From Summary: "A description of the test methods used at the National Bureau of Standards for determining the characteristics of aircraft compasses is given. The methods described are particularly applicable to compasses in which mineral oil is used as the damping liquid. Data on the viscosity and density of certain mineral oils used in United States Navy aircraft compasses are presented. Results of flight tests are presented."

This report presents the results of tests of a 4-foot model of Navy propeller No. 4412 in conjunction with an NACA cowled nacelle mounted ahead of a thick wing in the 20-foot propeller-research tunnel. A range of propeller pitches from 17 degrees to 42 degrees at 0.75r was covered, and for this propeller the efficiency reached a maximum at a pitch setting of 27 degrees; at high pitches the efficiencies were slightly lower. The corrected propulsive efficiency is shown to be independent of the angle of attack for the high-speed and the climbing ranges of flight.

Report presents the results of a study made to determine the air-flow characteristics around finned cylinders. Air-flow distribution is given for a smooth cylinder, for a finned cylinder having several fin spacings and fin widths, and for a cylinder with several types of baffle with various entrance and exit shapes. The results of these tests show: that flow characteristics around a cylinder are not so critical to changes in fin width as they are to fin spacing; that the entrance of the baffle has a marked influence on its efficiency; that properly designed baffles increase the air flow over the rear of the cylinder; and that these tests check those of heat-transfer tests in the choice of the best baffle.

Typical models and the testing technique used in the NACA free-spinning wind tunnel are described in detail. The results of tests on two models afford a comparison between the spinning characteristics of scale models in the tunnel and of the airplanes that they represent.

Report presents the results of wind tunnel tests of the Clark Y, the NACA 23012 and the NACA 23021 airfoils equipped with full-span ordinary flaps and with full-span simple split flaps. The principal object of the tests was to determine the characteristics of the airfoils with ordinary flaps and in addition, to determine the relative merits of the various airfoils when equipped with either ordinary flaps or with simple split flaps. The Clark Y airfoil was tested with 3 widths of ordinary flap, 10, 20, and 30 percent of the airfoil chord.

Report presents the results of an investigation conducted to study the effects of the inert gases, argon and helium, upon flame speed and expansion ratio in exploding mixtures of carbon monoxide, oxygen and water. For the particular gas mixtures investigated the results show that: (1) With the possible exception of helium in small amounts the addition of inert gas always produces decreased flame speed and expansion ratio; (2) like volumes of argon and helium have very different effects upon flame speed but practically the same effect upon expansion ratio; and (3) the difference in the effect of these two gases upon speed is independent of the ratio of carbon monoxide to oxygen. A discussion of some possible modes by which inert gases may produce the observed effects is included.

This report describes an investigation using a stroboscopic apparatus for observing flame movement through a large number of small windows distributed over the head of a spark-ignition engine in following flame spread with combustion chambers of different shapes at two engine speed and for a variety of spark-plug locations including single and twin ignition. The principal factors influencing flame movement in the engine are discussed, and the lack of reliable information regarding their separate effects upon the structure of the flame and its speed of propagation are emphasized.

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.

"High-speed motion pictures were taken at the rate of 2,500 frames per second of the fuel spray and flame formation in the combustion chamber of the NACA combustion apparatus. The compression ratio was 13.2 and the speed 1,500 revolutions per minute. An optical indicator was used to record the time-pressure relationship in the combustion chamber. The air-fuel ratio was varied from 10.4 to 365. The results showed that as the air-fuel ratio was increased definite stratification of the charge occurred in the combustion chamber even though moderate air flow existed. The results also showed the rate of vapor diffusion to be relatively slow" (p. 119).

This report presents the results of wind tunnel tests to determine the effectiveness of various methods of reducing the high control forces of unbalanced upper-surface ailerons and of unbalanced split flaps. A balanced split flap was developed that required control forces about half those of the unbalanced split flap when the balanced split flap was deflected to give approximately the same maximum lift.

"Fuel injected into a spherical bomb filled with air at a desired density and temperature could be ignited with a spark a few thousandths of a second after injection, an interval comparable with the ignition lag in fuel-injection engines. The effect of several variables on the extent and rate of combustion was investigated: time intervals between injection and ignition of fuel of 0.003 to 0.06 second and one of 5 minutes; initial air temperatures of 100 degrees C. to 250 degrees C.; initial air densities equivalent to 5, 10, and 15 absolute atmospheres pressure at 100 degrees C.; and air-fuel ratios of 5 to 25" (p. 107).

