Abstract
Information has just been released that an aircraft of the ‘flying wing’ type has completed its trial flights at Bitteswell Aerodrome, near Rugby. It is known as the A.W.52, built by Messrs. Armstrong Whitworth to the designs of Mr. J. Lloyd, their chief designer. The aircraft embodies two fundamental principles that have developed out of the general progress of aerodynamic research. The abolition of the tail has long been an ideal to some schools of thought. It sets up considerable drag and does not contribute to the performance of the machine, but is necessary for control purposes with the more conventional layout of the various aerodynamic surfaces. The Westland-Hill ‘Pterodactyl’ demonstrated the possibilities of tailless aircraft many years ago. The suppression of as much of the external body as practical requirements of accommodation allow is another obvious trend for the same reason/
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‘Flying Wing’ Aircraft. Nature 160, 896–897 (1947). https://doi.org/10.1038/160896c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/160896c0