UNIT I - HISTORY OF FLIGHT

1.1 History of Hot Air Balloon:

A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope,
which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket (in some long-
distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule), which carries passengers and a source of heat,
in most cases an open flame caused by burning liquid propane. The heated air inside the
envelope makes it buoyant since it has a lower density than the colder air outside the
envelope. As with all aircraft, hot air balloons cannot fly beyond the atmosphere. The
envelope does not have to be sealed at the bottom, since the air inside the envelope there is at
about the same pressure as the surrounding air. In modern sport balloons the envelope is
generally made from nylon fabric and the inlet of the balloon (closest to the burner flame) is
made from a fire resistant material such as Nomex. Modern balloons have been made in all
kinds of shapes, such as rocket ships and the shapes of various commercial products, though
the traditional shape is used for most non-commercial, and many commercial, applications.
The hot air balloon is the first successful human-carrying flight technology. The first
untethered manned hot air balloon flight was performed by Jean-François Pilâtre de
Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes on November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, in a balloon
created by the Montgolfier brothers. The first hot-air balloon flown in the Americas was
launched from the Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia on January 9, 1793 by the French
aeronaut Jean Pierre Blanchard.[3] Hot air balloons that can be propelled through the air rather
than simply drifting with the wind are known as thermal airships.
Premodern and unmanned balloon
A precursor of the hot air balloon was the sky lantern. Zhuge Liang of the Shu Han kingdom,
during the Three Kingdoms era (220–280 CE), used these airborne lanterns for military
signaling.
In the 18th century the Portuguese Jesuit priest Bartolomeu de Gusmão envisioned an aerial
apparatus called Passarola which was the predecessor of the hot air balloon. The purpose
of Passarola was to serve as air vessel in order to facilitate communication and as a
strategical device. In 1709 John V of Portugal decided to fund Bartolomeu de Gusmão's
project following a petition made by the Jesuit priest [6] and an unmanned demonstration was
performed at Casa da India in presence of John V, the queen Maria Anna of Austria, having
as witnesses the Italian cardinal Michelangelo Conti, two members of the Portuguese Royal
Academy of History, one Portuguese diplomat and one chronicler. This event would bring
some European attention to this event and this project. A later article dated on October 20,
1786 by the London Daily Universal Register would state that the inventor was able to raise
himself by the use of his prototype. Also in 1709, the Portuguese Jesuit wrote Manifesto
summário para os que ignoram poderse navegar pelo elemento do ar (Short Manifesto for
those who are unaware that is possible to sail through the element air); he also left designs
for a manned air vessel.
First manned flight
The French brothers Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier developed a hot air
balloon in Annonay, Ardeche, France and demonstrated it publicly on September 19, 1783,
making an unmanned flight lasting 10 minutes. After experimenting with unmanned balloons
and flights with animals, the first balloon flight with humans aboard, a tethered flight,
performed on or around October 15, 1783, by Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier who made at
least one tethered flight from the yard of the Reveillon workshop in the Faubourg Saint-
Antoine. Later that same day, Pilatre de Rozier became the second human to ascend into the
air, reaching an altitude of 26 m (85 ft), the length of the tether. The first free flight with
human passengers was made a few weeks later, on November 21, 1783. King Louis XVI had
originally decreed that condemned criminals would be the first pilots, but de Rozier, along
with Marquis François d'Arlandes, petitioned successfully for the honor.[10][11][12] The first
military use of a hot air balloon happened in 1794 during the battle of Fleurus, when the
French used the balloon l'Entreprenant for observation.

Modern balloons
Modern hot air balloons, with an onboard heat source, were developed by Ed Yost, beginning
during the 1950s; his work resulted in his first successful flight, on October 22, 1960. The
first modern hot air balloon to be made in the United Kingdom (UK) was the Bristol Belle,
built in 1967. Presently, hot air balloons are used primarily for recreation.
Records
Hot air balloons are able to fly to extremely high altitudes. On November 26, 2005 Vijaypat
Singhania set the world altitude record for highest hot air balloon flight, reaching 21,027 m
(68,986 ft). He took off from downtown Mumbai, India, and landed 240 km (150 mi) south in
Panchale.[15] The previous record of 19,811 m (64,997 ft) had been set by Per Lindstrand on
June 6, 1988, in Plano, Texas.
On January 15, 1991, the Virgin Pacific Flyer balloon completed the longest flight in a hot air
balloon when Per Lindstrand (born in Sweden, but resident in the UK) and Richard
Branson of the UK flew 7,671.91 km (4,767.10 mi) from Japan to Northern Canada. With a
volume of 74,000 cubic meters (2.6 million cubic feet), the balloon envelope was the largest
ever built for a hot air craft. Designed to fly in the trans-oceanic jet streams, the Pacific
Flyer recorded the fastest ground speed for a manned balloon at 394 km/h (245 mph). The
longest duration record was set by Swiss psychiatrist Bertrand Piccard, Auguste Piccard's
grandson; and Briton Brian Jones, flying in the Breitling Orbiter 3. It was the first nonstop
trip around the world by balloon. The balloon left Château-d'Oex, Switzerland, on March 1,
1999, and landed at 1:02 a.m. on March 21 in the Egyptian desert 500 km (300 mi) south of
Cairo. The two men exceeded distance, endurance, and time records, traveling 19 days, 21
hours, and 55 minutes. Steve Fossett, flying solo, exceeded the record for briefest time
traveling around the world on 3 July 2002 on his sixth attempt, in 320 h 33 min. Fedor
Konyukhov flew solo round the world on his first attempt in a hybrid hot-air/helium balloon
from 11 to 23 July 2016 for a round-the world time of 268 h 20 min.
1.2 History of ornithopter
An ornithopter (from Greek ornithos "bird" and pteron "wing") is an aircraft that flies by
flapping its wings. Designers seek to imitate the flapping-wing flight of birds, bats,
and insects. Though machines may differ in form, they are usually built on the same scale as
these flying creatures. Manned ornithopters have also been built, and some have been
successful. The machines are of two general types: those with engines, and those powered by
the muscles of the pilot.
Early history
Some early manned flight attempts may have been
intended to achieve flapping-wing flight, but probably
only a glide was actually achieved. They include the
purported flights of the 11th-century monk Eilmer of
Malmesbury (recorded in the 12th century) and the 9th-
century poet Abbas Ibn Firnas (recorded in the 17th
century). Roger Bacon, writing in 1260, was also among
the first to consider a technological means of flight. In
1485, Leonardo da Vinci began to study the flight of birds. He grasped that humans are too
heavy, and not strong enough, to fly using wings simply attached to the arms. He, therefore,
sketched a device in which the aviator lies down on a plank and works two large,
membranous wings using hand levers, foot pedals, and a system of pulleys.
In 1841, an ironsmith kalfa (journeyman), Manojlo, who "came
to Belgrade from Vojvodina" attempted flying with a device described as an ornithopter
("flapping wings like those of a bird"). Refused by the authorities a permit to take off from
the belfry of Saint Michael's Cathedral, he clandestinely climbed to the rooftop of the
Dumrukhana (import tax head office) and took off, landing in a heap of snow, and surviving.
The first ornithopters capable of flight were constructed in France. Jobert in 1871 used
a rubber band to power a small model bird. Alphonse Pénaud, Abel Hureau de Villeneuve,
and Victor Tatin, also made rubber-powered ornithopters during the 1870s. Tatin's
ornithopter was perhaps the first to use active torsion of the wings, and apparently it served as
the basis for a commercial toy offered by Pichancourt c. 1889. Gustave Trouvé was the first
to use internal combustion, and his 1890 model flew a distance of 80 meters in a
demonstration for the French Academy of Sciences. The wings were flapped
by gunpowder charges activating a Bourdon tube.
From 1884 on, Lawrence Hargrave built scores of ornithopters powered by rubber bands,
springs, steam, or compressed air. He introduced the use of small flapping wings providing
the thrust for a larger fixed wing; this innovation eliminated the
need for gear reduction, thereby simplifying the construction.
E.P. Frost made ornithopters starting in the 1870s; first models
were powered by steam engines, then in the 1900s, an internal-
combustion craft large enough for a person was built, though it
did not fly.
In the 1930s, Alexander Lippisch and the National Socialist
Flyers Corps of Nazi Germany constructed and successfully flew
a series of internal combustion-powered ornithopters, using
Hargrave's concept of small flapping wings,
but with aerodynamic improvements resulting from the
methodical study.
Erich von Holst, also working in the 1930s, achieved great efficiency and realism in his work
with ornithopters powered by rubber bands. He achieved perhaps the first success of an
ornithopter with a bending wing, intended to imitate more closely the folding wing action of
birds, although it was not a true variable-span wing-like those of birds.
Around 1960, Percival Spencer successfully flew a series of unmanned ornithopters using
internal combustion engines ranging from 0.020-to-0.80-cubic-inch (0.33 to 13.11 cm3)
displacement, and having wingspans up to 8 feet (2.4 m). In 1961, Percival Spencer and Jack
Stephenson flew the first successful engine-powered, remotely piloted ornithopter, known as
the Spencer Orniplane. The Orniplane had a 90.7-inch (2,300 mm) wingspan, weighed 7.5
pounds (3.4 kg), and was powered by a 0.35-cubic-inch (5.7 cm3)-displacement two-stroke
engine. It had a biplane configuration, to reduce oscillation of the fuselage.

