NACA instrumentation has been installed in the X-4 airplanes to obtain stability and control data during the acceptance tests conducted by the Northrop Aircraft Corporation. This report presents data obtained on the stalling characteristics of the airplane in the clean and gear- down configurations. The center of gravity was located at approximately 18 percent of the mean aerodynamic chord during the tests. The results indicated that the airplane was not completely stalled when stall was gradually approached during nominally U accelerated flight but that it was completely stalled during a more abruptly approached stall in accelerated flight. The stall in accelerated flight was relatively mild, and this was attributed to the nature of the variation of lift with angle of attack for the 001-614 airfoil section, the plan form of the wing, and to the fact that the initial sideslip at the stall produced (as shown by wind-tunnel tests of a model of the airplane) a more symmetrical stall pattern.

Report presenting testing of a medium-camber compressor rotor with particular NACA blades in a low-speed 28-inch test blower. Testing was made at solidities of 1.0 and 0.5 without guide vanes or stators over a wide range of blade-setting angles and quantity flow rates. Results regarding overall rotor performance, comparison between measured and estimated section efficiencies near design angle of attack, comparison between low-speed rotor and cascade turning angles, and detailed blade section performance are provided.

Report presenting a discussion of the rolling effectiveness of deflected fins, flaps, spoilers, and jet devices that can be used on fin-stabilized ammunition. The possible applications and some of the significant factors affecting the performance of each device are described. The selection of one control over another appears to be mostly designer's choice with some exceptions depending on the roll requirements in a given situation.

"In order to determine the effect of shape, compressibility, and Reynolds number on the drag and critical speed for simple forms, the drag forces on models of various simple geometric cross sections were measured in the NACA 11-inch high-speed wind tunnel. The models were circular, semitubular, elliptical, square, and triangular (isosceles) cylinders. They were tested over a speed range from 5 percent of the speed of sound to a value in excess of the critical speed, corresponding, for each model, approximately to a tenfold Reynolds number range, which extended from a minimum of 840 for the smallest model to a maximum of 310,000 for the largest model" (p. 169).

Report presents the results of flight tests comparing the relative effectiveness of conventional ailerons of the same size on wings of rectangular and tapered plan forms made with a Fairchild 22 airplane. Information is included comparing conventional and floating wing-tip ailerons on a tapered wing. The results showed that the conventional ailerons were somewhat more effective on the tapered than on the rectangular wing. The difference, however, was so small as to be imperceptible to the pilots. The floating wing-tip ailerons were only half as effective as the conventional ailerons and, for this reason, were considered unsatisfactory.

This report presents the results of wind tunnel tests to determine the effect of wing-tip shape and dihedral on some of the aerodynamic characteristics of Clark Y wings that affect the performance and lateral stability of airplanes. Force tests at several angles of yaw and rotation tests at zero yaw were made. From these tests the rates of change of rolling moment, yawing moment, and cross-wind force coefficients with angle of yaw and the rate of change of rolling moment coefficient with rolling were determined.

This report presents the results of measurements of flow in the boundary layer of a 1/40-scale model of the U. S. Airship "Akron" (ZRS-4) made with the object of determining the boundary-layer thickness, the point of transition from laminar to the turbulent flow, and the velocity distribution in the boundary layer.

This report presents the results of an investigation to determine the variations in intensity and spectral distribution of the radiant energy emitted by the flames during normal and knocking explosions in an engine. Radiation extending into the infrared was transmitted by a window of fluorite, placed either near the spark plug or over the detonation zone at opposite ends of the combustion chamber. Concave, surface-silvered mirrors focused the beam, first at the slit of a stroboscope which opened for about 2 degrees of crank angle at any desired point in the engine cycle, and then upon the target of a sensitive thermocouple for measuring radiation intensity.

This report deals with the design of plywood webs for wooden box beams to obtain maximum strength per unit weight. A method of arriving at the most efficient and economical web thickness, and hence the most suitable unit shear stress, is presented and working stresses in shear for various types of webs and species of plywood are given. The questions of diaphragm spacing and required glue area between the webs and flange are also discussed.

"Experimental results on the effect of the length-diameter ratio of the orifice on the spray characteristics, together with a brief analysis of the factors affecting these characteristics, are presented in this report. The length-diameter ratios tested ranged from 0.5 to 10; the orifice diameters from 0.008 to 0.040 inch; and the injection pressures from 2,000 to 8,000 pounds per square inch. The density of the air into which the fuel was discharged was varied from 0.38 to 1.35 pounds per cubic foot" (p. 79).

This report presents the results of wind tunnel tests conducted to determine the aerodynamic characteristics of airship models. Eight Goodyear-Zeppelin airship models were tested in the original closed-throat tunnel. After the tunnel was rebuilt with an open throat a new model was tested, and one of the Goodyear-Zeppelin models was retested. The results indicate that much may be done to determine the drag of airships from evaluations of the pressure and skin-frictional drags on models tested at large Reynolds number.

Available measurements of the derived gust velocities within thunderstorms are summarized for altitudes from 5,000 to 34,000 feet. The results indicate that the intensity of the derived gust velocity is essentially constant up to altitudes of 20,000 feet and that an approximate 10-percent reduction in the gust intensity occurs for altitudes from 20,000 to 30,000 feet.

This research was undertaken in connection with a general study of the application of the fuel injection engine to aircraft. The purpose of the investigation was to determine the effect of four important factors in the design of a centrifugal type automatic injection valve on the penetration, general shape, and distribution of oil sprays. The general method employed was to record the development of single sprays by means of special high-speed photographic apparatus capable of taking 25 consecutive pictures of the moving spray at a rate of 4,000 per second. Investigations were made concerning the effects on spray characteristics, of the helix angle of helical grooves, the ratio of the cross-sectional area of the orifice to that of the grooves, the ratio of orifice length to diameter, and the position of the seat. Maximum spray penetration was obtained with a ratio of orifice length to diameter of about 1.5. Slightly greater penetration was obtained with the seat directly before the orifice.

"The pressure distribution tests described in this report, covering angles of attack up to 90 degrees, were made on a rectangular monoplane wing model in the atmospheric wind tunnel of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory. These tests indicate that a rectangular wing, by reason of its large tip loads, is uneconomical aerodynamically and structurally, has pronounced lateral instability above maximum lift, and is not adaptable to accurate calculation based on the classical wing theory" (p. 197).