Report discussing the A.B.C. Motors Robin, a single-seat monoplane that was built for pilot comfort, speed, and fuel efficiency. Information about the structural design, dimensions, weight, performance, and rough blueprints is included.

Note describing the variation in the number of revolutions per minute and provides simple formulas that allow for advanced calculation to be made of the variation of propeller speed with variation of one or more dimensions of the propeller and allow the necessary corrections to be applied.

We are undertaking the task of computing the air forces on a slightly cambered airfoil in the absence of friction and with an infinite aspect ratio. We also assume in advance that the leading edge is very sharp and that its tangent lies in the direction of motion.

It is stated that the index value 6000, as found in normal tests of wing sections with a 20 cm chord, falls in the same region where the transition of laminar to turbulent flow takes place on thin flat plates. It is to be expected that slightly cambered, thin wing sections will behave similarly. The following test of two such wing sections were made for the purpose of verifying this supposition.

"Airfoils with their trailing edge cut away are often found on aircraft, as the fins on the hulls of flying boats and the central section of the wings for affording better visibility. It was therefore of some interest to discover the effect of such cutaways on the lift and drag and on the position of the center of pressure. For this purpose, systematic experiments were performed on two different airfoils, a symmetrical airfoil and an airfoil of medium thickness, with successive shortenings of their chords" (p. 1).

This report presents the results of various experiments carried out at the Gottingen Aerodynamic Institute. These include: experiments with Joukowski wing profiles; experiments on an airplane model with a built-in motor and functioning propeller; and the rotating cylinder (Magnus Effect).

"Through the utilization of the "Magnus effect" on the Flettner rotor ship, the attention of the public has been directed to the underlying physical principle. It has been found that the Prandtl boundary-layer theory furnishes a satisfactory explanation of the observed phenomena. The present article deals with the prevention of this separation or detachment of the flow by drawing the boundary layer into the inside of a body through a slot or slots in its surface" (p. 1).

"Our attempts to improve the properties of airfoils by removing the boundary layer by suction, go back to 1922. The object of the suction is chiefly to prevent the detachment of the boundary layer from the surface of the airfoil. At large angles of attack, such detachment prevents the attainment of the great lift promised by the theory, besides greatly increasing the drag, especially of thick airfoils. This report gives results of those experiments" (p. 1).

In this report is described an experimental method which the writer has evolved for dealing with air-cooled engines, and some of the data obtained by its means. Methods of temperature measurement and cooling are provided.

This report was prepared for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and presents the results of investigations conducted by the Forest Products Laboratory of the United States Forest Service on the manufacture, preparation, application, testing and physical properties of the different types of glues used in wood airplane parts.

Hitherto, definite specifications have always been made for fuel oils and they have been classified as more or less good or non-utilizable. The present aim, however, is to build Diesel engines capable of using even the poorest liquid fuels and especially the waste products of the oil industry, without special chemical or physical preparation.

"In order to apply profitably the mathematical methods of hydrodynamics to aeronautical problems, it is necessary to make simplifications in the physical conditions of the latter. In a valuable paper presented by Dr. Max M. Munk, of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, Washington, to the Delft Conference in April, 1924, these necessary simplifying assumptions are discussed in detail. It is the purpose of the present paper to present in as simple a manner as possible some of the interesting results obtained by Dr. Munk's methods" (p. 93).

This article deals principally with Professor Bairstow's experiments on autorotation, in which the wing is free to rotate about an axis in its plane of symmetry, which axis is parallel with the direction of the wind.

The problem before us is to determine the total stresses in an axially loaded column of any degree of restraint which is also subject to transverse bending both from a uniformly distributed load and from concentrated loads. The solution of this problem is of special importance in the design of aircraft which consist of slender columns" (p. 1).

The organization of a meteorological service for an air route involves the solution of two distinct problems: distribution and grouping of meteorological stations and communications. Experience gained in the establishment of two lines, Paris-Warsaw and Constantinople-Bucharest enables us to establish certain principles, which may be of interest to note here.

