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Flying Wing Questions

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aerogant

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2007
Messages
53
Location
Ann Arbor, MI
I am getting rather interested in flying wings. The Mitchell U2 really strikes my fancy. That being said, I now embark on the long road of learning.
Is the method to size the vertical tail the same for a flying wing as for a conventional planform? When I look at planes like the Mitchell series, the winglets 'look' a bit small for the task at hand. I thought one needed a specific tail volume coefficient.
I'm also a bit curious about sweep, wing twist, and flying wings. It was my understanding that one could avoid twisting a flying wing if one were going w/ a flying plank type design. However, I have read that the U2 used a 23015 with no twist. It used external elevons that were reflexed upwards so as to have a positive Cm on the outboard sections. I'm not a big fan of wing twist in general and this struck me as a pretty good idea. I have read that the elevons themselves were twisted and am a little unclear as to why they would need to be. Would anyone have any thoughts or guidelines for such an elevon type setup?
Was also a bit curious about dihedral as well. I have many books that give reference values for normal planforms, but nothing for flying wings. Any thoughts, or is it the end derivation of a complicated stability equation? Thanks in advance.
 
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