Report presenting flight tests made with a modified Ryan ST airplane to determine the effect on aileron characteristics of various arrangements of balanced split flaps covering that portion of the wing span occupied by the ailerons. With the flaps fully extended, the aileron effectiveness was reduced by approximately 18 percent of the effectiveness measured with ailerons alone.

"The effects of changes in aileron rigging between 2 deg up and 2 deg down on the stick forces were determined from wind-tunnel data for a finite-span wing model. These effects were investigated for ailerons deflecting equally in both directions and linearly with stick deflection. Data were analyzed for a Frise, a sealed internally balanced, and a beveled-trailing-edge aileron" (p. 1).

Memorandum presenting the Bell X-5 research airplane tested at 58.7 degrees sweepback during the program to determine the characteristics of a variable-sweep fighter airplane at transonic speeds. This paper includes the stability and control characteristics in the stable lift range up to Mach numbers near 1.0 at an altitude of 40,000 feet and to slightly lower Mach numbers at altitudes of 25,000 feet and 15,000 feet. Results regarding general comments, static stability and control characteristics, and longitudinal dynamic stability are provided.

Report discussing several types of jet-exit designs, including normal, beveled, and unsymmetrical shapes, and their effect on the stability characteristics of the aircraft. No deviation of the jet center line from its exposed path is likely to be obtained if a jet exist is used that is normal to the flow. Having a tilted or asymmetrical exit was found to adversely affect the stability of the aircraft.

From Summary: "The results of an analytical investigation to determine the qualitative effects of elevator-fabric distortion on the stick-force characteristics of an airplane are presented. These results indicate that serious alteration of intended stick-force characteristics can be produced by elevator-fabric distortion."

Report presenting a procedure for determining the motions of an airplane resulting from the deflection of the lateral or directional controls for the case of non-linear derivatives. A simple computation table is presented to illustrate the application of the procedure.

Report presenting an exploratory investigation of three aluminum disoaps of C(sub 8) acids to determine the gelling properties and stabilizing ability in slurries of 50 percent magnesium power and JP-4 fuel. All of the soaps were found to gel the slurries satisfactorily and to exhibit adequate reproducibility of gel properties. Results regarding the soap behaviors, effects of temperature, viscosity, and formation of the gel structures are provided.

Memorandum presenting pulse techniques applied to strain gages for increasing the output level and extending the usable range. Bonded and unbonded strain gages which normally operate with exciting potentials between 3.5 and 14 volts operated satisfactorily with 200-volt pulses of 1-microsecond duration and a repetition rate of 350 per second. Results regarding maximum allowable voltages, effective pulse duration, sensitivity, minimum readable signal, effects of cable capacitance and inductance, sensitivity to external noise, and linearity are provided.

One of the problems connected with the sweptback wing is the difficulty of controlling the location of the center of pressure and hence the pitching moment. A method is presented for designing a wing to be self-trimming at a given set of flight conditions. Concurrently, the spanwise distribution of load on the wing is made to be approximately elliptical, in an effort to maintain low wing drag.

Spanwise lift distributions have been calculated for nineteen unswept wings with various aspect ratios and taper ratios and with a variety of angle-of-attack or twist distributions, including flap and aileron deflections, by means of the Weissinger method with eight control points on the semispan. Also calculated were aerodynamic influence coefficients which pertain to a certain definite set of stations along the span, and several methods are presented for calculating aerodynamic influence functions and coefficients for stations other than those stipulated. The information presented in this report can be used in the analysis of untwisted wings or wings with known twist distributions, as well as in aeroelastic calculations involving initially unknown twist distributions.

Effective flame speeds of free turbulent flames were measured by photographic, ionization-gap, and photomultiplier-tube methods, and were found to have a statistical distribution attributed to the nature of the turbulent field. The effective turbulent flame speeds for the free flame were less than those previously measured for flames stabilized on nozzle burners, Bunsen burners, and bluff bodies. The statistical spread of the effective turbulent flame speeds was markedly wider in the lean and rich fuel-air-ratio regions, which might be attributed to the greater sensitivity of laminar flame speed to flame temperature in those regions. Values calculated from the turbulent free-flame-speed analysis proposed by Tucker apparently form upper limits for the statistical spread of free-flame-speed data. Hot-wire anemometer measurements of the longitudinal velocity fluctuation intensity and longitudinal correlation coefficient were made and were employed in the comparison of data and in the theoretical calculation of turbulent flame speed.

"The effects of interaction between a landing gear and a flexible airplane structure on the behavior of the landing gear and the loads in the structure have been studied by treating the equations of motion of the airplane and the landing gear as a coupled system. The landing gear is considered to have nonlinear characteristics typical of conventional gears, namely, velocity-squared damping, polytropic air-compression springing, and exponential tire force-deflection characteristics. For the case where only two modes of the structure are considered, an equivalent three-mass system is derived for representing the airplane and landing-gear combination, which may be used to simulate the effects of structural flexibility in jig drop tests of landing gears" (p. 619).

