Aircraft design, more than many other disciplines, exemplifies the phrase form follows function. The laws of physics demand it. Aeronautical designers have always reached forward, stretching capabilities as far as the constraints of gravity and the limits of materials would allow their genius to probe. The emerging computer flight control and composite structures revolutions of the 1970s promised designers access to a hitherto impossible dream: a forward swept wing (FSW) fighter with enhanced maneuverability and efficiency.The benefits of forward swept wings have long been understood. Both forward and aft swept wings yield significant drag reduction in the transonic speed range. Since air flows inboard on forward swept wings, unlike the outboard flow on traditionally swept wings, the forward swept wings tips remain unstalled at higher angles of attack, retaining maneuverability and controllability.Several designs made forays into FSW technology. The sculpted, minimalist contours of the unflown Bugatti R-100 of 1937 included a modestly forward swept wing planform created by veteran Belgian designer Louis de Monge. His earlier designs had claimed three sanctioned speed records, and in the late 1930s, it is said de Monge wanted to best the speed claims of the emerging Messerschmitt fighter team. The tandem-engine R-100 did not fly in France before occupation by Germany caused the aircraft to drop out of sight until after the war, when it was no longer a speed contender in the jet age.
Sweeping Forward: Developing and Flight Testing the Grumman X-29 Forward Swept Wing Research Aircraft
2013
337 pages
Report
No indication
English
TIBKAT | 2013
|Forward swept wing flight demonstrator
AIAA | 1980
|High Performance Forward Swept Wing Aircraft
NTIS | 1986
|High performance forward swept wing aircraft
NTRS | 1988
|Flight Research on a Forward-Swept-Wing Airplane
NTRS | 1987
|