"The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics is undertaking an investigation of the flying qualities of airplanes. The work consists in the determination of the significant qualities susceptible of measurement, the development of the instruments required to make the measurements, and the accumulation of data on the flying qualities of existing airplanes, which data are to serve as a basis for quantitative specifications for the flying qualities of future designs" (p. 449).

"The flight investigation of the C-54D airplane was initiated to determine the necessity of changes or additions to existing handling-qualities requirements to cove the case of instrument approaches with large airplanes. This paper gives a brief synopsis of the results and presents the measured data of tests to determine the stability and control characteristics. It was found that no new requirements were necessary to cover the problems of instrument approaches" (p. 1).

Tests have been conducted in the Langley high speed 7- by 10-foot tunnel over a Mach number range from 0.40 to 0.91 to determine the stability and control characteristics of an 0,08-scale model of the Chance Vought XF7U-1 airplane. The longitudinal-control characteristics of the complete model are presented in the present report with a limited analysis of the results.

An analysis has been made of the characteristics of several cooling cycles suitable for cockpit cooling of supersonic aircraft. All the cycles considered utilize the difference between dynamic and ambient static pressure to actuate the cooling system and require no additional power source. The results of the study indicate that as flight speeds become greater, increasingly complex systems are required to reduce the altitudes above approximately 35,000 feet, a system composed of an externally loaded expansion turbine in conjunction with a supersonic diffuser would maintain tolerable ventilating air temperature, at least up to a flight Mach number of 2. The most complex system considered,composed of compressor, intercooler, and expansion turbine with the intercooler cooling air decreased in temperature by expansion through an auxiliary turbine is capable of maintaining a ventilation air temperature less than ambient temperature up to a flight Mach number of 3.7.

Flight tests were conducted to determine the effect of length of a conical windshield on the drag of a bluff body moving at supersonic speeds. A comparison is made between results obtained and results of previous drag tests of body-windshield combinations.The effect of increasing the length of the windshield is discussed.

From Summary: "An investigation was made by the NACA wing-flow method to determine the longitudinal stability and control characteristics at transonic speeds of a semispan model of the XF7U-1 tailless airplane. The 25-percent chord line of the wing of the model was swept back 35 deg. The airfoil sections of the wing perpendicular to the 25-percent chord line were 12 percent thick. Measurements were made of the normal force and pitching moment through an angle-of-attack range from about -3 deg to 14 deg for several ailavator deflections at Mach numbers from 0.65 to about 1.08."

From Summary: "The differential equation of Chaplygin's jet problem is utilized to give a systematic development of particular solutions of the hodograph flow equations, which extends the treatment of Chaplygin into the supersonic range and completes the set of particular solutions. The particular solutions serve to place on a reasonable basis the use of velocity correction formulas for the comparison of incompressible and compressible flows. It is shown that the geometric-mean type of velocity correction formula introduced in part I has significance as an over-all type of approximation in the subsonic range."

"Data obtained in tests of a 10-foot diameter, three-blade propeller, having NACA 10-(3)(08)-03 blades, conducted in the Langley 16-foot high-speed tunnel are presented. The propeller performance quantities related by the tests are thrust, torque, efficiency, and advance ratio for various rotational speeds or stream Mach numbers with blade angle as a parameter. Advance Mach numbers varied from 0.12 to 0.64" (p. 1).

"This paper presents the results of flight tests to determine the lateral and directional stability and control characteristics of the Grumman F8F-1 airplane with three vertical-tail configurations. The data presented herein have no bearing on the performance characteristics of the airplane, which were not measured but which were considered to be exceptionally good. The conclusions reached regarding the lateral and directional stability and control characteristics are summarized in this report" (p. 1).

"This report presents the result of tests of a 0.35-scale model of the Bell P-39N-l airplane. Included are the longitudinal-stability and - control characteristics of the airplane as indicated by tests of the model equipped with each of two different sets of elevators. The results indicate good longitudinal stability and control throughout the speed range encounterable in flight" (p. 1).

Attempts were made to alleviate the buffeting of external fuel tanks mounted under the wings of a twin-engine Navy fighter airplane. The Mach number at which buffeting began was increased from 0,529 to 0.640 by streamlining the sway braces and by increasing the lateral rigidity of the sway brace system. Further increase of the Mach number, at which buffeting began to 0.725, was obtained by moving the external fuel tank to a position under the fuselage.

"This report presents the results of tests of a .35-scale model of the Bell P-39N-1 airplane. Included are the longitudinal-stability and -control characteristics of the airplane as indicated by tests of the model equipped with each of two different sets of elevators. The results indicate good longitudinal stability and control throughout the speed range encounterable in flight" (p. 1).

"A method is derived for calculating the lift and the drag due to lift of point-forward triangular wings and a restricted series of sweptback wings at supersonic speeds. The elementary or "supersonic sources" solution of the linearized equation of motion is used to find the potential function of a line of doublets. The flow about the triangular flat plate is then obtained by a surface distribution of these doublet lines. The lift-curve slope of triangular wings is found to be a function of the ratio of the tangent of the apex angle to the tangent of the Mach angle" (p. 97).

