Aircraft whose only horizontal aerodynamic surface is its main wing
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The DH108 Swallow
In aeronautics, a tailless aircraft is an aircraft with no other horizontal aerodynamic surface besides its main wing.[1] It may still have a fuselage, vertical tail fin (vertical stabilizer), and/or vertical rudder.
Theoretical advantages of the tailless configuration include low parasitic drag as on the Horten H.IV soaring glider and good stealth characteristics as on the Northrop B-2 Spirit bomber. Disadvantages include a potential sensitivity to trim.
Tailless aircraft have been flown since the pioneer days; the first stable aeroplane to fly was the tailless Dunne D.5, in 1910. The most successful tailless configuration has been the tailless delta, especially for combat aircraft, though the Concorde airliner is also a delta configuration.
NASA has used the 'tailless' description for the novel X-36 research aircraft which has a canard foreplane but no vertical fin.
^Wragg, David W. (1974). A Dictionary of Aviation (1st American ed.). New York: Frederick Fell, Inc. p. 259. ISBN 0-85045-163-9.
In aeronautics, a taillessaircraft is an aircraft with no other horizontal aerodynamic surface besides its main wing. It may still have a fuselage, vertical...
A taillessaircraft is one which has no separate horizontal stabilizer or control surface, either behind or in front of the main wing. Blended wing body...
control surfaces, many early aircraft that lacked a stabilising empennage were virtually unflyable. Even so-called "taillessaircraft" usually have a tail fin...
the X-45 and X-47, taillessaircraft which use drag rudders (asymmetrically used wingtip airbrakes) for yaw control. The aircraft, which had given the...
fuselage to be useful for a variety of purposes. A flying wing is a taillessaircraft which has no definite fuselage. Most of the crew, payload and equipment...
was a British experimental aircraft designed by John Carver Meadows Frost in October 1945. The DH 108 featured a tailless, swept wing with a single vertical...
canard, joined wing, tailless and rotorcraft) as well as engine/propeller location and drive. For historical interest, pusher aircraft are also classified...
Like other taillessaircraft, the tailless delta wing is not suited to high wing loadings and requires a large wing area for a given aircraft weight. The...
fighter-bomber designed and produced by the aircraft manufacturer Chance Vought. It was the first tailless production fighter in the United States as well...
of Airworthiness, and from the UK CAA on 5 December. Concorde is a taillessaircraft design with a narrow fuselage permitting 4-abreast seating for 92...
A flying wing is a type of taillessaircraft which has no distinct fuselage. The crew, engines and equipment are housed inside a thick wing, typically...
aerodynamics who made important contributions to the understanding of taillessaircraft, delta wings and the ground effect, and also worked in the U.S. Within...
Alexander Lippisch Delta series of tailless designs. As originally conceived, it would have been a taillessaircraft similar to his DFS 40, powered by...
layout (conventional or 3 surface, canard, joined wing, tailless and rotorcraft), Some aircraft have a Push-pull configuration with both tractor and pusher...
A flying wing is a tailless fixed-wing aircraft that has no definite fuselage, with its crew, payload, fuel, and equipment housed inside the main wing...
Orbiter The Aeronautics Orbiter UAV in flight Role Reconnaissance UAV Type of aircraft National origin Israel Manufacturer Aeronautics Defense Systems...
The list of aircraft of World War II includes all the aircraft used by those countries which were at war during World War from the period between their...
Westland-Hill Pterodactyl series of taillessaircraft. To research the control and stability of taillessaircraft. The National Research Council of Canada...
for stability purposes. It is not possible for a straight winged taillessaircraft to fly, unless it uses a rear mounted wing and a forward canard arrangement...
replaces the canard foreplane as pitch stabilizer. Tandem wing and taillessaircraft rely on the same general rule to achieve stability, the aft surface...
are taillessaircraft without a distinct fuselage. In these installations, the engines are either mounted in nacelles or the fuselage on tailless aircraft...
[citation needed] For a taillessaircraft, the neutral point coincides with the aerodynamic center, and so for such aircraft to have longitudinal static...
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