Anecdotal stories of the winglets on the 747400 suggest no overall performance gain, but allowed the sales staff a differentiation between previous models. His father, who had flown balloons in world war i, was an engineer. Definition and discussion of the intrinsic efficiency of winglets. Whitcomb langley research center summary this paper presents the effects of winglets described in nasa tn d8260 on the aerodynamic forces and moments, loads, and crossflow velocities behind the wing tip of a representative secondgeneration jet transport wing. Aircraft designers were skeptical, but boeing and others eventually. Whitcomb, a specialist in aerodynamics at nasa, adapted this principle for aviation in the 1970s, at a time when the oil. After reading through it however, i guarantee that this is one short story fans of the epic dragon series won t. Often hailed as the greatest of aerodynamicists, richard t whitcomb has died aged 88 in america. Whitcomb of nasa after the 1973 oil crisis in order to reduce fuel consumption. Nasalangley engineer joins first flight shrine news. Richard travis whitcomb february 21, 1921 october, 2009 was an american. Whitcomb, an engineer at nasa s langley research center, after the cost of jet fuel skyrocketed in the 1973 oil crisis. Winglet performance evaluation through the vortex lattice method by phil r. Richard whitcomb american aeronautical engineer britannica.
A design approach and selected windtunnel results at high. This collection contains papers and articles by and about richard t. Blended winglets allow a steeper angle of attack reducing takeoff distance. May 05, 2015 on modern airliners, the wing tips are often bent up to form winglets. Langley research center, hampton, va represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in indiana state library. The collection also includes many awards given to dr.
The item a high subsonic speed windtunnel investigation of winglets on a representative secondgeneration jet transport wing, stuart g. The development of the whitcomb winglet see figure 1073 is attributed to richard t. Nasas contributions to aeronautics, volume 1 by national. Page 6question flying wing tip plates modeling science. Following his research on wings, whitcomb again turned to a possible complete supercritical aircraft, and in 1971 he published preliminary details of a. It marks the first time a winglet was seriously considered for a large and heavy aircraft. Infobox person richard travis whitcomb february 21, 1921 october, 2009 was an american aeronautical engineer who was noted for his significant contributions to the science of aerodynamics. Whitcomb revealed that in full size aircraft, winglets can improve in. But the wings create drag, and the air force needed jets that could maneuver, even in dogfights. Winglets were wind tunnel tested and computer analyzed by richard whitcomb of the nasa langley research center in the mid 1970s. As a result, he designed winglets, upcurving wingtips that save about five percent of an airplane s fuel costs by reducing drag. Jun 09, 2017 originally a test aircraft, the vertical winglets had first been conceived by nasa aerodynamics genius richard t. Definition and discussion of the intrinsic efficiency of.
Whitcomb, wpi class of 1943, was an engineer for nasa for over thirty years and invented airplane designs to allow planes to fly farther and faster. Richard whitcomb looks over a model that incorporates his supercritical wing concept. This is the fifteenth volume in the series of memorial tributes compiled by the national academy of engineeri. He compared a wing with a winglet to one with a slightly longer wing. Nasa aerodynamics legend enters aviation hall of fame. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading assassin wings of fire. The devices reduce wingtip vortices and the induced drag such vortices create. Manuscripts collections archives special collections.
Whitcomb evaluated and tested winglets concepts extensively. The idea behind the winglet is to reduce the strength of the tip vortex and therefore cause the flow across the wing to be more twodimensional. Jun 10, 1976 high subsonic speeds for wingtip mounted winglets richard t. His father, who had been a balloon pilot in world war i, was a mechanical engineer who specialized in rotational dynamics.
The nasa langley research center engineer has been called the most significant aerodynamic contributor of the second half of the 20 th century. The aerodynamic efficiency of the wing is improved. I remember reading about whitcomb winglets back in the late 1970s, in aviation weekly and space technology and also recall their use on the newer lear jets at the time. Whitcomb in front of the arearuled convair f106 used by nasa for flight research, on. Whitcomb, whose understanding of the way air rips around an airplane as it approaches the sound barrier revolutionized the way jets are shaped, allowing them to fly faster on less fuel. Richard whitcomb, who let us fly faster, has died plane talking.
His third major aerodynamic achievement was developed during the oil embargo of 197374, whitcomb became concerned about the fuel consumption of aircraft. Whitcomb went to work for naca now nasa at langley memorial aeronautical laboratory from 1943 until his retirement in. Part of this work was published in 1976, in a nasa report he authored. Connect to the whitcomb finding aid for details about the contents of this new manuscript collection in the wpi. Whitcomb 19212009, who in the early 1970s conducted research with. Ubiquitous supercritical wing design cuts billions in fuel. High subsonic speeds for wingtip mounted winglets richard t. How split scimitar wing tips increase fuel efficiency. Wingtip devices 3 winglets short history frederick w. But the langley engineer proved a simple vertical plate wasnt enough. Sutherland born july 31, 1978 in caracas, venezuela is a venezuelanamerican childrens book author who has also written under the pen name heather williams.
