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From albatrosses to slimy eels: Aircraft design and concepts inspired by nature 

Aerotime

Winglets and Sharklets Both Airbus and Boeing operate aircraft with wingtip devices that are designed to increase aircraft efficiency by removing drag. The devices would prove to “reduce wingtip drag” and increase “fuel efficiency by 6-7%” but would need be positioned uniquely for each aircraft type.

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Today in Aviation History: First Flight of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator

Vintage Aviation News

Davis, who had developed a new wing, whose airfoil had a lower drag co-efficiency than other wing designs of the time, and which had already been used on the company’s Model 31/XP4Y Corregidor flying boat. Originally flown under the historic schemes for All American and The Dragon and His Tail , it is now painted as Witchcraft.

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Bargain Buys on AircraftForSale: 1969 Mooney M20E Chaparral

Plane and Pilot

Additionally, the interior and paint were done in 2001/2002 and still show like new, To make an already quick and efficient airplane even more slippery, a previous owner has installed a number of drag-reduction modifications. These include a new nose bowl and dorsal fin/tail root fairings from Lasar Speed Mods.

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Banner Tow Tragedy

Plane and Pilot

Its connected, along with a safety weak link, to the tail of the airplane. With skill (and some luck) the hook catches, the plane roars up to not drag the fabric along the ground, and the whole assembly is hoisted into the air. Dropping the banner removed its drag, but only pitching down would have escaped the stall.

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Wingtip Vortices and Wake Turbulence

Pilot Institute

As seen from the aircrafts tail, the vortex rotates in the anti-clockwise direction on the right wingtip and the clockwise direction on the left wingtip. This horizontal component of lift is called Induced Drag. Its called induced drag since it only exists as a consequence of lift. Increased Drag Moving air around is hard work!

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Raptor-Inspired Drone Could Lead To Increased Maneuverability

AV Web

A pair of aerodynamic researchers at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland have created a raptor-inspired drone that uses its tail feathers to control bank, rather than wingtip feathers mimicked by ailerons on airplanes. The turns could be executed at low and high speeds as the raptors maneuvered.

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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. Neither aircraft would advance beyond the development stage.

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