The Short SCI V.T.O.L. Research Aircraft, using four special Rolls-Royce RB.108 jet lift engines, which made its first flights in 1959 heralds a new method of taking-off and landing which may revolutionise the operational flexibility of aircraft of the future. The Short SC. 1 is the result of six years research and development by Short Brothers and Harland Ltd., who built and developed the aircraft, and Rolls-Royce Ltd. who designed and developed the special light weight turbojet engines which support the aircraft during the V.T.O.L. phase and which are shut down as soon as the aircraft has attained wing borne flight by the horizontal thrust from its separate propulsion engine. The SC. 1 is shown in hovering flight in Fig. 1.

Military aircrafts are often subjected to severe flight maneuvers with high Angles-of -Attack (AOA) and Angles of Sideslip (AOSS). These flight attitudes induce non-uniform in flow conditions to their gas turbine engines which may include distortion of inlet total pressure and total temperature at the Aerodynamic Interface Plane (AIP). Operation of the downstream compression system with distorted inflow typically results in reduced aerodynamic performance, reduced stall margin, and increased blade stress levels. In the present study the steady state total pressure distortion induced to the Aerodynamic Interface Plane due to the aircraft’s flight attitude have been estimated in terms of distortion descriptors. The distorted conditions at the interface between the intake and the engine have been predicted by using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), where 33 different aircraft flight attitudes have been tested. Based on the obtained results the effect of Angle-of-Attack (AOA) and Angle of Side Slip (AOSS) on the distortion descriptors have been studied. The results showed that the distortion effect becomes more pronounced whenever this specific airframe configuration is exposed to incoming flow with an AOSS. Among the tested cases, the greatest total pressure defect at the AIP in terms of difference from the average value and of circumferential extent was calculated for the flight attitudes of 0·35M flight with 0° AOA and 8° AOSS and 0·35M fight with 16° AOA and 16° AOSS.

In the modified free-streamline theory for the separated flow past bluff bodies due to Roshko, the velocity on the separated free streamlines is expressed as

Uv=kU0,

where U0 is the velocity of the undisturbed stream and k is a constant. If it is assumed that the pressure on the base of the body is uniform and equal to the pressure on the free streamline, then application of Bernoulli's equation leads to;

k =(1-Cpb)½,… (1)

where Cpb is the base pressure coefficient.

The design and analysis of axial turbomachine blade profiles has usually been done assuming the flow to be two-dimensional, that is assuming the blade-to-blade stream surfaces are parallel planes. Similarly, most of the detailed experimental studies of blade profiles have been done in nominally two-dimensional cascades or using wall boundary layer suction to achieve (on average) two-dimensional conditions. In an actual compressor or turbine, however, this condition rarely obtains.

After some general remarks upon the constant flight characteristics of birds belonging to any given species, the author describes his method of obtaining, approximately, a cinematographic reproduction of three geometrical projections of the wing-beat. Dealing with one particular case he determines the trajectory in space of a pigeon's wing tip during an entire beat, and, also, the speed and acceleration reached by it.

The Focke helicopter presents the first successful solution of a problem which has occupied aeronautical science for a considerable time. Details of the record flights carried out last year caused a world sensation and with further development it is not too much to hope that this new type will open up fresh fields which up to now remained closed to orthodox aircraft.

The first part of the history of composites in aerospace emphasised materials with high specific strength and stiffness. This was followed by a quest for reliable manufacturing techniques that guaranteed sufficiently high fibre volume fractions in complex structural parts with reasonable cost. Further improvements are still possible leading, ultimately to an extension of the functionality of composite structures to non-mechanical functions. Reduction of material scatter and a more probability-based design approach, improved material properties, higher post buckling factors, improved crashworthiness concepts and improved NDI techniques are some of the evolutionary measures that could improve the performance of current composite structures. Modular design, increased co-curing, hybrid material structures, hybrid fabrication methods, innovative structural concepts and reduced development times are more revolutionary steps that could bring today’s solutions further. Manufacturing engineering is also important for achieving revolutionary change. Function integration such as embedded deicing, morphing,, and boundary-layer suction are among the next steps in weight and cost reduction, but now on the system level.

