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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 structure. A flying wing may have various small protuberances such as pods, nacelles , blisters, booms, or vertical stabilizers .
The word "wing" from the Old Norse vængr [1] for many centuries referred mainly to the foremost limbs of birds (in addition to the architectural aisle). But in recent centuries the word's meaning has extended to include lift producing appendages of insects, bats, pterosaurs, boomerangs, some sail boats and aircraft, or the airfoil on a race car.
A fixed-wing aircraft may have more than one wing plane, stacked one above another: Biplane: two wing planes of similar size, stacked one above the other. The biplane is inherently lighter and stronger than a monoplane and was the most common configuration until the 1930s. The very first Wright Flyer I was a biplane.
In aeronautics, a canard is a wing configuration in which a small forewing or foreplane is placed forward of the main wing of a fixed-wing aircraft or a weapon. The term "canard" may be used to describe the aircraft itself, the wing configuration, or the foreplane. [1] [2] [3] Canard wings are also extensively used in guided missiles and smart ...
The upward tilt of the wings and tailplane of an aircraft, as seen on this Boeing 737, is called dihedral angle. Schematic of dihedral and anhedral angle of an aircraft wing Measuring the dihedral angle. Dihedral angle is the upward angle from horizontal of the wings or tailplane of a fixed-wing aircraft.
In testing, airplane wings will be flexed way beyond their regular inflight limits. Similarly, airplane engines are designed to withstand natural obstacles like hail, torrential rain and bird ...
Closed wing designs include the annular wing (commonly known as the cylindrical or ring wing), the joined wing, the box wing, and spiroid tip devices. [ 1 ] Like many wingtip devices , the closed wing aims to reduce the wasteful effects associated with wingtip vortices that occur at the tips of conventional wings.
A variable-sweep wing, colloquially known as a "swing wing", is an airplane wing, or set of wings, that may be modified during flight, swept back and then returned to its previous straight position. Because it allows the aircraft's shape to be changed, it is a feature of a variable-geometry aircraft.