GB679445A - Improvements in aircraft - Google Patents

Abstract

679,445. Aircraft. LEDUC, R. Feb. 20, 1951 [Feb. 20, 1950], No. 4112/51. Class 4. [Also in Group XXVI] An aircraft intended primarily for flight at supersonic speeds comprises a thin-section wing 1b free of excrescences except at the tips, which are constituted by open-ended ducts 2b, 3b having their axes substantially along the line of flight and the radius of whose outlets is not less than one forty-third of the wing span measured as the distance between the axes of the ducts. As shown the wing 1b is of rectangular planform, with an aspect ratio not exceeding 3.5. The radius of the duct outlets is calculated from the formula for the induced drag associated with the wake energy of the wing-tip trailing vortices. Rudders 3, 4 are mounted at the rear ends of the ducts, which also carry laterally-extending stabilisers 5, 6 fitted with elevons 7, 8. The wing 1b and stabilisers may be adjusted about transverse axes for incidence control. The ducts may be of the thermo-propulsive type, the cores being provided with compartments 1, 2 for housing the pilot, fuel tanks, and auxiliary equipment. Turbines 9, 10 may be mounted upstream of the combustion chambers or heating zones of the ducts, for driving pumps or other accessories, or ducted fans. Reheating may be applied to the turbine exhausts or augmenter streams by burners 13, 14, pilot flames for which may be established by injecting fuel into the turbine exhausts. Specifications 629,819, [Group XXVI], and 638,109, [Group XII], are referred to.