"The object of this series of experiments was to determine the influence of the relative vertical position of wing and fuselage on the efficiency of the wing. Since the longitudinal position of the wing can be varied but slightly with reference to the center of gravity in a normal airplane, it was kept constant in the experiments to be described and only the vertical position of the wing with reference to the fuselage was varied" (p. 1).

The question of ground influence on airplanes has recently attracted some attention in view of the claims made by certain designers that the landing speed of their airplanes is much decreased by an increase in lift coefficient due to the proximity of the ground in landing. The results of wind tunnel tests indicate that ground effect is not entirely beneficial. It decreases the landing speed and cushions the landing shock somewhat. However, it does so at the expense of an increased length of preliminary skimming over the ground.

An instrument is described which will illustrate completely in a qualitative sense the longitudinal stability characteristics of an airplane. The instrument is primarily of use for the lecture room, but it is hoped that ultimately it will be possible to obtain quantitative results from it.

Report presenting an experiment consisting of an aerofoil and propeller in order to discover the mutual influence between the two components and variations in moment due to the propeller influence.

"The subject of the choice of an airfoil section is by no means a closed one, and despite the impossibility of making a single rule serve, it is quite practicable to deduce in a strictly rational manner a series of rules and formulas which are capable of being of the greatest use if we but confine ourselves to the consideration of one element of performance at a time. There are seven such elements of performance which are here taken up in turn. The seven are of different relative importance in different types of airplanes. The seven elements are: maximum speed regardless of minimum; maximum speed for given minimum; maximum speed range ratio; maximum rate of climb; maximum absolute ceiling; maximum distance non-stop; and maximum duration non-stop" (p. 1-2).

Note presenting an investigation of various aspects of slotted wings, including some theoretical and experimental results and characteristics of certain slotted wings currently in production.

This investigation was carried out by request of the United States Air Service in the wind tunnel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The results are here published by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics as it is thought that they may be of general interest. Wings of the R.A.F. 6 section are tested with various angles of rake, and it is found that although rake has very little effect, a positive or negative rake of 30 degrees is the best.

Here, conceptions concerning vortices are illustrated by the simplest possible examples. Mathematical formulas and similar means of presentation, which, for the most part, do not help the understanding of persons not versed therein, have been avoided as much as possible. Instead, the author has endeavored to demonstrate the phenomena by means of simple geometrical and mechanical illustrations. For the sake of clarity, the author chiefly considers currents in one plane only, a situation that can be readily represented by diagrams. Some of the peculiarities of vortices in three dimensional flow are briefly discussed.

A new type of air speed meter is described which was designed by the technical staff of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. The instrument consists essentially of a tight metal diaphragm of high natural period which is acted upon by the pressure difference of a pitot-static head. The resulting deflection of this diaphragm is recorded optically on a moving film.

Report presenting an experiment of aneroid development and a theoretical study of the equilibrium of forces acting on the vacuum box.

A new empirical formula was developed that holds good for any length and any material of a rod, and agrees well with the results of extensive strength tests. To facilitate calculations, three tables are included, giving the crippling load for solid and hollow sectioned wooden rods of different thickness and length, as well as for steel tubes manufactured according to the standards of Army Air Services Inspection. Further, a graphical method of calculation of the breaking load is derived in which a single curve is employed for determination of the allowable fiber stress.

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 investigation was carried out by request of the United States Air Service at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology wind tunnel in 1918. As the data collected may be of general interest, they are published here by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. The lift, drag, and center of pressure travel are determined for a biplane with a stagger varying from +100% to -100%. It is found that the efficiency and the maximum lift increase with positive stagger.

Given here are the results of a test conducted in a wind tunnel on the performance of a vane-driven gear pump used to pump gasoline upward into a small tank located within the upper wing from which it flows by gravity to the engine carburetor. Information is given on the efficiency of the pump, the head resistance of the vanes, the performance and characteristics of the unit with and without housing about the vanes, the pump performance when motor driven, and resistance and power characteristics.