Manned flight
Manned ornithopters fall into two general categories: Those powered by the muscular effort
of the pilot (human-powered ornithopters), and those powered by an engine.
Around 1894, Otto Lilienthal, an aviation pioneer, became famous in Germany for his widely
publicized and successful glider flights. Lilienthal also studied bird flight and conducted
some related experiments. He constructed an ornithopter, although its complete development
was prevented by his untimely death on 9 August 1896 in a glider accident.
In 1929, a man-powered ornithopter designed by Alexander Lippisch (designer of
the Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet) flew a distance of 250 to 300 meters (800–1,000 ft) after
tow launch. Since a tow launch was used, some have questioned whether the aircraft was
capable of flying on its own. Lippisch asserted that the aircraft was actually flying, not
making an extended glide. (Precise measurement of altitude and velocity over time would be
necessary to resolve this question.) Most of the subsequent human-powered ornithopters
likewise used a tow launch, and flights were brief simply because human muscle power
diminishes rapidly over time.
In 1942, Adalbert Schmid made a much longer flight of a human-powered ornithopter at
Munich-Laim. It travelled a distance of 900 meters (3,000 ft), maintaining a height of 20
meters (65 ft) throughout most of the flight. Later this same aircraft was fitted with a three-
horsepower (2.2 kW) Sachs motorcycle engine. With the
engine, it made flights up to 15 minutes in duration.
Schmid later constructed a 10-horsepower (7.5 kW)
ornithopter, based on the Grunau-Baby IIa sailplane, which
was flown in 1947. The second aircraft had flapping outer
wing panels.
In 2005, Yves Rousseau was given the Paul Tissandier Diploma, awarded by the FAI for
contributions to the field of aviation. Rousseau attempted his first human-muscle-powered
flight with flapping wings in 1995. On 20 April 2006, at his 212th attempt, he succeeded in
flying a distance of 64 meters (210 ft), observed by officials of the Aero Club de France. On
his 213th flight attempt, a gust of wind led to a wing breaking up, causing the pilot to be
gravely injured and rendered paraplegic.
A team at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies, headed
by Professor James DeLaurier, worked for several years on an engine-powered, piloted
ornithopter. In July 2006, at the Bombardier Airfield at Downsview Park in Toronto,
Professor DeLaurier's machine, the UTIAS Ornithopter No.1 made a jet-assisted takeoff and
14-second flight. According to DeLaurier, the jet was necessary for sustained flight, but the
flapping wings did most of the work.
On August 2, 2010, Todd Reichert of the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace
Studies piloted a human-powered ornithopter named Snowbird. The 32-metre (105 ft)
wingspan, 42-kilogram (93 lb) aircraft was constructed from carbon fibre, balsa, and foam.
The pilot sat in a small cockpit suspended below the wings and pumped a bar with his feet to
operate a system of wires that flapped the wings up and down. Towed by a car until airborne,
it then sustained flight for almost 20 seconds. It flew 145 meters (476 ft) with an average
speed of 25.6 km/h (15.9 mph). Similar tow-launched flights were made in the past, but
improved data collection verified that the ornithopter was capable of self-powered flight once
aloft.
1.3 Early Flights by Wright Brothers:
The Wright brothers—Orville (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur (April 16,
1867 – May 30, 1912)—were two American aviation pioneers generally credited with
inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful motor-operated airplane. They
made the first controlled, sustained flight of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft with
the Wright Flyer on December 17, 1903, 4 mi (6 km) south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. In
1904–05, the brothers developed their flying machine to make longer-running and more
aerodynamic flights with the Wright Flyer II, followed by the first truly practical fixed-wing
aircraft, the Wright Flyer III. The Wright brothers were also the first to invent aircraft
controls that made fixed-wing powered flight possible.
The brothers' breakthrough was their creation of a three-axis control system, which enabled
the pilot to steer the aircraft effectively and to maintain its equilibrium. This method remains
standard on fixed-wing aircraft of all kinds. From the beginning of their aeronautical work,
the Wright brothers focused on developing a reliable method of pilot control as the key to
solving "the flying problem". This approach differed significantly from other experimenters
of the time who put more emphasis on developing powerful engines. Using a small home-
built wind tunnel, the Wrights also collected more accurate data than any before, enabling
them to design more efficient wings and propellers. Their first U.S. patent did not claim
invention of a flying machine, but a system of aerodynamic control that manipulated a flying
machine's surfaces

Wright flyer of 1903, first powered airplane to demonstrate sustained flight under the
full control of the pilot. Designed and built by Wilbur and Orville Wright in Dayton, Ohio, it
was assembled in the autumn of 1903 at a camp at the base of the Kill Devil Hills, near Kitty
Hawk, a village on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. After a first attempt failed on
December 14, the machine was flown four times on December 17, to distances of 120, 175,
200, and 852 feet (36.6, 53.3, 61, and 260 m), respectively. It is now on display in
the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

The 1903 Wright airplane was an extremely strong yet flexible braced biplane structure.
Forward of the wings was a twin-surface horizontal elevator, and to the rear was a twin-
surface vertical rudder. Wing spars and other long, straight sections of the craft were
constructed of spruce, while the wing ribs and other bent or shaped pieces were built of ash.
Aerodynamic surfaces were covered with a finely woven muslin cloth. The flyer was
propelled by a four-cylinder gasoline engine of the Wrights’ own design that developed some
12.5 horsepower after the first few seconds of operation. The engine was linked through a
chain-drive transmission to twin contrarotating pusher propellers, which it turned at an
average speed of 348 rotations per minute.
 Orville Wright in first controlled flight, 1903Orville Wright beginning the first successful
controlled flight in history, at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, December 17, 1903.Library of
Congress, Washington, D.C. (reproduction no. LC-USZ62-6166A)
The pilot lay on the lower wing of the biplane with his hips positioned in a padded wooden
cradle. A movement of the hips to the right or left operated the “wing-warping” system,
which increased the angle of attack of the wings on one side of the craft and decreased it on
the other, enabling the pilot to raise or lower the wing tips on either side in order to maintain
balance or to roll into a turn. A small hand lever controlled the forward elevator, which
provided pitch control and some extra lift. The rear rudder was directly linked to the wing-
warping system in order to counteract problems of yaw produced by the warping of the
wings.

