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The present trend is toward faster and larger pursuit airplanes. Because both speed and size increase the aileron control forces, the design of ailerons for manual operation is becoming increasingly difficult. In order to obtain a clearer picture of the future problem of balancing ailerons, and inspection has been made of the effects of airplane size and speed on the control forces. Computations were made of the aileron control forces required to meet specified rolling conditions for plain ailerons on wings with spans from 40 to 80 feet and for speeds up to 500 miles per hour. The rolling conditions were specified by two alternative criterions. One was the rolling criterion pb/2V of reference 1. For reasons, which will be discussed later, a value of 0.09 rather than the recommended value of 0.07 was assigned to this criterion. For the criterion pb/2V, the required value of the rolling velocity p varies inversely with the airplane span b. There is some question as to whether the rolling velocity of a pursuit airplane can be permitted to decrease simply because its size is increased. For the second criterion, therefore, the rolling velocity is independent of span (p/V is a constant). The value assigned to this criterion was so chosen that for a wing of 40-foot span the value of pb/2V would be 0.09. The computations neglected compressibility effects. Available experimental data and the results of tests given in reference 2 indicate that the effect of compressibility is to increase the control force. Recent flight tests have indicated that, with certain types of aileron, serious compressibility effects may cause discontinuity at speeds of approximately 400 miles per hour in the aileron control force curves.

An aid in airplane design, charts have been prepared to show the effects of wing taper, thickness ratio, and Reynolds number on the spanwise location of the initial stalling point. Means of improving poor stalling characteristics resulting from certain combinations of the variables have also been considered; additional figures illustrate the influence of camber increase to the wing tips, washout, central sharp leading edges, and wing-tip slots on the stalling characteristics. Data are included from which the drag increases resulting from the use of these means can be computed. The application of the data to a specific problem is illustrated by an example.

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics is undertaking an investigation of the flying qualities of airplanes. The work consists in the determination of the significant qualities susceptible of measurement, the development of the instruments required to make the measurements, and the accumulation of data on the flying qualities of existing airplanes, which data are to serve as a basis for quantitative specifications for the flying qualities of future designs. A tentative schedule of measurable flying qualities has been prepared and the instruments needed for their measurements have been assembled. A trial of the schedule and the instruments has been made using the Stinson SR-8e airplane. The results showed that, although the original schedule and instruments are basically satisfactory some further development is required to eliminate nonessential items and to expedite flight testing. The report describes and discusses the work done with this airplane.

Flight tests were made to demonstrate the particularity of employing fixed tabs in conjunction with a suitably designed differential linkage to reduce the force required to operate ailerons. The tests showed the system to be practicable with tabs of the inset type. The relative ineffectiveness of attached tabs for changing the aileron floating angle rendered them unsuitable. Experience gained in the investigation has indicated that the use of the system is limited to maximum deflections of one aileron relative to the other of less than 30 degrees and that the differential linkage should always be designed on the basis of the highest probable floating angle.

Report presents the results of flight tests comparing the relative effectiveness of conventional ailerons of the same size on wings of rectangular and tapered plan forms made with a Fairchild 22 airplane. Information is included comparing conventional and floating wing-tip ailerons on a tapered wing. The results showed that the conventional ailerons were somewhat more effective on the tapered than on the rectangular wing. The difference, however, was so small as to be imperceptible to the pilots. The floating wing-tip ailerons were only half as effective as the conventional ailerons and, for this reason, were considered unsatisfactory.

A flight investigation was made of the increase in effectiveness of ailerons that can be obtained by preventing flow of air through the wing at the hinges and of the possibility of reducing the aileron operating force by replacing ailerons having normal open hinge gaps with narrower but equally effective ailerons having sealed hinge gaps. Tests were made with a Fairchild 22 airplane with two sizes of plain unbalanced ailerons, one set having a chord equal to 0.18c, and the other chord equal to 0.09c. The results of the investigation show that improvement of the lateral-control effectiveness is obtained by completely preventing the flow of air through the wing at the hinge axis of conventional ailerons. The magnitude of the improvement depends on the aileron chord. For the 0.18c ailerons the gain in aileron effectiveness due to sealing the gap at the hinge axis was of the order of one-fifth and for the 0.09c ailerons the gain was about one-third. The importance of sealing the gap was demonstrated by the fact that the 0.09c ailerons with a slight increase in deflection range were made as effective as the 0.18c ailerons with an unsealed gap but required only about one-third as large an operating force.

