Armstrong Whitworth A.W.52 experimental flying wing, circa 1950

Posted by RLoret@reddit | WeirdWings | View on Reddit | 15 comments

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FletcherCommaIrwin@reddit

Cool post, never heard of this before, and an early adopter of winglets, too.

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Southern-Bandicoot@reddit

They look like winglets, but these are the vertical stabilisers, at the wing tips.

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FletcherCommaIrwin@reddit

Ah, understood. Interesting how the different the designs were in those earlier days. I believe Northrop had "dorsal" and vertical" fins on their (eventual) jet-powered wing.

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Foreign_Athlete_7693@reddit

mainly on the jet one, cos the lack of props ment a reduction in yaw stability (i think?)

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MikeTheCoolMan@reddit

Is this an ancestor of the B2 bomber?

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Traditional_Ad6611@reddit

I was lucky enough to get to see an Armstrong Whitworth Argosy back in the mid 1980's. I had no idea that they also made a "flying wing."

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EconomySwordfish5@reddit

Looks like a vampire with a huge wing and no tail boom

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CocoSavege@reddit

Pilots, engs, chime in?

Looks like a bitch to fly? Unforgiving near stall, past stall, etc?

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Cthell@reddit

Quoting wikipedia

On 30 May 1949, during a test flight, the first prototype encountered severe pitch oscillation that motivated its test pilot, John Oliver Lancaster, to eject from the aircraft; the incident was the first occasion of a genuine emergency ejection by a British pilot. The first prototype recovered and descended to the ground relatively undamaged.

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Bogartsboss@reddit

It sounds as if the plane began a pitch cycle, the pilot attempted what would be normal corrections, made things worse. Said "I'm outta here."

Plane went, "I say. I thought the bugger would never leave."

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Proof-Bed-6928@reddit

How is it not pitching down with that much flaps on a flying wing?

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Exactly what i was wondering. But if you look at the ailerons or whatever the control surfaces closer to the tip are called, they're deflected up and are behind the main flaps, so i think they counteract most of the pitch-down effect.

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Proof-Bed-6928@reddit

But wouldn’t that…

Defeat the purpose of the flaps?

Why not just have them all deflect downwards but less? It’s not like the “elevators” are much further back on the wing here. There’s barely any sweep

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kaiwikiclay@reddit

Reminds me of my Zagi RC. I think that’s pretty neat