AN EXAMINATION OF THREE SAILPLANE CONFIGURATIONS

Authors

  • Gary Weir

Keywords:

Aerodynamics, Structures, Design

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine different possible configurations for sailplane design. As an alternative to the conventional layout, a number of people have tried canard designs in the quest for improved safety and efficiency. A conventional sailplane frequently has a negative load on the tailplane, particularly at high speed. Probably the most famous canard sailplane design is the Solitaire. It appeared to have good performance in a straight line, but not in circling flight. It will be interesting to try and understand why this mightbe so. A third possible configuration is that of the three surface aircraft; that is one with both a canard surface at the front and a conventionalhorizontal tail at the back. To the author's knowledge no sailplane has yet been built with this configuration.

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Issue

Vol. 21 No. 3 (1997)

Section

Articles

License

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This paper is UNCLASSIFIED (for public reasons) and has been cleared by the appropriate agencies, company and government. This paper represents original work by the author(s). No portion of the material is covered by a prior copyright; or for any portion copyrighted, the author has obtained permission for its use.
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