In the early 1970s whitcomb conducted research with his team of scientists in the langley 8foot transonic pressure tunnel. Back in the 1970s, a nasa aerodynamicist, richard whitcomb, did initial research on winglets. The national aeronautics and space administration nasa langley research center engineer has been called the most. In 1932 the family moved to worcester, massachusetts when his father became employed at the norton company as a child whitcomb was fascinated by airplanes. Whitcomb, nasa engineer who invented the area rule, supercritical wing and winglets, all designed for planes to use less fuel and fly faster. The item a design approach and selected windtunnel results at high subsonic speeds for wingtip mounted winglets, richard t. His father, who had been a balloon pilot in world war i, was a. The winglet of the boeing 747400 has a much lower dihedral angle than the whitcomb winglet, and since that time, numerous vertical. The meme that induced drag is caused by air streaming around the tip is wrong, even though it seems to be very popular. Witcombs designs were flight tested in 197980 by a joint nasa u.
Whitcomb, whose understanding of the way air rips around an airplane as it. A design approach and selected windtunnel results at high subsonic speeds for wingtip mounted winglets. With careful aeronautical design, he showed that correctly angled and shaped winglets could maintain the same or lower bending moment with a smaller wingspan and. Whitcomb langley research center summary this paper presents the effects of winglets described in nasa tn d8260 on the aerodynamic forces and moments, loads, and crossflow velocities behind the wing tip of a. Whitcomb, a specialist in aerodynamics at nasa, adapted this principle for aviation in the 1970s, at a time when the oil crisis had caused prices for aviation fuel to skyrocket.
Extensive research on this topic was performed here at nasa langley by one richard t. Whitcomb proved that winglets reduced tip drag by about 20% and offered double the improvement in the wings lifttodrag ratio. Richard travis whitcomb february 21, 1921 october, 2009 was an american aeronautical engineer who was noted for his contributions to the science of aerodynamics. Winglets, is only a tiny 32 pages long and only about three chapters. The tests demonstrated a 7percent increase in liftdrag ratio with a 20percent decrease in induced dragdirectly in line with the langley engineers original findings. Indeed, whitcomb s research in 1976 indicated that winglets could reduce induced drag by 20. These are devices placed at the wingtips, normal to the wingspar, extending both upward and downward. In 1987, peter masak called on maughmer about designing winglets for his sailplane to improve performance. Whitcomb designed winglets to decrease drag at the tips of an aircrafts wings and, to a degree, convert it into thrust. Joe clark changed the look of airplane wings by forming a company to supply upswept fins to reduce drag and conserve fuel. Design approach and selected windtunnel results at high subsonic speeds for wingtip mounted winglets.
Whitcomb collection, 19541980 this collection contains papers and articles by and about richard t. When his research was published in 1976, whitcomb proposed that winglets would produce a 20% reduction in induced drag. Oct 15, 2009 richard whitcomb, who let us fly faster, has died. The initial theoretical concept goes back to times before even the wright brothers first took to the skies in 1905, but it was picked up and developed by richard t. A graduate of worcester polytechnic institute with a bs in mechanical engineering high distinction in 1943, dr. To the best of my knowledge these devices were tested on a usaf kc5. Whitcomb an aeronautical engineer who worked for the national aeronautics and space administration nasa. Sutherland, author of the bestselling currently reading. Lanchester patented the endplate concept in 1897 england theoretical investigations by weber in 1954 indicated a beneficial effect on both lift and drag characteristics. Among his contributions are the area rule theory of drag reduction in the transonic range look at the narrow waisting of many supersonic airplanes and the super critical wing. Whitcomb s nasa winglets to gliders, and though they did improve climb performance, this did not offset the parasite drag penalty in high speed cruise. Part of this work was published in 1976, in a nasa report he authored 48. Introduction a winglet is a projection on same material at the wing tip.
An eccentric who seemed most at home in the centers wind tunnel facilities, where he was known to sometimes sleep between double shifts, whitcomb tended to prefer intuition to calculation when working out designs. He went on to fit winglets to large tanker aircraft and realised impressive efficiency gains of up to 5%. Whitcomb developer of the supercritial airfoil and the transonic area rule. Whitcomb langley research center summary winglets, which are small, nearly vertical,winglike surfaces mounted atthe tipsof a wing, are intended to provide, for liftingconditions and subsonic mach numbers, reduc tions indrag coefficientgreater than those achieved by a simple wingtip. Air force team using a kc5 stratotanker based at the dryden flight research center. Whitcomb langley research center summary winglets, which are small, nearly vertical,winglike surfaces mounted.
