NASA’s Ames-Dryden A.D-1, an oblique wing demonstrator aircraft, 1980. This design was meant to reduce drag at high speed, yet could be rotated back into conventional wing for landing and takeoff

Posted by Falabella_Stallion@reddit | WeirdWings | View on Reddit | 7 comments

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Farfignugen42@reddit

I imagine that this rotating wing is much lighter and simpler than more conventional sweep wings, but I wonder how it would work if the wing is mounted lower on the fuselage like on most passenger jets.

Would it take more or less space in the fuselage than sweep wings do?

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SunSnowy@reddit

You have it right. This type of design was first conceived in the 1940s in Germany toward the end of WW2 as a way to reduce drag without hurting low-speed performance, but never trialed. NASA experimented with it as an alternative to traditional swing-wing designs, as it is much lighter and mechanically simpler and does not affect centre of gravity, but asymmetrical control surfaces while swung makes it complex to control, and it's quite unstable on such a small aircraft

If mounted to the bottom of the fuselage, it would likely be the same mechanically as the top. If mounted in the centre, it would probably be still less complex than a traditional swing-wing, and would be lighter, but you'd need slots in the fuselage for the wings to swing into.

This design is generally lighter, simpler, and as or more efficient than traditional swing-wings, and it would probably be most efficient on very large aicraft, where stability is less of an issue.

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TacticalFartPalace@reddit

I had an Estes model rocket based on this design when I was a kid. It would shoot up on rocket power with the wing folded flat, then the parachute charge would deploy the wing. Then the craft would glide back down and land way far away from where it was launched.

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