The critical velocity of a body towed by a cable from an airplane (open access)

The critical velocity of a body towed by a cable from an airplane

It is sufficient to consider only the equations of motion of the towed body whereas those of the cable may be left out of consideration. The result obtained makes it possible to determine which factors affect the critical velocity and what modifications of the instrument are necessary for extending the upper limit of that velocity.
Date: July 1937
Creator: Koning, C. & DeHaas, T. P.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Airspeed "Oxford" Training Airplane (British): A Two-Engine Cantilever Monoplane (open access)

The Airspeed "Oxford" Training Airplane (British): A Two-Engine Cantilever Monoplane

Circular describing the Airspeed A.S. 10 "Oxford", which is a twin-engine trainer with a variety of equipment, including propellers, landing gear, and other components.Details of the wings, fuselage, the inside, characteristics, performance, drawings, and photographs are provided.
Date: September 1937
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Fairey "Battle" Medium Bomber Airplane (British): An All-Metal Low-Wing Cantilever Monoplane (open access)

Fairey "Battle" Medium Bomber Airplane (British): An All-Metal Low-Wing Cantilever Monoplane

Circular presenting a description of the Fairey "Battle", which is the first stressed-skin aircraft they have constructed and is also an all-metal low-wing cantilever monoplane. Details of the fuselage, wings, skin, design, flaps, landing gear, characteristics, performance, drawings, and photographs are provided.
Date: November 1937
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Baynes Bee Light Airplane (British): A Two-Seat High-Wing Monoplane (open access)

Baynes Bee Light Airplane (British): A Two-Seat High-Wing Monoplane

Circular presenting a description of the Baynes Bee, which is a light two-seat high-wing monoplane. Details of its unique qualities, design, components, flying qualities, drawings, and photographs are provided.
Date: June 1937
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
Armstrong Whitworth 27 "Ensign" Commercial Airplane (British): An All-Metal High-Wing Monoplane (open access)

Armstrong Whitworth 27 "Ensign" Commercial Airplane (British): An All-Metal High-Wing Monoplane

Circular presenting a description of the Armstrong Whitworth monoplane, which is an all-metal, high-wing monoplane with landing gear that retracts into the wing-mounted engine nacelles. Details of the wings, wing spars, fuselage, controls, engines, speeds, drawings, and photographs are provided.
Date: May 1937
Creator: unknown
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Effect of Curvature on the Transition From Laminar to Turbulent Boundary Layer (open access)

The Effect of Curvature on the Transition From Laminar to Turbulent Boundary Layer

Note presenting a discrepancy between the predicted and actual point of transition from laminar to turbulent boundary layer that had been found. This effect may be due to the comparatively small radius of curvature of the upper surface of the wing.
Date: September 1937
Creator: Clauser, Milton & Clauser, Francis
System: The UNT Digital Library
Maximum Forces Applied by Pilots to Wheel-Type Controls (open access)

Maximum Forces Applied by Pilots to Wheel-Type Controls

"Measurements were made of the maximum push, pull, and tangential forces that could be applied to airplane wheel-type controls for a wide range of fore-and-aft positions of the wheel. The measurements were conducted with several sizes of wheels and several heights of the center of the wheel above the seat. Various one and two-hand grips with pilots both secure and free were studied for each of the two pilots used in the investigation" (p. 1).
Date: November 1937
Creator: McAvoy, William H.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Performance Characteristics of Venturi Tubes Used in Aircraft for Operating Air-Driven Gyroscopic Instruments (open access)

Performance Characteristics of Venturi Tubes Used in Aircraft for Operating Air-Driven Gyroscopic Instruments

"Wind tunnel and flight tests were made to determine the performance characteristics of two designs of commercially available venturi tubes used in airplanes to operate air-driven gyroscopic instruments. Data obtained at sea level may be used to make approximate predictions of performance at higher altitudes. There is some indication that this may also be done for single venturi tubes" (p. 1).
Date: November 1937
Creator: Sontag, Harcourt & Johnson, Daniel P.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Bending Tests of Circular Cylinders of Corrugated Aluminum-Alloy Sheet (open access)

