A Brief Study of the Speed Reduction of Overtaking Airplanes by Means of Air Brakes (open access)

A Brief Study of the Speed Reduction of Overtaking Airplanes by Means of Air Brakes

"As an aid to airplane designers interested in providing pursuit airplanes with decelerating devices intended to increase the firing time when overtaking another airplane, formulas are given relating the pertinent distances and speeds in horizontal flight to the drag increase required. Charts are given for a representative parasite-drag coefficient from which the drag increase, the time gained, and the closing distance may be found. The charts are made up for three values of the ratio of the final speed of the pursuing airplane to the speed of the pursued airplane and for several values of the ratio of the speed of the pursued airplane to the initial speed of the pursuing airplane" (p. 1).
Date: May 1942
Creator: Pearson, H. A. & Anderson, R. F.
System: The UNT Digital Library