NACA-RM-L57C08

Abstract

INTRODUCTION <br>The present investigation was made to supplement the study (ref. 1) of tail configurations on a straight-wing model by including additional types of tail configurations on a sweptback-wing model. The primary interest in conducting the present study was to obtain a swept-wing airplane configuration which would retain positive. directional stability throughout the range of angle of attack by use of either conventional or unusual tail arrangements. The configurations investigated included a T-tail, a Y-tail, an H-tail, a W-tail, a +-tail, and a fuselage-mounted conventional tail formed by removing the bottom fin of the +-tail. The effects of fuselage afterbody shape on the aerodynamic characteristics of the model were investigated with some of the tail arrangements by use of a cylindrical fuselage afterbody in addition to the basic tapered afterbody. <br>Static longitudinal and lateral stability characteristics were determined for the model with the various tail configurations for Mach numbers from 0.60 to 0.94 and for a range of angle of attack up to approximately 25&#176; at the lowest Mach numbers. The wing used in the present tests had an aspect ratio of 4, a taper ratio of 0.30, and a quarter-chord sweep of 45&#176;. All the tails investigated were of rectangular plan form and were unswept.