I found these NASA photos many years ago and kept them, as they reminded me of the tuft tests I did in the early 1960’s while in my first stint in Flight Test.
When the company didn’t want to go to the expense and time to build a model and conduct a wind tunnel series of tests, we painted the wings white, attached tufts with “500” mph industrial duct tape and flew the aircraft. The chase plane would take photos or we would mount cameras on the moldline for photos. If I remember correctly, my tests were on F-4A #9.
On the photos above, notice the straight flow over the wings except for the outer wing panel.
2 comments:
These photos were of the tests of the spanwise blc tests. Instead of having blc in the leading edge and trailing edge flaps there was a duct above the wing (just below the I in AIR FORCE) and one just above the lowered flap which blew blc air "spanwise" across the wing and flap. According to the report I have, it worked just fine, and needed less ductwork.
I also have photos of the wind tunnel tests that used models to prove this concept. The wind tunnel tests also had a duct at the wing fold which blew over the outer wing panel. But it was found that it didn't contribute enough to justify it.
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