Annual Report for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (12th). Administrative Report Including Technical Reports Nos. 233 to 256 (open access)

Annual Report for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (12th). Administrative Report Including Technical Reports Nos. 233 to 256

Report includes the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics letter of submittal to the president, congressional report, summaries of the committee's activities and research accomplished, bibliographies, and financial report.
Date: 1927
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Aero Dopes and Varnishes (open access)

Aero Dopes and Varnishes

Report discussing before proceeding to discuss the preparation of dope solutions, it will be necessary to consider some of the essential properties which should be possessed of a dope film, deposited in and on the surface of an aero fabric. The first is that it should tighten the material and second it should withstand weathering.
Date: July 1927
Creator: Britton, H. T. S.
System: The UNT Digital Library
A load factor formula (open access)

A load factor formula

The ultimate test of a load factor formula is experience. The chief advantages of a semi rational formula over arbitrary factors are that it fairs in between points of experience and it differentiates according to variables within a type. Structural failure of an airplane apparently safe according to the formula would call for a specific change in the formula. The best class of airplanes with which to check a load factor formula seems to be those which have experienced structural failure. Table I comprises a list of the airplanes which have experienced failure in flight traceable to the wing structure. The load factor by formula is observed to be greater than the designed strength in each case, without a single exception. Table II comprises the load factor by formula with the designed strength of a number of well-known service types. The formula indicates that by far the majority of these have ample structural strength. One case considered here in deriving a suitable formula is that of a heavy load carrier of large size and practically no reserve power.
Date: August 1927
Creator: Miller, Roy G.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Some Impressions of the Paris Aero Show (open access)

Some Impressions of the Paris Aero Show

Memorandum presenting a description of the Paris Aero Show and some of the aircraft that the author observed there. A specific description of some of the designs is provided, as well as some technical drawings of particular elements of these aircraft.
Date: April 1927
Creator: North, J. D.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Power Output and Air Requirements of a Two-Stroke Cycle Engine for Aeronautical Use (open access)

Power Output and Air Requirements of a Two-Stroke Cycle Engine for Aeronautical Use

This investigation was undertaken to determine the pressure and amount of air necessary for satisfactory high-speed, two-stroke cycle operation and thus permit the power requirements of the air pump or blower to be determined. Based on power output and air requirement here obtained the two-stroke cycle engine would seem to be favorable for aeronautical use. No attempts were made to secure satisfactory operation at idling speeds.
Date: 1927
Creator: Paton, C. R. & Kemper, Carlton
System: The UNT Digital Library
Metal Aircraft Construction at Vickers: Some Interesting New Forms Developed (open access)

Metal Aircraft Construction at Vickers: Some Interesting New Forms Developed

This report contains descriptions of construction techniques at the Vickers plant including the building of the "wandering web," the spar flange, and the Vickers spars.
Date: December 1927
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
"Levasseur 8" Transatlantic Airplane (open access)

"Levasseur 8" Transatlantic Airplane

Circular describing the Levasseur 8, which is an adaptation of a naval airplane adopted by the French Navy. Details of the wings, fuselage, landing gear, fuel, engine, and flying qualities are provided.
Date: August 1927
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Climbing Efficiency of Aircraft (open access)

Climbing Efficiency of Aircraft

The object of this report was to indicate that we frequently only make use of 50 percent of the maximum brake horsepower of the engine in taking off the ground, that this loss is not inevitable, and that the effort to get engines of low weight per horsepower by boosting revolutions is of very little use to bombers and commercial airplanes.
Date: June 1927
Creator: Walker, C. C.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Direct Measurement of Engine Power on an Airplane in Flight With a Hub Type Dynamometer (open access)

The Direct Measurement of Engine Power on an Airplane in Flight With a Hub Type Dynamometer

"This report describes tests made to obtain direct measurements of engine power in flight. Tests were made with a Bendemann hub dynamometer installed on a modified DH-4 Airplane, Liberty 12 Engine, to determine the suitability of this apparatus. This dynamometer unit, which was designed specially for use with a liberty 12 engine, is a special propeller hub in which is incorporated a system of pistons and cylinders interposed between the propeller and the engine crankshaft. The torque and thrust forces are balanced by fluid pressures, which are recorded by instruments in the cockpit" (p. 505).
Date: 1927
Creator: Gove, W. D. & Green, M. W.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Heinkel H.E. 50 Commercial Seaplane: Winner of the 1926 German Seaplane Contest at Warnemünde (open access)

Heinkel H.E. 50 Commercial Seaplane: Winner of the 1926 German Seaplane Contest at Warnemünde

Circular presenting a description of the Heinkel H.E.5 commercial seaplane. Its primary important characteristics are a short start, agreeable flying qualities, and long radius of action. Details of the design and flying characteristics are provided.
Date: April 1927
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Recent Suggestions in Diesel-Engine Construction (open access)

Recent Suggestions in Diesel-Engine Construction

Different methods for increasing the efficiency of diesel engines are presented and some new designs are given.
Date: August 1927
Creator: Bielefeld, F. Ernst
System: The UNT Digital Library
High-Speed Oil Engines for Vehicles Part 1: Engines With External Atomization of the Fuel, Engines With Internal Atomization of the Fuel, Hot-Bulb Engines, Diesel Engines (open access)

