dsigned
Well-Known Member
The result is actually has a wider fuselage than I intended, but I think it illustrates the general concept. Instead of tapering the fueselage in the horizontal direction, allow it to flare out to a "tail" of sorts that could be used as a control surface (or not). But the idea is that one could generate more lift from the fuselage without going to a full lifting body or blended wing design, but generate more lift with the biggest penalty being increased surface area.
The "inspiration" is the aero of the Wittman Tailwind. I seem to remember reading in Wittman's comments on the squar-ish shape of the fuselage that the squared-off construction meant that it actually generated a non-trivial amount of lift (while still being a very slippery design).
I have a feeling I may need to sketch couple of iterations of the idea to come up with a concept that "works" (e.g. maybe a tapered top, but a hard chine on bottom?), but I'm curious how much experience people have with similar ideas?
