Langley played an important role in the development of vertical flight. The Ling-TemcoVought XC-142A was a tilt-wing prototype used in vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) studies. Langley was extensively involved in wind-tunnel testing of XC-142A models, and in the flight evaluations of the actual airplane.
Helicopters became a major research area at Langley. Langley also developed the concept of individual flying platforms in the 1950s.” Variable wing sweep “In the 1960s, variable wing sweep came out of Langley, which has been applied to numerous military aircraft. At the end of World War II, as we overran German scientific facilities, we found they were about to go to flight with an aircraft that had wings that could be repositioned on the ground before flying. That was brought back to the U.S. and Bell Aircraft built
24
the X-5 [in 1951] as the first continuous variable sweep aircraft. Unfortunately, that changes the inherent stability of the aircraft dramatically, to totally non-maneuverable with the wings swept aft. To maintain adequate levels of maneuverability, the wings had to be moved forward, which required massive equipment inside the aircraft. The Air Force was not impressed and the effort was cancelled.” Nevertheless, the NACA and its successor, NASA, were research organizations allowed to continue work on technology that was not immediately applicable because other breakthrough technologies were needed. In the case of variable sweep, Langley engineers came up with the idea of creating a double pivot configuration that eliminated the stability issue. It was adopted by the Air Force for the F-111 and the B-1 bomber and the F-14 for the Navy. Externally blown flap It allowed lower-speed handling and reduced landing and takeoff space. Langley researchers came up with the idea of rotating engine cells
NASA PHOTO
NASA LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER 1917-2017