Bending Tests of Circular Cylinders of Corrugated Aluminum-Alloy Sheet

"Bending tests were made of two circular cylinders of corrugated aluminum-alloy sheet. In each test failure occurred by bending of the corrugations in a plane normal to the skin. It was found, after analysis of the effect of short end bays, that the computed stress on the extreme fiber of a corrugated cylinder is in excess of that for a flat panel of the same basic pattern and panel length tested as a pin-ended column. It is concluded that this increased strength was due to the effects of curvature of the pitch line. It is also concluded from the tests that light bulkheads closely spaced strengthen corrugated cylinders very materially" (p. 1).
Date: March 1937
Creator: Niles, Alfred S.; Buckwalter, John C. & Reed, Warren D.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Spinning characteristics of wings 4: changes in stagger of rectangular Clark Y cellules (open access)

Spinning characteristics of wings 4: changes in stagger of rectangular Clark Y cellules

Report presenting testing of rectangular Clark-Y biplane cellules with zero and -0.25 stagger, the gap equal to the chord, and 0 degrees decalage were tested on the NACA spinning balance in the 5-foot vertical tunnel.
Date: December 1937
Creator: Bamber, M. J. & House, R. O.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Heat transfer from cylinders having closely spaced fins (open access)

Heat transfer from cylinders having closely spaced fins

The heat-transfer coefficients have been determined for five steel cylinders having fins 1.22 inches wide and the spacing between the fins ranging from 0.022 to 0.131 inch. The cylinders were tested with and without baffles in a wind tunnel; they were also tested enclosed in jackets with the cooling air supplied by a blower. A maximum heat transfer was reached at a fin space of about 0.45 inch for the cylinders tested with each of the three methods of cooling investigated. The rise in temperature of the air passing between the fins and the change in flow pattern were found to be important factors limiting the heat transfer that may be obtained by decreasing the fin space. The use of baffles for directing the air around the cylinders with closely spaced fins proved very effective in increasing the over-all heat-transfer coefficient, provided that the spacing was not appreciably less than that for maximum heat transfer.
Date: May 1937
Creator: Biermann, Arnold E.
System: The UNT Digital Library
A preliminary study of flame propagation in a spark-ignition engine (open access)

A preliminary study of flame propagation in a spark-ignition engine

"The N.A.C.A. combustion apparatus was altered to operate as a fuel-injection, spark-ignition engine, and a preliminary study was made of the combustion of gasoline-air mixtures at various air-fuel ratios. Air-fuel ratios ranging from 10 to 21.6 were investigated. Records from an optical indicator and films from a high-speed motion-picture camera were the chief sources of data. Schlieren photography was used for an additional study" (p. 1).
Date: June 1937
Creator: Rothrock, A. M. & Spencer, R. C.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Effect of Curvature on the Transition From Laminar to Turbulent Boundary Layer (open access)

The Effect of Curvature on the Transition From Laminar to Turbulent Boundary Layer

"In the flow over the upper surface of a wing, a discrepancy between the predicted and actual point of transition from laminar to turbulent boundary layer was found. This effect may be due to the comparatively small radius of curvature of the upper surface of the wing. Tests were undertaken to investigate this effect. As far as the authors know, the present investigation is the first to show that curvature has a pronounced effect on the transition of the boundary layer from the laminar to the turbulent state" (p. 1).
Date: September 1937
Creator: Clauser, Milton & Clauser, Francis
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Study of the Factors Affecting the Range of Airplanes (open access)

A Study of the Factors Affecting the Range of Airplanes

A study was made of the most important factors affecting the range of airplanes. Numerical examples are given showing the effects of different variables on the range of a two-engine airplane. The takeoff problems of long-range airplanes are analyzed.
Date: February 1937
Creator: Biermann, David
System: The UNT Digital Library
Pressure drop across finned cylinders enclosed in a jacket (open access)

