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Since lightness is desirable in airplane construction, greater stresses must be tolerated than in other kinds of construction. It is therefore necessary to have a more accurate knowledge of the greatest stresses that may occur and of the actual properties of the materials used. The Aeronautic Research Laboratories took the limit of elasticity as the basis of the strength calculations. Many tests were made of different steels, woods, aluminum alloys, and fabrics.

The results of the velocity measurements in the boundary layer described in NACA-TM 411 are here discussed in greater detail. The measurements made were of the velocity distribution in the vicinity of an airfoil model fitted with a rotary cylinder and were undertaken for the purpose of obtaining a closer insight into the phenomena observed in experimenting with this model.

Experiments were performed with a wing model, to which a rotary cylinder had been fitted. The rotation of the cylinder had a remarkable effect on the aerodynamic properties of the wing.

The objects of the experiments herein described were to test the protection afforded by Valspar oil varnish against the absorption of moisture by wooden airplane parts and the consequent changes in their elastic properties and to compare some of the best Dutch varnishes with Valspar.

Into the leading edge of a wing with arbitrary cross-section, there is introduced a cylinder, which can be rotated by an electric motor by means of a cord. Observations were made in the wind tunnel on how the lift at different wind velocities was affected by rotating this cylinder.