Philippe Vessaire wrote:

Nathan Young wrote:



So my question: How much drag does a wing on a Hersey Bar Cherokee
generate, and and hypothetically speaking, how much faster could the
plane go if it was retooled with a sleek, composite wing?


You may take the other side of your question.

You choose a composite plane (ie Lancair) with the same engine.
You take the 75% cruising speed of the lancair (V-lancair)
You take the Cherokee 75% cruising speed (V-cher)

If you want the same speed for your plane, you need more HP

The formula is HP=180 * (V-lancair/ V-cher)³

You may do the reverse: how many HP the lancair need for the Cherokee
speed....

You know the cost of drag....

But don't think all drag is from wing, part of drag is from fuselage and
a roomy fuselage will generate more drag.
But the comfort is in roomy fuselage


By

And a LOT of the drag is from cooling the engine!
There is an ideal place for big gains.

Richard