"A system for calculating the physical properties of supersonic rotational flow with axial symmetry and supersonic rotational flow in a two-dimensional field was determined by use of the characteristics method. The system was applied to the study of external and internal flow for supersonic inlets with axial symmetry. For a circular conical inlet the shock that occurred at the lip of the inlet became stronger as it approached the axis of the inlet and became a normal shock at the axis" (p. 111).

A connected account is given of the Possio theory of non-stationary flow for small disturbances in a two-dimensional supersonic flow and of its application to the determination of the aerodynamic forces on an oscillating airfoil. Further application is made to the problem of wing flutter in the degrees of freedom - torsion, bending, and aileron rotations. Numerical tables for flutter calculations are provided for various values of the Mach number greater than unity. Results for bending-torsion wing flutter are shown in figures and are discussed. The static instabilities of divergence and aileron reversal are examined as is a one-degree-of-freedom case of torsional oscillatory instability.

On the basis of modern plasticity considerations, a unified theory of plastic buckling applicable to both columns and plates has been developed. For uniform compression, the theory shows that long columns which bend without appreciable twisting require the tangent modulus and that long flanges which twist without appreciable bending require the secant modulus. Structures that both bend and twist when they buckle require a modulus which is a combination of the secant modulus and the tangent modulus.

From Summary: "A portion of a PV-2 helicopter rotor blade has been tested in the 6- by 6-foot test section of the Langley stability tunnel to determine if the aerodynamic characteristics were seriously affected by cross flow or fabric distortion. The outer portion of the blade was tested as a reflection plane model pivoted about the tunnel wall to obtain various angles of cross flow over the blade. Because the tunnel wall acts as a plane of symmetry, the measured aerodynamic characteristics correspond to those of an airfoil having various angles of sweepforward and sweepback. Tests were made with the vents on the lower surface open and also with the vents sealed and the internal pressure held at -20 inches of water producing an internal pressure coefficient of -1.059."

"An investigation of the stability and control characteristics of a 1/10-scale model of a Canadian tailless glider has been conducted in the 10 Langley free-flight tunnel. The glider designated the N.R.L. tailless glider has a straight center section and outboard panels sweptback 43 deg. along the leading edge of the wing. The aspect ratio is 5.83 and the taper ratio is 0.323. From the results of the investigation and on the basis of comparison with higher-scale static tests of the National Research Council of Canada, it is expected that the longitudinal stability of the airplane will be satisfactory with flap up but unsatisfactory near the stall with flap down" (p. 1).

None

Introduction. As stated in Report KAPL 116, one of the objectives of the KAPL reactor is "to provide a prototype demonstration of the practical general of electrical power from Nuclear energy using molten sodium as the primary coolant. The reactor will generate steam at a temperature of 550 degrees F and 465 psia, including 90 degree superheat potentially capable of an efficiency of twenty-eight per cent in electrical output." The work reported here is intended to increase the scope and supply an independent check on the heat transfer system analysis that has previously been done. The purpose of these analyses is to investigate the effects on load rating and top reactor temperature.

To determine whether or not the (n,2n) reaction in Be would produce a net increase in fission neutrons in a power plant, the distribution of In resonance neutrons slowed down from fission energies in a graphite block was measured with and without a 2" of Be in front of a U3O8 slab undergoing fission. The thermal neutrons producing the fissions were obtained by slowing down neutrons from a cyclotron source. The observed distribution without Be was well represented by a Gaussian source range 36 cm. (corresponding to an initial fission energy of 3 MeV) and a similar sink of range 7.8 cm. The total In resonance intensity with Be was 5% less than without Be. On the assumption that the effect of the Be is entirely due to its different mean free path and moderating power, the In distribution with Be was calculated. Since the m.f.p. as a function of energy is not known for Be, two separate calculations were made using the highest (2.9 cm.) and the lowest (1.80 cm.) possible values for the effective Be m.f.p. Both calculated curves were found to be higher than the observed Be distribution, indicating that at least 10% of the fission neutrons …

Newsletter of the University of Texas Bureau of Business Research outlining statistics and research related to business in Texas.

From Introduction: "The aerodynamic heating problem assumes considerable importance at high-supersonic speeds. Sanger and Bredt (reference 1) have calculated the high-speed aerodynamic forces and equilibrium surface temperature at extremely high altitudes where the molecular mean free path is large (free-molecule-flow region) compared with a characteristic body dimension. The theoretical investigation of Lees (reference 2) on the stability of the laminar boundary layer in compressible flow indicates that the laminar boundary layer is completely stable at all Reynolds numbers at supersonic speeds for a sufficiently low ratio of surface temperature to stream temperature."

Annual report submitted by the Boy Scouts of America to Congress describing highlights from 1943, activities, membership, cooperating agencies, organizational leadership, and other information about scouting programs.