> On Friday 02 April 2004 09:41, Vivian Meazza wrote: > > The Spitfire also had a drag-reducing radiator. I think the key > _was_ the > > wing section. The Spitfire was eventually fitted with a Mustang-like > > laminar flow wing, which enabled the aircraft to reach 450+ mph. > > Pardon my lack of aero-engineering experience, but aren't all > wings built for laminar flow? Or does the term mean "more laminar"?
The Mustang was one of the first aircraft to use an airfoil designed for longer runs of laminar flow. The Spit and FW190 did not - at least in the early versions. The upper surface of the wing should have been able to support a laminar flow with transition occurring as far back as half the wing chord. In practice, however, only the first 15% of the wing chord saw laminar flow, due to wing imperfections. [This, according to an article by aerodynamicist David Lednicer] Jon _______________________________________________ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
