Recent developments in supersonic flow theory are applied to obtain estimates of the lift-drag ratios that may be achieved by aircraft employing sweptback wings. Lift-drag ratios greater than 10 to 1 can be maintained up to a Mach number of 1.4by the use of large angles of sweep and high aspect ratios. As the speed increases in the supersonic range the attainable lift-drag ratios decrease and the gain due to sweepback also appears to diminish. An efficient configuration for M = 1.4 would require about 60 deg sweepback, an aspect ratio of 4 and a wing loading of one third the atmospheric pressure. For a wing loading of 50 pounds per square foot the cruising altitude would be 60,000 feet and the indicated airspeed 290 miles per hour.
Estimated Lift-Drag Ratios at Supersonic Speed
1976-02-01
Miscellaneous
No indication
English
Estimated lift-drag ratios at supersonic speed
Engineering Index Backfile | 1947
|Estimated Lift-drag Ratios at Supersonic Speed
NTRS | 1947
|Lift/drag ratios of optimised slewed elliptic wings at supersonic speeds
Engineering Index Backfile | 1961
|NTRS | 1955
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