28
votes
Accepted
Why do all new European fighter jets have delta wings?
No, they were not designed separately. They were designed by people who had all participated in collaborations before. The origin was the research into unstable configurations performed by MBB in ...
- 229k
18
votes
Does tailless means no tail at all?
Tailless means no horizontal tail, but a vertical tail is still allowed. Examples are the Convair F-102 or Convair B-58.
Convair B-58 Hustler (picture source)
Compare this to a flying wing: Here ...
- 229k
17
votes
Accepted
Why are vortices produced at wingtips a source of drag, while vortices from the leading edge (harnessed by delta wings) good?
You ask the right question. Given the amount of misinformation out there, I can understand why you are confused.
First the tip vortices: They are neither a source of downward force not do they cause ...
- 229k
13
votes
Accepted
Why did the Beechcraft Starship use a delta wing?
Because it was something of a Burt Rutan trademark since his early days. His first designs, the VariViggen and VariEze, had such a wing already, and apparently he saw no reason to optimize the wing of ...
- 229k
13
votes
Accepted
What are the advantages and disadvantages of a delta wing compared to a swept wing?
Benefits of a delta wing:
Due to the large root chord, a delta wing combines low relative wing thickness with a sufficiently thick wing spar for a lightweight structure. Since a low relative ...
- 229k
12
votes
What are the disadvantages of fitting underwing flaps to a Mirage III/5 fighter jets to lower landing speeds?
Every airplane is a compromise of conflicting demands. While I am not intimately familiar with the Mirage family, I can easily see why flaps were never included.
In the early Fifties when work on ...
- 229k
11
votes
Why does the F-22's wing give it such great maneuverability?
The wing design is different between F-16 and F-22 (which is similar to YF-23) because the requirements were different.
The wing of F-22 (and that of F-23) were designed with stealth in mind, with ...
- 100k
10
votes
Accepted
Why do UCAV/UAV designs mostly use lambda wings instead of pure delta wings?
Aspect ratio.
Look at your two images: both wings offer the same wingspan, but the former requires a lot more wing area for it. Wing area is weight. More wingspan for less wing area means better fuel ...
8
votes
Accepted
Why does the F-15 have a swept-back trailing edge at its wing tips?
The F-15 wingtip is a "raked" tip configuration, which increases lift and decreases drag.1
[]2
This is the design decided by the USAF after discovery of several design deficiencies during initial ...
- 1,692
8
votes
Accepted
Why did the Avro Vulcan use a delta wing?
I would not say that no other bomber ever had delta wings. Convair B-58 Hustler and Mirage IV both have delta wings. They are both supersonic though.
The B-52 did not have to worry too much about ...
7
votes
Accepted
Why do delta wings generate less lift at a particular angle of attack compared to straight wings?
No, a higher sweep angle will reduce lift even more.
All aerodynamic forces scale with the dynamic pressure, the product of air density and the square of airspeed, divided by half. If a wing doesn't ...
- 229k
7
votes
How is the centre of lift and centre of gravity misalignment problem solved in Delta wing aircraft?
The effect of a horizontal tail can be built into a tailless aeroplane in two ways:
By integrating into the wing profile: a horizontal s-shape with the trailing edge turned up.
By combining positive ...
- 61.3k
6
votes
What would be the power requirements and performance of a Scroggs-type delta-wing aircraft with a 250 cm span?
First, thank you for unearthing this unorthodox design!
However, it shows that paper airplanes don't scale well. Nevertheless, it follows the same laws of physics, so the same equations should apply ...
- 229k
6
votes
Accepted
Does tailless means no tail at all?
No, not at all - there are at least two Delta Wing aircraft that feature a conventional tail, and they are the Gloster Javelin and the Mig 21
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloster_Javelin
https://en....
- 9,278
6
votes
Accepted
Does skin friction drag decrease with velocity?
Your question is about friction drag while the text is mainly about aspect ratio. You seem to explain the choice of aspect ratio to be based on friction drag. This is not correct.
Here and here are ...
- 229k
6
votes
What are the disadvantages of fitting underwing flaps to a Mirage III/5 fighter jets to lower landing speeds?
"Tested on a small free flight glider" gets a +1, but here some book knowledge helps.
At lower Reynolds numbers, the classic airfoil shape looks good, but most lift comes from the bottom. This is ...
5
votes
Why has the rest of the world gone after delta wings while not the USA?
The Gripen and Eurofighter are canards with a delta wing (as is the J-37 Viggen). This, coupled with relaxed stability, gives the first two unmatched maneuverability, and good transsonic and short-...
- 229k
5
votes
Would the Concorde have been better off using a tailed delta wing?
The beauty of the pure delta configuration was you could get a reasonably low supersonic drag configuration in a planform with a lot of wing area, essential for really high altitude cruise and for ...
- 126k
4
votes
Why do delta wings generate less lift at a particular angle of attack compared to straight wings?
I know this was answered a while back but let me give you my two cents.
As explained by Peter a combination of the wing swept and low aspect ratio affect the lift production of the wing. But another ...
4
votes
Accepted
What is the flap adjustment angle for delta wing Aircraft for take off?
Concorde did not have any flaps or slats as mentioned here. This is due the fact that they don't have any tails, and wing trailing edge devices do the elevator and aileron jobs and they are called ...
- 994
4
votes
What is a "slender delta" wing?
A slender delta wing is a delta with low aspect ratio.
The use I have seen is in the study of vortex lift, which is present at high angles of attack.
What is vortex lift?
- 19k
4
votes
What are the disadvantages of fitting underwing flaps to a Mirage III/5 fighter jets to lower landing speeds?
Another answer that gives yet another factor for why it probably wasn't done: it's not necessary for delta wings.
One of the limitations you have in exploring the flight envelope of delta wings is ...
- 2,446
3
votes
Why does the F-15 have a swept-back trailing edge at its wing tips?
The actual answer is straightforward. The F-15 wing was originally just a swept wing with a given taper ratio which resulted in a slightly swept trailing edge. The inboard portion was straightened ...
- 31
3
votes
Can thrust vectoring be used to enable the use of flaps on tailless delta-winged aircraft?
No, for several reasons
What you want is to compensate for the additional lift from downward deflected flaps at the back of a flying wing with vectored thrust. As @Sean points out this will not bring ...
- 229k
3
votes
Why has the rest of the world gone after delta wings while not the USA?
'Rest of the world' hasn't gone towards delta- only the previous generation European combat aircraft have (along with India). Also, none of the fifth generation aircraft have anything resembling delta ...
- 100k
3
votes
Accepted
Is flow attached in the center of delta wing?
Yes, flow is attached at the mid section of a delta wing at low angle of attack. This would be the case in the cruise condition of a delta airplane.
At high angle of attack, when the flow separates at ...
- 229k
2
votes
How is the centre of lift and centre of gravity misalignment problem solved in Delta wing aircraft?
Because, although we often conceptualize Lift as all acting through the "center of Pressure" of the wing surface, this is a fiction, done only to aid in visualizing the total lift, and it's effects, ...
- 5,742
2
votes
Why did the Beechcraft Starship use a delta wing?
It's necessary to put the fuel tanks close to the cg of the aircraft so fuel burn doesn't significantly change the cg. This was done as a Delta in front of the main wing.
- 21
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible