Technical Paper
AIRPLANE PERFORMANCE FORMULAS
1922-01-01
220064
Aerodynamic analysis relates mainly to questions of performance and stability, the latter including both maneuverability and control, but the designer's problems concern chiefly the prediction of the best possible performance. Accurate analysis, which would include a summation of the elemental resistances of an aircraft part by part and the making of many corrections, supplemented by tests of models in a wind-tunnel, involves much labor and expense. When a preliminary choice of dimensions and specifications for a new type of an airplane is to be made or there is a question of the performance attainable with a given load and power, a shorter method becomes necessary. This is to be found in the derivation of simplified formulas and graphs.