> 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
Additionally [from "Quest for Performance: The Evolution of Modern Aircraft"], "The use of the in-line engine of low frontal area resulted in a fuselage of relatively low total wetted area and gave the aircraft a lean, streamlined appearance. The low frontal area of the in-line engine was one of the chief advantages cited for this type of power plant; the disadvantage was the vulnerability of the cooling system to enemy fire. The aft location of the cooling radiator and its associated inlet and internal flow system is of interest. The system was designed with the objective of obtaining a net thrust from the cooling air as a result of heat addition from the engine coolant. This feature no doubt contributed to the very low drag coefficient of the aircraft. The P-51 was also the first aircraft to utilize the NACA laminar-flow airfoil sections, discussed earlier. Although it is doubtful that any significant laminar flow was achieved on production versions of the Mustang, the low-drag airfoils did provide improved characteristics at high subsonic Mach numbers." Jon _______________________________________________ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
