This report is a description of a method of propelling airplanes by the reaction of jet propulsion. Air is compressed and mixed with fuel in a combustion chamber, where the mixture burns at constant pressure. The combustion products issue through a nozzle, and the reaction of that of the motor-driven air screw. The computations are outlined and the results given by tables and curves.

This report describes and develops methods by which the aerodynamic characteristics of an airfoil may be calculated with sufficient accuracy for use in airplane design. These methods for prediction are based on the present aerodynamic theory and on empirical formulas derived from data obtained in the N. A. C. A. variable density wind tunnel at a Reynolds number corresponding approximately to full scale. (author).

"The work presented in this report was undertaken at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics to determine a suitable method for measuring the maximum pressures occurring in aircraft engine cylinders. The study and development of instruments for the measurement of maximum cylinder pressures has been conducted in connection with carburetor and oil engine investigations on a single cylinder aircraft-type engine. Five maximum cylinder-pressure devices have been designed, and tested, in addition to the testing of three commercial indicators" (p. 311).

"Aerodynamic tests were made with four geometrically similar metal propellers of different diameters, on a Wright "Whirlwind" J-5 engine in an open cockpit fuselage. The results show little difference in the characteristics of the various propellers, the only one of any importance being an increase of efficiency of the order of 1 per cent for a 5 per cent increase of diameter, within the range of the tests" (p. 107).

This report presents the results of an investigation to determine the effect of different supercharger capacities on the performance of an airplane and its engine . The tests were conducted on a DH4-M2 airplane powered with a Liberty 12 engine. In this investigation four supercharger capacities, obtained by driving a roots type supercharger at 1.615, 1.957, 2.4, and 3 time engine speed, were used to maintain sea-level pressure at the carburetor to altitudes of 7,000, 11,500, 17,000, and 22,000 feet, respectively. The performance of the airplane in climb and in level flight was determined for each of the four supercharger drive ratios and for the unsupercharged condition.

"This report gives the full-scale aerodynamic characteristics of five different aluminum alloy propellers having four different blade forms. They were tested on an open cockpit fuselage with a radial air-cooled engine having conventional cowling. The results show that (1) the differences in propulsive efficiency due to the differences in blade form were small; (2) the form with the thinnest airfoil sections had the highest efficiency; (3) it is advantageous as regards propulsive efficiency for a propeller operating in front of a body, such as a radial engine, to have its pitch reduced toward the hub" (p. 123).

This report presents the results of full-scale tests made on a 10-foot 5-inch propeller on a geared J-5 engine and also on a similar 8-foot 11-inch propeller on a direct-drive J-5 engine. Each propeller was tested at two different pitch settings, and with a large and a small fuselage. The investigation was made in such a manner that the propeller-body interference factors were isolated, and it was found that, considering this interference only, the geared propellers had an appreciable advantage in propulsive efficiency, partially due to the larger diameter of the propellers with respect to the bodies, and partially because the geared propellers were located farther ahead of the engines and bodies.

"Working charts are given for the convenient selection of aluminum alloy propellers of a standard form, to operate in connection with six different engine-fuselage combinations. The charts have been prepared from full-scale test data obtained in the 20-foot propeller research tunnel of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. An example is also given showing the use of the charts" (p. 3).

Experimental data are presented on the variation of the modulus of rigidity in the temperature range -20 to +50 degrees C. of a number of metals which are of possible use for elastic elements for aircraft and other instruments. The methods of the torsional pendulum was used to determine the modulus of rigidity and its temperature coefficient for aluminum, duralumin, monel metal, brass, phosphor bronze, coin silver, nickel silver, three high carbon steels, and three alloy steels. It was observed that tensile stress affected the values of the modulus by amounts of 1 per cent or less.

"The report presents a new treatment, due essentially to von Karman, of the problem of the thin airfoil. The standard formulae for the angle of zero lift and zero moment are first developed and the analysis is then extended to give the effect of disturbing or interference velocities, corresponding to an arbitrary potential flow, which are superimposed on a normal rectilinear flow over the airfoil. An approximate method is presented for obtaining the velocities induced by a 2-dimensional airfoil at a point some distance away" (p. 637).

This report presents the results of deceleration tests conducted for the purpose of determining the drag characteristics of six airships. The tests were made with airships of various shapes and sizes belonging to the Army, the Navy, and the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation. Drag coefficients for the following airships are shown: Army TC-6, TC-10, and TE-2; Navy Los Angeles and ZMC-2; Goodyear Puritan. The coefficients vary from about 0.045 for the small blunt airships to 0.023 for the relatively large slender Los Angeles. This variation may be due to a combination of effects, but the most important of these is probably the effect of length-diameter ratio.