The Wrights knew that it would be difficult to operate a wheeled aircraft from the rough and
sandy surface where they planned to fly, so they decided to launch their machine into the air
with a smooth run down a 60-foot-long monorail track. The launch rail consisted of four 15-
foot two-by-fours, the thin upper edge of which was protected by a metal cap strip. The
airplane ran down the rail on two modified bicycle wheel hubs.

At the beginning of each flight the airplane was positioned at the head of the rail. A
restraining line ran from a clip near the pilot’s position at the leading edge of the lower wing
to a stake driven into the ground behind the machine. The engine could not be throttled; a
hand lever only allowed the pilot to open or close the fuel line. In order to start the engine, a
coil box was connected to the spark plugs, and two men pulled the propellers through to turn
the engine over. When the pilot was ready, he released the restraining rope with the hand clip,
and the machine moved down the rail.

The 1903 machine was never flown after December 17. While sitting on the ground after the
fourth flight, it was flipped by a gust of wind and badly damaged. Shipped back to Dayton, it
was reassembled and repaired as needed for temporary exhibitions before being put on
display at the Science Museum, London, in 1928. There
it remained for 20 years, at the center of a dispute
between Orville Wright and the Smithsonian
Institution over claims that the Institution’s third
secretary, Samuel P. Langley, had constructed a machine
capable of flight prior to the Wrights’ flights of
December 1903. The dispute ended with an apology from
the Smithsonian in 1942, and the flyer was transferred
permanently to the Institution’s collection in 1948,
several months after Orville’s death.

Specifications of the 1903 Wright flyer

standard metric

wingspan 40 ft 4 in 12.3 m

wing area 510 sq ft 47.4 sq m

length 21 ft 1 in 6.4 m

weight (empty) 605 lb 274 kg

1.4 Bi Plane and Mono Plane:

1.4.1 Bi Plane:
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first
powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as
did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a
structural advantage over a monoplane, it produces more drag than a monoplane wing.
Improved structural techniques, better materials and higher speeds made the biplane
configuration obsolete for most purposes by the late 1930s.
Biplanes offer several advantages over conventional cantilever monoplane designs: they
permit lighter wing structures, low wing loading and smaller span for a given wing area.
However, interference between the airflow over each wing increases drag substantially, and
biplanes generally need extensive bracing, which causes additional drag.
Biplanes are distinguished from tandem wing arrangements, where the wings are placed
forward and aft, instead of above and below.
The term is also occasionally used in biology, to describe the wings of some flying animals.

Characteristics
In a biplane aircraft, two wings are placed one above the other. Each provides part of the lift,
although they are not able to produce twice as much lift as a single wing of similar size and
shape because the upper and the lower are working on nearly the same portion of the
atmosphere and thus interfere with each other's behavior. For example, in a wing of aspect
ratio 6, and a wing separation distance of one chord length, the biplane configuration will
only produce about 20 percent more lift than a single wing of the same planform.[1]
The lower wing is usually attached to the fuselage, while the upper wing is raised above the
fuselage with an arrangement of cabane struts, although other arrangements have been used.
Either or both of the main wings can support ailerons, while flaps are more usually positioned
on the lower wing. Bracing is nearly always added between the upper and lower wings, in the
form of interplane struts positioned symmetrically on either side of the fuselage and bracing
wires to keep the structure from flexing, where the wings are not
themselves cantilever structures.
Stagger

Wing stagger on a Fleet Finch primary trainer

The default design for a biplane has the wings positioned directly one above the other.
Moving the upper wing forward relative to the lower one is called positive stagger or, more
often, simply stagger. It can increase lift and reduce drag by reducing the aerodynamic
interference effects between the two wings by a small degree, but more often was used to
improve access to the cockpit. Many biplanes have staggered wings. Common examples
include the de Havilland Tiger Moth, Bücker Bü 131 Jungmann and Travel Air 2000.
Alternatively, the lower wing can instead be moved ahead of the upper wing, giving negative
stagger, and similar benefits. This is usually done in a given design for structural reasons, or
to improve visibility. Examples of negative stagger include the Sopwith Dolphin, Breguet
14 and Beechcraft Staggerwing. However, positive (forward) stagger is much more common.
Bays
The space enclosed by a set of interplane struts is called a bay (much as the architectural
form is used), hence a biplane or triplane with one set of such struts connecting the wings on
each side of the aircraft is a single-bay biplane. This provided sufficient strength for smaller
aircraft such as the First World War-era Fokker D.VII fighter and the Second World War de
Havilland Tiger Moth basic trainer.
Advantages and disadvantages

Soviet Antonov An-2 biplane from the 1940s

The primary advantage of the biplane over a monoplane is its ability to combine greater
stiffness with lower weight. Stiffness requires structural depth and where early monoplanes
had to have this provided with external bracing, the biplane naturally has a deep structure and
is therefore easier to make both light and strong. Rigging wires on non-cantilevered
monoplanes are at a much sharper angle, thus providing less tension to ensure stiffness of the
outer wing. On a biplane, since the angles are closer to the ideal of being in direct line with
the forces being opposed, the overall structure can then be made stiffer. Because of the
reduced stiffness, wire braced monoplanes often had multiple sets of flying and landing wires
where a biplane could easily be built with one bay, with one set of landing and flying wires.
The extra drag from the wires was not enough to offset the aerodynamic disadvantages from
having two airfoils interfering with each other however. Strut braced monoplanes were tried
but none of them were successful, not least due to the drag from the number of struts used.
The structural forces acting on the spars of a biplane wing tend to be lower as they are
divided between four spars rather than two, so the wing can use less material to obtain the
same overall strength and is therefore lighter. A given area of wing also tends to be shorter,
reducing bending moments on the spars, which then allow them to be more lightly built as
well.[2] The biplane does however need extra struts to maintain the gap between the wings,
which add both weight and drag.
The low power supplied by the engines available in the first years of aviation limited
aeroplanes to fairly low speeds. This required an even lower stalling speed, which in turn
required a low wing loading, combining both large wing area with light weight. Obtaining a
large enough wing area without the wings being long, and thus dangerously flexible was
more readily accomplished with a biplane.
The smaller biplane wing allows greater maneuverability. Following World War One, this
helped extend the era of the biplane and, despite the performance disadvantages, military
aircraft were among the last to abandon biplanes. Specialist sports aerobatic biplanes are still
made in small numbers.
Biplanes suffer aerodynamic interference between the two planes when the high pressure air
under the top wing and the low pressure air above the lower wing cancel each other out. This
means that a biplane does not in practice obtain twice the lift of the similarly-sized
monoplane. The farther apart the wings are spaced the less the interference, but the spacing
struts must be longer, and the gap must be extremely large to reduce it appreciably. Given the
low speed and power of early aircraft, the drag penalty of the wires and struts and the mutual
interference of airflows were relatively minor and acceptable factors.
As engine power and speeds rose late in World War One, thick cantilever wings with
inherently lower drag and higher wing loading became practical, which in turn made
monoplanes more attractive as it helped solve the structural problems associated with
monoplanes, but offered little improvement for biplanes.
1.4.2 Monoplane:
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single main wing plane, in
contrast to a biplane or other multiplane, which have multiple planes.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing
configuration and is the simplest to build. However, during the early years of flight, these
advantages were offset by its greater weight and lower manoeuvrability, making it relatively
rare until the 1930s. Since then, the monoplane has been the most common form for a fixed-
wing aircraft.
Characteristics
Support and weight
The inherent efficiency of the monoplane is best achieved in the cantilever wing, which
carries all structural forces internally. However to fly at practical speeds the wing must be
made thin, which requires a heavy structure to make it strong and stiff enough.
External bracing can be used to improve structural efficiency, reducing weight and cost. For a
wing of a given size, the weight reduction allows it to fly slower and with a lower-powered
and more economical engine. For this reason, all monoplane wings in the pioneer era were
braced and most were up until the early 1930s. However the exposed struts or wires create
additional drag, lowering aerodynamic efficiency and reducing the maximum speed. [1]
High-speed and long-range designs tend to be pure cantilevers, while low-speed short-range
types are often given bracing.