High-Speed Oil Engines for Vehicles Part 1: Engines With External Atomization of the Fuel, Engines With Internal Atomization of the Fuel, Hot-Bulb Engines, Diesel Engines

Different engines are tested to determine their efficiencies in burning fuel. Fuel injection and ignition chamber engines are also discussed.
Date: February 1927
Creator: Hausfelder, Ludwig
System: The UNT Digital Library
Approximations for Column Effect in Airplane Wing Spars (open access)

Approximations for Column Effect in Airplane Wing Spars

"The significance attaching to "column effect" in airplane wing spars has been increasingly realized with the passage of time, but exact computations of the corrections to bending moment curves resulting from the existence of end loads are frequently omitted because of the additional labor involved in an analysis by rigorously correct methods. The present report represents an attempt to provide for approximate column effect corrections that can be graphically or otherwise expressed so as to be applied with a minimum of labor. Curves are plotted giving approximate values of the correction factors for single and two bay trusses of varying proportions and with various relationships between axial and lateral loads" (p. 485).
Date: 1927
Creator: Warner, Edward P. & Short, Mac
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Comparative Performance of Roots Type Aircraft Engine Superchargers as Affected by Change in Impeller Speed and Displacement (open access)

The Comparative Performance of Roots Type Aircraft Engine Superchargers as Affected by Change in Impeller Speed and Displacement

"This report presents the results of tests made on three sizes of roots type aircraft engine superchargers. The impeller contours and diameters of these machines were the same, but the length were 11, 8 1/4, and 4 inches, giving displacements of 0.509, 0.382, and 0.185 cubic foot per impeller revolution. The information obtained serves as a basis for the examination of the individual effects of impeller speed and displacement on performance and of the comparative performance when speed and displacement are altered simultaneously to meet definite service requirements" (p. 3).
Date: December 23, 1927
Creator: Ware, Marsden & Wilson, Ernest E.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Safety in Airplane Flight (open access)

Safety in Airplane Flight

This report presents methods to reduce the incidence of aviation accidents. Some of the methods discussed include enlistment and training of aviators, improvement of controls and control surfaces, and upgrading of power plants.
Date: November 1927
Creator: Brunat, H.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Seaplanes floats and hulls. Part 2 (open access)

Seaplanes floats and hulls. Part 2

Different float designs are presented and the investigations are discussed.
Date: September 1927
Creator: Herrmann, H.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Seaplanes floats and hulls. Part 1 (open access)

Seaplanes floats and hulls. Part 1

This part of the report presents characteristics and graphic representations of water resistance. The laws of similarity are discussed as well as the theory of model tests. The test procedures and model tests of other countries are also discussed.
Date: August 1927
Creator: Herrmann, H.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Drag Measurements on a Junkers Wing Section: Application of the Betz Method to the Results of Comparative Tests Made on a Model and on an Airplane in Flight (open access)

Drag Measurements on a Junkers Wing Section: Application of the Betz Method to the Results of Comparative Tests Made on a Model and on an Airplane in Flight

The comparison of model tests in flight can be based on the result of such measurements. They are very important from the aerodynamical point of view, as they lead to useful conclusions regarding the behavior of the wing, its best shape and the conformity of theoretical and actual flow. Although there still remains a certain prejudice against such measurements, I have still attempted to make these comparative tests in order to inspire confidence in their reliability.
Date: September 1927
Creator: Weidinger, Hanns
System: The UNT Digital Library
The air forces on a systematic series of biplane and triplane cellule models (open access)

The air forces on a systematic series of biplane and triplane cellule models

Report discussing the air forces on a systematic series of biplane and triplane cellule models which are measured in the atmospheric density tunnel.
Date: 1927
Creator: Munk, Max M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Pressure distribution over airfoils at high speeds (open access)

Pressure distribution over airfoils at high speeds

This report deals with the pressure distribution over airfoils at high speeds, and describes an extension of an investigation of the aerodynamic characteristics of certain airfoils which was presented in NACA Technical Report no. 207. The results presented in report no. 207 have been confirmed and extended to higher speeds through a more extensive and systematic series of tests. Observations were also made of the air flow near the surface of the airfoils, and the large changes in lift coefficients were shown to be associated with a sudden breaking away of the flow from the upper surface. The tests were made on models of 1-inch chord and comparison with the earlier measurements on models of 3-inch chord shows that the sudden change in the lift coefficient is due to compressibility and not to a change in the Reynolds number. The Reynolds number still has a large effect, however, on the drag coefficient. The pressure distribution observations furnish the propeller designer with data on the load distribution at high speeds, and also give a better picture of the air-flow changes.
Date: 1927
Creator: Briggs, L. J. & Dryden, H. L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Tests of the N.P.L. airship models in the variable density wind tunnel (open access)

Tests of the N.P.L. airship models in the variable density wind tunnel

Report presenting testing in the variable density wind tunnel on two airship models known as the NPL Standardization Models, long and short. The resistance or shape coefficients were determined for each model through a range of Reynolds numbers. Further work is found to be necessary in the standardization of wind tunnels.
Date: September 1927
Creator: Higgins, George J.
System: The UNT Digital Library