"This report gives the results of pressure-distribution tests made to study the effects on lateral stability of changing the span-load distribution on a rectangular monoplane wing model of fairly thick section. Three methods of changing the distribution were employed: variation in profile along the span to a thin symmetrical section at the tip, twist from +5 degrees to -15 degrees at the tip, and sweepback from +20 degrees to -20 degrees. The tests were conducted in a 5-foot closed-throat atmospheric wind tunnel" (p. 567).

"Formulas are derived for computing the instantaneous pressures delivered by a fuel pump. The first derivation considers the compressibility of the fuel and the second, the compressibility, elasticity, and inertia of the fuel. The second derivation follows that given by Sass; it is shown to be the more accurate of the two. Additional formulas are given for determining the resistance losses in the injection tube" (p. 621).

"In connection with the study of aircraft and propeller noises, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics has developed an instrument for sound-frequency analysis which differs fundamentally from previous types, and which, owing to its simplicity of principle, construction, and operation, has proved to be of value in this investigation. The method is based on the well-known fact that the Ohmic loss in an electrical resistance is equal to the sum of the losses of the harmonic components of a complex wave, except for the case in which any two components approach or attain vectorial identity, in which case the Ohmic loss is increased by a definite amount" (p. 605).

"Data are presented on the kinematic viscosity, in the temperature range -50 degrees to +30 degrees C. of pure liquids and of solutions of animal oils, vegetable oils, mineral oils, glycerine, and ethylene glycol in various low freezing point solvents. It is shown that the thermal coefficient of kinematic viscosity as a function of the kinematic viscosity of the solutions of glycerine and ethylene glycol in alcohols is practically independent of the temperature and the chemical composition of the individual liquids. This is similarly true for the mineral oil group and, for a limited temperature interval, for the pure animal and vegetable oils. The efficiency of naphthol, hydroquinone, and diphenylamine to inhibit the change of viscosity of poppyseed and linseed oils was also investigated" (p. 679).

This report gives a complete description of the full-scale wind tunnel of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.

"This report gives a description of the high-speed wind tunnel of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. The operation of the tunnel is also described and the method of presenting the data is given. An account of an investigation of the aerodynamic properties of six propeller sections is included" (p. 399).

This report presents the results of an investigation of the corrosion of aluminum alloy sheet materials used in aircraft. It has for its purpose to study the causes of corrosion embrittlement in duralumin-type alloys and the development of methods for its elimination. The report contains results, obtained in an extensive series of weather-exposure tests, which reveal the extent to which the resistance of the materials to corrosion was affected by variable factors in their heat treatment and by the application of various surface protective coatings.

"This report gives the results of tests in the NACA full-scale and variable-density tunnels of a new wing section, the NACA 23012, which is one of the more promising of an extended series of related airfoils recently developed. The tests were made at several values of the Reynolds number between 1,000,000 and 8,000,000. The new airfoil develops a reasonably high maximum lift and a low profile drag, which results in an unusually high value of the speed-range index. In addition, the pitching-moment coefficient is very small" (p. 435).

This report presents the results of tests of 209 simple wing-fuselage combinations made in the NACA variable-density wind tunnel to provide information regarding the effects of aerodynamic interference between wings and fuselages at a large value of Reynolds number.

This report describes a method of determining the turbulence in wind tunnels. The effect of turbulence upon the diffusion of heat from a small electrically heated wire in an air stream was investigated. The turbulence of the stream was introduced by a series of geometrically similar screens placed one at a time across the upstream section of the tunnel. With the wire set at various distances from the screens, curves of temperature distribution were obtained by traversing the heated wake at a distance of 2 inches behind the wire with a small thermocouple.

From Summary: "The published data on the distribution of speed near a thin flat plate with sharp leading edge placed parallel to the flow (skin friction plate) are reviewed and the results of some additional measurements are described. The purpose of the experiments was to study the basic phenomena of boundary-layer flow under simple conditions."

Report presents the results of tests conducted on 28 wing-fuselage combinations made in the variable-density wind tunnel as a part of the wing-fuselage interference program being conducted therein and in addition to the 209 combinations previously reported in NACA-TR-540. These tests practically complete the study of combinations with a rectangular fuselage and continue the study of combinations with a round fuselage and a tapered wing.

"Fuel was injected from different type of injection nozzles into the combustion chamber of the NACA combustion apparatus, operated as a compression-ignition engine. High speed motion pictures were taken of the fuel sprays and combustion. Single-orifice nozzles of 0.008, 0.020, and 0.040 inch diameter, and multiorifice nozzles having 2, 6, and 16 orifices were tested. Nozzles having impinging jets and slit orifices were also included" (p. 327).