Data are presented to show the extent to which the maximum lift coefficient and consequently the minimum speed of an airplane, determined by flight tests, may vary with test conditions. The data show that cl-max may vary as much as 14 percent, depending on the altitude and wing loading at which the tests were made, the position or motion of the propeller, and the rate at which the angle of attack is changing when the maximum lift coefficient is obtained. The variation of the maximum lift coefficient with these factors, which are under the control of the test engineer, shows the need of standardizing the test procedure. A further variation is shown with wing conditions as affected by weathering and vibration, factors that cannot be completely controlled.

A wing equipped with a Zap flap and Zap ailerons was tested on a Fairchild 22 airplane in the full-scale wind tunnel and in flight to determine the effect of the flaps and ailerons on the performance and the control characteristics of the airplane. The flaps were 0.30 of the wing chord and 0.83 of the wing span. Two sets of ailerons having equal areas but different proportions were tested, one set being 0.56 of the semispan and 0.18 of the chord and the other set being 0.46 of the semispan and 0.22 of the chord. The wind-tunnel tests showed that, when the ailerons and horizontal tail surfaces were removed, the flaps increased the maximum lift coefficient from 1.48 to 2.39. In flight, the fully deflected flaps decreased the minimum speed from 48.2 to 38.8 miles per hour. The take-off and landing distances were both reduced by the flaps. The wind-tunnel tests showed the ailerons to increase the drag coefficient, at a lift coefficient and Reynolds Number corresponding to the high speed of the airplane, from 0.0432 to 0.0498 and 0.0514, the 0.46 semispan ailerons giving the highest drag. In the flight tests both sets of ailerons were found to give satisfactory rolling action in the normal-flight range. They required relatively large stick forces for their operation, however, and the variation of the forces with aileron deflection was not linear.

Full-scale wind-tunnel and flight tests were made of a Fairchild 22 airplane equipped with a Fowler flap to determine the effect of the flap on the performance and control characteristics of the airplane. In the wind-tunnel tests of the airplane with the horizontal tail surfaces removed, the flap was found to increase the maximum lift coefficient from 1.27 to 2.41. In the flight test, the flap was found to decrease the minimum speed from 58.8 to 44.4 miles per hour. The required take-off run to attain an altitude of 50 feet was reduced from 935 feet to 700 feet by the use of the flap, the minimum distance being obtained with five-sixths full deflection. The landing run from a height of 50 feet was reduced one-third. The longitudinal and directional control was adversely affected by the flap, indicating that the design of the tail surfaces is more critical with a flapped than a plain wing.

This report presents the results of flight tests made on five different lateral control devices that appeared adaptable to wings fitted with full span flaps: controllable auxiliary airfoils (airfoils mounted above and forward of the leading edge of the wings), external ailerons (airfoils mounted above the wing and slightly forward of its maximum ordinate), upper-surface ailerons (similar to split trailing-edge flaps except that they constitute the upper surface of the wing), ailerons that retract into the wing when in neutral, and narrow-chord conventional ailerons in combination with a special type of split flap that retracts into the under surface of the wing forward of the ailerons. The devices were tested on a small parasol monoplane. Experienced gained in the use of flaps during these tests has indicated the desirability of a flap that can be operated quickly and easily.

The flight path of a small parasol monoplane equipped with a special type of balanced split flap was determined for a series of glides during which the time taken to deflect or retract the flap was varied from 1 to 15 seconds in order to study the effect of the time taken to complete a flap movement on the motion of an airplane between the start of a flap movement and the attainment of steady flight with the new flap setting. For flap movements accompanied by a change of lift characteristics, and consequently of velocity, there is an appreciable delay in obtaining a desired change in glide angle even though the flap is operated instantaneously. Immediate control of the glide path is obtained only when the speed is maintained during the flap movement. When the speed is changed, the deviation from the desired path during the transition increases in proportion to the rapidity with which the flap is moved so that, with a high-lift flap, abrupt retraction at speeds less than the minimum speed with the flap retracted may be dangerous if practiced close to the ground.