Dec 172009
 

A concept by Douglas Aircraft, reported on in 1965 (“Optimal Utilization of Supersonic Favorable Interference to Obtain High Lift-Drag Ratios,” AIAA Paper 1965-752), for an aircraft that uses the shock waves shed from the fuselage to bounce against the underside of the overhead wing and create additional lift between Mach 2.5 and 7. Sadly, the design seems to be entirely hypothetical, with no dimensions given.

parasol.gif

 Posted by at 1:40 pm

  3 Responses to “Parasol wing for high L/D at hypersonic speeds”

  1. Somewhere, I’ve seen a photo of a wind tunnel model using that parasol wing approach.

  2. The photo is on page 10 of “Modern Air Combat” by Bill Gunston and Mike Spick from 1983.
    It uses a a parasol wing shaped like a boomerang with downswept tips, and was built by the Arnold Engineering Development Center to fly at a speed of Mach 4.5.
    Jet engines are mounted to either side of the rear fuselage, and it has a “T” tail.
    Judging by the size of the projecting canopy on the model, it would be around 1 to 1.5 times the size of a F-15.

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