Pressure drop across finned cylinders enclosed in a jacket

The pressure drop across finned cylinders in a jacket for a range of air speeds from approximately 13 to 230 miles per hour has been investigated. Tests were made to determine the effect on the pressure drop of changes in fin space, fin width, jacket entrance and exit areas, skirt-approach radius, and the use of fillets and a separator plate at the rear of the cylinder. The pressure drop across the cylinder increased as the fin space decreased, the increase being very rapid at fin spaces smaller than approximately 0.20 inch. Fin width had little effect on the pressure drop for the range of widths tested. The pressure drop across the cylinder was nearly halved by increasing the skirt-approach radius from 3/4 inch to 1-1/4 inches, but fillets and a separator plate at the rear of the cylinder had little effect on the pressure drop. The pressure drop across a cylinder with tapered fins was greater than that for a cylinder having rectangular fins with the same effective fin spacing.
Date: November 1937
Creator: Rollin, Vern G. & Ellerbrock, Herman H., Jr.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Pressure Drop in Tubing in Aircraft Instrument Installations (open access)

Pressure Drop in Tubing in Aircraft Instrument Installations

"The theoretical basis of calculation of pressure drop in tubing is reviewed briefly. The effect of pressure drop in connecting tubing upon the operation and indication of aircraft instruments is discussed. Approximate equations are developed, and charts and tables based upon them are presented for use in designing installations of altimeters, air-speed indicators, rate-of-climb indicators, and air-driven gyroscopic instruments" (p. 1).
Date: February 1937
Creator: Wildhack, W. A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Spinning Characteristics of Wings 3: A Rectangular and Tapered Clark Y Monoplane Wing with Rounded Tips (open access)

Spinning Characteristics of Wings 3: A Rectangular and Tapered Clark Y Monoplane Wing with Rounded Tips

An investigation was made to determine the spinning characteristics of Clark Y monoplane wings with different plan forms. A rectangular wing and a wing tapered 5:2, both with rounded tips, were tested on the N.A.C.A. spinning balance in the 5-foot vertical wind tunnel. The aerodynamic characteristics of the models and a prediction of the angles of sideslip for steady spins are given. Also included is an estimate of the yawning moment that must be furnished by the parts of the airplane to balance the inertia couples and wing yawing moment for spinning equilibrium. The effects on the spin of changes in plan form and of variations of some of the important parameters are discussed and the results are compared with those for a rectangular wing with square tips. It is concluded that for a conventional monoplane using Clark Y wing the sideslip will be algebraically larger for the wing with the rounded tip than for the wing with the square tip and will be largest for the tapered wing. The effect of plan form on the spin will vary with the type of airplane; and the provision of a yawing-moment coefficient of -0.025 (i.e., opposing the spin) by the tail, …
Date: September 1937
Creator: Bamber, M. J. & House, R. O.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Tank tests of two models of flying-boat hulls to determine the effect of ventilating the step (open access)

Tank tests of two models of flying-boat hulls to determine the effect of ventilating the step

From Summary: "The results of tests made in the N.A.C.A. tank on two models of flying-boat hulls to determine the effect of ventilating the step are given graphically. The step of N.A.C.A. model 11-C was ventilated in several different ways and it was found that the resistance of the normal form is not appreciably affected by artificial ventilation in any of the forms tried. Further tests made with the depth of the step of model 11-C reduced likewise show no appreciable effect on the resistance from ventilation of the step. Tests were made on a model of the hull of the Navy P3M-1 flying-boat hull both with and without ventilation of the step. It was found that the discontinuity which is obtained in the resistance curves of this model is eliminated by ventilating the step."
Date: February 1937
Creator: Dawson, John R.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Flight tests of an airplane showing dependence of the maximum lift coefficient on the test conditions (open access)

Flight tests of an airplane showing dependence of the maximum lift coefficient on the test conditions

