RECENT AIRPLANE DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS

The author presents, in outline only, the various features of airplane-development investigation that have been prosecuted. After mentioning the principal types of airplane designed and built shortly before the armistice and the types in service on the battle front at that time, four specific requirements for increasing the speed, the rate of climb and the ability to reach great altitudes are enumerated and commented upon, the further statement being made that an increase in performance can result from any one or from a combination of all four.

Remarks upon design features are interspersed with the discussion of performance improvements, brief explanations being given of the variable-area and the variable-camber-wing schemes, the idea of having a thick wing-section with trailing and leading edges hinged, and that of modifying the wing-section by making the leading edge a small detachable airfoil that can be shifted. All-metal airplane construction is considered under four specific headings in conclusion.