Wing position
Besides the general variations in wing configuration such as tail position and use of bracing,
the main distinction between types of monoplane is where the wing is mounted vertically on
the fuselage.
Low

Low wing on a Curtiss P-40

A low wing is one which is located on or near the bottom of the fuselage.
Placing the wing low allows good visibility upwards and frees the central fuselage from the
wing spar carry-through. By reducing pendulum stability, it makes the aircraft more
manoeuvrable, as on the Spitfire; but aircraft that value stability over manoeuvrability may
then need some dihedral.
A feature of the low-wing position is its significant ground effect, giving the plane a tendency
to float farther before landing. Conversely, this ground effect permits shorter takeoffs.
Mid

Mid wing on a de Havilland Vampire T11

A mid wing is mounted midway up the fuselage. The carry-through spar structure can reduce
the useful fuselage volume near its centre of gravity, where space is often in most demand.
Shoulder

Shoulder wing on an ARV Super2, showing good pilot visibility

A shoulder wing (a category between high-wing and mid-wing) is a configuration whereby

the wing is mounted near the top of the fuselage but not on the very top. It is so called
because it sits on the "shoulder" of the fuselage, rather than on the pilot's shoulder. Shoulder-
wings and high-wings share some characteristics, namely: they support a pendulous fuselage
which requires no wing dihedral for stability; and, by comparison with a low-wing, a
shoulder-wing's limited ground effect reduces float on landing. Compared to a low-wing,
shoulder-wing and high-wing configurations give increased propeller clearance on multi-
engined aircraft. On a large aircraft, there is little practical difference between a shoulder
wing and a high wing; but on light aircraft, the configuration is significant because it offers
superior visibility to the pilot. On a light aircraft, the shoulder-wing may need to be swept
forward to maintain correct center of gravity.[5] Examples of light aircraft with shoulder
wings include the ARV Super2, the Bölkow Junior, Saab Safari and the Barber Snark.
High

High wing on a de Havilland Canada Dash 8

A high wing has its upper surface on or above the top of the fuselage. It shares many
advantages and disadvantages with the shoulder wing, but on a light aircraft, the high wing
has poorer upwards visibility. On light aircraft such as the Cessna 152, the wing is usually
located above the cabin, so that the wing spar passes over the occupants heads, leaving the
wing in the ideal fore-aft position. An advantage of the high-wing configuration is that the
fuselage is closer to the ground which eases cargo loading, especially for aircraft with a rear-
fuselage cargo door. Military cargo aircraft are predominently high-wing designs with a rear
cargo door.
Parasol
Parasol wing on a Pietenpol Air Camper

A parasol wing is not directly attached to the fuselage but held above it, supported by
either cabane struts or a pylon. Additional bracing may be provided by struts or wires
extending from the fuselage sides.
The first parasol monoplanes were adaptations of shoulder wing monoplanes, since raising a
shoulder mounted wing above the fuselage greatly improved visibility downwards, which
was useful for reconnaissance roles, as with the widely used Morane-Saulnier L. The parasol
wing allows for an efficient design with good pilot visibility, and was adopted for
some fighters such as the Fokker D.VIII and Morane-Saulnier AI in the later part of the First
World War.
A parasol wing also provides a high mounting point for engines and during the interwar
period was popular on flying boats, which need to lift the propellers clear of spray. Examples
include the Martin M-130, Dornier Do 18 and the Consolidated PBY Catalina.
Compared to a biplane, a parasol wing has less bracing and lower drag. It remains a popular
configuration for amphibians and small homebuilt and ultralight aircraft.

History

The Santos-Dumont Demoiselle was the first production monoplane (replica shown).

Although the first successful aircraft were biplanes, the first attempts at heavier-than-air
flying machines were monoplanes, and many pioneers continued to develop monoplane
designs. For example, the first aeroplane to be put into production was the 1907 Santos-
Dumont Demoiselle, while the Blériot XI flew across the English Channel in
1909. Throughout 1909–1910, Hubert Latham set multiple altitude records in his Antoinette
IV monoplane, eventually reaching 1,384 m (4,541 ft).
The Junkers J 1 monoplane pioneered all-metal construction in 1915.

The equivalent German language term is Eindecker, as in the mid-wing Fokker

Eindecker fighter of 1915 which for a time dominated the skies in what became known as the
"Fokker scourge". The German military Idflieg aircraft designation system prior to 1918
prefixed monoplane type designations with an E, until the approval of the Fokker
D.VIII fighter from its former "E.V" designation. However, the success of the Fokker was
short-lived, and World War I was dominated by biplanes. Towards the end of the war, the
parasol monoplane became popular and successful designs were produced into the 1920s.
Nonetheless, relatively few monoplane types were built between 1914 and the late 1920s,
compared with the number of biplanes. The reasons for this were primarily practical. With
the low engine powers and airspeeds available, the wings of a monoplane needed to be large
in order to create enough lift while a biplane could have two smaller wings and so be made
smaller and lighter.
Towards the end of the First World War, the inherent high drag of the biplane was beginning
to restrict performance. Engines were not yet powerful enough to make the heavy cantilever-
wing monoplane viable, and the braced parasol wing became popular on fighter aircraft,
although few arrived in time to see combat. It remained popular throughout the 1920s.[citation
needed]

On flying boats with a shallow hull, a parasol wing allows the engines to be mounted above
the spray from the water when taking off and landing. This arrangement was popular on
flying boats during the 1930s; a late example being the Consolidated PBY Catalina. It died
out when taller hulls became the norm during World War II, allowing a high wing to be
attached directly to the hull.
As ever-increasing engine powers made the weight of all-metal construction and
the cantilever wing more practical — both first pioneered together by the
revolutionary German Junkers J 1 factory demonstrator in 1915–16 — they became common
during the post–World War I period, the day of the braced wing passed, and by the 1930s, the
cantilever monoplane was fast becoming the standard configuration for a fixed-wing aircraft.
Advanced monoplane fighter-aircraft designs were mass-produced for military services
around the world in both the Soviet Union and the United States in the early–mid 1930s, with
the Polikarpov I-16 and the Boeing P-26 Peashooter respectively
Most military aircraft of WWII were monoplanes, as have been virtually all aircraft since,
except for a few specialist types.
Jet and rocket engines have even more power and all modern high-speed aircraft, especially
supersonic types, have been monoplanes.

1.5 Development of Aerodynamics

Theoretical foundations
Although the modern theory of aerodynamic science did not emerge until the 18th century, its
foundations began to emerge in ancient times. The fundamental aerodynamics continuity
assumption has its origins in Aristotle's Treatise on the Heavens, although Archimedes,
working in the 3rd century BC, was the first person to formally assert that a fluid could be
treated as a continuum. Archimedes also introduced the concept that fluid flow was driven by
a pressure gradient within the fluid. This idea would later prove fundamental to the
understanding of fluid flow.
In 1687, Newton's Principia presented Newton's laws of motion, the first complete
theoretical approach to understanding mechanical phenomena. In particular, Newton's second
law, a statement of the conservation of momentum, is one of three fundamental physical
principles used to obtain the Euler equations and Navier-Stokes equations.
In 1738, the Dutch-Swiss mathematician Daniel Bernoulli published Hydrodynamica, in
which he described the fundamental relationship between pressure and velocity, known today
as Bernoulli's principle.[4] This states that the pressure of a flowing fluid decreases as its
velocity increases and as such was a significant early advance in the theory of fluid dynamics,
and was first quantified in an equation derived by Leonhard Euler. This expression, often
called Bernoulli's Equation, relates the pressure, density, and velocity at two points along a
streamline within a flowing fluid as follows:
Bernoulli's Equation ignores compressibility of the fluid, as well as the effects
of gravity and viscous forces on the flow. Leonhard Euler would go on to publish the Euler
equations in 1757, which are valid for both compressible and incompressible flows. The
Euler equations were extended to incorporate the effects of viscosity in the first half of the
1800s, resulting in the Navier-Stokes equations.
Studies of air resistance

A drawing of a glider by Sir George Cayley, one of the early attempts at creating an aerodynamic shape.

