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Letko, W.

Publications and source records attributed to Letko, W..

The effect of cowling shape on the stability characteristics of an airplane, September 1942

Three widely different nose shapes were tested on a fuselage alone and on a complete model in the NACA stability tunnel to investigate the effect of cowling shape on stability characteristics. The results are presented in the form of charts which show the variation in the aerodynamic characteristics with the three nose shapes for the propeller-removed condition over a wide range of angles of attack and yaw. The results indicated that large changes in the cowling shape produced relatively small changes in the aerodynamic characteristics. The effects may be appreciable, however, in the case of an airplane that has marginal stability.

Donlan, C. J.

Low-speed wind tunnel investigation of a semispan STOL jet transport wing body with an upper surface blown jet flap

An investigation of the static longitudinal aerodynamic characteristics of a semispan STOL jet transport wing-body with an upper-surface blown jet flap for lift augmentation was conducted in a low-speed wind tunnel having a 12-ft octagonal test section. The semispan swept wing had an aspect ratio of 3.92 (7.84 for the full span) and had two simulated turbofan engines mounted ahead of and above the wing in a siamese pod equipped with an exhaust deflector. The purpose of the deflector was to spread the engine exhaust into a jet sheet attached to the upper surface of the wing so that it would turn downward over the flap and provide lift augmentation. The wing also had optional boundary-layer control provided by air blowing through a thin slot over a full-span plain trailing-edge flap.

Phelps, A. E., III

Locomotion in a rotating environment

A rotating space station simulator is being used to obtain data on man's performance in a rotating environment. At present the facility is being used to assess the effects of rotation on man's walking capabilities on circular and flat walls at g-levels from 0.05 to 0.75g. Some of the preliminary results are reviewed.

Letko, W.

Rotating-blade vortex noise

An experimental investigation has been made of the Langley full-scale tunnel and outdoors to investigate some of the characteristics of vortex noise generated on a rotating-blade system. Acoustic measurements were made at several microphone positions for two different blade sections with several tip shapes and spoiler configurations. The blades were operated only at zero lift at each radial station, both for operating in their own wake and for operating with the wake blown downstream. Rotors with cylindrical blades generally created more noise throughout the noise spectrum than the rotor with NACA 0012 blades. Blowing the shed wake from the rotor with cylindrical blades did not have an appreciable effect on the frequency-amplitude spectrum. The tip shape changes had very little effect on the frequency-amplitude spectrum of the noise. Spoilers applied to the rotor with NACA 0012 blades increased the amplitude of the spectrum and decreased the number of harmonics of blade passage frequency.

Scheiman, J.

Asymmetric lateral-directional characteristics of pointed bodies of revolution at high angles of attack

A low-speed wind-tunnel investigation was conducted in order to determine the cause of asymmetric yawing moments produced by long pointed fuselage nose shapes at high angles of attack. Force tests were conducted with a cone, tangent-ogive model, and a paraboloid of revolution over a range of Reynolds numbers from 0.15 million to 0.35 million for an angle-of-attack range from 0 deg to 75 deg and an angle-of-sideslip range of plus or minus 30 deg. Tuft and smoke flow-visualization tests were also conducted to aid in the analysis. Large asymmetric yawing moments were obtained for the cone and tangent-ogive body at high angles of attack (of the order of 40 to 60 deg). These large moments were caused by asymmetric shedding of vortex sheets off the long pointed nose. The asymmetric moments could be eliminated by use of symmetrically arranged strikes on the nose. The paraboloid of revolution did not produce a strong asymmetric flow field at high angles of attack and did not exhibit asymmetric moments.

Coe, P. L., Jr.

Wind Tunnel Investigation at Low Speed of Aerodynamic Characteristics of Army Chemical Corps Model E-112 Bomblets with Span Chord Ratio of 2 - 1

An experimental investigation has been made in the Langley stability tunnel to determine the aerodynamic characteristics of the Army Chemical Corps model E-112 bomblets with span-chord ratio of 2:1. A detailed analysis has not been made; however, the results showed that all the models were spirally unstable and that a large gap between the model tips and end plates tended to reduce the instability.

Letko, W.