For a given wing and supersonic Mach number, the problem of shaping an adjoining fuselage so that the combination will have a low wave drag is considered. Only fuselages that can be simulated by singularities (multipoles) distributed along the body axis are studied. However, the optimum variations of such singularities are completely specified in terms of the given wing geometry. An application is made to an elliptic wing having a biconvex section, a thickness-chord ratio equal to 0.05 at the root, and an aspect ratio equal to 3. A comparison of the theoretical results with a wind-tunnel experiment is also presented.

"A general matrix method is developed for the solution of characteristic-value problems of the type arising in many physical applications. The scheme employed is essentially that of Gauss and Seidel with appropriate modifications needed to make it applicable to characteristic-value problems. An iterative procedure produces a sequence of estimates to the answer; and extrapolation techniques, based upon previous behavior of iterants, are utilized in speeding convergence. Theoretically sound limits are placed on the magnitude of the extrapolation that may be tolerated" (p. 747).

Report discusses the results of shear testing in which the heads of Du Pont explosive countersunk rivets were allowed to protrude above the skin surface before expansion and the protruding portions were removed after expansion. As the height of the rivet head above the skin increases, the tightness of the rivet was found to increase. The report concludes that it may be desirable to investigating filling an entire shank with an explosive charge in order to permit greater tolerances in the drilled hole diameter and still have consistently tight rivets.

Memorandum presenting a turbojet engine with a two-stage turbine operated with pentaborane fuel continuously for 11.5 minutes at a simulated altitude of 55,000 feet at a flight Mach number of 0.8. The engine incorporated an NACA combustor designed specifically for use with pentaborane fuel. Results regarding oxide formation and deposition, engine operating point, effect of oxide deposits on component performance, effect of oxide deposition on overall performance, and some operational comments are provided.

Memorandum presenting results of a supersonic flutter investigation of three low-aspect-ratio control surfaces. Two controls were all-movable but the third had a fixed cutout. Results regarding the experiments and calculations are provided.

Memorandum presenting force-oscillation tests made in the 8-foot transonic pressure tunnel to investigate some effects of an overhang-type aerodynamic balance and of a flow spoiler on the dynamic hinge-moment characteristics of a full-span flap-type rudder on a 5-percent-thick, swept vertical fin of low aspect ratio. Test results how that the aerodynamic damping moment on the plain rudder becomes unstable near a Mach number of 0.975 and remains unstable to the maximum speed of the tests.

Report presenting performance of a two-dimensional external-compression inlet designed for various methods of inlet-engine matching up to Mach 3 at Mach 1.89 and Mach 0. Results regarding shock geometry, two-shock ramps, isentropic ramps, profiles, and cowl drag for the various Mach number tests are provided.

Memorandum presenting an investigation of the performance of inlet configurations with a forebody designed for isentropic external compression at a nominal Mach number of 5.6. At zero angle of attack, all the configurations yielded larger total-pressure recoveries than had previously been obtained with a single-conical-shock inlet. Results regarding the flow about the forebody, inlet performance, and performance comparisons are provided.

Memorandum presenting an investigation of hemispherical nose shapes of titanium, stainless steel coated with aluminum oxide, and uncoated stainless steel with lithium hydride and magnesium as internal coolants. Results regarding titanium models, stainless-steel models (uncoated), stainless-steel models coated with aluminum oxide, solution effects on the decomposition temperature of lithium hydride, effect of lithium hydride and magnesium on temperature measurements, and efficiency of models cooled with lithium hydride are provided.

Transonic flutter derivatives for unswept wing control surface configurations determined by pressure cell measurements. The control surfaces were mounted on a wing with an aspect ratio of 3, a taper ratio of 0.6, and a wing-thickness ratio of 0.06. Results regarding aerodynamic balance, vortex generators, splitter-plate configurations, and wedges are provided.

Memorandum describing an investigation using two airplanes, an F6F-3 and F-86A, each fitted with servo equipment for varying in flight the lateral and directional stability and handling characteristics, which have been flown by test pilots to simulate the predicted dynamic behavior of six prototype airplanes. The methods of simulation and the types and ranges of variables considered are presented and the results of the individual programs are discussed.

"A study has been made of a flare-cylinder configuration to investigate its feasibility as a reentry body of an intermediate range ballistic missile. Factors considered were heating, weight, stability, and impact velocity. A series of trajectories covering the possible range of weight-drag ratios were computed for simple truncated nose shapes of varying pointedness, and hence varying weight-drag ratios" (p. 1).