The retarding effect of air on a moving object was among the earliest aerodynamic
phenomena to be explored. Aristotle wrote about air resistance in the 4th century BC, but
lacked the understanding to quantify the resistance he observed. In fact, Aristotle
paradoxically suggested that the movement of air around a thrown spear both resisted its
motion and propelled it forward. In the 15th century, Leonardo da Vinci published the Codex
Leicester, in which he rejected Aristotle's theory and attempted to prove that the only effect
of air on a thrown object was to resist its motion, and that air resistance was proportional to
flow speed, a false conclusion which was supported by Galileo's 17th century observations of
pendulum motion decay. In addition to his work on drag, da Vinci was the first person to
record a number of aerodynamic ideas including correctly describing the circulation of
vortices and the continuity principle as applied to channel flow.
 The true quadratic dependency of drag on velocity was experimentally proven
independently by Edme Mariotte and Christiaan Huygens, both members of the Paris
Academy of Sciences, in the late 17th century. Sir Isaac Newton later became the first person
to theoretically derive this quadratic dependence of air resistance in the early 18th
century, making him one of the first theoretical aerodynamicists. Newton stated that drag was
proportional to the dimensions of a body, the density of the fluid, and the square of the air
velocity, a relationship which was demonstrated to be correct for low flow speeds, but stood
in direct conflict with Galileo's earlier findings. The discrepancy between the work of
Newton, Mariotte, and Huygens, and Galileo's earlier work was not resolved until advances
in viscous flow theory in the 20th century.
Newton also developed a law for the drag force on a flat plate inclined towards the
direction of the fluid flow. Using F for the drag force, ρ for the density, S for the area of the
flat plate, V for the flow velocity, and θ for the angle of attack, his law was expressed as:
This equation overestimates drag in most cases, and was often used in the 19th century to
argue the impossibility of human flight. At low inclination angles, drag depends linearly on
the sin of the angle, not quadratically. However, Newton's flat plate drag law yields
reasonable drag predictions for supersonic flows or very slender plates at large inclination
angles which lead to flow separation.
Air resistance experiments were carried out by investigators throughout the 18th and
19th centuries. Drag theories were developed by Jean le Rond d'Alembert, Gustav
Kirchhoff, and Lord Rayleigh.[14] Equations for fluid flow with friction were developed
by Claude-Louis Navier and George Gabriel Stokes. To simulate fluid flow, many
experiments involved immersing objects in streams of water or simply dropping them off the
top of a tall building. Towards the end of this time period Gustave Eiffel used his Eiffel
Tower to assist in the drop testing of flat plates.
A more precise way to measure resistance is to place an object within an artificial, uniform
stream of air where the velocity is known. The first person to experiment in this fashion
was Francis Herbert Wenham, who in doing so constructed the first wind tunnel in 1871.
Wenham was also a member of the first professional organization dedicated to aeronautics,
the Royal Aeronautical Society of the United Kingdom. Objects placed in wind tunnel
models are almost always smaller than in practice, so a method was needed to relate small
scale models to their real-life counterparts. This was achieved with the invention of the
dimensionless Reynolds number by Osborne Reynolds. Reynolds also experimented
with laminar to turbulent flow transition in 1883.

Developments in aviation
Working from at least as early as 1796, when he constructed a model helicopter, until
his death in 1857, Sir George Cayley is credited as the first person to identify the four
aerodynamic forces of flight—weight, lift, drag, and thrust—and the relationships between
them. Cayley is also credited as the first person to develop the modern fixed-wing aircraft
concept; although da Vinci's notes contain drawings and descriptions of a fixed-wing heavier-
than-air flight machine, da Vinci's notes were disorganized and scattered following his death,
and his aerodynamics achievements were not rediscovered until after technology had
progressed well beyond da Vinci's advances.
By the late 19th century, two problems were identified before heavier-than-air flight
could be realized. The first was the creation of low-drag, high-lift aerodynamic wings. The
second problem was how to determine the power needed for sustained flight. During this
time, the groundwork was laid down for modern day fluid dynamics and aerodynamics, with
other less scientifically-inclined enthusiasts testing various flying machines with little
success.
In 1884, John J. Montgomery, an American trained in physics, began experimenting
with glider designs. Using a water table with circulating water and a smoke chamber he
began applying the physics of fluid dynamics to describe the motions of flow over curved
surfaces such as airfoils. In 1889, Charles Renard, a French aeronautical engineer, became
the first person to reasonably predict the power needed for sustained flight. Renard and
German physicist Hermann von Helmholtz explored the wing loading (weight to wing-area
ratio) of birds, eventually concluding that humans could not fly under their own power by
attaching wings onto their arms. Otto Lilienthal, following the work of Sir George Cayley,
was the first person to become highly successful with glider flights. Lilienthal believed that
thin, curved airfoils would produce high lift and low drag.
Octave Chanute's 1893 book, Progress in Flying Machines, outlined all of the known
research conducted around the world up to that point. Chanute's book provided a great service
to those interested in aerodynamics and flying machines.
With the information contained in Chanute's book, the personal assistance of Chanute
himself, and research carried out in their own wind tunnel, the Wright brothers gained enough
knowledge of aerodynamics to fly the first powered aircraft on December 17, 1903. The
Wright brothers' flight confirmed or disproved a number of aerodynamics theories. Newton's
drag force theory was finally proved incorrect. This first widely publicised flight led to a
more organized effort between aviators and scientists, leading the way to modern
aerodynamics.
During the time of the first flights, John J. Montgomery, Frederick W. Lanchester,[26] Martin
Kutta, and Nikolai Zhukovsky independently created theories that connected circulation of a
fluid flow to lift. Kutta and Zhukovsky went on to develop a two-dimensional wing theory.
Expanding upon the work of Lanchester, Ludwig Prandtl is credited with developing the
mathematics[27] behind thin-airfoil and lifting-line theories as well as work with boundary
layers. Prandtl, a professor at the University of Göttingen, instructed many students who
would play important roles in the development of aerodynamics, such as Theodore von
Kármán and Max Munk.

