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Why Aircraft Need Vertical Stabilizers, But Birds Don't

Simple Flying

Aircraft are fitted with wingtip devices, generally known as winglets or sharklets, to minimize aerodynamic drag and increase fuel efficiency, and state-of-the-art engines reduce sound and wear and tear. Significant advances in aviation technology have occurred over the last few decades.

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The Bold, Bulbous Douglas 1015 Cloudster II

Flying Magazine

An unbuilt concept, the Douglas DC-8 Skybus aimed to position two V-12 piston engines in the forward fuselage and link them with two contra-rotating propellers in the tail. A ventral stabilizer doubled as propeller protection in the event of over-rotation or tail strikes.

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The Unfulfilled Promise of the Fairchild T-46

Flying Magazine

The most significant visual differences were the T-46’s high wing and the “H” tail, with twin vertical stabilizers mounted to the ends of the horizontal stabilizer that strongly resembled those of the company’s previous jet, the A-10 Thunderbolt II. As outlined in a U.S.

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Today in Aviation History: First Flight of the Convair F2Y Sea Dart

Vintage Aviation News

However, since Convair was also developing the XF-92 delta wing prototype for a future Air Force interceptor, the design team at Convair, led by Ernest Stout, proposed a new delta wing aircraft with retractable hydro-skis for takeoffs and landings, a watertight hull, and a single delta tail.

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Today in Aviation History: Loss of USS Macon

Vintage Aviation News

The airship initially recovered, dumping ballast and stabilizing at 700 feet above the sea and returning to its cruising altitude of 1,600 feet, but the ship was sent into another plunge, falling a rate of 14 feet per second tail-down.

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High Wing or Low Wing – Which Trainer Should I Choose?

Flight Training Central

Those struts and wires create a lot of parasite drag, an anathema for aircraft whose design and mission is speed. Then in 1956 Cessna moved the tail-wheel on the 170 to the nose and the resulting high wing 172, with well over 40,000 copies, became the best-selling civilian aircraft in history. The bi-wing design has one serious flaw.

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Today in Aviation History: First Flight of the Consolidated XP-81

Vintage Aviation News

Around this time, the USAAF was also developing its first jet fighters, but knew that all-jet aircraft at this time were short-ranged and burned fuel quicker than propeller-driven aircraft, and so the optimal design was to feature a propeller-driven engine in the front for long range performance and a jet engine in the tail for high speed in combat.

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