- published: 31 Oct 2012
- views: 648637
The delta wing is a wing planform in the form of a triangle. It is named for its similarity in shape to the Greek uppercase letter delta (Δ).
Between 1529 and 1556 Conrad Haas wrote a book in which he described rocket technology, involving the combination of fireworks and weapons technologies. This manuscript was re-discovered in 1961, in the Sibiu public records (Sibiu public records Varia II 374). His work dealt with the theory of motion of multi-stage rockets, different fuel mixtures using liquid fuel, and also introduced delta-shaped stabilizers.
As the manuscript was discovered only in 1961 until recently the conception of such stabilizers and their name had been suggested in the 17th century by the Polish-Lithuanian military engineer Kazimierz Siemienowicz.
The first practical uses of delta wing came in the form of so called "tailless delta", i.e. without the horizontal tailplane. In fact the designs were at the same time also the first flying wings. It could be argued if 1924 Cheranovsky designs, having one-of-a-kind parabolic planform, fit the category of delta wings. Nevertheless, a triangular wing was pioneered especially by Alexander Lippisch in Germany. He was first to fly tailless delta aircraft in 1931, followed by four improved designs. None of these was easy in handling at slow speeds, and none saw widespread service. During the war Lippisch studied a number of ramjet powered (sometimes coal-fueled) delta-wing interceptor aircraft, one progressing as far as a glider prototype.
A wing is an appendage with a surface that produces lift for flight or propulsion through the atmosphere, or through another gaseous or liquid fluid. A wing is an airfoil, which has a streamlined cross-sectional shape producing a useful lift to drag ratio.
The word "wing" from the Old Norse vængr for many centuries referred mainly to the foremost limbs of birds (in addition to the architectural aisle.) But in recent centuries the word's meaning has extended to include lift producing appendages of insects, bats, pterosaurs, boomerangs, some sail boats and aircraft.
"Wing" can also mean an inverted airfoil on a race car that generates a downward force to increase traction.
Various species of penguins and other flighted or flightless water birds such as auks, cormorants, guillemots, shearwaters, eider and scoter ducks and diving petrels are avid swimmers, and use their wings to propel through water.
A wing's aerodynamic quality is expressed as its lift-to-drag ratio. The lift a wing generates at a given speed and angle of attack can be one to two orders of magnitude greater than the total drag on the wing. A high lift-to-drag ratio requires a significantly smaller thrust to propel the wings through the air at sufficient lift.
Katherine Legge ( /ˈlɛɡ/ LEG; born 12 July 1980 in Guildford, Surrey, UK) is a British auto racing driver. As of 2012[update], she races in the IndyCar Series with Dragon Racing.
Prior to joining the Toyota Atlantic series, she raced in several developmental open-wheel series in Britain, including Formula Three, Formula Renault and Formula Ford. In 2000 she was the first woman to achieve a pole in a Zetec race. In 2001 she beat Kimi Räikkönen's lap record and achieved a pole, and she was the first woman to receive the BRDC's "Rising Star" accolade. She received the 2005 RACER Magazine "Most Promising Road Racer of The Year" award, a title that had been awarded every year since 2002 to A. J. Allmendinger. Other drivers that have won the award include Räikkönen, Jenson Button, Cristiano da Matta, Alex Barron, Giancarlo Fisichella, Greg Moore, and Gil de Ferran.
In November 2005, Legge became the first woman to test a Formula One car since Sarah Fisher in 2002. on the second and third days (22 and 23 November) of the Minardi team's final testing session at Vallelunga near Rome. After she crashed after 2 laps on her first run on the track, it was decided to postpone the test until the following day, on which she completed 27 laps with a best lap time of 1 min 21.176 sec. She was also the first woman to test an A1 Grand Prix car, on 9–11 December 2005 with A1 Team Great Britain.