"Data are presented to show the extent to which the maximum lift coefficient and consequently the minimum speed of an airplane, determined by flight tests, may vary with test conditions. The data show that cl-max may vary as much as 14 percent, depending on the altitude and wing loading at which the tests were made, the position or motion of the propeller, and the rate at which the angle of attack is changing when the maximum lift coefficient is obtained. The variation of the maximum lift coefficient with these factors, which are under the control of the test engineer, shows the need of standardizing the test procedure. A further variation is shown with wing conditions as affected by weathering and vibration, factors that cannot be completely controlled" (p. 1).
Date: November 1937
Creator: Soulé, H. A. & Hootman, James A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Full-Scale Wind-Tunnel and Flight Tests of a Fairchild 22 Airplane Equipped With External-Airfoil Flaps (open access)

Full-Scale Wind-Tunnel and Flight Tests of a Fairchild 22 Airplane Equipped With External-Airfoil Flaps

"Wind-tunnel and flight tests have been made of a Fairchild 22 airplane equipped with a wing having external-airfoil flaps that also perform the function of ailerons. Lift, drag, and pitching-moment coefficients of the airplane with several flap settings, and the rolling- and yawing-moment coefficients with the flaps deflected as ailerons were measured in the full-scale tunnel with the horizontal tail surfaces and propeller removed. The effect of the flaps on the low speed and on the take-off and landing characteristics, the effectiveness of flaps when used as ailerons, and the forces required to operate them as ailerons were determined in flight" (p. 1).
Date: July 1937
Creator: Reed, Warren D. & Clay, William C.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Fuselage-drag tests in the variable-density wind tunnel: streamline bodies of revolution, fineness ratio of 5 (open access)

Fuselage-drag tests in the variable-density wind tunnel: streamline bodies of revolution, fineness ratio of 5

From Summary: "Results are presented of the drag tests of six bodies of revolution with systematically varying shapes and with a fineness ratio of 5. The forms were derived from source-sink distributions, and formulas are presented for the calculation of the pressure distribution of the forms. The tests were made in the N.A.C.A. variable-density tunnel over a range of values of Reynolds number from about 1,500,000 to 25,000,000. The results show that the bodies with the sharper noses and tails have the lowest drag coefficients, even when the drag coefficients are based on the two-thirds power of the volume. The data shows the most important single characteristic of the body form to be the tail angle, which must be fine to obtain low drag."
Date: September 1937
Creator: Abbott, Ira H.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Noise From Propellers With Symmetrical Sections at Zero Blade Angle (open access)

Noise From Propellers With Symmetrical Sections at Zero Blade Angle

"A theory has been deduced for the "rotation noise" from a propeller with blades of symmetrical section about the chord line and set at zero blade angle. Owing to the limitation of the theory, the equations give without appreciable error only the sound pressure for cases where the wave lengths are large compared with the blade lengths. With the aid of experimental data obtained from a two-blade arrangement, an empirical relation was introduced that permitted calculation of higher harmonics" (p. 1).
Date: July 1937
Creator: Deming, A. F.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Motion of the Two-Control Airplane in Rectilinear Flight After Initial Disturbances With Introduction of Controls Following an Exponential Law (open access)

Motion of the Two-Control Airplane in Rectilinear Flight After Initial Disturbances With Introduction of Controls Following an Exponential Law

"An airplane in steady rectilinear flight was assumed to experience an initial disturbance in rolling or yawing velocity. The equations of motion were solved to see if it was possible to hasten recovery of a stable airplane or to secure recovery of an unstable airplane by the application of a single lateral control following an exponential law. The sample computations indicate that, for initial disturbances complex in character, it would be difficult to secure correlation with any type of exponential control" (p. 1).
Date: September 1937
Creator: Klemin, Alexander
System: The UNT Digital Library
Strain Measurements on Small Duralumin Box Beams in Bending (open access)

Strain Measurements on Small Duralumin Box Beams in Bending

"Extensive strain-gage measurements were made chiefly on the tension side of five small rectangular box beams constructed of sheet duralumin. The main conclusion was that within the test range the tension cover may be considered as being fully effective but that at any given point on the beam there may be unaccountable variations of 5 percent from the calculated stresses on the thicker sheets tested (0.044 and 0.023 inch) and of 10 percent or more on the thinnest sheet tested (0.014 inch)" (p. 1).
Date: January 1937
Creator: Kuhn, Paul
System: The UNT Digital Library