204 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1954 



ratio of high speed to landing speed) in the first 10 years of flying de- 

 velopment was considered extremely good if it got as high as two-to- 

 one. In the course of the ensuing 20 years, owing to improvement in 

 wing sections and finally in the addition of wing flaps, slots, and other 

 high-lift developments, there finally resulted a raising of the speed 

 range to about six- or seven-to-one. In further developments, our fig- 

 ures are somewhat obscured by having to pass through the sonic range. 

 However, an interesting development of the last few years, which can- 

 not yet be sufficiently appraised, is the Delta wing configuration. The 

 range between low-speed high-lift and high-speed low-drag appears to 

 be materially further extended with this new design. 



There are other developmental areas in which the extension of the 

 speed range to higher speeds for usefulness and still lower speeds for 

 practicality, are being worked on. 



ASSISTED TAKEOFF, AND SKIS 



Only recently have we begun to hark back to one of the original con- 

 ceptions of the Wrights. 



The 1903 Wright plane was launched into the air from a small cart, 

 riding on a rail, with no assist to the takeoff, thus saving the weight of 

 a landing gear and the expense of fixing a smooth field. Later, partic- 

 ularly in the many 1905 flights, the Wrights used a catapult to assist 

 on the takeoffs, and eventually added wheels to their planes. A long 

 and painful development of landing gears followed through the ensu- 

 ing 40 years, but today, interestingly enough, we are beginning to 

 return to the Wrights' concept of assistance in takeoff with the use 

 of the catapult or rocket "jato." There is even being contemplated the 

 use of jet engines of small sizes to give an assist in takeoff and, in re- 

 verse, to give a retarding influence on landing. So we see a deter- 

 mined effort being made in aviation engineering to develop a com- 

 promise between the highest possible flying speed for utility and the 

 lowest possible landing speed for practicality. 



The importance of high speed in aircraft has been proved. There 

 is nothing more useless than a slow airplane. The slow cruising speed 

 of the helicopter is a serious drawback to the success of this type of air 

 transport and must in some way be overcome if this craft is to be of 

 practical use. The economics of air transport, the efficiency of the 

 military plane, and the practical usefulness of the privately owned 

 plane demand the development of ever higher speeds. And yet, as 

 pointed out, this development is hampered by the takeoff and landing 

 limitations of our present-day planes. A realization of this is dawn- 

 ing on our brilliant aircraft engineers, with the result that more atten- 

 tion is being given to assisted takeoffs and catapults. When we look 

 into this field we find some very surprising conditions. 