"The theory of wind tunnel boundary influence on the downwash from a wing has been extended to provide more complete corrections for application to airplane test data. The first section of the report gives the corrections of the lifting line for wing positions above or below the tunnel center line; the second section shows the manner in which the induced boundary influence changes with distance aft of the lifting line. Values of the boundary corrections are given for off-center positions of the wing in circular, square, 2:1 rectangular, and 2:1 elliptical tunnels" (p. 135).

"In determining the effect of turbulence on the forces exerted on bodies in the air stream of a wind tunnel, it is commonly assumed that the indications of the standard Pitot-static tube used to determine the air speed are not dependent on the turbulence. To investigate the truth of this assumption, the drag of a normally exposed flat plate, the difference in pressure between the front and rear of a thin circular disk, the rate of rotation of a vane anemometer, and the pressure developed by a standard Pitot-static tube were measured in an air stream for several conditions of turbulence. The results may be interpreted as indicating that there is no appreciable effect of turbulence on the vane anemometer and the standard pitot-static tube, but that there is small effect on the drag of a flat plate and the pressure difference between front and rear of a disk" (p. 129).

From Summary: "The NACA model 40 series of flying-boat hull models consists of 2 forebodies and 3 afterbodies combined to provide several forms suitable for use in small marine aircraft. One forebody is the usual form with hollow bow sections and the other has a bottom surface that is completely developable from bow to step. The afterbodies include a short pointed afterbody with an extension for the tail surfaces, a long afterbody similar to that of a seaplane float but long enough to carry the tail surfaces, and a third obtained by fitting a second step in the latter afterbody."

From Summary: "A rigorous treatment is given of the problem of determining the two-dimensional potential flow around arbitrary biplane cellules. The analysis involves the use of elliptic functions and is sufficiently general to include the effects of such elements as the section shapes, the chord ratio, gap, stagger, and decalage, which elements may be specified arbitrarily. The flow problem is resolved by making use of the methods of conformal representation. Thus the solution of the problem of transforming conformally two arbitrary contours into two circles is expressed by a pair of simultaneous integral equations, for which a method of numerical solution is outlined."

This report gives the results of an investigation conducted in the NACA full-scale wind tunnel on a small parasol monoplane equipped with three different split trailing-edge wing flaps. The object of the investigation was to determine and correlate data on the characteristics of the airplane and flaps as affected by variation in flap chord, flap deflection, and flap location along the wing chord. The results give the lift, the drag, and the pitching moment characteristics of the airplane, and the flap forces and moments, the pressure distribution over the flaps and wing at one section, and the downwash characteristics of the flap and wing combinations.

A family of related airfoils having the position of maximum camber unusually far forward was investigated in the variable-density tunnel as an extension of the study recently completed of a large number of related airfoils. The new airfoils gave improved characteristics over those previously investigated, especially in regard to the pitching moment. Some of the new sections are markedly superior to well-known and commonly used sections and should replace them in applications requiring a slightly cambered section of moderate thickness having a small pitching-moment coefficient.

From Summary: "An investigation was made to determine whether a sufficient amount of hydrogen could be efficiently burned in a compression-ignition engine to compensate for the increase of lift of an airship due to the consumption of the fuel oil. The performance of a single-cylinder four-stroke-cycle compression-ignition engine operating on fuel oil alone was compared with its performance when various quantities of hydrogen were inducted with the inlet air. Engine-performance data, indicator cards, and exhaust-gas samples were obtained for each change in engine-operating conditions."

This report presents the results of performance test conducted on a six-cylinder commercial fuel-injection pump that was adjusted to give uniform fuel distribution among the cylinders at a throttle setting of 0.00038 pound per injection and a pump speed of 750 revolutions per minute. The throttle setting and pump speed were then varied through the operating range to determine the uniformity of distribution and regularity of injection.

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.

"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).

"A flight investigation of the spinning of the F4B-2 single-seat fighter airplane was made for the purpose of finding modifications that would eliminate dangerous spin tendencies exhibited by this type of airplane in service. The effects on steady spins and on recoveries of changing the loading, enlarging the fin areas, changing the elevator plan form, and raising the horizontal surfaces, were determined" (p. 413).

This report presents the results of an investigation conducted in the NACA 7 by 10-foot wind tunnel of control surfaces equipped with tabs for reducing the control forces or trimming the aircraft. Two sizes of ordinary ailerons with several sizes of attached and inset tabs were tested on a Clark y wing. Tabs were also tested in combination with auxiliary balances of the horn and paddle types, and with a frise balance aileron.