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Old June 29th 06, 06:29 AM posted to rec.aviation.homebuilt
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Default questions on multi-wing planforms


"GTH" wrote in message
...
Hi Gerry,


Thanks for your response, Gilles. A bit of clarification, perhaps. This
is not really a design to fullfill a mission. It's more of a "why not"
exercise.


Understand

The very short wingspan is the only real design criteria, and it
is just my idea rather than a definite need anyone has.


OK. Just out of curiosity, is the short span intended for flight
"requirements" (landing between telephone poles...), or storage
considerations ? Not the same, of course, since for precise landings,
handling qualities may be of prime importance.

Or maybe is it just for the fun of short span ?


That's it. Folding doesn't serve the purpose.
I think the whole thing is inspired by an episode of a tv series call
"galactica" or something of the sort where they had flyable motorcycles.

Gerry


The MCR 01 is a
very interesting design, but with a wingspan of over 20 feet it doesn't
fit my plan. Consider that if you made it a 10 foot span biplane it
would perhaps fit the bill?? I could restate it this way, if you divided
the 20 foot wingspan of the MCR 01 into two wings either tandem or
stacked would it provide similar performance? How about 4 10 foot wings
with one foot chord? I don't really know the answer, I'm just
brainstorming to see if anyone else knows the answer.


I believe that by stacking wings, you'll end up with a much different
airplane.
By the way, really short chord wings work very well, provided the design
is correct.
French aerodynamicist Michel Colomban designed the Cri Cri 10 ft span, 1
ft chord single seater 25 years ago, with really nice flight behavior.
His last project will fly shortly with about 1.5 ft chord.

I seem to remember having seen a really short span American design, which
flew in the fifties or sixties. That was in an old issue of "Popular
Mechanics"

Regards,
Gilles Thesee
Grenoble, France
http://contrails.free.fr