a standard form. In this report, the system is based on tests of a family of model propellers of...
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Special Propeller Protractor
A special protractor was designed and built with a view towards supplying a simple, inexpensive, practical, portable instrument for making measurements to detect propeller warpage under practically all...
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Full Scale Drag Tests on Various Parts of Sperry Messenger Airplane
"The drag of a Sperry Messenger airplane with the wings removed, and also the drag of its various component parts, was measured in the 20-foot air stream of the N.A.C.A. propeller research tunnel at...
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The Distribution of Loads Between the Wings of a Biplane Having Decalage
"It is known that in a biplane the load is not distributed equally between the wings. The presence of one wing will affect the lift characteristics of the other wings. A designer must know the total...
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Gluing Practice at Aircraft Manufacturing Plants and Repair Stations
This report records observations and recommendations resulting from an inspection trip to representative aircraft manufacturing establishments and repair stations. This inspection was made for the Navy...
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Model Tests on the Economy and Effectiveness of Helicopter Propellers
The average velocity of helicopter blades relative to the air is greater than that of airplane wings. The helicopter may turn out to be more economical than the airplane wing for extreme velocities of...
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Influence of Ribs on Strength of Spars
Note presenting an investigation to determine what effect joints connected with brackets, nails, and glue has on the strength of aircraft wing spars. Equations used to determine the results of loading...
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The Drift of an Aircraft Guided Towards Its Destination by Directional...
Following a curved path increases the distance to be flown, and a type of radio navigation that forces the adoption of such a path is therefore less efficient than one that marks out a definite...
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The comparison of well-known and new wing sections tested in the variable...
Three groups of airfoils have been tested in the variable density wind tunnel. The first group contains three airfoils. The second group is a systematic series of twenty-seven airfoils. The third group...
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Mass distribution and performance of free flight models
This note deals with the mass distribution and performance of free flight models. An airplane model which is to be used in free flight tests must be balanced dynamically as well as statically, e.g., it...
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Propeller Design: Extension of Test Data on a Family of Model Propellers by...
This report is the second of a series of four on propeller design, and describes the method used to extend the data obtained from tests on a family of thirteen model propellers to include all...
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Pressure distribution on wing ribs of the VE-7 and TS airplanes in flight
This paper is the first of a series of notes, each of which presents the complete results of pressure distribution tests made by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, on single-wing ribs of...
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The Estimation of Airplane Performance From Wind Tunnel Tests on Conventional...
Calculations of the magnitude of the correction factors and the range of their variations for wind tunnel models used in making aircraft performance predictions were made for 23 wind tunnel models....
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Determination of the Value of Wood for Structural Purposes
Note presenting an investigation of the value of wood for structural parts subject to stress. An exploration of several different types of wood is provided, including the coefficeint of elongation in...
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Note on the Air Forces on a Wing Caused by Pitching.
Report containing information on the air forces on a wing produced by its pitching at a finite rate of angular velocity. The condition of smooth flow at the region of the trailing edge is maintained....
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Experiments With Fabrics for Covering Airplane Wings
Note presenting a study of the strength and deformation of the fabric used to cover airplane wings, both undoped and doped. The doping of the fabric with Cellon seems to have a predominant influence on...
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Welding of High Chromium Steels
A brief description is given of different groups of high chromium steels (rustless iron and stainless steels) according to their composition and more generally accepted names. The welding procedure for...
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Is There Any Available Source of Heat Energy Lighter Than Gasoline?
Note presenting an investigation to determine if lighter sources of heat energy than gasoline exist. Various explosives are considered in terms of their calorific values.
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A load factor formula
The ultimate test of a load factor formula is experience. The chief advantages of a semi rational formula over arbitrary factors are that it fairs in between points of experience and it differentiates...
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The Velocity Distribution Caused by an Airplane at the Points of a Vertical...
"A formula for the computation of the vertical velocity component on all sides of an airplane is deduced and discussed. The formation is of value for the interpretation of such free flight tests where...
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Propeller Design: Practical Application of the Blade Element Theory 1
"This report is the first of a series of four on propeller design and contains a description of the blade elements or modified Drzewiecke theory as used in the Bureau of Aeronautics, U.S. Navy...
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The Installation and Correction of Compasses in Airplanes
"The saving of time that results from flying across country on compass headings is beginning to be widely recognized. At the same time the general use of steel tube fuselages has made a knowledge of...
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Tension experiments on diaphragm metals
Strips of german silver, steel, copper, duralumin, nickel and brass were tested in tension in an apparatus in which the change in deflection with time was measured by means of an interferometer. This...
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An investigation of the characteristics of steel diaphragms for automatic...
"This research on steel diaphragms was undertaken at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, as a part of a general investigation on fuel injection engines for aircraft. The work determined the...
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The Calculation of Wing Float Displacement in Single-Float Seaplanes
Note presenting an exploration of the calculation of wing float displacement in single-float seaplanes. An explanation of a formula that can be used is provided.
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Wall interference in closed type wind tunnels
"A series of tests has been conducted by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, in the variable density wind tunnel on several airfoils of different sizes and sections to determine the effect...
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Study of Open Jet Wind Tunnel Cones
"Tests have been made by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics on the air flow in an open jet wind tunnel with various sizes, shapes, and spacings of cones, and the flow studied by means of...
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On the Design of Airfoils in Which the Transition of the Boundary Layer Is...
Memorandum examining the phenomenon of airfoil drag, which is related almost exclusively to skin friction at high speed flight conditions. The primary way to reduce drag is to delay the transition from...
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AVA monographs. B: Boundary layer
Report discusses several experiments regarding boundary layers and their influence on aircraft. The first experiment investigates how to best design airfoils. The second involves using suction to...
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