Whitcomb was followed by nasatp1020 in 1977 22 it includes many. With careful aeronautical design, he showed that correctly. Whitcomb, whose understanding of the way air rips around an airplane as it approaches the sound barrier revolutionized the way jets are shaped, allowing them to. Whitcomb news newspapers books scholar jstor february 20 learn how and when to remove this template message richard t. Whitcomb 19212009, who in the early 1970s conducted research with his team of scientists in the langley 8foot transonic pressure tunnel 47. Rademacher a thesis submitted to the college of engineering, department of aerospace engineering in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master of science in aerospace engineering embryriddle aeronautical university daytona beach, florida may 2014. The nasa langley research center engineer has been called the most significant aerodynamic contributor of the second half of the 20 th century f you look at almost any large airplane today especially those that fly at supersonic speeds you can see the genius of dick whitcomb. Jul 22, 2014 whitcombs work on winglets was equally innovative and impactful. Nasa tn d8260 a design approach and selected windtunnel results at high subsonic mounted speeds for winglets wingtip richard t. How do winlets or sharklets help reduce drag on modern. Whitcomb, aviation pioneer, died in newport news, virginia, on october, 2009, at the age of. Sutherland is the author of several books for young readers, including the menagerie trilogy, the pet trouble series, and three books in the bestselling seekers series as part of the erin hunter team.
Richard whitcomb, a nasa aerodynamicist, published a paper that compared a wing with a winglet and the same wing with a simple extension. After considering the sudden drag increase which a wingfuselage. Among the many aircraft design textbooks it seems that only. In these brandnew short stories, fans will meet old friends and new ones, uncover shocking secrets, and learn more about the terrible challenges that will test all dragonkind. Having been an ardent student of flight from a young age, whitcomb got his inspiration from watching how birds curve the ends of.
What the wright brothers did for heavierthanair flight, richard t. Fans of the new york times bestselling wings of shelve deserter. Sutherland, author of the bestselling wings of fire series, soars further into the world of pyrrhias dragons than ever before. According to whitcombs calculations, an additional vertical wing saves fuel because it increases the lifttodrag ratio. Keywords angle of attack, winglet, lift and drag coefficient, cfd 1. Furthermore, the winglets had no adverse impact on the airplanes handling. Whitcomb, an engineer at nasas langley research center, further developed hoerners concept in response to the sharp increase in the cost of fuel after the 1973 oil crisis. Up or downturned extensions at the tips of wings improve lift.
Richard whitcomb, american aeronautics engineer born feb. He is best known for the area rule, supercritical wing, and winglets. In recognition of revolutionary contributions to the science of aerospace the area rule, supercritical wing and winglets that enabled supersonic flight of military aircraft and energyefficient flight of commercial aircraft. Whitcomb, 1976, a design approach and selected windtunnel results at high subsonic speeds for wingtip mounted winglets, nasa tn d8260. Joe clark added upswept fins to jet wings, saving fuel wsj. A design approach and selected windtunnel results at high subsonic speeds for wingtip mounted winglets richard t. Apr 02, 2017 you cant prevent a vortex behind a wing which creates lift, no matter how much you bend the tip up or down. In recognition of revolutionary contributions to the science of aerospace the area rule, supercritical wing and winglets that enabled supersonic flight of military. Air force exceptional service medal in 1955, the first national advisory committee for aeronautics.
The vorticity that feeds into the cores generally comes from the entire span. After reading through it however, i guarantee that this is one short story fans of the epic dragon series won t want to miss out on. A design approach and selected windtunnel results at high subsonic speeds for wingtip mounted winglets by richard t whitcomb book 4 editions published in 1976 in english and held by 58 worldcat member libraries worldwide. The supercritical wing was one of three major contributions langley research center engineer richard whitcomb made to aeronautics. Instead of the usual 300page package were so used to, prisoners, the first book in a side series called wings of fire. Winglets reduce wingtip vortices cut back on drag up to %20 higher cruise speed increased fuel economy possibly double wings lift to drag ratio good when wing extension is not possible richard whitcomb nasa aerodynamicist picture courtesy of cessna aircraft proven performance mission block fuel is improved approximately 4. Contentsshow biography whitcomb was born in evanston, illinois. Both devices put an equal structural load on the wing. Whitcomb received the national medal of science from president richard nixon in 1973, the u. Whitcomb invented these nearly vertical wingtip extensions in the early 1970s as a means by which wing lifttodrag performance could be increased. As a young man, richard whitcomb used his parents basement to improve model planes he bought. Whitcombs work on winglets was equally innovative and impactful.
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