"The external wave drag of bodies of revolution moving at supersonic speeds can be expressed either in terms of the geometry of the body, or in terms of the body-simulating axial source distribution. For purposes of deriving optimum bodies under various given conditions, it is found that the second of the methods mentioned is the more tractable. By use of a quasi-cylindrical theory, that is, the boundary conditions are applied on the surface of a cylinder rather than on the body itself, the variational problems of the optimum bodies having prescribed volume or caliber are solved" (p. 131).

"Flow-angle and pressure surveys behind five, thin, pointed-tip wings of varying plan form have been made at Mach numbers 1.62 and 2.41. Schlieren studies at a Mach number 1.93 for the same five plan-form wings were made to illustrate the behavior of the vortex sheet. The surveys were conducted at 1.5, 3, and 4 root chords behind three triangular wings of 50 degree, 63 degree, and 72 degree leading-edge sweep angle, and behind the 50 degree triangular wing reversed" (p. 1067).