wild flying birds changed the shape of
their wings according to various flight
conditions with today's plenty of
sophisticated computers and building
materials planning now exists that
changes the shape of its wings during
flight much the way birds do the plane
is NASA's f-111 a high performance jet
that has specially adapted wing sections
that can change shape or Kim their
leading and trailing edges variable
camber can be best understood through
this view of the wings profile in flight
the wing surface can be changed from
flat to third according to the flight
mode necessary whether it be cruise high
speed or maneuver time to mission
adaptive wing this technology represents
a joint venture between NASA's Ames
Dryden Flight Research Facility and the
US Air Force the idea of building a
variable camber winning is not a new one
it dates from our beginnings in flight
according to the program manager of
NASA's mission adaptive wing John Smith
the Wright brothers and their Wright
Flyer also used wing warping that is
changing the camber of the outboard tip
of the wing to generate rope and form so
the idea is not new it's just that the
technology has now developed to the
point where it is practical for us to
design an aircraft wing to give us that
kind of performance I really expect that
it will see variable camber wings
designed into most airplanes in another
10 years one of the first practical
applications for a variable cambered
wing was found in a plane called the RB
racer vote by the Dayton right airplane
in 1920 the pilot used a hand crank to
manually change the shape of the wings
leading and trailing edge sections by
flattening the surface the plane gained
more efficiency and speed once it taken
off building on technology from the
early Belle x5 the mission adaptive wing
incorporates variable Wayne sweep during
flight
studying the combination of wing sweep
and shape may provide new insight into
aerodynamic efficiency initially the
plane will be flown manually with the
pilot making changes in wing shape later
researches plan to make use of flight
control computers at AI into aircraft
sensors on the plane's wings and
fuselage and automatically adapt camber
to flight conditions the ultimate goal
of the program is to prove the plane's
efficiency in different flight modes
from high-speed cruise to complete
maneuverability at lower speeds from
this study basic knowledge and wing
sweep and Kemp will allow engineers to
design faster higher flying and more
maneuverable plane