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in various military and civil applications is the subject of much current attention. With recent developments in personal computer technology, and the availability at affordable cost of peripherals, and electronic and optical sensors, UAVs for long endurance missions, with flight autonomy beyond the visual range, have become an attractive challenge for study in universities and research institutes. This paper describes the development of a target-lock-on optical remote sensing system to be used as a payload in a university-class UAV. To accomplish autonomous way-point navigation for the conduct of optical sensing surveillance, a gimbaled-platform with servo control and an Attitude and Heading Reference System (AHRS) navigation system for UAV position and attitude measurements have been developed. The UAV also utilises a Global Position System (GPS) receiver, a pressure altimeter, gyroscopes and an electric compass. A novel mathematical model is proposed to calculate the optimal parameters for orientating the CCD camera line of sight with a ground target, designated in real time from a ground control station. Both ground and flight test results have demonstrated the feasibility of the navigation control scheme and the UAV’s ability to conduct ground target acquisition and image transmission.

The Early experimental work at the Royal Aircraft Factory, South Farnborough (as it was called then) has been described by a number of people. There was no organisation in the First World War, as there was in the Second, for the use of scientific man power. The gravitation of scientists to the Royal Aircraft Factory can, I imagine, only be explained by the attraction of working in an unexplored field. The results of the impact of this remarkable group on the future of aeronautics in this country were enormous.

My own relatively late appearance at Farnborough, towards the end of 1916, was the result of a series of accidents.

In 1929 when I was a young schoolboy in York, I was fortunate to become one of a small band of nomadic gliding enthusiasts centred around a most enterprising chap called Percy Watson, who had built himself a German Zoegling training glider above his chemist's shop in Micklegate. Each weekend we flew this machine — on which one sat in the open with an awe-inspiring view of the ground—from a wide variety of hills and precipices in the country to the east of York in the direction of Scarborough and Whitby.

In 1936, as a result of this exciting and sometimes quite terrifying activity, I joined Slingsby Sailplanes at Kirbymoorside, where I became happily involved in the design and development of Kirby Cadets and Tutors and the like. It was a most satisfactory occupation for a young chap dedicated to gliding and in consequence I developed a love of the wolds and moors of East Yorkshire from Sutton Bank to the sea, which continues to this day.

The safety target for the Supersonic Transport has been set by the governments sponsoring the project. This is to achieve a safety level at least as good as that of subsonic aircraft at the same time. An analysis of present accident trends is used to give more precision to this statement. If the present rate of improvement in safety continues, the accident rate in the early 1970's can be expected to be some 20% to 25% below today's figures and the target for the SST must be for an improvement of at least 30%. To achieve improvements of this order in a safety record which is already good requires considerable effort by all concerned and necessitates a more scientific approach to safety requirements, especially airworthiness requirements. Some examples of the way this is being done in the United Kingdom and f ranee are given.

Nowadays most busy international airports and their corresponding terminal areas are suffering from huge congestion issues due to the simultaneity of their arrival aircraft. The aim of this paper is to establish a new separation method using time- based-separation, speed modification during approach phases and Point Merge System (PMS) so as to ensure efficiently the traffic flow. This work took as a case study the busiest airport of Morocco, The Mohammed V International airport of Casablanca. The proposed management model offers very good results when compared with other models such as the first-come first-served (FCFS) model.

With the aviation industry facing increasing environmental and energy challenges, there has been a growing demand for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Previous studies have shown the role of ice accretion, release and blockage in aviation-related incidents and accidents with conventional jet fuel. However, there is no available data that establishes the magnitude of influence new fuel compositions will pose on ice formation and accretion in aircraft fuel systems. A recirculating fuel test rig capable of cooling fuel from ambient to −30°C within 4h was built by Airbus to simulate conditions in an aircraft wing tank and allow characterisation of ice accretion. The key characteristic was the pressure drop across an inline fuel strainer for the different SAF explored but visual analysis of ice accretion on the strainer mesh (filters used in protecting fuel feed pumps) was also performed for individual experimental runs for comparison. Measurements revealed that 100% conventional fuel exhibited a higher propensity to strainer blockage compared to the SAF tested. However, all SAF blends behaved differently as the blending ratio with Jet A-1 fuel had an impact on the pressure differential at different temperatures. Data from this work are essential to establish confidence in the safe operation of future aircraft fuel systems that will potentially be compatible with 100 % SAF.