It was a conclusion of this detailed study of the practicality of using airships for carrying passengers that, although slow, airships are capable of carrying useful loads over long distances. However, it is noted that there is a certain limit to the advantages of large cubature. Beyond a certain point, the maximum altitude of the airship goes on decreasing, in spite of the fact that the range of action in the horizontal plane and the useful load go on increasing. The possibility of rapid climb is an essential factor of security in aerial navigation in the case of storms, as is velocity.

Now, in existing wind tunnels, using a horsepower of 100 to 300, the models are generally made to a 1/10 scale and the speed is appreciably lower than the speeds currently attained by airplanes. The Reynolds number realized is thus 15 to 25 times smaller than that reached by airplanes in free flight, while the ratio of speed to the velocity of sound is between a third and three quarters of the true ratio. The necessary increases in either the diameter of the wind tunnel or the velocity of the airstream are too costly.

The Caproni Company recently built a seaplane of unusual design. The main supporting surfaces consisted of three triplanes in tandem, the lower wings being attached to the hull, which was described as providing accommodation for a hundred passengers. On one of the first flights, the seaplane fell into a lake, nose down, and was destroyed. The authors wish to show that this failure could have been predicted.

The need for a device to measure flight resistance, engine and propeller power, and efficiency during flight grew in proportion to the demand for increased flying capacity in military types of aircraft. Here, a dynamometer hub was inserted between the engine and the propeller. Taken as a whole, the tests that were conducted show that though the dynamometer is a sensitive instrument liable to numerous derangements, it is undeniably useful even in its present form, when handled with care and skill.

Note presenting the physical properties which may be demanded of fuels for aviation use and the means that may be adopted by the engine manufacturers to properly meet the demands necessitated by the use of the fuel. Some of the factors that must be considered include its composition, the quantity available, the price per heat unit, and the possibility of keeping stocks in aerial ports both at home and abroad.

Report presenting the theory of the ideal propeller, which is important for solving the problem of the action of propellers. Several different theories of propeller action are described and compared to determine which ones seem to be the most accurate.

It is argued that there should be an agreement as to what conventions to use in determining absolute coefficients used in aeronautics and in how to plot those coefficients. Of particular importance are the absolute coefficients of lift and drag. The author argues for the use of the German method over the kind in common use in the United States and England, and for the Continental over the usual American and British method of graphically representing the characteristics of an airfoil.

The authors argue that the center of gravity has a preponderating influence on the longitudinal stability of an airplane in flight, but that manufacturers, although aware of this influence, are still content to apply empirical rules to the balancing of their airplanes instead of conducting wind tunnel tests. The author examines the following points: 1) longitudinal stability, in flight, of a glider with coinciding centers; 2) the influence exercised on the stability of flight by the position of the axis of thrust with respect to the center of gravity and the whole of the glider; 3) the stability on the ground before taking off, and the influence of the position of the landing gear. 4) the influence of the elements of the glider on the balance, the possibility of sometimes correcting defective balance, and the valuable information given on this point by wind tunnel tests; 5) and a brief examination of the equilibrium of power in horizontal flight, where the conditions of stability peculiar to this kind of flight are added to previously existing conditions of the stability of the glider, and interfere in fixing the safety limits of certain evolutions.

From Summary: "The author, who was a captain of the Reserves in the Technical Department of the Aviation Division (Board of Airplane Experts) during the war, shows what means were taken for the creation of new airplane types and what tests were employed for trying out their flying properties, capacities and structural reliability. The principal representative types of each of the classes of airplanes are described and the characteristics of the important structural parts are discussed. Data regarding the number of airplanes at the front and the flying efficiency of the various classes of airplanes are given."

Discussed here are the principles and operation of aircraft engine superchargers used to maintain and increase engine power as aircraft encounter decreases in the density of air as altitude rises. Details are given on the design and operation of the centrifugal compressors. A method is given for calculating the amount of power needed to drive a compressor. The effects of the use of a compressor on fuel system operation and design are discussed. Several specific superchargers that were in operation are described.