An aircraft having a major longitudinal strength structure generally centralized in the vertical mid-plane. Shallow V-shaped wing panels are secured to the longitudinal strength structure, one at the top and one at the bottom to define a rhombic cellular configuration. Control linkages are provided, positioned and connected to act as stays between paired of upper and lower wing panels.

A cargo aircraft. A non-pressurized hull, which can comprise a number of substantially identical hull modules, defines a rectangular cargo area. The hull has an outer skin portion which, in its vertical, longitudinal section, conforms to an air foil shape. This air foil configuration generates substantially all the lift necessary to offset the combined weights of the hull and a reasonable load. The hull supports wings, engines and a pressurized cabin for an operating crew and other elements nece...

A supersonic aircraft has a fuselage that is substantially of the maximum cross-sectional area until a point not far from the extreme rear end and aft of this point it terminates in a tapering streamline tail section of subsonic design, that is to say satisfactory for subsonic flight but such as would ordinarily create an excessive drag penalty in supersonic flight. With this design of subsonic tail, the drag penalty is avoided by burning fuel externally of the fuselage around a region just forw...

The disclosure is of a lift rotor adaptable to various forms of fixed wing aircraft. The autorotating rotor is attached to the aircraft, so that the flight movement of the aircraft will pass air against the device and spin the rotor, thereby generating lift forces. When the rotor is power driven the additional lift force can be controlled by the power source.

Power plant for a VSTOL or VTOL aircraft consists of a jet lift unit, such as a fan lift engine, having its exhaust trunk bifurcated to form forward and rear ducts which are in turn divided laterally to form a pair of efflux nozzles on each duct, four nozzles in all. Each of the nozzles has efflux-deflecting means in the form of a set of louvres, the four sets of louvres being differentially operated to give roll, pitch and yaw while maintaining the total vertical lift component constant.

For conversion of an aircraft from a passenger-carrying to a freight load/vehicle carrying role, in which latter it is suitable for air-dropping of loads, it is provided internally with a stepped floor consisting of a fixed forward section at a higher level and a rear section at a lower level extending aft from the step between levels to the threshold of a rear cargo door, the rear section being capable of being raised and lowered. The rear section is selectively operable so that it can either b...

Airplanes which feature composite construction and have: a further aft than conventional center of gravity; a clean wing with a high aspect ratio; and all primary flight controls. These include trailing edge control segments (or elements) which extend the full span of the airplane wing. A central processor so schedules the upward and downward deployment of the control elements that: (1) downward and upward displacements of the control elements are respectively accompanied by pitch-up and pitch-d...

A near supersonic aircraft comprising an airframe that maintains subsonic air flow thereover within the flight envelope of the aircraft. The airframe comprises a right circular conical forward fuselage section, a right circular cylindrical intermediate fuselage section defining a passenger compartment, and an aft fuselage section having a generally circular frontal cross section and a generally rectangular aft cross section. A submerged semi circular air inlet is disposed between the intermediat...

An aircraft comprises a body portion and a pair of wings extending from either side of the body portion. An upward step is formed in the underside of the body portion in the center of the aircraft, and defines a rearwardly facing riser surface. The riser surface extends outwardly toward the wing tips, terminating substantially inwardly of the wing tips so that a majority of the length of the underside of each wing is uninterrupted by the riser surface. The step is located at the front-to-rear ce...

A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is disclosed. In one embodiment designed for manned flight, the aircraft employs an aerodynamically-shaped body carrying a pair of lifting elements disposed longitudinally along the body on opposite sides thereof. The lifting elements extend outwardly and curve smoothly downward from a horizontal to a vertical orientation at the outboard edge. Lifting air is flowed over them transverse to the direction of flight. In a second embodiment designed for...