A brief description is given of an accurate numerical method for the inverse calculation of both attached and separated laminar, two-dimensional, incompressible boundary-layers with prescribed displacement thickness. The method employs downstream-marching, using an approximation to the convection terms in the reverse-flow region to stabilise the computation. Results of three calculations made by this method, using measured distributions of displacement thickness as input, are presented and compared with the corresponding measured velocity profiles and distributions of external velocity. Very close agreement between theory and experiment is found in general, giving further evidence of the validity of the boundary-layer approximation in separated flows of limited extent.

The quasi-one-dimensional theory due to Carpenter and Johannesen is applied to supercritical swirling flows in convergent-divergent nozzles. Only flows with uniformly constant stagnation pressure and entropy are considered. Values of exit impulse function and area ratio are given for various types of swirling flow with a range of back-pressure ratios. Thrust coefficients are calculated using these values and specific thrust coefficients plotted against maximum swirl velocity for various cases. In some cases the specific thrust for swirling nozzle flows very slightly exceeds the no-swirl value. The effects of nozzle wall curvature and flight speed on swirling nozzle flows are discussed. The contribution of post-exit thrust to the total thrust is estimated for swirling flow. Finally, the implications are considered of using swirl at the cruise conditions of a typical SST.

A scheme that uses an implicit system of finite-difference equations to obtain solutions of the equations governing the two-dimensional supersonic motion of an inviscid gas is described. The method relies on pseudo-viscosity in order to calculate shock waves. Compared with characteristics methods, pseudo-viscosity methods have certain advantages. For example, shock waves are calculated automatically without special procedures and pseudo-viscosity methods are easily generalised so that problems with three or more independent variables may be considered. Pseudo-viscosity methods have not been used extensively in the field of aerodynamics, partly because of the difficulty in obtaining sufficiently accurate solutions in the neighbourhood of a boundary. The main purpose of this paper is to show how this difficulty can be overcome. The problem of integrating the equations of motion when a boundary condition has to be satisfied on an arbitrary curve is considered. Streamlines are used as one of the independent variables so that the boundary curve is a coordinate curve, and the equations of motion are used in a form which leads to a simple procedure at the wall. For a given system of partial differential equations it is possible to introduce pseudo-viscous terms in many ways, not all of which are satisfactory. The results presented show that the method proposed in this paper is adequate. The calculated results are accurate and vary smoothly in the neighbourhood of the boundary.

Heat addition in the external flow around a supersonic aircraft may produce a field of increased pressure and thereby a propulsive and a lifting force. Less specifically, such effects could be produced by alternative processes involving the gradual expenditure of energy stored in an aircraft, and, according to the process, could be available at hyper-, super-, or subsonic speeds. A generalised study is made of associated effects on cruising range. Results are presented as performance “frameworks,” within which future experimental or analytic data should define regions of feasibility for particular systems.

From the very beginning of helicopter development the designer has had two major problems, one associated with the balancing of the torque reaction on a mechanically driven rotating system, and the other one that of mechanical difficulties associated with the transmissions ISACCO for instance realized right at the beginning that what he wanted was some jet reaction device on his blade tips, but there was no jet reaction device which was efficient, and he had to have recourse to individual engines, each driving its own propeller on to his blade tips Other designers, such as BRENNAN, in this country, and BLEEKER in America, had recourse to a single engine rotating, with the system This was only half the solution, because they still had to face all the mechanical difficulties From then onwards, many people have tried jet propulsion You will realise that because we have tip speed limitations as we go on to bigger sizes our torque reaction problem becomes worse and worse

The numerical calculation of the subcritical, steady, three-dimensional, potential flow past a semi-infinite swept elliptic cylinder attached to a plane wall is described. The full equations of motion are written in terms of the velocity potential and the exact body-surface conditions are applied. The equations are expressed in coordinates defined by the body shape and further transformations are necessary to reduce the infinite domain to a finite working space and to concentrate the grid points in regions of greatest variation of potential. The resulting equations are solved using a finite-difference scheme. The Mach number distribution for a typical case is presented.