Some Problems of the Stability and Control of Large Aircraft

In the Realm of stability and control, we are at present travelling headlong into a region of new problems. Besides tidying up the outstanding items on the types of aircraft we are used to seeing flying about to-day, a not inconsiderable task when one considers the troubles we encounter when we undertake the design of a new so-called “conventional” aeroplane, we have to tackle two major lines of research and development. First, the peculiar problems associated with the stability and control of aircraft of large size, both military and civil, into which difficulties associated with high Mach numbers intrude themselves but little; and secondly, the even more extensive problems associated with the stability and control of aircraft, both large and small, which are to fly at very high Mach numbers, not only at their design cruising and diving speeds, but also in the extremely important slow speed conditions. Mr. M. B. Morgan of the R.A.E. has dealt with some aspects of the second series of problems, so I propose to concentrate on some of the problems involved in the first series, that is those primarily associated with the increase of aircraft size.