Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-01-29

The National Advisory Committee for
Aeronautics. an independent Govern
ment establishment created by Congress
for the supervision and direction of the
scientific study of the problems Of
fight. and which has made countless
contributions to the advancement of the
airplane. has just placed before the
aircraft industry valuable information
which will contribute in a marked de-
gree toward increasing the speed OF
planes in iight-the goal Of every man
ufacturer.
The latest research work Of the COM
mittee shows that three-cylinder air
cooled radial engine mounted, on a
Sperry messenger fuselage creates q
head resistance nearly twice as much
As the bare fusalage itself and that the
drag" OF the landing gear is about as
much as that Of the fuselage and en-
gine combined Reduction or elimina-
ton OF these parasites" and obstacles
toward the maximum forward progress
OF the plane will bring about greater
speed. less fuel consumption and higher
moneuyerability.
Wind Tunnel Used.
The committees findings are OF a
higher degree Of accuracy than any
similar tests heretofore undertaken By
reason Of the fact that "life-siZc" air.
plane, minus the wings. was mounted In
the new gigantic wind tunnel at the
organization orkshop-Langley Me-
mortal Aeronautical Laboratory, Lang
ley Field, Va. The new wind tunnel.
the only one Of It's kind in the world
capable of accommodating full-scalc
plane made It's initial contribution 10
the industry in this experiment.
Heretofore aerodynamic data have
been obtained by placing scaled-d0%n
models Of airplanes and airplane Sec
tons In q small wind tunnel. and since
all conditions. and particularly with re-
spect 10 the landing gear and air-cooleo
engine. are not fulfilled In the model
tests the calculated iuil-scale drag
worked up from these experiments is at
best more or less an approximation.
The airplane In the new wing tunnel.
however. was subjected 10 actual flying
conditions in that 20-foot stream Of
Air with velocity ranging from 80
70 100 miles and hour vas thrown
against II. BY means Of sensitive In
strtments, the amount Of drag Of the
various parts WaS computed
As soon as this information in It's
detailed form Is thoroughly broadcast
throughout the aircraft Industry, mod
iflcatiyns In the present fadial engine
coVling and landing gear stream lining
are expected giuseppe Bellanca,
builder of the transatlantic Columbia
and other planes. already has taken a
step toward reducing the drag of land
ing gear by placing pants" on the
wheels and supporting struts
Pants" Reduce Drag.
While pants" reduce the drag mate
rally, retfactible gear would eliui-
nate this amount Of head resistance.
which is computed al 800 per cent Of
the total drag Of The tuselage This
resistance Is computed at 70 pounds,
meaning that II human being were
able " pun the gear through The air.
~ much effort a. would b. required 10
draw any object through thf air weigh
Ing rs pounds would haze 10 be ex-
pended
The drag II the engine was found 10
~ i75 per cent N II 3 POUNDS This
resistance ran b" REDUCED ~ refinement
IN the present cDwlin2 u the engine.
The drag ~ the cprkpll ana windshield
vas found ~ bf 4 per cent and the
drag NJ the tai surfaces 1913 per cent,
while the drag ~ the ftiaeiage Itself was
~ per cent WIN normal siFpIanes
IN" 0fag ~ ia" wings II computed at
~ pr cut and the faseiage 90 per
cent