Design issues with increasing speed

Compressibility is an important factor in aerodynamics. At low speeds, the
compressibility of air is not significant in relation to aircraft design, but as the airflow nears
and exceeds the speed of sound, a host of new aerodynamic effects become important in the
design of aircraft. These effects, often several of them at a time, made it very difficult
for World War II era aircraft to reach speeds much beyond 800 km/h (500 mph).
Some of the minor effects include changes to the airflow that lead to problems in control.
For instance, the P-38 Lightning with its thick high-lift wing had a particular problem in
high-speed dives that led to a nose-down condition. Pilots would enter dives, and then find
that they could no longer control the plane, which continued to nose over until it crashed. The
problem was remedied by adding a "dive flap" beneath the wing which altered the center of
pressure distribution so that the wing would not lose its lift.[28]
Similar problem affected some models of the Supermarine Spitfire. At high speeds,
the ailerons could apply more torque than the Spitfire's thin wings could handle, and the
entire wing would twist in the opposite direction. This meant that the plane would roll in the
direction opposite to that which the pilot intended, and led to a number of accidents. Earlier
models weren't fast enough for this to be a problem, and so it wasn't noticed until later model
Spitfires like the Mk.IX started to appear. This was mitigated by adding considerable
torsional rigidity to the wings, and was wholly cured when the Mk.XIV was introduced.
These problems were eventually solved as jet aircraft reached transonic
and supersonic speeds. German scientists in WWII experimented with swept wings. Their
research was applied on the MiG-15 and F-86 Sabre and bombers such as the B-47
Stratojet used swept wings which delay the onset of shock waves and reduce drag.
In order to maintain control near and above the speed of sound, it is often necessary to
use either power operated all-flying tailplanes (stabilators), or delta wings fitted with power
operated elevons. Power operation prevents aerodynamic forces overriding the pilots' control
inputs.
Finally, another common problem that fits into this category is flutter. At some speeds,
the airflow over the control surfaces will become turbulent, and the controls will start to
flutter. If the speed of the fluttering is close to a harmonic of the control's movement,
the resonance could break the control off completely. This was a serious problem on the Zero
and VL Myrsky. When problems with poor control at high speed were first encountered, they
were addressed by designing a new style of control surface with more power. However, this
introduced a new resonant mode, and a number of planes were lost before this was
discovered. On design of VL Myrsky, this problem was countered by increasing the rigidity
and weight of the wing, therefore increasing the dampening of the harmonic oscillation,
which compromised the performance to some extent.
incompressible fluid (similar in effect to water) to a compressible fluid (acting as a gas)
as the speed of sound is approached. There are two effects in particular, wave
drag and critical mach.
Wave drag is a sudden rise in drag on the aircraft, caused by air building up in front of it.
At lower speeds, this air has time to "get out of the way", guided by the air in front of it that
is in contact with the aircraft. But at the speed of sound, this can no longer happen, and the air
which was previously following the streamline around the aircraft now hits it directly. The
amount of power needed to overcome this effect is considerable. The critical mach is the
speed at which some of the air passing over the aircraft's wing becomes supersonic.
At the speed of sound, the way that lift is generated changes dramatically, from being
dominated by Bernoulli's principle to forces generated by shock waves. Since the air on the
top of the wing is traveling faster than on the bottom, due to Bernoulli effect, at speeds close
to the speed of sound the air on the top of the wing will be accelerated to supersonic. When
this happens, the distribution of lift changes dramatically, typically causing a powerful nose-
down trim. Since the aircraft normally approached these speeds only in a dive, pilots would
report the aircraft attempting to nose over into the ground.
Dissociation absorbs a great deal of energy in a reversible process. This greatly reduces
the thermodynamic temperature of hypersonic gas decelerated near an aerospace vehicle. In
transition regions, where this pressure dependent dissociation is incomplete, both the
differential, constant pressure heat capacity and beta (the volume/pressure differential ratio)
will greatly increase. The latter has a pronounced effect on vehicle aerodynamics including
stability.

Faster than sound – later 20th century

 As aircraft began to travel faster, aerodynamicists realized that the density of air began
to change as it came into contact with an object, leading to a division of fluid flow into the
incompressible and compressible regimes. In compressible aerodynamics, density and
pressure both change, which is the basis for calculating the speed of sound. Newton was the
first to develop a mathematical model for calculating the speed of sound, but it was not
correct until Pierre-Simon Laplace accounted for the molecular behavior of gases and
introduced the heat capacity ratio. The ratio of the flow speed to the speed of sound was
named the Mach number after Ernst Mach, who was one of the first to investigate the
properties of supersonic flow which included Schlieren photography techniques to visualize
the changes in density. William John Macquorn Rankine and Pierre Henri
Hugoniot independently developed the theory for flow properties before and after a shock
wave. Jakob Ackeret led the initial work on calculating the lift and drag on a supersonic
airfoil. Theodore von Kármán and Hugh Latimer Dryden introduced the term transonic to
describe flow speeds around Mach 1 where drag increases rapidly. Because of the increase in
drag approaching Mach 1, aerodynamicists and aviators disagreed on whether supersonic
flight was achievable.
On September 30, 1935, an exclusive conference was held in Rome with the topic of
high velocity flight and the possibility of breaking the sound barrier. Participants
included Theodore von Kármán, Ludwig Prandtl, Jakob Ackeret, Eastman Jacobs, Adolf
Busemann, Geoffrey Ingram Taylor, Gaetano Arturo Crocco, and Enrico Pistolesi. Ackeret
presented a design for a supersonic wind tunnel. Busemann gave a presentation on the need
for aircraft with swept wings for high speed flight. Eastman Jacobs, working for NACA,
presented his optimized airfoils for high subsonic speeds which led to some of the high
performance American aircraft during World War II. Supersonic propulsion was also
discussed. The sound barrier was broken using the Bell X-1 aircraft twelve years later, thanks
in part to those individuals.

1.6 A Brief History of Aircraft Structures

Aircraft have changed enormously over the last century from the early Wright Flyer flown at
Kittyhawk to the supersonic SR-71 Blackbird flown today. Here we will see about the
developments in the aircraft structures.

Fig. 1. A schematic drawing of the Wright Flyer

 Fig. 2. The modern supersonic SR-71 Blackbird

1) Wire Braced Structures

If we look at the early design of aircraft such as the Wright Flyer in Figure 1 there can really
be no misunderstanding of the construction style. The entire aircraft, including most notably
the wings, forward and rear structures were all constructed from rectangular frames that were
prevented from shearing (forming a parallelogram) or collapsing by diagonally stretched
wire. There were two major innovative thoughts behind this design philosophy. Firstly, the
idea that two parallel wings would facilitate a lighter yet stronger structure than a single
wing, and secondly, that these two wings could be supported with two light wires rather than
with a single, thicker wooden member. The structural advantage of the biplane construction is
that the two wings, vertical struts and wires form a deep light beam, which is more resistant
to bending and twisting than a single wing. Much like a composite sandwich beam it can be
treated as two stiff outer skins for high bending rigidity connected by a lightweight “core” to
provide resistance to shear and torsion.
 Fig. 3. Cutaway drawing of the 1917 Sopwith Camel

Fig. 4. Cutaway drawing of the 1935 Hawker Hurricane

The biplane construction with wire bracing was the most notable feature of aircraft
construction for much of the following years and paired nicely with lightweight materials
such as bamboo and spruce (Figure 3). Wood is a composite of cellulose fibres embedded in
a matrix of lignin and the early aeronautical engineers knew to take advantage of its high
specific strength and stiffness. Strangely enough, after the era of metals we are now returning
back to the composite roots of aircraft, albeit in a more advanced fashion. The biplane era
lasted until the 1930s at which point metal was taking over as the prime aerospace material.
Initially the design philosophy was not adapted to take full advantage of thin sheet metal
manufacturing techniques such that wooden spars and struts were just replaced by thinner
metal tubing. Consequently there remained a striking similarity in construction between a
1917 (Figure 3) and a 1931 (Figure 4) fighter. Even though some thin metal sheets were
being used these components generally did not carry much load such that the main fuselage
structure featured 4 horizontal longerons supported by vertical struts and wire bracing. This
so called “Warren Girder” design can also be seen in some of earliest monoplane wing
constructions such as the 1935 Hawker Hurricane. Aeronautical engineers were initially
“unsure how to combine the new metal construction with a traditional fabric covering (3)”
used on earlier aircraft. The onset of WWII meant that some safe and conservative design
decisions were made to facilitate monoplane wings and the “Warren Girder” principle was
directly copied to the internal framework of monoplane wings (Figure 5). These early designs
were far from optimised and perfectly characterise the transition period between wire-frame
structures and the semi-monocoque structures we use today.