From Summary: "The difficulties experienced in properly holding thin tipped or tapered airfoils while testing on an N.P.L. type aerodynamic balance even at low air speeds, and the impossibility of holding even solid metal models at the high speeds attainable at the National Advisory Committee's wind tunnel, necessitated the design of a balance which would hold model airfoils of any thickness and at speeds up to 150 m.p.h. In addition to mechanical strength and rigidity, it was highly desirable that the balance readings should require a minimum amount of correction and mathematical manipulation in order to obtain the lift and drag coefficients and the center of pressure. The balance described herein is similar to one in use at the University of Gottingen, the main difference lying in the addition of a device for reading the center of pressure directly, without the necessity of any correction whatsoever. Details of the design and operation of the device are given."

This report is broken up into two sections: one about the regulators for speed of wind tunnel drive motor and one about a vernier manometer with adjustable sensitivity.

This work was undertaken to obtain results on a small model of a complete airplane which might be used for comparison with corresponding tests made in full flight. Somewhat similar tests have been previously made at various other laboratories; but as certain discrepancies exist between corresponding tests in different tunnels, it has been deemed advisable to obtain a direct comparison for this particular installation. The present work covers tests on a one-twenty-fourth scale model at speeds varying from 6.7 m/sec. (15 m.p.h.) to 40.2 m/sec, (90 m.p.h.). A slip stream correction has been obtained by the use of a small belt-driven propeller mounted in front of the model, and force coefficients thus obtained are compared with the measurements of the same forces made in full flight on a geometrically similar airplane. This report gives lift, drag, and longitudinal moment values obtained in tests of a particularly accurate model over a wide range of speeds. A measure of the slip stream corrections on lift and drag forces was obtained by the use of a power-driven model propeller. Measurements were also made of forces and longitudinal moments for all angles from 0 degree to 360 degrees.

In this report are described four different types of propellers which appeared at widely separated dates, but which were exhibited together at the last Salon de l'Aeronautique. The four propellers are the Chaviere variable pitch propeller, the variable pitch propeller used on the Clement Bayard dirigible, the variable pitch propeller used on Italian dirigibles, and the Levasseur variable pitch propeller.

From Summary: "A satisfactory confirmation of Reynolds law has been accomplished, the effect of means of support determined, the range of experiment greatly extended by work in the new variable density wind tunnel, and the effects of turbulence investigated by work in the tunnels and by towing and dropping tests in free air. It is concluded that the erratic nature of most of the previous work is due to support interference and differing turbulence conditions. While the question of support has been investigated thoroughly, a systematic and comprehensive study of the effects of scale and quality of turbulence will be necessary to complete the problem, as this phase was given only general treatment."

"This investigation was carried out in the 5-foot wind tunnel of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory for the purpose of obtaining more complete information on the distribution of lift between the ends of wing spars, the stresses in ailerons, and the general subject of airflow near the tip of a wing. It includes one series of tests on four models without ailerons, having square, elliptical, and raked tips respectively, and a second series of positively and negatively raked wings with ailerons adjusted to different settings. The results show that negatively raked tips give a more uniform distribution of air pressure than any of the other three arrangements, because the tip vortex does not disturb the flow at the trailing edge" (p. 105).

"The airflow about a model while being tested is often sufficiently affected by the model support to lead to erroneous conclusions unless appropriate corrections are used. In this paper some new material on the subject is presented, together with a review of the airfoil support corrections used in several other laboratories" (p. 1).

"A device which does for the aircraft what change speed gears do for the automobile is the invention of Spencer Heath. It comprises a system of special blades and a mechanism for varying the pitch of the blades from zero to 360 degrees, while in flight or otherwise. By adjusting the pitch, either before starting or while the engine is running, to a less than normal angle, the engine is allowed to pick up speed and deliver its maximum power which is necessary in taking-off with a heavier load than the same airplane could otherwise normally carry" (p. 1).

At the request of the N.A.C.A. the "Universal Propeller" was operated and explained by the inventor, Mr. Spencer Heath, for the purpose of demonstrating the following features of design: 1) Elimination of continuously running gears, collars or bearings in the pitch control mechanism; 2) The use of engine power in place of manual labor in changing blade angle; 3) The absence of any structural limitation to the range of blade angles available and the possibility of limiting the blade travel between any two predetermined extreme positions; 4) Continuous indication on the instrument board of the blade position; 5) Automatic throttling of the engine while the propeller is passing through the position of neutral pitch.