Vought | |||
V-173 "Flying Flapjack"
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Photo: Robert
Deering 7/21/2018 Frontiers of Flight Museum Love Field (DAL) Dallas, Texas |
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The “Flying Pancake” is a one-of-kind
aircraft that dates back to World War II
when Chance Vought built and flew the
airplane to test designer Charles H.
Zimmerman’s theories about extremely
low-aspect ratio wing design that allowed an
aircraft to fly at very slow speeds. The
Vought V-173 design features a circular
airfoil with large-diameter propellers on
the wing tips. Its designer reasoned that
the drag, which is created by disturbed
airflow near the tip of conventional wings,
would be minimized by placing the propeller
at the wing tip. By maintaining a uniform
flow over the entire span, Mr. Zimmerman
felt that it could take off and land at
exceptionally low speeds and still have good
high-speed performance. After pursuing this
idea with NACA (NASA’s predecessor), he was
encouraged to go to private industry and
develop it further. |