Fig. 5. The Hawker Hurricane wing construction

2) Semi-Monocoque Structures
The internal cross-bracing was initially acceptable for the early single or double seater
aircraft, but would obviously not provide enough room for larger passenger aircrafts. To
overcome this, inspiration was taken from the long tradition and expertise in boat building
which had already been applied to construct the fuselages of early wooden flying boats. The
highest standards of yacht construction at the time featured “bent wooden frames and double
or triple skins…with a clear varnished finish…and presented a much more open and usable
fuselage interior (3)”. The well-established boat building techniques were thus passed on to
aircraft construction to produce newer aircraft with very smooth, aerodynamic profiles.
 Fig. 6. Semi monocoque fuselage construction of an early wooden flying boat

The major advantage of this type of construction is that the outer skin of the fuselage and
wing no longer just define the shape and aerodynamic profile of the aircraft, but become an
active load-carrying member of the structure as well. Thus, the structure becomes
“multifunctional” and more efficient, unlike the braced fuselage which would be just as
strong without the fabric covering the girders. As a consequence the whole structure is
generally at a uniform and lower stress level, reducing stress concentrations and giving better
fatigue life. Finally, as the majority of the material is located at the outer surface of the
structure the second and polar moments of area, and therefore the bending and torsional
rigidities are much increased. On the other hand, the thin-skinned construction means that
compression and shear buckling become the most likely forms of failure. In order to increase
the critical buckling loads the skins are stiffened by stringers and broken up into smaller
sections by spars and ribs.

Fig. 7. Components of a semi monocoque wing

Because the external skin is now a working part of the structure this type of construction
became to be known as stressed skin or semi-monocoque, where monocoque means “shell in
one piece” and “semi” is an english addition to describe the discrete discontinuities of
internal stiffeners. The adoption of the semi-monocoque construction and a change from
wood to metal naturally coincided since sheet metal production allowed a variety of thin
skins to be easily manufactured quite cheaply, with better surface finish and superior material
properties. Furthermore, metal construction was conducive to riveting which would overcome
the adhesive problems of early wooden semi-monocoque aircraft such as the deHavilland
Mosquito.

Fig. 8. Cutaway Drawing of the recently released A400M aircraft (6).

Figure 8 shows the typical construction of a modern aircraft. There have been numerous
different structural arrangements over the past number of years but all generally feature some
sort of vertical stiffener (ribs in the wings and rings in the fuselage) and longitudinal stiffener
(called stringers). Over the years the main driver has been towards a) a reduction in the
number of rivets by reverting to bonded assembly or ideally manufacturing separate
components as a single piece and b) understanding the effects and growth of cracks under
static and fatigue loading by building structures that can easily be inspected or have multiple
redundancies (load paths). The design and manufacturing methods of semi-
monocoque aircraft are now so automated that the development of a new aluminium, medium
sized airliner “could be regarded as a routine exercise (1)”. However, the continuing
legislative pressure to reduce weight and fuel consumption provides enough incentive for
further development.
3) Sandwich Structures and Composite Materials
One of the major disadvantages of thin-skinned structures is their lack of rigidity under
compressive loading which gives them a tendency to buckle. A sheet of paper nicely
illustrates this point, since it is quite strong in tension but will provide no support under
compression. One way of improving the rigidity of thin panels is by increasing the bending
stiffness with the aid of external stiffeners, which at the same time break the structure up into
smaller sections. The critical buckling load is a function of the square of the width of the
plate over which the load is applied. Therefore skins can be made 4 times stronger in
buckling by just cutting the width in half. As a wing bends upwards the main compressive
loads act on the top skin along the length of the wing and therefore a large number of
stringers are visible across the width.

Fig. 8. Buckling analysis of a stiffened wing panel. The stiffeners break the buckling mode shapes into smaller wavelengths that
require higher energy to form compared to a single wave

Another technique to provide more rigidity is sandwich construction. This generally features
a very lightweight core, such as a honeycomb lattice or a foam, sandwiched between two thin
yet stiff outer panels. Here the role of the sandwich core is to carry any shear loads and
separate the two skins as far as possible. The second moment of area is a function of the cube
of the depth and therefore the bending rigidity is greatly increased with this technique.
Ideally, in this manner it would be possible to design an entire fuselage without any internal
rings or stringers and the Beech Starship is an excellent example of a successful application.
However, there are problems of forming honeycomb cores onto doubly curved shells since
the material is susceptible to strong anticlastic curvature, forming a saddle shape when bent
in one direction. Furthermore, there are problems with condensation and water ingress into
the honeycomb cells and the ability to guarantee a good bond surface between the core and
the outer skins. There is the possibility to use foam cores instead, but these tend to be heavier
with lower mechanical properties. Perhaps the current trend is away from sandwich
construction (10).
 Fig. 9. A carbon fibre composite/honeycomb sandwich panel

Fig. 10. The Beech Starship whose fuselage was design using sandwich construction with minimal internal bulkheads and ribs

One of the major applications of honeycomb structures has been in combination with composite
materials. Stiff carbon composite panels are the ideal candidate for the outer skins and the whole
assembly can be co-cured together in an autoclave without having to perform any secondary
bonding operations. Furthermore, the incredible specific strength and stiffness of carbon
composites makes this combination an ultra lightweight yet resilient structure for aerospace
applications. Indeed, we are now at the start of the “black” carbon age in commercial aircraft
design. Apart from their excellent specific strength and stiffness properties composites exhibit the
ability to tailor optimum mechanical properties by orientating the majority of plies in the
direction of the load and allowing for less material waste during manufacture. As a result, the
first generation of commercial aircraft that contain large proportions of composite parts, such as
the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350 XWB, are planned to enter service throughout the
next years.
Considerable effort has been made to mature composite technology in order to reduce
manufacturing costs, guarantee reliably high quality laminates, understand the highly complex
failure criteria and built hierarchical, multifunctional or self-healing structures. One of the major
shortcomings is that the structural advantages of fibre-reinforced plastics must be viewed with
respect to applications where the primary loads are aligned with the fibre direction. However, if a
composite plate is subjected to significant out-of-plane stresses subsurface delaminations may
develop between layers due to the weak through-thickness cohesive strength of the composite.
These intralaminar delaminations are a significant problem as they are difficult to detect by visual
inspection and may reduce the compressive strength of the laminate by up to 60%.
4) Novel Designs
With environmental legislation becoming ever so strict it is adamant that new concepts for
lightweight and fuel-efficient aircraft are found swiftly. Although the pressure on developing
advanced composite materials is high it must be remembered that 100 years of innovation were
required to reach the stage that large metal semi-monocoque structures could be manufactured in
the 1940s and another 30 years to fully understand all failure criteria. Thus, we may still require
significant research and development before all current issues with composite materials are
resolved. Apart from carbon fibre and other composites other researchers have been looking into
completely redefining the shape of aircraft. Researchers at MIT have been developing
the blended wing concept and NASA are exploring the technology of morphing or shape-
changing aircraft, taking inspiration directly from nature.

Fig. 13. NASA morphing wing aircraft

Whatever the final solution might look like the next 5o years in aerospace engineering will be
incredibly innovative, ground-breaking and an exciting industry to be part of!

1.7 A Brief History of Aircraft Materials:

Wood and fabric lashed together with twine may have been suitable for the world’s first
powered flight, but by the time Chuck Yeager was punching through the sound barrier in a
rocket-engine powered test plane, engineers had to overcome extreme strength and thermal
resistance challenges with the use of increasingly sophisticated materials.

Today, manufacturers are developing advanced composites to build the aircraft of the
future.

Wood, Fabric, and Twine

It seems incredible to the modern passenger sitting comfortably in a Boeing 737 to think that
116 years ago, the Wright brothers completed the world’s first sustained and controlled
heavier-than-air powered flight using only:
 • spruce and ash wood for the fuselage, bracings, skid tie bars, and other elements
• roller-skate wheels for pulleys
• waxed twine to hold the frame together
• some steel in the form of rods and sheets for strapping and control cables
• cotton muslin or similar close-weaved fabric to cover the wings

Even in 1903, quality control was seen as paramount to ensure materials did not break under
strain. Spruce, for example, had to be straight-grained, knot-free, with at least 14 annular
rings per inch. Despite this, wood and fabric structures deteriorated rapidly in the elements
and were difficult to maintain.

Manufacturers were building planes by 1912 with laminated wooden fuselages employing
monocoque construction, which means loads were supported through the fuselages’ external
skin to make load-carrying internal frames unnecessary. This type of construction was used
by WWI era Albatros fighters and the Lockheed Vega made famous by Amelia Earhart.

All-metal Aircraft

Metal began to be used in aircraft as engineers sought to overcome challenges in strength and
wind resistance, which only increased as speeds improved. The best-known early use of
metal aircraft was in WWI, with Fokkers (as flown by the Red Baron) employing welded
steel tube fuselages. Aluminum-covered Junkers are known as the world’s first all-metal
fighter planes. All-metal aircraft construction became increasingly popular from 1919 to
1934, with the most common constructions being:

• Aluminum or aluminum alloy with fabric-covered surfaces

• All-metal monocoque structures

Ford’s 4-AT Air Transport (the Tin Goose) became known as the first metal airliner.

Metal’s strength and durability eventually enabled manufacturers to develop aircraft that
were easier to machine, assemble, and repair, and lighter than the previous generation of
wooden structures. All-metal planes were not impervious to the elements, with engineers
working to overcome hazards including corrosion and metal fatigue.

Exotic Metals

By the late 1940s, British and U.S. research into high-speed aviation produced experimental
aircraft such as the Bell X-1, capable of supersonic flight. Extreme speed requires extreme
strength and thermal resistance, which led to the development of aluminum alloys and the use
of exotic materials that would mitigate the effects of aerodynamic heating. Manufacturers
built planes with:

• Advanced carbon-carbon composites

• Silicon carbide ceramic coatings
• Titanium-aluminum alloys
• Titanium alloys reinforced with ceramic fibers

Titanium was hailed for its high strength-to-weight ratio and resistance to heat and corrosion.
Composite Materials

Since the 1940s, the focus has been on making stronger, safer, more fuel-efficient (and
therefore lighter) aircraft. Composite materials have provided engineers with a cost-effective
way to achieve this.

The phrase “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” is very applicable to composite
materials. “Composite” means that two materials used in combination provide benefits (such
as strength or lighter weight) that they do not provide in isolation.

Composite material aircraft have existed since the late 1930s, with the most famous example
being the Hughes flying boat, made with birch ply Duramold (birch impregnated with
phenolic resin and laminated together at 280° F). Duramold is lightweight and 80% stronger
than aluminum.

Fiberglass (fiber-reinforced plastic) was reportedly first used in aircraft in 1939 but was not
used extensively until the 1960s. Fiber-reinforced resin matrices use resins such as polyester,
vinyl ester and epoxy reinforced with fibers such as glass, carbon or boron. The modern
Airbus A350 is built of 52% carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP).

To add further strength, a “sandwich” effect is created when engineers use a core material
between the layers of composite materials. Cores are commonly made from plastic foams,
wood, or multicellular honeycombs of fabric, paper, plastic or metal.

Benefits of composite materials include:

• Lower cost of materials

• Lighter weight and higher strength
• Radar stealth quality
• The creation of streamlined shapes that were not possible with wood or metal

Materials of the Future

Aircraft in the future will contain increasingly high percentages of composite materials.
Examples include the Northrop B-2 (commonly known as the Stealth Bomber) and the
radically designed Beech Starship, both made almost entirely of composite materials.
NASA’s Aeronautics Research division is currently undertaking an advanced composites
project which will benefit spacecraft and aircraft of the future.

Futuristic materials include metal-matrix nanocomposites, known for their high tensile
strength and electrical conductivity (resistance to lightning strikes). Polymer and ceramics-
based versions of this material are used in carbon fiber reinforced polymer wings to protect
against electromagnetic interference.

Perhaps the main benefit of composite materials is that they have created entirely new
methods of construction, particularly when used in conjunction with computer design.
Composite materials will continue to be the key to making aircraft lighter, stronger and less
expensive to build while cutting fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
1.8 Aircraft Power Plant History:
An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of
an aircraft propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines,
although in recent years many small UAVs have used electric motors.In commercial aviation
the major Western manufacturers of turbofan engines are Pratt & Whitney (a subsidiary
of Raytheon Technologies), General Electric, Rolls-Royce, and CFM International (a joint
venture of Safran Aircraft Engines and General Electric). Russian manufacturers include
the United Engine Corporation, Aviadvigatel and Klimov. Aeroengine Corporation of
China was formed in 2016 with the merger of several smaller companies.
The largest manufacturer of turboprop engines for general aviation is Pratt & Whitney.
General Electric announced in 2015 entrance into the market.

Development history
• 1848: John Stringfellow made a steam engine for a 10-foot wingspan model aircraft
which achieved the first powered flight, albeit with negligible payload.
• 1903: Charlie Taylor built an inline engine, mostly of aluminum, for the Wright Flyer (12
horsepower).
• 1903: Manly-Balzer engine sets standards for later radial engines.
• 1906: Léon Levavasseur produces a successful water-cooled V8 engine for aircraft use.
• 1908: René Lorin patents a design for the ramjet engine.
• 1908: Louis Seguin designed the Gnome Omega, the world's first rotary engine to be
produced in quantity. In 1909 a Gnome powered Farman III aircraft won the prize for the
greatest non-stop distance flown at the Reims Grande Semaine d'Aviation setting a world
record for endurance of 180 kilometres (110 mi).
• 1910: Coandă-1910, an unsuccessful ducted fan aircraft exhibited at Paris Aero Salon,
powered by a piston engine. The aircraft never flew, but a patent was filed for routing
exhaust gases into the duct to augment thrust.
• 1914: Auguste Rateau suggests using exhaust-powered compressor – a turbocharger – to
improve high-altitude performance;[3] not accepted after the tests
• 1917-18 - The Idflieg-numbered R.30/16 example of the Imperial
German Luftstreitkräfte's Zeppelin-Staaken R.VI heavy bomber becomes the earliest
known supercharger-equipped aircraft to fly, with a Mercedes D.II straight-six engine in
the central fuselage driving a Brown-Boveri mechanical supercharger for the R.30/16's
four Mercedes D.IVa engines.
• 1918: Sanford Alexander Moss picks up Rateau's idea and creates the first successful
turbocharger[3][9]
• 1926: Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar IV (S), the first series-produced supercharged engine
for aircraft use; two-row radial with a gear-driven centrifugal supercharger.
• 1930: Frank Whittle submitted his first patent for a turbojet engine.
• June 1939: Heinkel He 176 is the first successful aircraft to fly powered solely by a
liquid-fueled rocket engine.
• August 1939: Heinkel HeS 3 turbojet propels the pioneering German Heinkel He
178 aircraft.
• 1940: Jendrassik Cs-1, the world's first run of a turboprop engine. It is not put into
service.
• 1943 Daimler-Benz DB 670, first turbofan runs
• 1944: Messerschmitt Me 163B Komet, the world's first rocket-propelled combat aircraft
deployed.
• 1945: First turboprop-powered aircraft flies, a modified Gloster Meteor with two Rolls-
Royce Trent engines.
• 1947: Bell X-1 rocket-propelled aircraft exceeds the speed of sound.
• 1948: 100 shp 782, the first turboshaft engine to be applied to aircraft use; in 1950 used
to develop the larger 280 shp (210 kW) Turbomeca Artouste.
• 1949: Leduc 010, the world's first ramjet-powered aircraft flight.
• 1950: Rolls-Royce Conway, the world's first production turbofan, enters service.
• 1968: General Electric TF39 high bypass turbofan enters service delivering greater thrust
and much better efficiency.
• 2002: HyShot scramjet flew in dive.
• 2004: NASA X-43, the first scramjet to maintain altitude.
• 2020: Pipistrel E-811 is the first electric aircraft engine to be awarded a type certificate
by EASA. It powers the Pipistrel Velis Electro, the first fully electric EASA type-
certified aeroplane.